Episode 5: Is This The Upsurge?

Duration
0:00 / 44:54
Published
April 6, 2023

Things are shifting for the labor movement in the US. In the past few years, we've seen increases in unionization campaigns, strikes, and public approval of unions. But do these upticks in labor activity amount to a labor upsurge?

To explore this complex and exciting labor moment, we spoke with Barry Eidlin, associate professor of sociology at McGill University and the author of Labor and the Class Idea in the United States and Canada (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Barry studies class, labor, politics and social movements. He's an expert on the decline of labor in North America, but he's also got his finger on the pulse of its potential resurgence.

Right now, Barry has his eye on two titans of the labor movement: the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers. Both recently ousted their complacent, pro-business union heads in favor of more militant leadership. And both may launch enormous strikes this year. 2023 – we are in for a ride.

*

Hosted by Teddy Ostrow

Edited by Teddy Ostrow

Produced by NYGP & Ruby Walsh, in partnership with In These Times

Music by Casey Gallagher

Cover art by Devlin Claro Resetar

**

Support the show at Patreon.com/upsurgepod.

Follow us on Twitter @upsurgepod, Facebook, The Upsurge, and YouTube @upsurgepod.