2024 Latest, MAJOR Auto Strike Likely, and More Plus We Took Your Calls!

·1 hr 15 min·4 clips

Sean Fain says the UAW will bargain with GM, Ford, and Stellantis ‘at the same damn time.’

Jordan Sheridan opens the show live on Monday, August 21, 2023, and right away frames the day as overloaded. He mentions the Hawaii wildfires, major storms in Los Angeles and Southern California, and an earthquake. He uses that cluster to reinforce the climate catastrophe theme. He also says 2024 is in full swing and that the country is on the brink of a massive strike. Sheridan says he has about an hour and wants to take calls. He says Lewis has just spent a week in East Palestine doing important reporting. He says, as far as he knows, they are still the only outlet covering the East Palestine disaster on the ground. He says Lewis has been there for the fourth time in six months. He notes that the story no longer gets treated like a priority by the media. He says the reporting is not profitable for the show. He says the trip lost money and did not bring in as many paid deals, members, or views as they would have liked. He keeps coming back to the idea that the work still matters even when it does not pay off. The conversation then shifts to the expected auto strike. Sheridan and a caller talk through what a strike could do to production and the wider economy. He says companies may have around 50 to 60 days of parts on hand, but a strike would still slow output. He says even a short shutdown can ripple through factories and warehouses. He adds that companies often try to keep operations going by moving white-collar workers onto shop floors. He treats worker solidarity as something that can spread outward in a useful way. He argues that a strike could create a domino effect for other workers, including Amazon workers, tenants, unions, and mutual aid networks. He says the UAW is in a different place under Sean Fain than it was under corrupt past leadership. He says the key question is whether members can hold out after the first week or two. He lays out the strain of strike pay, healthcare pressure, side jobs, and stress on families. He says the timing matters because it is an election cycle. He argues that workers have real leverage right now. He closes by thanking donors who supported the East Palestine reporting trip. He says more recorded interviews from the trip will be released through the week. He asks listeners to support the reporting through donations or membership. He ends by promising to be back the next day.

As heard by us

A labor-and-disaster dispatch with real reporting weight.

The episode frames labor conflict and climate disruption as one pressure system, moving from East Palestine to wildfires, storms, and an earthquake. Its urgency lands best when the reporting stays close to the ground and notes that other outlets have already moved on.

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Why you'd press play

You're here for the strike, the fallout, and the live pushback.

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