Organizing Workers

Ellen David Friedman tells David Foote that Marx helps a labor organizer focus on reality. The nature of work is changing worldwide. A workforce constantly switching jobs presents a challenge for organizing. Both Ellen and David are involved with the new Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. Recorded September 2, 2020.

Teachers Organize

David Foote interviews lifelong labor organizer Ellen David Friedman focusing on teachers’ struggles. A decade ago in Chicago the teachers’ union, led by the rank and file caucus, instead of just bargaining about salaries and working conditions turned to addressing social justice issues as well. The movement has spread around the country. In New York City the rank and file caucus has led the drive to keep schools closed while COVID-19 presents a danger to teachers, staff and pupils and their families alike. Ellen has also been working with workers locally, who are trying to organize in many sectors. Recorded September 2, 2020.

Housing People Can Afford

Theresa Alt and Conor Bednarski talk about their visions for affordable housing. Examples really exist. In the 20th century until the 1970s unions supported housing construction in New York City. The state gave money for mixed-income housing through Mitchell-Lama. Community land trusts allow people to buy their dwellings but not hugely profit when they sell them, so that the homes remain affordable. Vienna has been using tax money to build attractive housing since the 1920s. Recorded August 17, 2020.

Police Abolition

David Foote and Theresa Alt look at DSA’s support for police abolition. The endorsed website #8toAbolition gives a good framework: 1) Defund the police; 2) Demilitarize communities; 3) Remove police from schools; 4) Free people from prisons & jails; 5) Repeal laws criminalizing survival; 6) Invest in community self-governance; 7) Provide safe housing for everyone; 8) Invest in care, not cops. Some of these, like housing, represent big local problems. Recorded August 7, 2020.

Police Issues: Where We Go Next

René Rojas reemphasizes that people who emigrated from the South to Northern cities and faced unemployment were forced to turn to crime to survive. Policing and incarceration are a cheap response to lack of a safety net. Abolition will get rid of the symptom of racist policing; it will not improve the quality of life in poor communities. Shift money from police budgets to address the underlying problems, but police budgets won’t yield enough money. Recorded July 16, 2020.

Police Issues: How We Got Here

René Rojas tells Deirdre Silverman that today’s protests are much larger and more widespread than those of the civil rights era. They involve all levels of society, urban & rural. Police are not just doing what they always have done but are responding an economic crisis caused by deindustrialization and lack of jobs. Recorded July 8, 2020.

Tenants: Know Your Rights

Attorney Bill Niebel tells Theresa Alt what tenants should be aware of even before they sign a lease, as well as what their rights are to privacy and a habitable place to live while they are renting. If it should come to the threat of an eviction, there are many ways to forestall that. Help can come from the Ithaca Tenants Union and other sources Recorded June 22, 2020.