The contract covering over 30,000 workers through the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY expired late last month, and members of the union are joining with CUNY students, alumni, and the NYC community to fight for a new contract that will not only improve working conditions for CUNY’s faculty and staff but also move toward a more equitable, just, and vibrant public university system in the largest city in the country. On tonight’s show, we speak with rank and file organizers Zoe and Evan on how PSC members are organizing for raises, justice, and community in a contract that reflects The People’s CUNY.
 

View upcoming actions and ways to support PSC-CUNY in their contract struggle at https://linktr.ee/psc.cuny.

The emblematic play by Nathan Alan Davis, currently in its world premiere at Arena Stage, connects America’s fraught racial past with its present.

Or - why aren't more electrician's women? A children's book published by lefty-publisher Hard Ball Press seeks to change this.

A discussion with DSA member and Stomp Out Slumlords tenant organizer Katlyn Cotton on the socialist vision of housing.

Tensions between building trades unions and environmental groups have existed for so long that they seem inescapable, yet both groups share the same objective – a livable future for people and the planet.

Atlanta DSA and YDSA GT Call on Norfolk Southern to Fully Fund East Palestine Cleanup, Compensate Residents and Meet Railroad Workers’ Demands!

For centuries, railroad companies like Norfolk Southern have prioritized profits for the capitalist class over the health and safety of their workers and the general public. Railroad workers endure notoriously brutal workplace conditions, are often expected to work on-call around the clock, and frequently suffer fatal accidents due to overwork and exhaustion. Meanwhile, as profits for billionaire shareholders rise, companies like Norfolk Southern continue to lobby in favor of industry deregulation and cutting corners – resulting in the slashing of maintenance, staffing, and equipment inspections as average train sizes increase – proving they see railroad workers as expendable.

In response to this exploitation, a majority of railroad workers nationwide rose up this past fall to reject an inadequate union contract which excluded crucial demands like sick leave and an end to Precision Scheduled Railroading. While workers prepared to strike, U.S. government officials invoked the antiquated Railroad Labor Act (RLA) to deny over 100,000 railroad workers the right to strike and tyrannically impose the unacceptable contract. Atlanta DSA and YDSA GT stand in full solidarity with the railroad workers, who continue to fight for better working conditions and reject Congress’s blatant labor rights violations.

Decades of deregulation have culminated in the derailment of multiple trains over the last month – including the horrendous incident on February 3rd during which a Northfolk Southern 32N train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, leading to a fire and subsequent evacuation of thousands of residents. This derailment was neither an “accident” nor “unavoidable”, as the Northfolk Southern executives would have you believe. On the contrary, this violent wreck – which endangered working people, contaminated drinking water, and even led to mass death of local wildlife – was the direct result of capitalist deregulation, attacks on workers’ rights, and the valuation of profits over the environment and human life. 

Atlanta DSA and YDSA GT join Railroad Workers United in calling for the immediate action of regulatory agencies and Congress to rein in Class One railroad corporations and pass legislation to place railroads under public ownership.

Additionally, we demand the following of Norfolk Southern, which is headquartered in Atlanta: 

1. Fund a massive clean up effort in the area around East Palestine to ensure no further damage is done to human health and the surrounding environment and watershed. 
2. Fully compensate every resident of the East Palestine area harmed by the derailment.
3. End the harmful business model known as Precision Scheduled Railroading, and ensure sufficient staffing in all crafts, with all trains operating crews of two people minimum.
4. Implement adequate maintenance and inspections of locomotives and rail cars, tracks and signals, wayside detectors, and cap train length and weight at a reasonable level.
5. Concede to the demands of railroad workers – guaranteeing them training, sick leave, adequate time off work, and an end to draconian attendance policies.
6. Terminate all lobbying practices aimed at abolishing or blocking safety rules and regulations that will help make the railroad safer.
7. Divest from the Atlanta Police Foundation and withdraw all support from the Atlanta police facility known as Cop City.

Further, we call on the Georgia Institute of Technology to cut ties with Norfolk Southern and its Board of Directors until it meets the above demands and ceases its attack on workers’ rights, destruction of the environment, and violence towards working people.

(A note from Troy DSA: Joining the Troy Partnership for Black Lives, we have signed onto this letter expressing our collective outrage at Troy Police killing a community member in a car crash last week and TPD’s ongoing history of reckless, dangerous behavior—this is police violence. The full text of the statement is included below.)

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We, the Troy Partnership for Black Lives, join our community in outrage to learn that another life has been lost due to the reckless driving of a Troy Police officer. Our deepest condolences and support go out to his family, friends, colleagues, and community. When will this City hold the Troy Police Department accountable for the violence they perpetuate on the very community they are supposed to protect and serve?   

Troy is not any different than Memphis or Atlanta where police officers have murdered Black and Brown people. On Wednesday, February 22nd just before 1:00 a.m., a Troy Police officer crashed into the car of a valued community member and father of newborn twins. The Troy Police Department has a history of failing to respect the lives of our community and neighbors, especially the lives of Black and Brown community members. This murder indicates that the Troy Police Department has not changed the practices and culture that have led to the loss of life in the past. Just like other times when Troy police have violated the rights and the lives of our community members, the first response of city and police officials is denial of responsibility, often including false information, before a thorough investigation can be completed. This was the response that began the cover-up of the police murder of Edson Thevenin in 2016 by the Troy Police, Rensselaer County DA, the Troy City Council, and Mayor Madden. 

The Troy Police officer was reportedly traveling at high speed through a dangerous intersection. Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, the officer acted with depraved indifference because his job as an officer and his responsibility as a human being was to do whatever was necessary in order not to harm or kill anyone with the lethal weapon of his car. The severity of the crash shows the sheer negligence of the officer, who drove with absolutely no concern for the safety of residents or the laws of New York State for emergency personnel. Unfortunately, this is not isolated behavior on the part of the TPD. 

Troy PD has a history of reckless accidents:

• February 22, 2023 – Hoosick and 15th St – TPD killed a local father and respected worker
• February 2023 – TPD entered an intersection speeding without a siren or slowing and nearly hit a car with a mother and her infant
• October 2021 – Middleburg St and 6th Ave – TPD ran a red light and totaled a car in the intersection
• June 2021 – 5th Avenue in Lansingburgh – TPD ran a red light and totaled a car in the intersection, but ticketed the driver for failure to yield
• January 2020 – TPD ran a red light totaling a work van in an intersection that sent the small business owner and father to Albany Medical Center with serious expenses, missed work, and a ticket for failing to yield to an officer despite video surveillance showing that TPD failed to slow while approaching a blind intersection
• July 2009 – a 5-year-old boy was killed by a TPD officer driving an unmarked SUV in South Troy 

Long-standing community demands for deep changes in Troy policing policy and practices have been ignored by Mayor Madden, the Troy City Council, Troy Police, and the Rensselaer County DA for years. Troy needs accountability and transparency led by those who are directly impacted by police violence and negligence. This includes: 

• an end to over-policing of Black and Brown communities, 
• an end to harassment of Black and Brown youth, 
• community-based alternatives to law enforcement in response to mental health and other crises, 
• investments in resources for our communities instead of more investment in police – for example, getting the lead out of the water of all Troy households while prioritizing the most vulnerable households.

Instead of listening to the voices of community leaders, the city has offered us public relations campaigns to protect the Troy Police and City rather than the lives in our community. Just this month, the New York Civil Liberties Union won a lawsuit against the Troy Police Department for refusing to provide police officers’ disciplinary records as required by a recent reform to New York State law. 

We do not want a kinder, gentler face on police violence. We do not want our taxes to fund TPD’s $19.5 million dollar budget. We want our children and families to be safe and community well-being to be prioritized by the entire city. We want Black Life to matter by divesting from police and investing in the support systems the community actually needs. 

Signed,

Troy for Black Lives
Democratic Socialists of America, Troy Chapter
Community Rising Project
Equality For Troy
Members of Ad Hoc Troy
Troy Area Labor Council AFL-CIO

Abortion providers across the country are bracing this week for a decision expected soon out of a Texas federal court which will immediately block access nationwide to one of the two medications commonly used for medication abortions. As the anti-abortion lobby and their allies in the United States government attempt to deal yet another blow to this fundamental human right, organizers here in New York state are continuing the struggle to ensure abortions remain safe and accessible for all. On tonight’s show, we are live with Nix from Reproductive Justice Collective and Marian from NYC-DSA’s Socialist Feminist working group to discuss the upcoming decision and what it means for abortion providers and patients. We’ll also hear about their efforts to ensure abortion access in NY state and how you can get involved with this crucial struggle.

 

Visit https://reprojusticecolumbia.org/abortion-pills to learn more about the campaign to ensure access to abortion on college campuses, then text NYCREPRO to 50409 to ask your elected officials to sign on the New York state legislation. Follow @NYCSocFem on Twitter for updates on NYC-DSA's Socialist Feminist Working Group. 

Welcome back comrades! In this segment, Ralph & Nicole-Ann kick off a new season for Heart of a Heartless World, catching up after a long hiatus and giving a preview of what is to come this year. It's a good dose of solidarity, spirituality, and of course, socialism – all the things that give us a little hope for the world.

Member Bruce Nissen shares a story about repairing his air fryer, and what it can teach us about capitalism and global exploitation.

The other day our air fryer had a minor breakdown. The drawer that you pull out of the main body to put in food was becoming loose and a machine screw was missing. Here’s what the entire thing, drawer and the container pan that holds it, looks like:

If you look at this closely, you can see that it is an inner drawer where you place the food, and an outside container that holds it. The problem was the outer container. Here’s a picture without the inner drawer in it:

If you look carefully at this outside container pan (taken after I fixed it), you can see two screws which attach the outside cover and the inner pan. At the time, one of these two screws was missing. At first, I thought I would just find a similar size screw, screw it in, and be done. However, when I did that, the screw didn’t engage with anything; you could turn it clockwise forever freely and nothing was happening. The screw would fall right back out.

I could hear something rattling around inside the front cover and soon realized that these screws connected with nuts that were inside the cover. One of the nuts had come loose, the screw had fallen out and was lost, while the nut was still trapped inside the cover. My only hope of fixing it would require me to disassemble the cover itself.

If you look carefully at the last picture, you can also see two much smaller screws that are helping to hold the two pieces of the front cover together. I removed those two screws — not enough. Then I found two more identical screws down at the bottom and removed them. Still not enough. Then I noticed 6 extremely tiny screws (3 on each side) that also connected the two parts of the outer cover. I took them out and finally was able to separate the two parts of the outer cover. Sure enough, a loose nut was rattling around in the cavity between the outer and inner walls of the front cover.

As I was going through this elaborate job of removing layer after layer of screws just to get to the inside of the front cover, I was thinking to myself, “What’s with this? Why this elaborate and intricate assembly of parts? It’s ridiculous. Why would they design something like this?” I was also thinking was that it was a good thing I did not do this kind of work for a living — I was thorough but way too slow to ever last as an employee. Any repair company would require much faster work so they could get me on to the next profitable job. It reminded me of my dad who lost several jobs as a welder because he did a thorough quality job of welding but not rapidly enough to suit the employer’s speed requirements.

I put the nut back into its designated cubbyhole, reattached the six tiny screws, put in the four screws, and finally inserted a suitable size/length/thread screw to replace the missing one. It engaged with the reinserted nut and screwed in tight. I was done! Repair completed! I felt proud of myself but noted that it had taken close to two hours to do the job, most of it sifting through my mason jar of random screws accumulated through the years to find the exact right size and length and thread of screw. Job done well but not efficiently.

I was still puzzling why the construction of the container pan and its outside front cover had been so complicated. It reminded me of an experience back in the mid-1970s when I was trying to help the United Electrical Workers Union (UE) organize shops in New Jersey. I applied for jobs at numerous places, both UE-represented shops and unorganized shops they hoped to organize in the future. I was first hired at a non-union shop at minimum wage. I was what later became known as a “salt” — someone taking a job in a nonunion workplace to aid a union in beginning an organizing drive.

The shop assembled electronic parts for some final product that I’ve long since forgotten about. Our job was to sit all day assembling an intricate array of circuit boards, washers, wires, nuts, etc. It was not an assembly line — each person individually did each product (or component) according to a choreographed routine. Over and over. Over and over. I especially remember that some wire posts required two washers, some required one, and some none. It was all very confusing, and I made repeated mistakes at this allegedly unskilled minimum wage job.

The job was abysmal. Almost all the workers were Black or Hispanic or Asian. A majority were women. The foremen were white men. I lasted at that job approximately one week because a UE-represented union shop called and offered me a job at double the wages and a much more relaxed atmosphere. I jumped at that offer and thus began my career in union activities.

At the time of my one-week job, companies doing that kind of minimum-wage work were going out of business because their work was being outsourced to China or Mexico or Central American countries. They had only survived in business because they offered extremely cheap labor, but even cheaper labor was becoming available elsewhere in the world.

This repair job led to a Eureka! moment when I realized that the air fryer’s front cover is designed to require manually tightening numerous screws because labor is so cheap (in some parts of the world) that it is economical to require more repetitive manual labor than it is to expend any more money on better design or different materials. If work was paid decently around the world, these products would be designed very differently. I looked to see where my air fryer had been assembled and sure enough, there it was: designed in California and built in China.

If you repair a household appliance with an enquiring and analytical mindset, there’s a lot to ponder. You might develop insights into the structure of worldwide capitalism and the exploitative conditions under which many of our consumer products are produced. Ditto for how our capitalist consumer culture discards people like my father who did high quality work but not at a fast assembly line pace. Our mass production worldwide economic system fails some segments of humanity even as it provides ever-higher levels of mass consumption for growing numbers. As Karl Marx noted, capitalism is a progressive force compared to earlier economic systems, but it is an exploitative system at its core and should be replaced by a more humane system that is centered on people, not private profit. Who would have thought that repairing a household appliance could illustrate all this? For me, it did!