Our trip to Minneapolis centered around a showing of Greg Palast’s New documentary film “Vigilante: Georgia’s Vote Suppression Hitman.” The film is about Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and his long, and we mean long, history of voter suppression. Some of his tactics have made national news, but the depth of the schemes has mostly escaped […]
Chicago is the home of many victories for labor and for working people. The eight hour work day was born in Chicago, though not many of us know that. It’s a city rich with history and a city where unions are a way of life. In short, it’s our kind of city. We spent the […]
The national stories about Flint are all about the negatives, especially about he ongoing water crisis, but the reality is different. There are problems, as there are in any small city, and the water is still a serious concern, but there is so much more going on. We spent the day at the Flint Farmers […]
When we say that Baker’s Bar & Lounge in Hamtramck is a dive bar, we say that with affection. It’s a local place for local people, and a perfect place to talk about working-class issues with the people closest to them. The bartender at Dave’s is also an elected official – the City Clerk. And […]
After spending the day with some of Erie’s finest activists, public servants, union leaders, and business owners, we prepared ourselves for an exciting event going on that evening. It’s just a few weeks before Election Day, and the campaigns are criss-crossing the state, making sure they do everything they can to get their voters out […]
After maybe the best breakfast we’ve ever had at Dabrowki’s on Erie’s east side, complete with pancakes the size of our heads and a server and cook who swore like a sailor and made us feel right at home, we set up shop for what would become a very full day. Our hosts are one […]
Scranton is a beautiful small city with an active downtown and lots of economic potential. But the history of the city, and of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, lies under the ground, hundreds of feet under the ground. So that’s where we went, 300 feet under the ground into a coal mine, to see what work was […]
We hate to lead with the bad news, but to understand towns like Reading, PA and the grit of the people there, it’s good to know that it is and has been one of the poorest towns in America for many years. In 2011, the poverty rate was over 41%. As recently as 2018, it […]
The first stop on our tour is also the title of one of the most iconic working class anthems in American music history – Allentown, Pennsylvania. Billy Joel fans have been singing the name for a generation: Well, we’re living here in Allentown And they’re closing all the factories down Out in Bethlehem, they’re killing […]
Before we set out on the road to begin the Working-Class Heroes, we decided to sit down with some of our favorite labor leaders to see what they had to say about the tour, and what they thought we might discover once we’re out there. First, we spoke to old friend and AFA-CWA President Sara […]