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Your Call

Worker Uprisings Continue Making Waves Across The Country

JUSTICE FOR FRITO LAY
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On this edition of Your Call, we’re discussing ongoing worker uprisings across the country.

In Alabama, more than 1,000 coal miners have been striking for better pay and benefits for the last five months. After three weeks on strike, Frito-Lay workers in Topeka, Kansas recently won a new contract guaranteeing pay raises and at least one day off per week. We’ll also get an update from garment workers in Los Angeles who are still fighting to abolish the piece-rate in favor of a minimum wage.

Guests:

Kim Kelly, labor columnist at Teen Vogue and freelance contributor whose work has appeared in the the Washington Post, the New Republic, The Nation and more. Her forthcoming book, FIGHT LIKE HELL: The Untold History of American Labor, will be out next April

Maximillian Alvarez, editor-in-chief of The Real News Network and host of the Working People podcast

Samuel Huntsman, Frito-Lay plant worker in Topeka, Kansas who helped organize the recent strike

Daisy Gonzalez, organizing director with the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles, which introduced The Garment Worker Protection Act (SB62)

Web Resources:

The Nation, Kim Kelly: Alabama’s Coal Miners Are Striking for Their Lives

Al, William Thorton: Striking Alabama miners planning rally Wednesday as strike enters fifth month

VICE, Mark McCarter: I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week

In These Times Magazine, Maximillian Alvarez: Striking Frito Lay Workers Say They Deserve More Than Crumbs

The Topeka Capital-Journal, India Yarborough: 'Strike over': Union Local 218 members approve Frito-Lay's latest contract offer, bringing Topeka strike to an end

Frito-Lay Statements Regarding Topeka Strike

Frito-Lay Worker Electrocuted, Denied Medical Care & Surveilled by Company Agents

Lea is a producer for Your Call on KALW Local Public Radio. She graduated from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2018.
Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.