The Labor Notes Podcast

What do you do when you work at a public school in a “right-to-work state” that also bars public employees from collective bargaining? And what happens, when your school district exploits its leverage over employees to snatch raises owed to workers? 

Members of the Durham Association of Educators in North Carolina turned to the tried and tested principles of collective action. They helped channel members’ frustrations into action, brought more school workers into the union, and built an escalation campaign that empowered members to hold out until their demands were met—and they won. 

Theirs is among several stories of strategic, persistent organizing featured in the new Labor Notes book, “Keep Going: A Guide To Organizing When It’s Hard,” by Ellen David Friedman—Organizing that gets the goods, even against what may seem like stacked odds. 

Author and Labor Notes board chair Ellen David Friedman and Durham Association Educators member Carlos Pérez join the pod. 

Order your copy of “Keep Going” here!

And read Ellen David Friedman’s Labor Notes interview with DAE’s Carlos Perez and Allison Swaim on their organizing wins in North Carolina.

You’ve learned the passes on the campaign mountain, figured out your co-workers’ most widely and deeply felt issues, and polished up your 1-1 skills. It’s time to start bringing in your co-workers—with the humble spreadsheet. 

List-building is a foundational organizing function that helps you map your workplace, reach out to members, and assess the strength of the union you’re building together.

This episode is based on a recent piece by Labor Notes Organizer Lisa Xu, “List-Building 101, or How to Expand Your Reach as a Troublemaker.”

It’s natural to feel overwhelmed by the boss’ relentless union busting (it’s why they do it!) and to get discouraged by lapses and disengagement by union leadership.

It can also compound the difficulty of organizing—figuring out how to make a meeting worthwhile, how to connect with members when it feels like your shop floor is in disarray, or even getting through concrete tasks like drafting agendas and to-do lists when everything starts feeling heavy. 

That’s when a return to basic organizing principles—and coming up with structural solutions with our co-workers—may be the way forward. 

Teamsters Local 804 Organizer Antonio Rosario and Sarah Slichter from the Movement of Rank-and-File Educators, join the pod.

A.I is a management power grab, disguised as an inevitable technical upgrade. To fight it, workers can use four strategies proven in the past: name the real problem; unionize it; ransom it; and block it.

Also read the piece by Labor Notes Organizer Keith Brower Brown: Four Union Strategies to Fight on A.I.

The Fair Share Amendment in Massachusetts, which passed in 2022, has helped offer free community college to tuition residents, provide free school meals for students, run free regional buses, and has helped to fund a multi-billion-dollar capital program for public higher education and vocational high schools.

It’s a tax on the rich that brought in $3 billion in 2025 and went toward public education and transportation. Read more in the piece by MTA president Max Page: “We’re Making ‘Tax the Rich’ More Than a Slogan.”

The measure was the result of organizing by groups including the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition, which the Massachusetts Teachers Association has teamed up with. 

Page, also a member of the Raise Up Massachusetts steering committee, joins the pod along with former MTA president and retiring Labor Notes Organizer Barbara Madeloni.