This is the story of what happens (and what's happening) when the American workforce tries to get a seat at the table.  Our guides to strikes, unions and the labor movement are Kim Kelly, journalist and author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, Eric Loomis professor of History at the University of Rhode Island and author of A History of America in Ten Strikes and our friend Andrew Swan, an 8th Grade Social Studies teacher in Newton, MA among many other things.

One or two hour music specials for Labor Day or Labor Day Weekend. Two hours of hand-picked music. Program Director Michael Marsolek has been producing music shows and holiday specials for more than 25 years.

 Worked Over

At the height of the industrial revolution in the late 1800s, Americans rose up to fight horrible working conditions and extremely long work hours. Labor Day is the celebration of their success. But ironically, today, we work just as much, if not more than they did. Working hours on average have increased by 13% since the 70s – that’s about five extra weeks of work per year. And we work more than our peer countries. Sociologist Jamie Calls this “labor’s forgotten fight.” He’s author of "Worked Over: How Round-the-Clock Work Is Killing the American Dream" and teaches at Middlebury College. 

Labor unions have been among the most active supporters of DACA – the program that allows undocumented immigrants work in the United States if they came to the country as children. Unions helped get DACA implemented nine years ago during the Obama administration – and now as DACA’s fate continues to be contested in the courts – unions are calling for Congress to create a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Cornell University labor law expert Shannon Gleeson says it boils down to two things: Inevitability and survival.

The word "barbecue" is not just used to describe a type of food, it represents a cultural institution. What if barbecue is truly first and foremost, something as big as an event; a cultural phenomenon? What if barbecue has more of a social aspect to it than simply a culinary sort of meaning? Celebrate with us as we delve into history and commentary of "barbecue" and it's social implications.

On July 17, 1944, two Liberty ships anchored at the Port Chicago Munitions Case near San Francisco exploded, killing 320 men and injuring 390. It was the worst homefront disaster of World War II. A majority of the casualties were African-American sailors who loaded ammunition onto the ships at Port Chicago. Shortly after the explosion, the African-American munitions loaders who survived were transferred to a nearby base and ordered back to work. Shaken by the death of their workmates and afraid that another explosion might occur, 50 men refused. In the largest courtmartial in Navy history, they were all convicted of mutiny and sentenced to up to fifteen years of hard labor. In January 1946, only months after the war ended, all convicted men's sentences were suspended as part of a general amnesty. While these men were allowed to return to civilian life, they were left angry, ashamed, and afraid they would be fired from their jobs or worried that they would be seen as unpatriotic. As a result, some did not discuss the case, even with family members, for more than 50 years. Originally broadcast on This American Life in 1996.

For over a hundred years the Mohawks of Akwesasne, a reservation on the New York-Canada border, pursued the occupation of ironworkers, one of the most dangerous jobs in construction. Mohawks were on the high steel crews of every bridge and skyscraper in Manhattan, commuting between job and their 12-hour-distant home every weekend, and became famous for their skill, daring and major contribution to the skyline of New York. This is the story of men plying a difficult craft in the modern world while cleaving to tribal customs in an ancient world -- a balancing act that has taken its toll in lives and relationships. An honest, intimate and informative portrait of an unusual occupation and the Native Americans who made it their own.

Remembering Mother Warren - A look into the labor history of one of the world?s oldest paper mills Remembering Mother Warren unearths the culture of an industrial community, the drama of life working for a once-great employer, and probes the meaning of workers? memories in the face of disruptive industrial change. Produced by Big Talk on WMPG, it is a 30-minute documentary that traces the labor history of the S.D.Warren paper mill in Westbrook, Maine. You?ll hear stories from generations of mill workers and managers, including Shirley Lally, a 30-year veteran who sorted reams of paper by hand, Phil LaViolette, who recalls the struggles of Warren?s Franco workers, and Howard Reiche, a former mill manager who describes the mill?s paternalism and the favoritism encountered by workers prior to unionization. Other workers tell the history of the S.D. Warren ?family,? of their experiences in the mill dating back as far as the 1920s, of the extreme heat, dangerous equipment and deadly accidents, a forgotten1916 strike, unionizing in the 1960s, and of the mill?s recent decline. University of Maine historian Charles Scontras, and University of Southern Maine economist and labor historian Michael Hillard provide analysis of the mill?s unique labor history. ?Remembering Mother Warren? is produced by Big Talk members Jessica Lockhart, Michael Hillard, and Claire Holman. Narrator: Thomas Lestage, President PACE Local 1069. Project Historians: Eileen Eagan and Michael Hillard. Additional narration by Paul Drinan. ?Remembering Mother Warren? won First Place in Public Affairs from the Maine Association of Broadcasters 2003. Sponsored by the Southern Maine Labor Council, AFL-CIO, with funding from the Maine Humanities Council. e-mail us at bigtalk@maine.rr.com

Matthew Works has been living on the streets of Boston for over a decade. Here he remembers one of his last paying jobs, assembling braille typerwriters, which thrust him into a Dickensian nightmare. Producer Chelsea Merz has been chronicalling Matthew's life on the streets for the last few years. This story was taped at a pizza joint in downtown Boston.