by Maximillian Alvarez | May 1, 2026 | Economy and Inequality, labor, Podcast, Politics and Movements: US, Unions, video, Working People
After decades of decline, the organized labor movement in the US has seen a resurgence in rank-and-file militancy over the last decade, with increased strike actions and union drives in industries across the economy. And in the story of this recent revival of labor in America, the movement led by predominantly young baristas to unionize coffee giant Starbucks has played a pivotal role. The new documentary Baristas vs. Billionaires takes viewers on a journey through the last five years of the epic, ongoing struggle to unionize Starbucks, told by some of the workers and organizers at the center of that struggle. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with director of Baristas vs. Billionaires and Academy Award nominee Mark Mori, and with legendary actor and Academy Award nominee Alec Baldwin, who is a producer on the film.
Additional links/info:
Baristas vs. Billionaires website
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “‘Starbucks is the largest labor violator in modern history’: Starbucks workers prepare for indefinite national strike”
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “How union organizing can change your life and the world: A conversation with Jaz Brisack”
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Want to unionize your workplace? These worker-organizers have some advice”
Featured Music:
Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
Credits:
Studio Production / Post-Production: David Hebden
Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Transcript
MAXIMILLIAN ALVAREZ: Welcome back to The Real News Network. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. In the post-World War heyday of American manufacturing and industrial unionism, when the middle class was exploding, about one in every three workers in this country was part of a union. But today, as working people face a punishing cost of living crisis, an evaporating middle class, and Gilded Age levels of
by Adam Johnson | Apr 30, 2026 | Article, Israel, Media Criticism, Opinion, Politics and Movements: US, The Cultural Front
The Atlantic, along with the New York Times, is the quintessence of elite liberal opinion. It is popular with Democrat-aligned readers who are high-income and high-status, and shapes the Acceptable Range of Discourse on the American left, such as it is. What it publishes matters, but—more importantly—it matters to people who matter. Thus, it’s useful to, on occasion, stop and highlight their editorial priorities.
In the past two weeks, the Atlantic has published five stories with substantive discussion of left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, adding to a broader media outrage over the streamer’s alleged taboo comments on Hamas and shoplifting:
Israel Moderates Are Losing the Democratic Party (April 16) by Jonathan Chait: “The Democrats’ establishment opposes terrorism and backs a two-state solution; Piker and his allies want to cast that position as de facto support for the status quo, which is a single state controlled by Israel.”
The Problem With Hasan Piker’s Einstein Story (April 18) by Yair Rosenberg: “Critics on the right and left highlighted his refusal to condemn Hamas.”
Something Is Happening to America’s Moral Code (April 24) by Graeme Wood: “Piker said he would steal cars, ‘if I could get away with it.’”
Theft Is Now Progressive Chic (April 24) by Thomas Chatterton Williams: “At a time of kleptocratic governance and corporate oligarchy, Tolentino and Piker resort to a game of jaded whataboutism.”
Calling Trump a Tyrant Is Not a Call to Violence (April 28) by Jonathan Chait: “The prominence of Hasan Piker, an apologist for terrorism and a proponent of authoritarian regimes, has revealed a much broader comfort on the left with illiberal ideas and violent methods.”
This broader media panic, it’s worth
by Sharon Zhang | Apr 30, 2026 | Article, Israel, Media Criticism, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint
This article was originally published by Truthout on April 29, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
The CEO for the parent company of Politico reportedly told editorial staff at the outlet this week that they should wholly embrace the company’s corporate “values,” which include support for Israel, or find work elsewhere, new reporting reveals.
Jewish Insider reported on the meeting held this week between Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner and Politico staffers and executives.
He told staff on the call that “nobody should work for Axel Springer despite the essentials or in disagreement with one of the essentials.” Appearing to suggest that staff should find work elsewhere if they disagree, he went on to note that “there are many options where values do not play such a role — or where other values play a role.”
The CEO is referring to a set of corporate values, which it calls the “Essentials,” written by German founder Axel Springer in 1967. According to the company’s website, the second of the company’s five values is: “We support the right of existence of the State of Israel and oppose all forms of antisemitism.” Other values include that the company works to “uphold the principles of a free market economy.”
The meeting came after Politico staffers sent a letter on Friday to their new editor-in-chief and former Politico executive, Jonathan Greenberger, expressing concerns over Döpfner’s “repeated use of POLITICO to promote his political agenda.”
The letter, per Semafor, referred to two recent op-eds by Döpfner for Politico Magazine. One, in March, cheered on the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran and called for European states to take action against the “terrorist state,” which he claims aims for “the destruction of Israel and all
by October Krausch | Apr 30, 2026 | Article, immigration, Politics and Movements: US, prison reform, Prisons and Policing, Reprint
by Brett Wilkins | Apr 29, 2026 | Article, elections, midterms, Politics and Movements: US, Racial Justice, Reprint, Voting Rights
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on April 29, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Louisiana must redraw its 2024 congressional map—which created a second majority-Black district to mitigate persistent barriers to equal representation—in a decision that further guts the already tattered Voting Rights Act.
The justices ruled 6-3 along ideological lines in Louisiana v. Callais that the state’s map is “an unconstitutional racial gerrymander,” effectively voiding the last remaining provision of Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA), which allows voters of color to challenge racially discriminatory electoral maps in court.
The case centers on the redrawing of Louisiana’s six congressional districts to better reflect the population of a state in which one-third of the people are Black, as Section 2 states that minority voters should have the same chance as others to elect candidates of their choice.
Civil and voting rights advocates challenged Louisiana’s Republican-drawn and racially rigged congressional map. In 2022, a federal judge agreed that the map likely violated Section 2, and the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling, ordering Louisiana to draw a new map by January 2024.
Louisiana complied. But a group of non-Black voters challenged the new map, claiming it was a racially rigged creation that violated the 14th Amendment. The Trump administration supported the challengers, arguing that Black voters had no right to a second majority-minority district.
The Supreme Court’s right-wing justices—three of whom were nominated by Trump—agreed in Wednesday’s decision.
“Allowing race to play any part in government decision-making represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the right-wing majority. “Compliance with Section 2 thus could not justify
by Maximillian Alvarez | Apr 29, 2026 | Economy, Economy and Inequality, labor, Podcast, Politics and Movements: US, Unions, Working People
Inspired by January’s mass strike against ICE terror in Minnesota, a vast coalition of labor unions, democratic organizations, and community groups are organizing a nationwide economic blackout on Friday, May 1, International Workers Day. “May Day Strong events are being planned across the US,” Michael Sainato reports at The Guardian, “with organizers calling for ‘no school, no work, no shopping,’ in protest of government policies they say put billionaires’ needs above those of workers.”
In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of guests who are all involved in organizing May Day events this week from Philadelphia to Chicago to Iowa. Panelists include: Jana Korn, who currently serves as the chief of staff for the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, and also serves on the board of Philadelphia Jobs with Justice; Jeff Kurtz, a retired locomotive engineer and union officer who also served as a state representative in the Iowa House of Representatives; and John Emiliano, a healthcare worker and organizer in Chicago with the Tahanan Center and Tanggol Migrante, a grassroots Filipino migrant defense network.
Additional links/info:
May Day Strong coalition website
Workers Over Billionaires 2026 – Philadelphia Linktree
Workers Over Billionaires 2026 – Chicago details
Lee County (Iowa) Labor Chapter Facebook page and May Day 2026 details
Tahanan Filipino Center Instagram
Tanggol Migrante website
Latino Union of Chicago website
Michael Sainato, The Guardian, “US activists plan May Day economic blackout: ‘No school, no work, no shopping’”
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,
