In the early hours of the morning on the 15th of September, the Biden Administration announced that a tentative agreement had been reached by the railroad companies and the railroad unions, delaying a potential nationwide strike. Now, the decision to accept this tentative agreement, or reject it and potentially go on strike rests with the railroad workers themselves. Tonight, we talked to Ross, a locomotive engineer and member of Railroad Workers United, to hear more about what railroad workers really think of this agreement and what may happen next. We also hear from Honda from DSA Labor to learn more about the launch of DSA’s national labor solidarity fund, and how this fund can help aid working class struggle from coast-to-coast. Connect with Railroad Workers United: https://www.railroadworkersunited.org/ DSA National Labor Solidarity Fund: https://laborsolidarity.com/

Let's go inside the RPM producers' studio. In this episode, Jack and Amy discuss the founding of Revolutions per Minute, our approach to making socialist radio, and what we think other DSA chapters or political groups could learn from our four years of experience in broadcasting. We pay tribute to our comrade Lee Ziesche who is leaving NYC after many years of living and organizing in our community. Listen to Lee's very first appearance on our show and hear us discuss from a producers' angle what she has contributed to our work. 

 

Pitch an idea to Revolutions per Minute: bit.ly/pitch2RPM

Join the RPM collective: bit.ly/RPMJoinForm

We demand that trans and queer kids be protected. We support any teachers and administrators who are working to keep them safe.

We condemn our white nationalist governor and his pattern of straight up racist policies attacking immigrants. As democratic socialists, we recognize that migrants experience the most damning and direct crimes of the neoliberal capitalist system. Militarized borders, xenophobic/racist immigration laws, and an abusive prison industrial complex aim to dehumanize and marginalizes immigrants, functioning to both suppress wages and divide the working class.

We seek to abolish these and any barrier to the social, labor, and political power of migrants through our organized movement.

In 1997 nearly 200,000 Teamsters went on strike against UPS. They fought for a better contract and they won. Will the American Labor Movement experience another massive strike at UPS led by the Teamsters in 2023? Matt, a member of the Teamsters, joins us to discuss that and much more.

The Debt Collective, a national union of debtors, will be joining our next GM, Thursday evening, 9/8, 7:00 p.m. at ArtRage Gallery (and online), to address debt and related topics like inflation! We'll also be organizing for our 10/1 protest centered on housing and county budget priorities. We hope to see you there!

Check out our recording on our youtube channel here

Last Tuesday New York State held its second primary of the summer and New York City voters are sending another socialist senator to Albany. DSA endorsed candidate Kristen Gonzalez trounced Elizabeth Crowley winning the democratic primary in the newly formed Senate District 59, which includes portions of Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. We were at Kristen’s victory party in Long Island City and will share some sounds from the ground. And we are joined live tonight by former New York City Council candidate and NewsGuild of New York organizer, Brandon West. We’ll talk about the significance of Kristen’s win and the results of two other Brooklyn Senate races - Jabari Brisport’s run for re-election and David Alexis' challenge of Senator Kevin Parker in Flatbush. 

Jack Devine also speaks with Nic, a fellow PSC union member, about the year ahead for thousands of teachers organizing for a more just CUNY. 

Earlier this month, voters in the state of Kansas roundly rejected the so-called “Value them Both” measure, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have laid the groundwork for a complete abortion ban in the future. This measure, pushed by extremist anti-abortion lobbies, was defeated in a 59-41% result by the voters of Kansas. Tonight, we’re speaking to Melinda, an organizer with Lawrence DSA and chair of the PAC Vote No Kansas, and Dr. Russell Fox, professor of political science at Friends University in Wichita, on the organizing that successfully defeated this ballot measure. We will also hear from Alyssa, an organizer with Reproductive Justice Collective here in NYC, on the right-wing rise in the courts and the impact of groups like the Federalist Society.

 

Learn more about Lawrence DSA's successful campaign Vote No Kansas on Monday, August 29: https://actionnetwork.org/events/how-we-beat-kansas-anti-abortion-ballot-measure-a-campaign-debrief-w-lawrence-dsa

 

Follow Reproductive Justice Collective on Instagram at @reprojusticecollective. 

Milt Tambor, a life-long democratic socialist and trade unionist and the founder of Atlanta DSA, died August 23 in Dunwoody, Georgia at age 84. Born in 1938 to a Jewish family on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Milt was an active trade unionist and democratic socialist for over fifty years. He earned a Hebrew Teachers degree from Yeshiva University in 1957. Milt then went to Wayne State University in the heart of Detroit, Michigan where he completed his BA in Psychology. While working at the Jeffries Housing Project and Dodge Community House, where he fought against school and housing segregation in Detroit, Milt also earned a Master in Social Work degree at Wayne State.

After graduation, he stayed in Detroit to organize youth programming at the local Jewish Community Center. He then became Director of the UAW Retired Workers Center where he became involved in his staff union by volunteering on their local bargaining committee. In 1968 he became President of AFSCME Local 1640, a post he held for 10 years, during which he led a strike of 500 workers. During his years at Michigan AFSCME, Milt became a founding member of the Detroit New American Movement, and later joined DSA during the 1982 merger of NAM with the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. He then returned to Wayne State University and earned a PhD in Sociology in 1991, with a dissertation on bargaining with non-profit agencies.

After over 35 years with Michigan AFSCME, first as a local president and later as a staff representative and labor educator, Milt retired and moved to Atlanta with his wife Linda Lieberman. In 2006, as part of an effort to organize a fundraiser for Bernie Sanders’ senatorial campaign, Milt brought together local DSA members and progressives to establish the Metro Atlanta DSA. Over the next decade, he served as chair of our chapter through a wide variety of different campaigns and fights for democracy and equality. Whether it was opposing the Iraq War, supporting local labor unions, fighting foreclosures during the Great Recession, or marching for civil rights, Milt was always present and taking up a leading role. He was instrumental in rooting our organization in the workplace and community struggles of poor and working class Atlantans, using tactics from public education, to electoral organizing, to direct action.

Milt Tambor was a long-distance runner for Democratic Socialism. You can read more about Milt’s life and work in his memoir A Democratic Socialist’s Fifty Year Adventure or read the final chapter A History of Atlanta DSA. In addition to his wife, Linda, he is survived by his two sons, Alex and Jonah and a host of grandchildren and extended family. The funeral will be held at 4:30 pm this Friday, August 26th at Temple Sinai at 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs, GA 30327 if anyone wants to come to pay respects.