logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2023
47m 29s

How U.S. Unions Took Flight

NPR
About this episode
Hot Labor Summer has continued into fall as workers in industries from retail and carmaking to healthcare and Hollywood have organized and gone on strike. Public support for the U.S. labor movement is close to the highest it's been in 60 years. And that's no surprise to people who work in one particular industry: the airlines.

Airline workers — pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, baggage handlers, and more — represent a huge cross-section of the country. And for decades, they've used their unions to fight not just for better working conditions, but for civil rights, charting a course that leads right up to today. In this episode, we turn an eye to the sky to see how American unions took flight.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Nov 20
Democracy Dies in a Day
How quickly can a government fall? Chile was once one of Latin America's oldest democracies, but that all changed in a matter of hours after a military coup on September 11, 1973. Some supported the coup; many did not. But for the next 17 years, all Chileans lived in the grip of ... Show More
51m 51s
Nov 13
The Creeping Coup
On the surface, the story of Sudan’s war is about two generals vying for power. But it’s also about a vast web of international interests involving the U.S., China, Russia, and the UAE. Today on the show, the story of how things in Sudan got to this point, and the effects of the ... Show More
50m 39s
Nov 6
Winter is Coming
Late last month, President Trump announced that the United States would be restarting nuclear weapons tests after a break of over 30 years. We’ve since learned that they won’t be the explosive kind of tests, but this sent us down a rabbit hole — where we found a story about dinos ... Show More
52m 18s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2024
Dispatch from Labor Notes & Railroad Workers United Conferences (Chicago, 2024)
<p><span style="color: #000000;">Two months ago, from April 17-21, workers and labor organizers of all stripes convened in Chicago for the bi-annual Labor Notes conference, which overlapped with the Railroad Workers United convention. As the registration website rightly noted, "L ... Show More
1h 29m
Feb 2024
"Shut It Down!": On the Ground at Johns Hopkins Grad Union's Practice Picket
<p>One year ago, graduate student-workers at Johns Hopkins University overwhelmingly voted to unionize under the banner of Teachers and Researchers United (TRU-UE), which is affiliated with United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers. While workers had much to celebrate with th ... Show More
36m 1s
Sep 2023
Christian O. Paiz, "The Strikers of Coachella: A Rank-And-File History of the UFW Movement" (UNC Press, 2023)
The past decades have borne witness to the United Farm Workers' (UFW) tenacious hold on the country's imagination. Since 2008, the UFW has lent its rallying cry to a presidential campaign and been the subject of no less than nine books, two documentaries, and one motion picture. ... Show More
1h 10m
Sep 1
TDS Time Machine | Labor Day
United we podcast, divided we beg. Take a day off thanks to unions, and listen to The Daily Show's tribute to labor. Sam Bee meets the French Canadian man that unionized Walmart. Author Philip Dray, visits to talk about labor and his book, "There is Power in a Union." Jon Stewart ... Show More
58m 5s
May 2023
Live From the WGA Picket Line and Why It Matters to You
The Writer’s Guild of America went on strike on May 2, 2023. The strike is more than just writers putting down their pens and picking up their picket signs, to fight for their rights. This strike also symbolizes “the beginning of a bigger conversation about morality and labor pra ... Show More
42m 33s
Sep 2024
How labor unions shape society
<p>The weekend. Social Security. Health insurance. What do these things have in common? They all exist thanks to the advocacy of labor unions. In this episode of TED Talks Daily, another podcast from the TED Audio Collective, political economist Margaret Levi explains how these o ... Show More
19m 33s
Sep 1
How labor unions shape society | Margaret Levi (re-release)
<p>The weekend. Social Security. Health insurance. What do these things have in common? They all exist thanks to the advocacy of labor unions. Political economist Margaret Levi explains how these organizations forge equality and protect worker rights, calling for a 21st-century r ... Show More
18m 2s
Aug 13
Can Southwest Airlines Survive? | Hard Landing | 1
<p>It's 2021 and for the first time in nearly 50 years, Southwest Airlines posts an annual net loss. Amid the crisis, thousands of Southwest workers head for early retirement. The next year, Southwest is short on staff as Americans return to the skies. Pilots and flight attendant ... Show More
40m 29s