Episode 84: Resurgent Union Organizing in the US (with Gabriel Donnelly)

Gabriel Donnelly, a young labor activist and Marxist-Humanist, joins the co-hosts to discuss his new article,
“Workers’ Self-Organization: New Unionization Drives and Their Contradictions.” Drawing on his conversations with workers fighting to organize their workplaces, as well as his personal experiences, Gabriel talks about how the new unions and unionization campaigns depart from established unionism and about the link between the resurgent unionism and social movements like Black Lives Matter. He and the co-hosts discuss the history of unionism in the US ways in which it is inspiring workers’ resurgent organizing and aspects of the past that serve as warning signs. They also discuss his argument that the new unionization drives are battling against “twin gulags,” collective-bargaining laws and regulations as well as traditional trade-unionism. A previous article by Gabriel, on the Amazon Labor Union’s victory in Staten Island, is cited during the discussion.

In the episode’s current-events segment, Brendan and Andrew commemorate the second anniversary of the fascistic January 6 insurrection by discussing the top takeaways from the House committee’s final report.

Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by MHI, but the views expressed by the co-hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

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