Today on the show we’ve brought on Alex Press, a staff writer at Jacobin Magazine, to explore labor power — specifically, looking at how the strengthening of the labor movement through unions, strikes, and other workplace actions, is serving as a response to not only the harms inflicted by neoliberalism, but also how these institutions and actions can serve as direct responses to climate change-fueled disasters.
It’s been said that one of the best disaster responses is an organized workplace. In this episode, we’ll explore what we mean by that, take stock of the current labor landscape in the United States, and discuss how unions, strikes, and other forms of labor power can serve as ways to strengthen our collective and solidarity-focused muscles in a world of neoliberal capitalism.
Resources:
- In Obama’s Working, There is No Way Out, Alex Press’s piece in Jacobin
- Citations Needed — News Brief: 2000s Zombie Neoliberalism Lives On in Obama’s New Netflix Doc
- The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee
Credits:
- Hosted, edited, and produced by Robert Raymond
- Presented by Tom Llewellyn
- The Response’s theme music is by Cultivate Beats
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts.
Want to help spread the word? Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — it makes a huge difference in extending our reach and broadening our audience.
The Response is published by Shareable.
For a full list of episodes and resources to strengthen and organize your community, visit www.theresponsepodcast.org.
![]() |
Download our free ebook: “The Response: Building Collective Resilience in the Wake of Disasters” |