10 years before the catastrophic train derailment and chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, one of the deadliest rail disasters in North American history took place in the Canadian town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. On July 6, 2013, an unattended freight train that had been parked on the tracks overnight began to roll downhill and gather alarming speed as it careened towards the city center of Lac-Mégantic. The train, which was operated by Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic Railway and carrying over 2 million gallons of crude oil, derailed around 1:15 AM. The resulting explosions and fire killed 47 people and destroyed over 40 buildings, obliterating a large portion of the downtown area and prompting mass evacuations. In this special episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of survivors of the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in Canada and the East Palestine rail disaster in the USA. --------------------------- Panelists include: Robert Bellefleur, a resident of Lac-Mégantic and spokesperson for the Lac-Mégantic Citizens' Coalition for Railroad Safety; Gilbert Carette, a resident of Lac-Mégantic and a member of the Lac-Mégantic Citizens' Coalition for Railroad Safety; Gilles Fluet, a resident of Lac-Mégantic who narrowly escaped the 2013 train crash and witnessed the derailment firsthand; Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny, award-winning writer, videographer, social and environmental justice activist, and author of Mégantic: A Deadly Mix of Oil, Rail, and Avarice; Jami Wallace, a displaced resident of East Palestine, Ohio, and founder of the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition; Christina Siceloff, a Creek Ranger and resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, affected by the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster. Additional links/info: Lac-Mégantic Citizens' Coalition for Railroad Safety website and Facebook pageChemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC) Facebook pageRailroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and X pageAnne-Marie Saint-Cerny, Talonbooks, Mégantic: A Deadly Mix of Oil, Rail, and AvariceDimitri Lascaris, TRNN, “‘Bomb Train': Oil Execs Try to Blame Workers for Tragic Accident”Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “America’s toxic future looks like East Palestine, Ohio, today”Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Toxic Avengers: America’s poisoned and abandoned communities must stand together or die” Credits: Pre-Production: Maximillian Alvarez, Dr. Nicole Fabricant, Fritz EdlerStudio Production: Maximillian AlvarezFrench-English Interpretation: Anne Lagacé DowsonVoice Acting: Ethan Cox, Daniel LemieuxAudio Post-Production: Jules Taylor, Alina Nehlich

AI Boss Psychosis: https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/bosses-obsessed-with-ai Happy Maru's Birthday to all! We start this week with headlines from Swedish Medical Center, Ascend Cannabis, PECO, Ubisoft, the University of Tennessee, GEO Group, ASML, and Ford. The New Republic reports this week on attempts by the NLRB to weaken the regulations on franchises even further to protect big corporations. Workers for punk music merch supplier Kings Road Merch unionized, now Sony is trying to shut them down. Finally, the war on workers has reached a new stage with lawfare in Minneapolis, as the labor movement rallies behind the Minnesota 15. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We start with headlines from TF Green International Airport, the National Park Service, Wizards of the Coast, Seattle Art Museum, San Jose State University, Lucid, GM, and Quantic Dream. We've got a big round up of recent news for the Teamsters, their epic battle against Amazon, and the end of the federal monitorship of the union. Healthcare workers in NYC are once again waging a critical struggle for fair pay that could result in a massive strike. Finally, we discuss some of the ways AI is being used to surveil, degrade, and erase the labor of people in the US and around the world. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Headlines this week from: St Mary's in Chicago, Stanford University, the UAW Convention, Labor Notes, the Rochester Minnesota bus system, TF Green Airport, Embassy Suites Seattle, Salon 1884, and Safeway. The uprising in Bolivia reached a new pitch this week as an agreement was signed with the central union body to roll back privatizations and reforms, but simultaneously the state declared martial law against them. The Labor Notes conference was just held, and we break down some of the hot button issues and organizing lessons that were discussed by the organizers in attendance. Finally, in response to the working class victory in Minneapolis in January against ICE, the FBI this week charged 15 community defenders with a series of trumped up conspiracy charges, but the labor movement has vowed to defend them and continue the fight against ICE terror. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We start this week's episode with headlines from St Mary's hospital (Chicago and Madison), Uber, Starbucks, Amazon, Target Field, Hyundai, the Durham Miners Association, and Walmart. Our first main story follows up on the strike by UAW workers at American Axle, who have won a major new contract. Pro-Palestine student protestors at the University of Michigan were arrested in FBI raids, we discuss the escalating attacks on the movement. The World Cup kicked off this week, and in addition to the sportswashing of Empire, there's a whole lot of exploitation, but thankfully workers are fighting back.  Finally, we do a deep dive into the wide range of attacks on higher education, both the workers themselves and the institutional structure as a whole. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

https://theconversation.com/when-ice-ramped-up-enforcement-us-born-workers-didnt-see-any-economic-gains-283011 We start with headlines checking in on the workers of Bolivia, the American Axle strike, union doctors in Providence, electrolysis workers in Washington, and the broader problems of the US economy. For our first main story this week, a recent investigation by Bloomberg exposed some truly incredible levels of control Amazon exerts over the delivery drivers it claims are "independent contractors." Finally, we discuss the crisis of union busting enabled by public funds in the nursing home industry. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

We've got a big show this week, starting with headlines from American Axle, Spring Glass, Starbucks Korea, REI, Ball State University, Harvard, Hearst Newspapers, Rockstar Games, and the Brazilian working class. Our main story this week is discussing the struggle by workers inside and outside to free the detainees at the Delaney Hall ICE concentration camp in New Jersey, where union workers and detained workers alike have clashed with fascist police. Samsung workers recently poised to shut down the global chip boom have won a historic victory, with life changing profit sharing gains that could ignite a new wave of struggle in the South Korean working class. Finally, we discuss the massive new union win by rideshare drivers in Massachusetts, where 70,000 drivers have formed the first sectoral rideshare drivers union in the US. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Smaller show this week with the holiday and an illness among the hosts, but we persevere and have the news for you as always. We start with headlines from American Axle, Nexteer, Allison, Amazon, the LIRR, REI, Starbucks, Delaney Hall Detention Center, and the working classes of Italy and Argentina. Just two main stories this week: First, we check in on the rapidly developing situation in Bolivia, where the people are staring down brutal military repression. Lastly, we close with another look into the broader state of the economy, the war on workers, and why unions are critical nodes of struggle even in times of lower union density. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

In this new series we aim to talk about topics that are a little deeper than we can get into on a main feed episode based on some of the things that we are reading outside what we use for our main feed episodes. Each one will be self-contained and Patron Exclusive! There will still be previews in our main feed but to get the whole thing become a patron at http://patreon.com/workstoppage This first episode's discussion focuses around the compatibility of slavery with capitalism, how slavery was a major factor in fueling the industrial revolution, and many aspects of colonialism, including primary accumulation/expropriation. This longer view of history allows us to more accurately orient ourselves as working class internationalists so we are not fooled by the historical revisionism of the ruling capitalist class. Main Texts Discussed:Subscribe to Monthly Review - https://monthlyreview.org/subscribe/https://monthlyreview.org/articles/the-slave-trade-and-the-industrial-revolution-debate-a-look-at-the-numbers/https://monthlyreview.org/articles/could-capitalism-have-thrived-without-colonialism/ Other Media mentioned:Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano - https://monthlyreview.org/9780853459910/Magellan (Movie Trailer) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h7rriQD1qcThe Counter-Revolution of 1776 by Gerald Horne - https://1804books.com/products/look-inside-the-counter-revolution-of-1776-slave-resistance-and-the-origins-of-the-united-states-of-americaRiver of Dark Dreams by Walter Johnson - https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674975385Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island - https://nyupress.org/9781479870424/dark-work/Prabhat and Utsa Patnaik - https://monthlyreview.org/article-author/utsa-patnaik/US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau denying development to India clip - https://x.com/i/status/2030647228285825405 Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX Follow us in all the places, links are at http://workstoppagepod.com

A week of major strike action as well as victories. We start with headlines from UC, American Axle, Belgian trade unions, Texas State University, Penn State University, Starbucks, and the government of Virginia. Samsung workers could shut down one of the largest and richest corporations of the world as the bosses refuse to share even a portion of the massive profits they are making. Workers and Indigenous groups in Bolivia have risen up against attacks on their living conditions.  Finally, we discuss the first strike on the Long Island Railroad in over 30 years. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee