Episode 19: Bill Fletcher

In this episode of Black Work Talk, Steven Pitts speaks with Bill Fletcher, long-time racial justice and labor activist.This is the last episode of this iteration of Black Work Talk, and we discuss many of the themes running through the two seasons of the podcast, including:Black worker organizing within a union context. The limitations of the just fights for greater representation. Neoliberalism and the challenges facing Black mayors.  The complexities of fighting rightwing authoritarianism. The impact of the growing Black immigrant population in the United States on Black politics.We closed with some thoughts and suggestions for folks struggling for justice today who came of age–politically–during the last 15 years.   

Om Podcasten

Black Work Talk is a show that elevates the voices of Black labor, workers, leaders, activists, and intellectuals in discussions on the connections between race, labor, capitalism and culture in the struggle for progressive governing power. On season three of Black Work Talk, new hosts Bianca Cunningham and Jamala Rogers explore the impact of 2023’s strike wave in conversations with rank and file workers from unions that have fought or are still fighting for better, more equitable contracts in 2023; including the UAW, Teamsters, Writers Guild of America and more. Where did the energy for this wave of labor movements come from, what does it mean for black workers, and where does it go from here? They also open the conversation by calling in the 90% of American workers who have yet to organize in their workplace with an ongoing accessible and educational series on the process of organizing and filing to start a union from scratch.