Elise Bryant shares Marge Piercy's powerful poem "The Low Road" from this year's Great Labor Arts Exchange, Eric Bernardino tells the story of Emma Tenayuca and the 1938 San Antonio Pecan Shellers' Strike, and we visit Akron's Rubber Worker statue as part of the People's 250 project. We also hear Kenyetta Dunston's stirring poem "We Didn't Come This Far to Go Back," learn how labor activists won a groundbreaking living wage ordinance in Madison, Wisconsin, and mark the anniversary of the Taft-Hartley Act and the worker resistance it inspired. Plus: latest labor art news, a bonus People’s 250 visit to Ben’s Chili Bowl, two versions of the Taft Hartley Song and Robin Roberts sings If It Weren't For The Union.  

As Marge Piercy reminds us: "It starts when you say we and know who you mean."

Broadcast on June 25, 2025; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. Thanks to America’s Work Force Radio Podcast for the Eric Bernadino segment. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Our featured segment is Art Is a Hammer to Shape the World, a panel moderated by longtime union organizer and author Ken Grossinger (Art Works: How Organizers and Artists Are Creating a Better World Together). Panelists include textile artist Tabitha Arnold, Puerto Rican labor organizer Edwin Morales, artist and organizer Josh MacPhee, and Labor Heritage Foundation board member and DC Labor Chorus director Elise Bryant. Together they explore how art and culture strengthen movements, build community, preserve memory, and help workers imagine a better future.

We also sample two of the new Labor Culture moments introduced at this year’s Great Labor Arts Exchange—brief performances woven into Labor Notes workshops and panels—including appearances by Jordan Bridges of the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice and singer-songwriter Joe Jencks.

Plus: Harold Phillips with Labor Arts & Culture News, Labor History in 2:00 visits Chicago’s historic stockyards, another installment of the People’s 250 project, lifting up the stories of working people who shaped America, and music from the Great Labor Arts Exchange.

The Labor Heritage Power Hour is heard Thursdays at 1 p.m. Eastern on WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, DC and on stations across the country via the Pacifica Network. The show is also available through the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

For more photos, videos, reports, and interviews from the 2026 Great Labor Arts Exchange, visit laborheritage.org.

Broadcast on June 18, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

We start with Harold Phillips' Labor Arts News, featuring SAG-AFTRA's new contract, a major union victory for public library workers in Kansas City, and a preview of labor arts events around the country.

Then we hear an inspiring AFL-CIO convention address from SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin, who reflects on his journey from actor to labor leader and explains why unions remain essential to democracy and worker power.

Next, we visit Seattle's remarkable labor mural with the Labor Archives of Washington, uncovering a story of preservation, solidarity, and anti-fascist labor history.

From America's Workforce, historian and union activist Max Krochmal discusses organizing higher education workers across the South and the lessons today's labor movement can learn from multiracial organizing campaigns in Texas and Louisiana.

We'll also visit Barre, Vermont's historic Socialist Labor Party Hall, one of the last surviving labor halls of its kind in America, and close with Labor History in Two on the downfall of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the labor movement's struggle against the Red Scare.

Broadcast on June 11, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Broadcast on June 4, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Then Harold Phillips heads to Bellingham, Washington for a conversation with playwrights Lantz Simpson and Victoria McCallum about The Last Words of Joe Hill, a contemporary theater piece imagining legendary labor organizer and singer Joe Hill walking into a modern coffee shop union drive. Through clips from the play and a wide-ranging interview, they explore labor memory, Starbucks organizing, songwriting, storytelling, and why working-class history still matters to young workers today.

Along the way, we hear new stories from the People’s 250 campaign, including the story of Virginia Snow, the rebel educator and organizer who helped defend Joe Hill during his 1915 trial, and a remembrance of the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike that brought Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis. Plus: this week’s labor arts calendar, labor arts news, and Labor History in 2:00 on the Matewan Massacre and the road to Blair Mountain.

Broadcast on May 21, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Plus, historian James Benton joins the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss how NAFTA and decades of failed trade policy devastated working-class communities across America, and we hear another organizing story from the People’s 250 campaign, featuring a Georgetown student and restaurant worker fighting for a union in Washington, D.C.

We also mark labor history with stories from the 1968 Paris General Strike and the 1975 La Tolteca strike, where undocumented Mexican women workers in California organized, fought back and won.

Broadcast on May 14, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Plus, Labor Arts News on the Ball Without Billionaires, SEIU’s cultural organizing under April Verrett, major union updates from IATSE and SAG-AFTRA, and a new newsroom union in Madison. We head to the University of Maryland’s letterpress studio, where workers can print their own strike signs, and dig into the legacy of the Haymarket Affair with historian Peter Cole—who asks: who controls history?

We also feature the May 5 Bay View Massacre in Labor History in 2:00, and a story from the People’s 250 campaign reminding us that working people’s history is still being written.

Broadcast on May 7, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

We also head to Detroit for a new UNITE HERE arts residency that gives union members paid time to develop their creative voices—an innovative effort to build solidarity and expand the reach of labor storytelling. (Deadline to apply: May 15!)

Plus, we dig into labor history with labor historian Rudy Batzel talking with America’s Workforce Radio Podcast about how race, class, and strikebreaking shaped the movement—and still do today. As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, historian Joe McCartin introduces the #Peoples250 campaign, lifting up working-class stories and inviting everyone to help tell a more complete history of the United States.

This week’s Labor Landmark takes us to Birmingham, Alabama, where two Black union leaders stopped a Ku Klux Klan bombing—an extraordinary act of courage rooted in labor and civil rights organizing. And in Labor History in 2, we look at the ongoing fight for workplace safety.

Our music this week is Hope by Carsie Blanton, a reminder that solidarity, courage, and care—put into collective action—are what keep the movement moving forward.

Broadcast on April 30, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

We also get the latest labor arts news from across the country, including wins for library workers and new union drives in media and entertainment.

In our Labor Landmark of the Week, Sarah Gray takes us to Tacoma, Washington, to honor Solidarity Forever author Ralph Chaplin.

Then we head to Portland, where union musicians are building a “third space” through monthly solidarity socials—bringing together music, conversation, and community.

In the latest instalment in our Story Behind the Song series, Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner of Magpie explore how Eugene V. Debs’ historic anti-war speech inspired their song Canton 1918.

And in Labor History in 2:00, Rick Smith remembers legendary labor singer-songwriter Hazel Dickens, whose powerful voice carried the stories of coal miners and their families. Plus, a preview of a new Labor History Today conversation with Joe McCartin, Stephen Lerner and Jeremy Brecher on how “Resisting Trumpism Can Revive the U.S. Labor Movement.”

Music from Anne Feeney, Magpie, Dave Rovics and Patti Smith.

Broadcast on April 23, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport.

Artist Janna Ahrndt joins Kathy Newman to explore the hidden labor behind digital life—from email overload to automation myths—and why “time-saving” tech often creates more work.

On this week’s Labor Landmark, archivist Conor Casey brings us the story of The Seattle Union Record, a pioneering labor-owned newspaper. Plus, labor helps Jackie Robinson break the color barrier on Labor History in 2:00, and the latest labor arts news briefs, including the rescue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by a nonprofit newsroom, a new union contract securing AI protections for CBS News writers, and a successful union drive by ESPN hair and makeup artists.

Music this week includes “Never Surrender” by the R.J. Phillips Band and “Get Organized” by Floorchild.

Broadcast on April 16, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport.

We also get the latest labor arts news, including the announcement of the 2026 DC Labor FilmFest lineup, organizing victories across the cultural sector, and updates from unions representing musicians, writers, performers, and library workers.

Plus: a Labor Landmark of the Week from the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum’s Courage in the Hollers trail, and a special excerpt from What They Could Never Kill, our recent Billie Holiday/Paul Robeson special, featuring Billie Holiday’s haunting “Strange Fruit,” followed by Paul Robeson’s “Joe Hill.” Broadcast on April 9, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport.

Plus, the IWW relaunches a grassroots labor film series in Bellingham, Washington; and musician Tom Kastle brings Joe Hill’s story to life in a NYC performance this Saturday.

Also: labor arts news, spring chorus concerts, and Labor History in 2:00 on the 1968 KMPX radio strike.

Music: Tom Kastle’s “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night” and “Preacher and the Slave”.

Broadcast on March 19, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Harold Phillips; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

But first, Harold Phillips brings us the latest Labor Arts News, including updates on the Labor Oscars voting, the General Strike Song Contest, and several important labor organizing victories across the country.

Then we dive into Elise Bryant’s International Women’s Day special, featuring conversations with labor leaders and activists about women’s organizing, labor history, and the ongoing fight for workplace justice and equality.

Guests include Chelsea Bland, President of the Metro DC Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), Sig Milius, DC CLUW leader and Director of the Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO and Daniella Byck, member of the Washingtonian Guild (CWA).

The program explores the legacy of women in labor history, the continuing struggle for pay equity and worker power, and the organizing campaigns happening right now in Washington, DC and across the country.

Music featured in this episode includes: “Union Woman” – Lynn Marie Smith; “We Were There” – Bev Grant & the Brooklyn Women’s Chorus; “Misogyny” – Anne Feeney; “We Can’t Go Back” – Hali Hammer; “Bread and Roses” – SongRise.

The show also highlights women labor leaders who have broken barriers in the labor movement, including Liz Shuler, President of the AFL-CIO, Roxanne Brown, President of the United Steelworkers and April Verrett, President of SEIU.

📺 Vote in the Labor Oscars: Check out the nominees and cast your vote on the LHF YouTube channel. 🎵 Submit a song to the General Strike Song Contest: Deadline: April 11; Details at laborheritage.org 📅 Labor Arts Calendar, Labor Landmarks Map, and more labor arts news. Broadcast on March 12, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Broadcast on March 5, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @SEIU @SAG-AFTRA

Support the Power Hour on WPFW’s listener-powered radio: call 202-588-9739 or 1-800-222-9739 or go to wpfwfm.org or give on PayPal.

Broadcast on February 26, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Broadcast on February 5, 2026; Chris Garlock, host/producer; Harold Phillips, producer/announcer (labor arts news); Patrick Dixon, producer (Correia interview); David Correia interview by Sean Duffy; WPFW engineering by Kahlia Chapman.   The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Then, from the Labor Notes podcast, director Chris Sessions and Andy Myers of Working Films discuss the documentary Partners: How Starbucks Baristas Started a Labor Revolution and how screenings are being used to build real-world solidarity.

Plus: the latest labor arts and history news and Labor History in 2:00.

Broadcast on January 29, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Shannon Drake; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborNotes @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

We begin with cultural critic Kathleen Newman, who reflects on labor themes surfacing in contemporary film and television—from Netflix’s The Beast in Me to Apple TV’s Pluribus—and how stories of power, class, and exploitation continue to shape popular culture.

Next, historian Rudi Batzell takes a deep dive into the roots of division within the U.S. labor movement. Drawing from his work on race, class, and strikebreaking in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Batzell explores how racial divisions—and the legacy of slavery—shaped the limits of early union organizing. This segment comes from a labor history series produced by Patrick Dixon for America’s Work Force Radio, hosted by Ed “Flash” Ferenc.

We close with highlights from the powerful DC Labor Chorus 2025 holiday concert—songs of resistance, solidarity, and immigrant justice that remind us why music remains central to movement-building.

Plus: the latest labor arts news, including registration now open for the 2026 Labor Notes Conference and Great Labor Arts Exchange, organizing wins across the museum sector, and more. Broadcast on January 22, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Harold Phillips; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

We begin with a conversation about the post-pandemic union upsurge. Labor organizer and researcher Eric Dirnbach talks with Dave Kamper, author of Who’s Got the Power: Hope for Troubled Times, about graduate student organizing, teachers’ strikes, the UAW’s stand-up strike, and the return of solidarity as a force for change. Drawing on history and recent victories, Kamper reflects on why moments of crisis can also be moments of possibility.

Then we head to Italy with a report from the Working Class History podcast, taking us to the 2025 Working Class Literature Festival at the occupied former GKN factory outside Florence. There, workers are fighting not only to save their jobs, but to transform their workplace into a cooperative—while creating space for writers, artists, and organizers to tell their own stories. PLUS: The 1916 Youngstown Massacre and Carsie Blanton’s “Little Flame”.

From union halls to occupied factories, from organizing drives to poetry and song, this episode reminds us that labor history isn’t just something we remember—it’s something we’re still making.

Broadcast on January 8, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

From there, The Dig digs into the political moment, with Eric Blanc, Leah Greenberg, and Waleed Shahid examining the liberal resistance’s sharp left turn and what it means for organizing and strategy moving forward.

On Labor Radio from WORT in Madison, it’s a packed labor news roundup—from state worker rallies and dairy workers authorizing a strike to Starbucks organizing wins and fights over school voucher transparency.

We also hear from Heartland Labor Forum, which takes on the often-overlooked issue of mental health in the labor movement, spotlighting union-led programs that support members and their families.

Our unusual pick this week comes from the Power Line Podcast, featuring a tailgate conversation with Austin Carr—known online as “America’s Favorite Lineman”—on life in the trades and how social media is reshaping work and identity.

Plus, in our Shows You Should Know speed round, we spotlight more voices across the Network, including The Wealthy Ironworker, Boiling Point, RadioLabour Canada, El Cafecito del Día, and The CWA Hour of Power, and we pause to remember Ken Nash of Building Bridges.

👉 Subscribe, listen, and follow us at laborradionetwork.org @thedigradio @powerlinepodcast @coalition_labor

@Heartland_Labor#LaborRadioPod #1u #UnionStrong #WorkersVoices #SolidarityMedia @AFLCIO

Help us build sonic solidarity by clicking on the share button below. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.

Produced by Chris Garlock, edited by Patrick Dixon, social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

“It ain’t about you," Cratchit says. "It’s about us.”

Click here to support the San Francisco Mime Troupe and here to support WPFW’s jazz and justice in the New Year! Produced by the San Francisco Mime Troupe; Broadcast on December 18, 2025; WPFW broadcast engineered by Kahlia Chapman. @SFTroupers @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

We’ve also got Labor Arts News Briefs, including big wins for PAs organizing with LIUNA, a new contract at the Los Angeles Times, and a first contract victory at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Plus: exciting news about the return of the Labor Oscars and Labor Grammys under the Labor Heritage Foundation’s banner.

Then we turn to Labor History in 2:00, tracing the fall of the Knights of Labor and the rise of the American Federation of Labor — two very different visions of the labor movement.

Plus a sneak preview of next week’s show, the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s radio drama, A Red Carol.

Broadcast on December 11, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Then we travel back to December 3, 1946, when Oakland workers shut down their city in a historic general strike. Drawing on accounts from Stan Weir, we tell the story of how one unlikely pop hit—“Pistol Packin’ Mama,” by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters—blared from jukeboxes dragged onto the sidewalks, becoming the unofficial soundtrack of the uprising and reminding us how popular culture and class struggle collide in surprising ways.

We close with a joyful preview of the DC Labor Chorus’ annual Favorite and Sacred Songs concert (Sat., Dec. 6, free; RSVP here). We feature a powerful medley including “None of Us Are Free,” “We Did Not Come This Far” and a union-flavored holiday wish for justice and good contracts—a taste of the spirit, harmony, and solidarity waiting for audiences this weekend.

Broadcast on December 4, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and stations across the country on the Pacifica network.

Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; editing by Patrick Dixon, produced by Chris Garlock, engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman.

The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Then, historian Peter Cole takes us to the Philadelphia waterfront with Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly. Recorded at the 9th annual Reuther–Pollack Labor History Symposium, hosted by the WALS Foundation, Cole tells the story of one of the most important—and too often forgotten—Black labor leaders in American history, who led an interracial, militant IWW union decades before the Civil Rights Act.

Broadcast on November 20, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and stations across the country on the Pacifica network. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

In our first segment, photojournalist and union organizer David Bacon talks with photographer Jim Brozek about his exhibit Honest Work at the Museum of Wisconsin Art. Brozek captured working life from the inside — as a crew member, ranch hand, and farm worker — documenting labor’s rhythm, camaraderie, and physical toll from 1976 to 1985.

Then, we turn to Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County, an award-winning exhibit at the McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington, Illinois. David LeGrande, former Occupational Safety and Health Director for the Communications Workers of America, interviews Mike Matejka about the hidden cost of corporate greed and the community’s ongoing fight for justice.

From ships and fields to factory floors, these are stories of workers’ courage, creativity, and solidarity.

Broadcast on October 30 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and stations across the country. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Then we head to Camp Solidarity in Matewan, West Virginia for “Lessons from the Massey Strike.” UMWA veterans Charles “Hawkeye” Dixon, Howard Phillips, and Eddie Burke take us inside the 1984–85 fight with Massey: the tactics, the unity, the losses, and what it took to stop production and keep a union alive.

All hour long, it’s WPFW’s Fall Fund Drive. If the music, history, and first-person voices you hear here matter to you, help keep Jazz & Justice strong and independent: wpfwfm.org or 1-800-222-9739; $12.50/month makes you a sustainer; any amount makes you family.

Broadcast on October 23, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and Pacifica stations and affiliates across America. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Then Dan Golodner, co-host of the Tales from the Reuther Library podcast, talks with Dr. Kendra Boyd, author of “Freedom Enterprise: Black Entrepreneurship and Racial Capitalism in Detroit”, which explores the history of Detroit’s Black migration, entrepreneurship, and the struggle against so-called “Negro removal” as urban renewal projects dismantled thriving Black business districts.

Plus: the latest labor arts news, including new unions at the San Diego Zoo, Broadway contract fights, Writers Guild recognition at children’s TV producers, and a remembrance of former United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard, honored for his deep support of labor art and culture.

Broadcast on September 25, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. and other Pacifica stations.  Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Broadcast on September 11, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio @kgrossinger #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Williams takes us into the history of Racine, Wisconsin — a small industrial city where, in the 1970s and 80s, workers built cross-racial, cross-sector alliances that transformed their community. From “total person unionism” to coalitions linking labor, civil rights, and women’s movements, Racine’s story offers a powerful blueprint for building democracy and justice today.

This episode also features John Lewis Says Freedom, a brand-new song from musical storyteller and political satirist Charlie King. WPFW’s Summer Fund Drive—support the station for jazz and justice here or call 202-588-9739.

Tags: labor history, worker solidarity, Racine Wisconsin, Naomi Williams, Shauna Redmond, unions, WPFW, Summer Fund Drive, civil rights, total person unionism

Broadcast on August 14, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. and other stations across America on the Pacifica Network. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Kimmon “Macgyver” Williams; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

We mark the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal with a revealing conversation between author Mark S. Ferrara and labor educator Linda Donahue, who explore the hidden histories of the immigrant diggers, displaced communities, orphan mule drivers, and working-class women who built and lived along the canal. Ferrara’s book The Raging Erie tells a vivid and unsettling story of how labor shaped — and was shaped by — one of the nation’s greatest infrastructure projects.

Then, we turn to Charlie King, who reflects on the chilling echoes of McCarthyism in the 1980s when American Express asked potential Louisville workers: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of a union?” His response: a stirring modern protest song that’s as relevant today as ever.

Plus: your weekly Labor History in 2:00 from Rick Smith. The Labor Heritage Power Hour originates on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. and is broadcast on stations across the Pacifica network. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

We celebrate John Lewis' birthday with Linda Allen’s “Good Trouble,” and hear fiery remarks from APWU President Mark Dimondstein, winner of the 2025 Joe Hill Award, on the power of labor history, resistance, and the role of the arts in the fight for justice.

Plus: Labor arts news, contract wins from the SNL VFX crew, video game performers, and Annapolis Symphony musicians. And we remember civil rights legend Ida B. Wells and the 1934 San Francisco General Strike in this week’s Labor History.

Check, check—1, 2, 1, 2—don’t miss this packed episode of labor voices, music, poetry, and power.

Broadcast on July 17, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Hosted by Chris Garlock. Produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and broadcast on WPFW 89.3 FM and the Pacifica Network.

🖥️ Watch full performances from Laborpalooza on the Labor Heritage Foundation YouTube channel.

Broadcast on July 10, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and Pacifica stations across the U.S. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Then we head to San Francisco for a preview of this year’s LaborFest, commemorating the 1934 General Strike with a month-long lineup of labor walks, films, music, and international solidarity. Organizer Steve Zeltzer shares what’s on tap this July—and why art and culture remain vital tools in the struggle for workers' rights.

Originating on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and broadcast on Pacifica Radio stations across the country. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

Proud founding member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network

Then in part two of our conversation with artist and movement strategist Ricardo Levins Morales, he reflects on lessons from the road, the forest, and the picket line. From hitchhiking as a radical teen to defusing activist conflict, Morales offers a deeply rooted vision for organizing that centers healing, clarity, and a commitment to winning. He unpacks the difference between messaging and truth-telling, the power of a second grader’s sense of justice, and the trickster wisdom we need to navigate today's challenges.

Plus: Labor History in 2:00 remembers a powerful day of solidarity in 1946 New York, and a brand-new song from the Dropkick Murphys.

Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant. Produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation, airing on WPFW 89.3 FM and the Pacifica Network. A proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

Broadcast on May 29, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @rlmartstudio @dropkickmurphy3 @michael_deforge @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Also on the show: a Labor History Month crossover with the Labor History Today and Power At Work podcasts, as historians Joe McCartin and Veronica Martinez-Matsuda connect past and present struggles—from PATCO to Trump’s anti-worker agenda. And we remember radical songwriter T-Bone Slim, whose century-old labor ballads still resonate today.

Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @allisonpugh.bsky.social @georgetownkilwp.bsky.social @uaw.org @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Broadcast on March 27, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @rlmartstudio @AcuffStewart @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Then, writer, cultural critic, and activist Tom McMahon suggests that the horror in Robert Eggers' 2024 film Nosferatu is really about “a vampiric aristocracy that’s siphoning the societal lifeblood of capital, their need to consume taking precedence over all other social bonds, leaving the world to bear the burden of their indifference.” Interview by Tom Zaniello.

On Labor History in 2:00: The year was 2011; that was the day that labor movement took an historic stand in Madison, Wisconsin. Broadcast on February 27, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Sources: "In Fast Food, Worker Stress is the Business Model" Robert Eggers 'Nosferatu' is a Symphony of Horror @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Broadcast on January 2, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @JoeJencksMusic @PowerAtWorkBlog @AFSCME  @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

“It ain’t about you," Cratchit says. "It’s about us.”

Click here to support the San Francisco Mime Troupe and here to support WPFW’s jazz and justice in the New Year! Produced by the San Francisco Mime Troupe; Broadcast on December 26, 2024; WPFW broadcast engineered by Kahlia Chapman. @SFTroupers @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

On today’s show, AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler joins us to launch the “My Favorite Labor Song” feature, and then we’ve got a preview of the DC Labor Chorus’ upcoming holiday concert (this year on November 7; get your free tix here), and in our final segment, Radical Songbook host Michael Funke’s “Making Cars Medley” of songs in honor of the UAW’s historic Stand Up Strike. Plus, Labor History in 2:00 on Louisa May Alcott’s “Work: A Story of Experience”. Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. @wpfwdc @aflcio @LizShuler @tmorello @UAW #1u #unions #laborradiopod

@BklynCollege411 @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Broadcast on Sept. 5 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. (Replay from 9/2 Labor Day show)

Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman.

The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod