The Labor Notes Podcast

Your Union Isn’t Working Like it Should. Now What?

Have you and your co-workers been shut out of bargaining? Have you felt pressured to vote yes on a contract you really didn't like? Do you feel like there aren't a lot of ways to address issues in your union besides filing complaints or grievances that seem to go into a void? Rank-and-file members win more and build power in their workplaces when they also have a voice in their unions! It’s the lesson that hundreds of thousands of workers—including educators, building trades workers, Hollywood film production crew members, Teamsters, United Auto Workers members, letter carriers and grocery workers— have held onto as they’ve fought for better from their unions and waged militant fights against the bosses. If you and your co-workers are on this path, you’ll love the new Labor Notes Guide: How to Build A Union Reform Caucus. Find answers to questions like: What’s a reform caucus? Is that even the right option for me and my co-workers? How would it work? What about running for union office? This is part 1 of a two-part series on this new resource, which you can find on labornotes.org/caucus.  Labor Notes Organizer Lisa Xu and and retiring Labor Notes Organizer Barbara Madeloni join the podcast.

One Year of the Labor Notes Podcast

In this first year of the Labor Notes Podcast, our weekly show on rank-and-file news and organizing tactics, we’ve covered mass strikes, contract fights, and organizing breakthroughs even in this era of escalating repression at work and on the streets.
Retail workers are leading organizing drives. Building trades workers, letter carriers and grocery workers are pushing for more transparency and democracy in their unions. Immigrant workers and allies are strategizing ways to build power with their co-workers and neighbors to fight back against the brutality of immigration raids.
In this anniversary episode, we look back at a year of workers banding together and raising expectations for what we can win.
Here are links to past episodes we highlight in this one: 
How Workers Pulled Off a Mass Strike in Minnesota (February 6, 2026)
Casino Dealers Brought Back the Recognition Strike and Won (December 19, 2025)
Starbucks Workers are on a Nationwide Strike for a First Contract (November 14, 2025)
Are the Democrats F*cking Up the Shutdown? (October 24, 2025)
Stewards’ Corner: Workplace Safety Is Not a Game (October 17, 2025)
Grocery Workers at the UFCW are Organizing for a Fighting Union (June 6, 2025)
Stewards’ Corner: What if Union Meetings Were Actually Good? (May 30, 2025)
Facing Privatization And DOGE Attacks, Postal Workers Are Fighting Back (April 11, 2025)

Three Reasons to Feel Hopeful about the Labor Movement Right Now

The antidote to despair, even in this era of extraordinary assaults against working people, is organizing. From autoworkers in Chattanooga, TN, winning their first contract to the trolleybus operators in Mexico City preparing to go on strike, there are pockets of labor everywhere building momentum.

Steward's Corner: Just About Anyone Can Be a Good Steward

Are you a new steward trying to find your footing and avoid rookie mistakes? Are you a veteran steward trying to grow your stewards’ network and make sure newbies stick around? This episode has advice for new stewards and old stewards alike and anyone else who is looking to build power in their workplace.Labor Notes Organizer Kari Thompson joins the pod.

How to Talk About Immigration with Your Co-Workers

Walking through your union halls or scrolling through social media in 2026, you’re probably encountering a stream of anti-immigrant propaganda. These views bleed into the workplace, where pushing back can feel daunting.
But with immigration agents ramping up their assaults at workplaces and on daily commutes, workers are figuring out how to take up this conversation in a way that builds solidarity in their unions.
IBEW Local 11 member Francisco “Paco” Arago and IBEW Local 666 steward Chris Anders join pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann to share how electricians are having organizing conversations around immigration. Read Natascha’s piece on dispelling anti-immigrant myths in the workplace.
Paco is a member of the Latin American Electrical Workers Alliance or LAEWA, a new caucus formed in 2025, which Natascha and our co-worker Keith Brower Brown have previously reported on. LAEWA is working on revitalizing Latino member organizing in the union. Follow LAEWA on Instagram at @laewa.local11
Chris and Paco are both also members of Caucus of Rank-and-File Electrical Workers, or CREW, which is a new member caucus that launched in September, as our co-worker Keith reported at the time. Follow CREW on Instagram at @rankandfile_crew

Your Favorite Rom-Com is About Organizing, Actually

We bet that when you’re watching Valentine’s classics like Mamma Mia, Wuthering Heights, or The Princess Bride, you’re thinking not just about yearning, intrigue and some very gloomy hills, but also about collective action, the campaign mountain, and building power from the ground-up!  If not, here are some classic Labor Notes pieces to get you falling in love with your union all over again: Don’t Complain, Organize! Info Requests Can Cool an Overzealous Boss! Slingshot: Take the High RoadTaking Bottom-Up Action Changes the Balance of Power

How Workers Pulled Off a Mass Strike in Minnesota

More than 75,000 people, including teachers, food service workers, Uber drivers and many others marched through downtown Minneapolis on January 23, where federal agents have staged a military occupation in the Twin Cities since December. The march was part of a day of action in Minnesota, and the culmination of a call for “No Work. No School. No Shopping,” by unions, houses of worship and other civic organizations. For many who participated, it was a foray into flexing economic disruption muscle, and an escalation from large demonstrations like “No Kings,” which have drawn millions to the streets. Joining this episode are Labor Notes staffers Luis Feliz Leon and Diana Varenik, who were there with workers in Minneapolis on January 23 and that weekend. Read Luis’ dispatch from Minneapolis: In the Twin Cities, A Massive Strike Against ICE

How Contract Fights Can Help Build Labor Power in 2026

More than a million workers across the manufacturing, telecomms, health care, grocery, higher education and other sectors will be taking on their bosses in major contract expiration fights this year.These campaigns are an opportunity for rank-and-file workers to build power on the shop floor and in their unions. They can also help workers strengthen connections across the labor movement to fight existential threats in this new era of deadly immigration raids and billionaire assaults against workers and the public sector.
Labor Notes organizer Keith Brower Brown joins pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann. Keith and Natascha wrote the piece, One Battle After Another: The Big Contract Fights Coming in 2026.

15,000 Nurses are on the Largest Nurses Strike in New York City in Decades

Thousands of nurses, members of the New York State Nurses Association, are heading toward the third week of their open-ended strike, an uncommon strategy among nurses and a rare show of organized strength and resolve.
They’re defending the safe staffing ratios that nurses have fought hard for and won through prior strikes; they’re fighting for better conditions for patients at underfunded hospitals like Montefiore in the Bronx; they’re demanding better protocols against workplace violence; and they’re fighting to make sure that management won’t just recklessly force the use of A.I. to replace the medical judgement of skilled and experienced human nurses.
Read Labor Notes' coverage this month of the NYSNA strike. 
Follow us on Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for labor news updates! 

Why Don't We Have More Labor Films? (w/ director Chris Sessions and Working Films)

The documentary Partners: How Starbucks Baristas Started a Labor Revolution charts the seemingly improbable course set off by a group of workers in Buffalo, New York, who organized the first Starbucks location in 2021 and helped to grow a highly visible, energetic movement.
The film casts Starbucks workers as a symbol of persistence in the face of vicious union-busting, and projects hope for renewed militancy among rank-and-file workers everywhere.
Director Chris Sessions and Andy Myers from Working Films join pod co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann.
Support Striking Baristas! 
1. Organize a screening of "Partners" in your community! Learn more: https://www.partnersthefilm.com/
 
2. Sign the "No Contract, No Coffee" pledge and don't buy from Starbucks during the strike: nocontractnocoffee.org
 
3. Contribute to the Starbucks Workers United national strike fund.
 
Check out our previous episode on the SBWU strike from November, featuring barista Sabina Aguirre and Labor Notes editor Jenny Brown.