by Maximillian Alvarez | May 27, 2026 | Economy, Economy and Inequality, labor, Podcast, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, Unions, Working People
Nearly a year after workers voted to authorize a strike, non-union city and commercially contracted security officers in Baltimore, Maryland, walked off the job on April 9 on an unfair labor practice strike against their employers, Abacus Corporation, Metropolitan Protective Services, and Urban Development Solutions. Now, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) say that workers have been retaliated against by Metropolitan Protective Services (MPS), alleging that the city contractor “fired and harassed workers following [the] lawful strike.” MPS denies these allegations and claims “that no employees have been terminated due to union involvement.” In this episode, we speak with Victoria Cox, a former MPS employee who worked to reach the rank of sergeant, and Daril Riley, a former MPS employee who reached the rank of corporal. Both Cox and Riley have had their shifts taken off the schedule—and, essentially, their jobs taken away—and both have been put under investigation by MPS since the strike in April.
Additional links/info:
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Underpaid, uninsured, held at gunpoint: Baltimore security guards strike for a union”
SEIU Local 32BJ website, Facebook page, and Instagram
Katherine Wilson, Baltimore Sun, “Baltimore contract security officers at city properties prepare to strike”
Featured Music:
Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Statement from Derrick Parks, CEO and President of Metropolitan Protective Services (5/26/26):
Metropolitan Protective Services, Inc. (MPSI) maintains that no employees have been terminated due to union involvement. We fully support our employees’ right to choose whether or not to join a union.
The individuals recently removed from the schedule were terminated for failing to maintain the current Maryland guard license required by the Maryland State Police.
by Marc Steiner | May 21, 2026 | Article, Gaza, Israel, Media Criticism, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, The Marc Steiner Show
by Maximillian Alvarez | May 20, 2026 | coal miner, Economy, Economy and Inequality, labor, Podcast, Politics and Movements: US, Trump, Working People
Since the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump and his acolytes, right-wing media, and coal industry barons and lobbyists have obsessively painted the picture of Trump as a friend to coal miners and the so-called “undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal.” But as labor journalist Kim Kelly reports at In These Times, “the simpering ’Trump digs coal’ image the administration seeks to project is vastly at odds with the actions it’s taken to limit miner protections, endanger their health, and exacerbate the black lung crisis consuming Central Appalachia.” In this episode of Working People, we speak with Kelly about the Trump administration’s latest betrayal of coal miners and their families and its underreported attack on the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission and abrupt, unprecedented firing of FMSHRC Commissioner Moshe Z. Marvit.
Additional links/info:
Kim Kelly website, X/Twitter page, TikTok, Bluesky page, and Instagram
Kim Kelly, In These Times, “Trump’s latest target: Coal miners’ safety”
Jordan Barab, Confined Space, “Friday night massacre at Mine Safety Review Commission”
Kim Kelly, In These Times, “The Trump administration ramps up its war on coal miners”
Kim Kelly, In These Times, “Trump to coal miners: Drop dead”
Featured Music:
Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Alright. Welcome everyone to Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today. Working People is a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and is brought to you in partnership with In These Times Magazine and the Real News Network. The show is produced by
by Marc Steiner | May 15, 2026 | Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, The Marc Steiner Show
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has shattered long-held hopes for Palestinian-Israeli coexistence and exposed the global systems sustaining the decades-long destruction of Palestine and the dispossession of Palestinians. In this special edition of the The Marc Steiner Show, commemorating the solemn anniversary of the Nakba, Marc speaks with world-renowned author and physician Ghada Karmi about the destruction of Gaza, the collapse of faith in a political solution, and the deepening despair felt by many Palestinians and Israelis alike today.
Guests:
Ghada Karmi was born in Jerusalem. Forced from her home during the Nakba, she later trained as a Doctor of Medicine at Bristol University. She established the first British-Palestinian medical charity in 1972 and was an Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs. She is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling memoir In Search of Fatima and One State: The Only Democratic Future for Palestine-Israel.
Credits:
Producer: Rosette Sewali
Studio Production: Cameron Granadino
Audio Post-Production: Stephen Frank
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Marc Steiner:
Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here on The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner. It’s great to have you all with us. As we begin our conversation, it’s important to remember that since October 7th, 2023, when the Gaza War began after the kidnapping of Israelis, 73,000 Palestinians have been killed. Over 20,000 of them being children and the land itself has been totally devastated. The program today is dedicated to the Nakhba. The day of remembrance when almost a million Palestinians were forced to flee from their homes, forced to flee for their lives,
by Marc Steiner | May 14, 2026 | Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, The Marc Steiner Show
While the world’s focus has shifted to the war in Iran, Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has continued, and Israeli settlers are rapidly and violently expanding illegal land seizures across the occupied West Bank, with the full backing of the Israeli government, military, and police. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with award-winning Israeli journalist, political commentator, and photographer Oren Ziv about how settler violence, land seizures, and the dismantling of the Oslo Accords-era boundaries are accelerating Israel’s efforts to permanently confine Palestinians and erase the possibility of a Palestinian state.
Guests:
Oren Ziv is an award-winning Israeli journalist, political commentator, photographer, and reporter for Local Call and +972 Magazine. Ziv the co-founder of The Activestills Collective.
Additional links/info:
Oren Ziv & Ariel Caine, +972 Magazine, “‘Erasing the lines’: How settler outposts are seizing new regions of the West Bank”
Credits:
Producer: Rosette Sewali
Studio Production: David Hebden
Audio Post-Production: Stephen Frank
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Marc Steiner:
Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here on the real news. I’m Marc Steiner. It’s great to have you all with us as usual. And my guest today, Oren Ziv, has written an incredibly powerful piece called “Erasing the Lines: How Settlers are Seizing New Regions of the West Bank” and it is published in the Nation Magazine and in +972. Oren is a reporter photographer, co-founder of The Activestills Collective and since 2005, has documented social and political issues in Israel-Palestine and has joined us numerous times before and joins us once again with his new work. And Oren, welcome. Good
by Kelly Hayes | May 14, 2026 | Borders, Fascism, ICE, immigration, Imperialism, Interview, Iran, Militarism, Podcast, War
“Trump is banking on the idea that the entire U.S. population is as cynical and hateful as he is. And evidently, it’s not true,” says Khury Petersen-Smith. In this episode of Movement Memos, host Kelly Hayes talks with Petersen-Smith about Trump’s “whenever wars,” the spectacle of militarized violence, and the anti-war movement this moment demands. From ICE raids in U.S.
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