Dolores Huerta won the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her life of organizing workers, especially migrant farmworkers. With Cesar Chavez she co-founded the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. Huerta will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg in Fox Hall. WMNF began our interview by asking… Read more »
ACORN Founder Wade Rathke Subject of New Film The Organizer Talks About Community Organizing
Read MoreSDS plans May Day and USF sanctuary campus rallies; plus, listeners react to airstrikes on Syria
Read MoreSex worker solidarity group opposes "bathhouse ordinance" in Hillsborough
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Pasco teachers rally to protest Florida education bill
Read MoreHillsborough teachers & supporters rally outside school board meeting
Read MoreUSF grad student union decries Florida "union busting" bill
Read MoreFlorida House will vote on bill opposed by unions
Read MoreTeachers and supporters protest outside Sarasota County Schools
Read MoreWalt Disney World labor unions reject offer
Read MoreHillsborough teachers not impressed with bonus offer
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Living wage ordinance passes in St. Petersburg
The St. Petersburg City Council recently passed an ordinance that requires many companies doing business with the city to pay their employees a living wage. WMNF News interviewed Charlie Gerdes, one member of the St. Petersburg City Council who voted for the living wage ordinance. Listen: “We passed an ordinance that requires any contractor or… Read more »
How can sexual misconduct be prevented in the workplace?
What can be done to successfully prevent or reduce sexual misconduct in the workplace? Sexual Violence Prevention programs have been established in workplaces for decades. But as a barrage of incident reports flood our news feeds and consciousness, those programs seem useless. What can be done to measurably diminish harassment, violence, and abuse in organizations… Read more »
Taxes would skyrocket for grad student workers under House bill
The Republican tax bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives would dramatically increase taxes paid by graduate students doing much of the teaching and research on university campuses; we speak with two graduate assistants from the University of South Florida. Erin Sauer and Marcy Cockrell are co-presidents of USF Graduate Assistants United. Last Thursday… Read more »
Disney workers living near poverty fighting for a pay raise
A 2014 report by the Associated Press found a rash of homelessness among children living in the Central Florida communities around Walt Disney World. There were more than 1,200 homeless families with children just in Osceola County. “Homeless advocates blame the housing problem on the low-paying wages of the service economy and the rents in… Read more »
Assistance available to Floridians who lost jobs due to Hurricane Irma
Floridians who lost their jobs because of Hurricane Irma may be eligible for help from the government. WMNF News interviewed Alice Cobb, director of programs at Career Source Pinellas and Career Source Tampa Bay, which are offering Irma recovery assistance for workers in the area. “We have various types of assistance. For example, we are… Read more »
How you can help Coalition of Immokalee Workers after Hurricane Irma
In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, we hear how the migrant farming community of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has been affected; and we hear from Tampa Bay residents upset at their power companies. We took phone calls; our guests was Roger Butterfield of the Student Farmworker Alliance. From the website of the CIW, Coalition of… Read more »
A look at school bus driver working conditions
Tuesday morning a Pinellas County Schools bus driver let students off the bus ten blocks away from their destination at Lealman Innovation Academy; according to a press release from the St. Petersburg Police Department, the driver said she let the as many as 39 sixth through twelfth grade students off for safety reasons. One student… Read more »
Union head: teachers spend own money on classroom supplies
Public school students go back to class in several counties across the Tampa Bay area Thursday, and many of them will have teachers who have to dig into their own pockets to buy classroom supplies. To find out the scale of the problem, WMNF News spoke with Mike Gandolfo, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers… Read more »
Unions fight for living wage for Disney workers
Thousands of unionized workers at Walt Disney World parks are negotiating for a wage increase and other benefits; and like what happened after previous wage hikes, the laborers hope that if they win a victory, higher wages will spread to other workers in the huge service industry in Central Florida. WMNF News interviewed Ivette Garcia,… Read more »
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Libertarian Republicans Powered by Billionaire Money Plan to Undo Gains of Last 100 Years
Nancy MacLean on her new book “Democracy in Chains” A lot of books have tried to explain the rise of conservative power that poses a direct challenge to the reforms that came about under the New Deal, the labor movement, the Civil Rights movement, and the Great Society. In her new book, a Duke University… Read more »
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Is Uber’s Business Model Heading for Collapse?
The American Health Care Act stalls in the Senate The Republican Party’s long-promised repeal of “Obamacare” is in trouble after Senate GOP leaders, short of support, abruptly shelved a vote Tuesday on legislation aimed at fulfilling the pledge. The surprise development leaves the legislation’s fate uncertain while raising new doubts about whether President Donald Trump… Read more »
Scientist Warns of Danger of Storm Surge During Hurricanes
Leading local expert on hurricane storm surge flooding risks The hurricane season began on June 1st and it lasts until November 1st. The potential for a catastrophe is huge here in the Bay area if a category three storm or higher hits us. By one estimate, if a major storm directly hits the Tampa Bay area, there… Read more »
Urban Planner Joshua Frank on Radioactivity Wednesday
The Solution to Tampa’s Traffic Problem? Tear Down I-275? With its mostly elevated lanes, the interstate chops up communities and cuts through North Tampa, Sulphur Springs, Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, West Tampa and the Westshore area. The Florida Department of Transportation wants to expand, through what they call the TBX Plan. The plan would add… Read more »
