Maximillian Alvarez is editor-in-chief at the Real News Network and host of the podcast Working People, available at InTheseTimes.com. He is also the author of The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke.
InterviewPodcast
A Small Texas Town Takes on Crypto Noise Pollution
The massive new Bitcoin mine is part of a plan to fill in Texas’s energy infrastructure—but it comes at the cost of locals’ health.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborPodcast
What Working People's Struggles to Survive The Great Depression Can Teach Us Today
Historian Dana Frank shares the stories of people who survived the Great Depression—and what lessons they offer working people today.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborPodcast
‘It’s Elon Versus Everyone’: A Dire Warning From Fired Federal Workers
A discussion with Cat Farman, Jasmine McAllister and Will Munger on the Trump Admin's plans for workers and how we can fight back.
Maximillian Alvarez
Podcast
Georgia Residents Left Behind After Toxic BioLab Fire
Residents of Conyers, GA affected by toxic chemical fire say the media and government have swept the incident under the rug.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborPodcast
Democracy dies, first, in the workplace
A conversation on how the decline of unions and the rise of inequality reveals the urgent need for a revitalized labor movement.
Maximillian Alvarez, Hamilton Nolan and Sara Nelson
LaborPodcast
Union Leaders Gear Up for the Long Struggle Ahead
The second Trump administration has promised to gut labor protections and endanger undocumented workers. Jimmy Williams of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades discusses the road ahead for organized labor.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborPodcast
Seven Unions Demand An End to US Military Aid to Israel
As the genocide of Palestinians continues, millions of American workers called for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the US-backed siege of Gaza.
Maximillian Alvarez and Mel Buer
LaborPodcast
A Microsoft AI Data Center Saps Water From A Small Mexican Town
After decades fighting against water bottling and beer companies, rural communities in Mexico are now also having to compete against Big Tech for water.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborPodcast
After Cornell Cracked Down on Pro-Palestinian Activism, its Graduate Student Union Fought Back
Members of Cornell's Graduate Student Union stand in solidarity with Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. candidate and student protestor who was suspended after pressuring the University to divest from Israel.
Maximillian Alvarez
ViewpointElection 2024
Trump's Army of Social Vigilantes Are Coming for Payback
For four years, disciples of MAGA have been waiting for this moment, stewing on the need for social and political retribution. The wait is over—and we need to be ready.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterview
After Biden Blocked Their Strike, Railroad Workers Weigh the Lesser of Two Evils
“I don’t think the screwing that we got in 2022 [is playing] any factor today,” one locomotive engineer says. “I can’t imagine any worker voting for Donald Trump.”
Maximillian Alvarez
Viewpoint
On Losing a Loved One to Alzheimer's—and Trumpism
I saw in my dying grandfather Trump’s ideal follower—and right-wing media’s ideal viewer.
Maximillian Alvarez
Interview
Refusing to be Forgotten in Environmental Sacrifice Zones
Ohioans from East Palestine and Toledo are still imagining and fighting for a healthier future, free from toxic waste and poisoned water.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborPodcast
The Long Road to Union Recognition: Trader Joe’s Workers Press On
The national chain, widely known as “Your Neighborhood Grocery Store,” continues engaging in unfair labor practices and fighting against workers’ unionization.
Maximillian Alvarez
Feature
Wasteland Warriors
“I showed up for East Palestine because I realized we are not alone.”
Maximillian Alvarez and Molly Crabapple
ViewpointClimate
Scenes From a Sacrifice Zone: South Baltimore Residents Fight Back Against Industrial Pollution
“I want everybody in this community to be able to breathe clean air, and it's time to say enough's enough.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
“Patients should not be treated like commodities”: Baltimore Nurses Are Fighting for a Transformative First Contract
Understaffing leaves nurses pulled in multiple directions and unable to offer optimal care. These nurses are fighting to change that.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Flooding in Brazil Has Displaced More Than 600,000 People From Their Homes as States Slash Prevention Funding
“Underneath is this deep-seated trauma that will last for years and decades and sometimes lifetimes for people.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Liz Oliva Fernández on Life in Cuba Under U.S. Embargo
“I didn't know how the sanctions affected me or my friends.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
South Baltimore Residents Have Had Enough of Rail Giant Pollution
Curtis Bay residents rallied at the CSX rail terminal with a simple demand: “We have to remove CSX for the health of our communities.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
How Big Business Made a Sacrifice Zone out of South Baltimore
Longtime Baltimore residents on the fight for environmental justice and what it feels like to be "sacrificed" by industry.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Baltimore Longshoreman on the Key Bridge Collapse: “It’s not surprising that this ship lost power.”
Veteran longshoreman John Blom on the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and the slow recovery ahead for port workers.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
In Ohio's Cancer Cluster, Workers Fight for Justice—and Transparency
“They hired the healthiest workers because it takes us longer to get sick.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
East Palestine is a Labor Issue
“Norfolk Southern has not kept their promise to the whole community to make it right.”
Maximillian Alvarez
Labor
The Baltimore Bridge Collapse is a Story About Deregulation
From Baltimore to East Palestine, deregulation is killing working people.
Maximillian Alvarez
Labor
Missing Baltimore Bridge Workers Weren't Informed of Mayday Call
“We have people who love us, who wait for us to come home.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Organizers Call on Biden to Issue a Major Disaster Declaration for East Palestine
Over a year after the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, residents are struggling to access critical healthcare. A coalition of activists from across the country is urging the Biden administration to take action.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Uvalde Father Brett Cross Is Fighting so That No One Else Has to Bury Their Child
“At this point, it's not a matter of if it's going to happen to you, it’s a matter of when.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Rail Jobs Don't Have to Be Deadly
Railroad corporations are packing schedules and loosening workplace safety standards. Workers are paying for it with their lives.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
As Norfolk Southern Reports Billions in Earnings, East Palestine Residents Wait for Justice
One year after the Norfolk Southern derailment, families are still struggling to relocate, find work, and access medical care.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
How Kaiser Workers Won
Over 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers walked out on a three-day strike, marking the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
A Major Seattle Sandwich Chain Fired a Union Organizer, Sparking Backlash—and Change
Workers at Homegrown voted overwhelmingly to unionize with UNITE HERE in late 2022. They’ve been fighting for a contract ever since.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Can Worker Co-ops Bring an End to Crappy Jobs?
“Co-ops create greater wealth in their communities. People keep that money in their communities.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborPalestineInterviewPodcast
The New York Supreme Court Just Blocked a Union From Voting on a Pro-Palestine Resolution
In a seemingly unprecedented move, the NY Supreme Court just granted a temporary restraining order preventing members of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys – UAW Local 2325 from even voting on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborPalestineInterviewPodcast
"I Want American Workers to Be United to Make the Occupation Costly, to Make the Israeli Apartheid Costly."
Palestinian activist Issa Amro calls on U.S. workers to fight for for justice and an end to the occupation.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Mass Protest Hasn’t Won the Change We Need. What Comes Next?
Reporter Vincent Bevins on his new book, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and The Missing Revolution.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
A Government Shutdown Would Shutter the NLRB. That’s Bad News for Striking Workers.
A government shutdown would place NLRB workers on furlough, leaving striking workers without a crucial ally in their fight.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
South Korea Declared War on Unions. Workers Are Fighting Back.
In the face of widespread repression, South Korean workers are rising up for fair pay and labor protections.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Autoworkers Are Fighting for the Future of the Industry
Stagnant pay and hazardous conditions have driven autoworkers at the Big Three to organize.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
West Virginia University Administrators Just Announced Massive Layoffs. Campus Workers Aren’t Going Down Without a Fight.
The new WVU budget slashes nearly 10% of majors and 7% of all faculty, but campus workers are fighting back.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Railroad Whistleblowers Keep Losing Their Jobs
Michael Paul Lindsey II, a locomotive conductor and engineer of 17 years, tried to sound the alarm on railroad safety. Not long after, he was fired.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
UPS Workers Aren't Afraid of a Fight
“[UPS management] love nothing more than to reward productive workers with more productivity. And people that keep up with that, by the time they’re 20 years in, they’re getting knee replacements, they’re getting hip replacements, their quality of life plummets.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
LGBTQ+ Workers Are Organizing to Fight the Right
“You can’t legally be discriminated against based on your identity, but…bosses are going to find any excuse that they want to justify firing people or retaliating against people.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Neoliberalism Has Wreaked Havoc on Canadian Workers. Now, They’re Charting a New Path.
“Labor has not survived unscathed. It is quite scathed.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Canadian Workers Are Saying No to Precarity
Workers at the Canadian Labor Congress came together to share stories and organizing strategies.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Cop City is Bad News for Working People
Kamau Franklin and Mariah Parker on the fight to stop Cop City in Atlanta.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Norfolk Southern Won't Clean Up Their Mess Unless We Make Them
“Even early on, I knew it would not be safe to go back home.”
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Southern Workers Are Building a Movement to be Reckoned With
“The South got something to say, workers here have something to say.”
Maximillian Alvarez
Announcing In These Times’ New Agreement with the National Writers Union
Freelance contributors are essential to the quality and success of In These Times and independent media, and this agreement is one way to demonstrate their value to our publication and our commitment to transparency.
For more information about the National Writers Union, visit nwu.org.
Read the full agreement, which reaffirms a floor for the rates of our freelance editorial content, as well as our current rates (which are higher) and submissions guidelines below.