Season 2 Premiere: Rob Baril

In this first episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, co-hosts Steven Pitts and Bill Fletcher talk with Rob Baril.  Rob is the president of SEIU 1199NE, a union of health care workers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Rob talked about how members of SEIU 1199NE have been fighting state officials in Connecticut for better working conditions during the pandemic.  He indicated this fight not only won concrete victories but also strengthened the union for future battles. In addition, the various union campaigns allowed the union to build additional power and wield this power around a several issues facing members in the community include policing issues.For more information on SEIU 1199NE, seeSEIU 1199NERob mentioned the Bargaining of the Common Good framework; here is the link to the network’s websiteBargaining for the Common GoodBill mentioned the St Louis Teamsters’ Community Steward Program in the 60s.  Bob Bussel of the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon has written a fascinating book on the experiences of the Teamster local that developed this program (and others).  Here is an interview with Bob about his book:Interview with Bob Bussel, author of Fighting for Total Person Unionism

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.