Heartland Labor Forum

It’s May Day and this week the Heartland Labor Forum is celebrating International Workers Day with songs to raise the spirit, an interview from 1997 with Studs Terkel on the […] The post HLF-May1-2025-May Day! – Songs, History, and Rants to Celebrate Worker Power appeared first on KKFI.

What do you do when the head of state comes after your union with 6,000 cops and a license to kill? We’ll get advice from John Dunne who had his […] The post Remembering the British Miners’ Strike after 40 Years with Miner John Dunn appeared first on KKFI.

We see their work everywhere: big cities, small towns, schools, tall and short buildings. These craftsmen are bricklayers and masons. Many can be called artists. This week on the Heartland […] The post Labor Leader Series: Dustin Himes from Bricklayers & Allied Craftsworkers Local 15 and Rep Tobias Schlingensiepen: Fighting Fascism from Germany to KS appeared first on KKFI.

The surest way to defeat a union is to create division within it. Many in management excel at pitting workers against each other, but this week we’ll talk with organizers […] The post How Do We Overcome Internal Division in Unions? and Beneath REI’s Green Sheen: Union Busting, Debt Bondage, and Partnership with Eco-Criminals appeared first on KKFI.

Right after he became President Trump marked another milestone on the trail of broken promises when he cut funding for Haskell Indian Nation’s University in Lawrence, crippling its teaching capacity […] The post Layoffs at Haskell Indian Nations University: Treaty Violation? And Property Tax Reform: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly appeared first on KKFI.

We’ll interview labor historian Jeff Stilley about Kansas City’s greatest labor champion you never heard of — Frank Walsh, labor lawyer, defender of radicals and visionary for future labor law. […] The post Why Has America’s Greatest Labor Progressive: Frank P. Walsh Been Forgotten? and The School District Bond Issue with Dr. Jennifer Collier appeared first on KKFI.

The MO Legislature is at it again – trying to subvert the will of the people.  This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we’ll talk to Missouri State Reps. Pattie […] The post Will the Missouri Legislature Undo the Will of the Voters? and Former AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff: Love Is Solidarity in Action appeared first on KKFI.

With President Trump’s dismantling of the federal bureaucracy in full swing, led by Elon Musk’s DOGE, federal workers are under siege. But unionized federal workers are fighting back. We’ll talk with leaders […] The post Federal Unions Fight Back appeared first on KKFI.

This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we’ll get a report from last weekend’s Workers Strike Back Conference organizing to win a $25 minimum wage and healthcare for all. Then, […] The post The Workers Strike Back Conference and Julie Greene on Who Built the Panama Canal and Trump’s Bullying appeared first on KKFI.

Union organizer and photojournalist David Bacon joins us to discuss cross-border labor solidarity, the fight for immigrant and domestic workers’ rights, and how grassroots organizing is reshaping the future of […] The post David Bacon on Domestic Workers Organizing and Nancy MacLean: Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan appeared first on KKFI.

Have Trump’s tariffs got you confused?  How will they affect jobs and prices?   We’ll talk to trade expert Lori Wallach, of Rethink Trade. She’s a 30-year veteran of international and […] The post Explaining Tariffs and How They Affect the Working Class and Hidden in Plain Sight: the $8.5 trillion in Untaxed Income of the Rich appeared first on KKFI.

In Auburn New York in 1840 William Freeman, an imprisoned Black teenager, demanded pay for forced labor, l leading to violence. We’ll talk to author Robin Bernstein about the first […] The post Freeman’s Challenge; The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit by Robin Bernstein and The KC Campaign to End Gender Violence in the Workplace appeared first on KKFI.

It’s all about chickens and those nuggets that are presumably made from them. We’ll talk to Patrick Dixon about his new book, Nuggets of Gold and then to Alice Driver who […] The post Nuggets of Gold: Processed Chicken and the American Diet by Patrick Dixon and The Life and Death of an American Worker by Alice Driver appeared first on KKFI.

Kansas City building trades unions want area towns to pass Responsible Bidder Ordinances requiring public works contractors to provide good jobs with apprenticeship training and opportunities for continuous employment for […] The post What’s Responsible Bidder Language? and Are There Dire Days Ahead for Labor Under Trump? appeared first on KKFI.

We’ll have two remarkable union leaders. Laura Kelly (no it isn’t the governor of Kansas) from UFCW Local 655 where she’s assistant to the president. She says, “the union changed […] The post “The Union Changed My Life” UFCW’s Laura Kelly and Union Leader Series: New KC Federation of Teachers President David Price appeared first on KKFI.

The union of bus drivers in Kansas City local 1287 of the Amalgamated Transit Union or ATU is bogged down in negotiations with the Area Transportation Authority or ATA amidst […] The post Public Transit Union Fights Service Cutbacks appeared first on KKFI.

As we begin the new year, we look back at highlights from the Heartland Labor Forum in 2024. We’ll hear clips of some of the most interesting interviews, features, and […] The post The Best of 2024 of the Heartland Labor Forum appeared first on KKFI.

Starting in the 1940s US labor officials worked with the CIA to split militant unions overseas and overthrow neutral governments in an obsessive anti-communist crusade that helped make poor countries […] The post Blue Collar Empire — The AFL-CIA and Trump’s Labor Department Pick appeared first on KKFI.

Anticipation or dread, what’s YOUR prediction for 2025? Will the current upsurge in support for unions and worker organizing continue, or will the next administration squash labor rights? Will threats […] The post Heartland Labor Forum’s Annual Crystal Ball Show appeared first on KKFI.

Do feel assaulted and confused by the abundance of Medicare Advantage ads filled with endorsements by celebrities? Tune into the Heartland Labor Forum Thursday as we clear up deceptions and […] The post David Kingsley Asks: Is Medicare Advantage a Scam? and Shifting Gears; Canadian Autoworkers and the Changing Landscape of Labour Politics appeared first on KKFI.