Now in our 11th year on KPFT!

Going forward, new shows will post for Thursday at 6PM (CT) broadcast and re-run on Sundays at 1PM and Wednesdays at 11AM.

SHOW AUDIO: 

 

Link is usually posted within about 72 hours of show broadcast.

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Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio), a listener call-in show (every Monday night from 9-10PM CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My engineer and discussion partner is Egberto Willies (@EgbertoWillies).

For the purposes of this show, I operate on two mottoes:

• You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts;
• An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.

GUESTS: (More complete biographical info on my guests are below Source links.)

Rene’ Lara, Legislative and Political Director of the Texas AFL-CIO, which is a federation of public-sector and private-sector labor unions in Texas, including affiliates representing teachers, firefighters, plumbers, flight attendants, steelworkers, nurses, communications and electrical workers, and many others.(See more complete bio below topical links)

Lane Lewis, Chair of the Harris County Democratic Party

POSSIBLE TOPICS: Unions and Labor Day, and the future of the labor movement in America

• “Without the labor advances won by #Unions, #Capitalism itself might not exist today.” ~ Me
  • Let’s talk first about Labor Day. How was it created, and why is it in September instead of May Day, like the rest of the world’s equivalent labor celebrations?
• The Labor Union movement was strong after WW2. What happened to weaken it?
  • Conservatives have succeeded in villainizing unions in the minds of many workers. How have they accomplished that?
  • How can it be reversed?
• “We continually try to read Conservatives through Liberal-colored glasses. When we try to see things as Conservatives see them through their own eyes, understanding can arise. From that understanding can come effective Progressive responses.” ~ Michael R. Honig, 4/28/2015 (inspired by Jackson Galaxy)
  • Is that a trick that progressives and labor groups need to try to learn, and can they?
• Is the political labor pendulum beginning to swing the other way now?
• Judging from the current political and legal climate, it almost seems like labor organizing needs to start over again.
  • What will labor organizing look like as the 21^st century progresses?
  • Is Unionization Important to Closing Racial Wage Gap?         Study Says, SEPT. 4, 2015
  • The NY Times had an interesting article on workers’ committees (Workers Organize, but Don’t Unionize, to Get Protection Under Labor Law).
    • I loved this quote: “We feel that the group’s tactics are over the top,” said Carol Wight, chief executive of the New Mexico Restaurant Association. “I think there are nicer, more effective ways of getting what you want — achieving justice for workers.”
    • The article makes 2 important points:
      1. Unions, at least in New Mexico, have not shown much interest in organizing low-wage workers;
      2. “Workers Committees” are easier to organize than unions.
    • What does this development mean for workers in the future?
    • What does it mean for unions going forward?
  • Unions need money to do their work, whether it’s paying full-time officials, forming strike funds or funding political action.
    • Can unions survive in their current form, and if so, how?
    • If unions have to change, what might those changes look like?
  • Specifically, does the AFL-CIO and it’s brother and sister unions have new strategies going forward that we can discuss here tonight?

SOURCES WHICH MAY BE RELEVANT TO OTHER DISCUSSION:

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