Teachers in Hillsborough County are still in labor negotiations with the school district, including for promised pay raises. To find out where things stand after what the teachers consider a weak proposal this week, WMNF News spoke with Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins, the executive director of the Hillsborough teacher’s union, Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association (HCTA). Listen:
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Monday is May Day or International Workers Day; on MidPoint we speak with people helping to organize May Day rallies in the Tampa Bay area. The Tampa May Day march and rally is sponsored by 15 groups and is this evening from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. beginning at the Sociedad La Union Marti Maceo Cuban Club,… Read more »
May Day Rally Planned in Tampa This coming Monday is May Day, which around the world is a day to celebrate workers. There will be a May Day event in Tampa on Monday, May 1 starting at 5:00 PM. Host Rob Lorei spoke about it with local labor, immigration, socialist and racial justice activists Christian… Read more »
Five students at New College of Florida in Sarasota are giving up food for part of this week to show solidarity with migrant farmworkers; Third-year social sciences student Alex Schelle is doing it in part to call attention to a boycott by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers against the Wendy’s fast-food chain. Listen: Another student,… Read more »
USF faculty launch efforts for better pay and working conditions Adjunct faculty members do a lot of work at colleges and universities. Many core courses are taught by adjuncts — professionals who are essentially part time workers, with no job security. At the University of South Florida (USF), some adjuncts have joined together to try… Read more »
Host Rob Lorei talked with two speakers who gave talks in the area on Wednesday, March 15. One addresses how government informers trick people into doing things that will get them arrested on terrorism related charges, and another about the conservative populist movement that resulted in the election of Donald Trump. How far will the federal government go… Read more »
The Senate hearings for Donald Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, Andy Puzder, will likely be delayed until February; but workers opposed to his confirmation still demonstrated outside a Hardee’s restaurant Thursday afternoon on West Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. Puzder is CEO of a company that includes the Hardee’s chain and labor activists criticize him for… Read more »
http://sound.wmnf.org/sound/wmnf_161209_110617_radioactivityF1_337.MP3 BY Rob Lorei On Radioactivity Friday we heard from Fred Rotondaro, a member of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of high-net worth Americans who in a press release yesterday came out against Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of labor, Andy Puzder. Puzder is the Chief Executive of CKE Restaurants, which francises the Hardee’s and Carl’s… Read more »
Low-wage workers across the country are protesting and even walking out of work Tuesday as part of what’s being called a “Nationwide Fight for $15 Day of Disruption.” At noon in St. Petersburg more than 70 workers crammed the steps of City Hall, chanting, holding signs and listening to speeches. Gail Rogers works at the… Read more »
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/radioactivity/~3/IlEJcWHqFhk/wmnf_161028_110617_radioactivityF1_337.MP3 On Radioactivity Friday we talked with a leading labor spokesperson about working class voters in this election. Our guest was Rich Templin, Ph.D. and Legislative & Political Director of the Florida AFL-CIO. Templin gave us a Florida union perspective on the biggest labor issues facing working Floridians in this election.
http://sound.wmnf.org/sound/wmnf_161014_110617_radioactivityF1_337.MP3 By Rob Lorei Our guest on Radioactivity Friday was Economist Richard Wolff. He is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City. Wolff is the author of several books… Read more »
A Florida newsroom appears close to forming a union; reporters at The Ledger of Lakeland will vote soon on whether to unionize to help stem the tide of layoffs. This may be the first newsroom to unionize among Florida newspapers. Gary White has been a news reporter at The Ledger for almost 14 years; WMNF News spoke with… Read more »
