UNLOCKED!
We're very excited to be launching a new, wide ranging series on the history of allegations levied against unions of corruption and relations with organized crime. Ever since the formation of the first labor unions, the capitalists and their media have been denouncing organized labor as corrupt, violent, led by racketeers, and in bed with the mob. This allegation remains common today, and what better way to help fight these ideological attacks on unions than by confronting these allegations head on and examining the historical record. And of course, there's no other place we could start than with the case of Jimmy Hoffa, whose reputation looms large as one of the most notorious figures in US labor history. To rigorously examine his case, we will have to go all the way back to the founding of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and follow allegations of corruption from the early days of the union up through today.
In this episode, we discuss how the ruling class attacked unions for supposedly being corrupt from the very beginning, and used the media to minimize violence by bosses and amplify stories of violence by workers. In future episodes we will go through a century of Teamster history, the rise of Jimmy Hoffa, his presidency of the union and his fight with the Kennedys, his imprisonment, his disappearance, and ultimately his legacy. Along the way we will do our best to separate real instances of corruption from the mountain of insinuations and rumor, and discuss what lessons we can learn for our organizing today.
Ep 99 - David Beats Goliath
Overtime Episode 14 PREVIEW - The Decline of American Unionism - Part 3
Ep 98 - Millions of Strikers Can’t Be Wrong
Overtime Episode 13 PREVIEW - The Decline of American Unionism Part 2
Ep 97 - Ferries to Nowhere
Overtime Episode 12 PREVIEW - The Decline of American Unionism – Part 1
Ep 96 - Strike Breakin’ Ghost Trucks
Ep 95 – Union Democracy Gets the Goods
Shop Floor Discussion 2 PREVIEW – Colombian State Violence
Ep 94 - Working Overtime at the Hershey Prison
Ep 93 – Minor Leagues, Major Exploitation
Ep 92 - Unionize Temp Workers!
Shop Floor Discussion 1 PREVIEW – The Freedom Convoy and the Problem of Tailism
Ep 91 - Company Unions are Fascist Unions
UNLOCKED - The Nature of the State Pt 1
Ep 90 - Gig Nurses, Lean Railways
Overtime Episode 11 PREVIEW - The Repressive State Apparatus Pt 4 - The Imperial Boomerang
Ep 89 - There is no Family in Family Dollar
Overtime Episode 10 PREVIEW - The Repressive State Apparatus Pt 3 - Guns, Drugs, and NGOs
Ep 87 – Seafood Super Spreader
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