Electricity bills for millions of utility customers are skyrocketing across the U.S. while the number of households facing extreme utility debt is mounting. Energy costs are being turbocharged by the AI data center boom, which is prolonging the burning of fossil fuels in the face of intensifying climate chaos. Overseeing all this is a powerful regime of investor-owned utilities that dominate our…
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The United States is on the road to a form of neofascism that, if allowed to complete its course, will have long-lasting impacts on all aspects of society. Indeed, the Trump administration is carrying out a series of policies that target the very foundations of a free and open society — including an unrelenting assault on higher education and the U.S. education system in general.
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President Donald Trump launched a war against workers as soon as he reclaimed power in January 2025. Now, nearly a year into his second administration, it’s possible to take stock of the year’s notable victories and the challenges looming in 2026. Some of the administration’s immediate moves included rescinding a Biden-era executive order that raised the minimum wage for federal workers…
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While media executives orchestrate mega-merger deals this winter, media workers are facing a maelstrom of job cuts and anti-union hostility, with old patterns of inequity surfacing in a wave of corporate consolidation and technological disruption. Those two faces of corporate media were in the spotlight earlier this month, when red-clad members of the New York NewsGuild stood passing out…
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On Monday, Nov. 24, after more than 1,100 days on strike, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh members were cheered on by supporters at a rally in downtown Pittsburgh before returning to work at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Even though strikers have returned to work, however, many issues at the center of the strike are still in legal limbo—and their fight for a fair contract is not over. In this episode of Working People, we speak with three Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh members—Bob Batz. Jr, Natalie Duleba, and Steve Mellon—about where things stand now, how their lives have changed since returning to work, and what it takes to hold the picket line for over three years.
Additional links/info:
Pittsburgh Union Progress website
Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh website, Facebook page, and Instagram
Bob Batz Jr. & Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Union Progress, “Pittsburgh journalists vote to end country’s longest strike and notify the PG they are returning to work”
Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, “Post-Gazette strikers send company return to work offer”
Sara Scire, Nieman Lab, “What newsroom organizers learned from the years-long strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette”
Featured Music:
Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
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 within these Times Magazine and the Real News Network. This show is produced by Jules Taylor and made possible by the support of listeners like you. My name is Maximillian Alvarez, and as we reach the
The House has voted on a bipartisan basis to restore labor rights to 1 million federal workers after President Donald Trump yanked them away in an executive order earlier this year, in a rare show of defiance against the president by over a dozen GOP members. In a 231 to 195 vote on Thursday afternoon, the House passed the Protect America’s Workforce Act, which would nullify Trump’s orders in…
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