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David Sirota: [00:00:00] Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of Lever Time. I'm David Sirota. On today's show, we're going to be talking about another historic strike potentially on the horizon. If you haven't heard, the United Auto Workers Union is currently in contract negotiations with the big three automakers. GM, and Stellantis. Contracts are set to expire at midnight on September 14th, and UAW members at those plants recently voted to authorize a strike if a deal isn't reached. With new energized leadership elected this past March, the UAW seems ready for a fight to try to secure workers a fair contract on today's interview.

Producer Frank spoke with a reporter from Labor Notes who's been on the ground in the Midwest covering the contract negotiations and they discuss what a UAW strike would [00:01:00] look like, what it would mean for workers, and what it would mean for the economy.

For our paid subscribers, we're also always dropping bonus episodes into our lever premium podcast feed. Last week, we shared our interview with historian Harvey K and progressive activist, Alan Minsky, about the unfinished business of FDR's economic bill of rights.

And coming up next week is my interview with economist Isabella Weber. She was one of the only economists who got it right on inflation way, way, way before it was cool. Isabella Weber was warning that inflation was not caused by wages or government spending, but by corporate profiteering. With that in mind, we discuss what can be done to bring down inflation.

And here's a hint. It's not necessarily more interest rate hikes or wage cuts.

If you want access to our premium content, head over to levernews. com and click the subscribe button in the top right to become a supporting subscriber. That gives you access to the Lever Premium podcast feed, exclusive live events, even more [00:02:00] in depth reporting, and you'll be directly supporting the investigative journalism that we do here at The Lever.

As always, I'm here today with Lever Time's producer, producer Frank. Hey Frank,

Frank Cappello: What's up, David? I'm feeling pretty excited this week. I'm gonna be leaving on Saturday for a little bit of vacation with my family. As you know, I am Italian, and I am going to be visiting Sicily, where I do still have family, and it's gonna be really great. It's my whole family going, so...

I'm only bringing that up not to rub it in our audience's faces, but to let you know that's where I'm gonna be in the next two weeks, when I'm not

David Sirota: I keep, I'm now imagining you in White Lotus. So, um, if anybody watched White Lotus Season 2, uh, it was set in Sicily, uh, I'm, I'm trying to, don't get scammed, um, by,

Frank Cappello: my best,

David Sirota: workers in Sicily. Um, what else?

Frank Cappello: don't go on a boat with, uh, you know, a strange group of, uh, men who may or may not want to kill you for your

David Sirota: That's right, that's

Frank Cappello: we're gonna do, try our best to avoid that. Luckily, uh, We're not like full on [00:03:00] tourists. Like I said, we have actual family there. Like my dad speaks Italian.

So it'll be a little bit more of an ingratiated, uh, visiting experience.

David Sirota: your family's nicer to you than the long lost family that they found, uh, that they reconnected with in Sicily. Hopefully they're nicer to you than that. Um, for those who haven't watched White Lotus, it's the HBO show. I encourage folks, if you have HBO, to watch it. There's a lot of rage at the class system. Uh, it's, it's a great show. I, I

Frank Cappello: Very good show.

David Sirota: Yeah. It's, it's really great. Uh, before we get to our interview today, that producer Frank did with, um, the reporter from Labor Notes about the U AAW strike.

I, I first. Very quickly want to talk about a story that we just published at The Lever that I hope folks will go check out at levernews. com. It's about Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, or as I've referred to him as Vivek Ramaswampy. Uh, because this is a very, very swampy story. Uh, during last [00:04:00] week's Republican primary debate, the, this political newcomer, this 38 year old billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy declared that he was quote, the only person on the stage who isn't bought.

He's been pitching himself as a kind of Trumpian outsider. He's going to drain the swamp. Uh, he's not connected to the political establishment. Yada, yada, yada. He's made an abrupt jump in the polls. with this message. Although, of course, former President Donald Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican presidential, campaign.

But over the past few years, here's the story that you may not have heard about Vivek Ramaswamy, the alleged outsider. Vivek Ramaswamy, as we report, leveraged relationships in the swampiest of swamps, the conservative dark money world, and he leveraged those relationships in order to drum up lucrative public pension investments and consulting business from [00:05:00] Republican state financial officers.

So he basically drummed up business, from Republican elected officials using the conservative dark money network business funded by retirees. Pension savings in 2022 Rama Swami launched something called strive enterprises, which has been branded as a so called anti woke. Since its inception, Ramaswamy and Strive have relied in part on relationships with Republican state elected officials who belong to something called the State Financial Officers Foundation.

It's a dark money non profit organization that does not publicly disclose its donors and is closely linked to, wait for it, Yep, conservative activist and dark money king, Leonard Leo, who we do a lot of reporting on at The Lever. Last spring and summer, [00:06:00] Ramaswami and Strive executives contacted financial officers in at least 12 states to try to secure investments from state banks. Pension funds as we reported the lever in all 12 of those states The top financial officer was a member of that shadowy, dark money group, the state financial officers foundation.

so here's the deal. While Vivek Ramaswamy may be pitching himself as a non swampy outsider, As we report at The Lever, the truth is he's like most of those people on that Republican debate stage. Someone who used his political connections to help expand his own fortune, to help enrich his own company.

With retirees pension money and then use that fortune as he's using it now to try to facilitate his entry into The political world. So this is a [00:07:00] story not only of kind of gross moneyed connections but also a story about how the outsider is Not really an outsider. The outsider is really Frankly, an insider's insider.

That's my takeaway, Frank.

Frank Cappello: Yeah, I had a bunch of takeaways from this story, and I thought Julia Rock did such a great job reporting it out. One, that these Republican state financial officers have their own dark money network. That's

cool.

David Sirota: of course they

Frank Cappello: Great, great.

to learn, great to learn about that. also great to learn, uh, you know, we didn't just mention it, but uh, you know, Ramaswamy made his fortune from this biotech firm that he had founded, and I think the main drug that they were working on producing didn't even work, even though he had secured all this investment money.

Now he's going after pension funds. So it's just like it's just this is a story of like grifter doing griffs And I think Any conservatives or Republicans who maybe have seen this guy and been like, oh, you know, what an interesting, you know, young buck Maybe he's gonna upend the [00:08:00] system. It's Just more of the same. Uh, I saw someone online describe him as the Republican, Pete Buttigieg, and now that's what he is to

David Sirota: Yes, and as I said, you know, I think the nickname is Vivek Rama Swampy. I mean, this is a very, very swampy tale. And my view is, look, Somebody who's a billionaire, we should all look at with a bit of suspicion. I mean, it's not to say that literally every single person in the country who is, uh, super wealthy is, is evil.

But, you should look skeptically at anybody who's been able to, uh, accumulate a billion dollars. Typically... To become a billionaire, you have to step on a lot of, uh, thousand heirs and a hundred and hundred heirs. Uh, you have to, step on a lot of people to accumulate that much wealth. But, but on top of that.

this story, it's not just Vivek Ramaswamy, should be looked at skeptically because he's a [00:09:00] billionaire, but he should be looked at skeptically because somebody who's portraying himself as an outsider, whose business is to leverage insider political connections, it kind of reminds me, I mean, this is where he is kind of Trumpy.

Maybe it's Vivek Rama Trumpy, right? He's kind of Trumpy in that Donald Trump. Talked about how he was an outsider who was going to drain the swamp. And Donald Trump was one of the swampiest presidents, uh, in, in the history of the swamp. I think that's kind of indisputable, but that kind of defines our politics today is that many people now in politics will not portray necessarily, only their best side.

They'll portray themselves as the opposite. The mirror opposite of what they are, right? In this case, Vivek Ramaswamy portraying himself as a complete and total outsider. Then you, look under the hood and you see he's a very, very serious insider, uh, who is not gonna drain the swamp, [00:10:00] but who at least has had a career of, uh, swimming...

In the swamp

Frank Cappello: Yeah. Billionaire Outsider is an oxymoron

David Sirota: that that's a great way to put it right. I mean, there there is. I think it's fair to say you cannot accumulate a billion dollars and become a billionaire by being an outsider. I just don't think that's really a thing. I off the top of my head. I can't think of somebody who who you could Transcribed honestly with a straight face, uh, say that that happened to, uh, I'm, I'm, I guess I'm happy to be proven wrong.

If folks want to email us at The Lever, uh, you can always do that and yell at me about our podcast. Find that Vivek Ramaswamy story at levernews. com. It was written by Julia Rock, one of our great reporters, a really, really good story. Okay. Let's stop there because we should get to our main interview. And it's an interview about the 150, 000 auto workers who could be going on strike as soon as two weeks from now, [00:11:00] which would royal, obviously the auto industry, but also likely royalty, entire American economy.

So our interview goes into what is at stake in these union negotiations, what the workers are asking for and what might happen. if the union isn't able to reach a deal with the big three automakers. That's coming up right after the break.

Welcome back to Lever Time. For our main story today, we're going to be talking about a group of workers that has often been on the front lines of labor struggles in the United States. Auto workers, The famed United Auto Workers Union, or U A W, is one of the largest unions in the country with more than 400,000 active members. 150,000 of those members are now in the midst of contract negotiations with the big three automakers, Ford, gm, and STIs. Their current contracts expire on September 14th at midnight, and last Friday, workers [00:12:00] voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if a deal is not reached.

Under the leadership of new UAW President, Sean Fain, who was elected to the top post this past March and who was supported by the Militant Reform Caucus within that union.

The UAW is now making bold demands and seems ready to take even bolder actions if those demands are not met.

For today's interview, producer Frank is joined by Luis Feliz Leon, a labor journalist and staff writer at Labor Notes, which does great coverage of the labor movement. Luis has been on the ground in the Midwest speaking with rank and file UAW members about this current labor struggle.

And he explains everything you need to know about the new dynamic within the UAW's leadership. They also talk about what the UAW workers are demanding from the big three and what a potential strike could look like in real time.

Frank Cappello: Alright, [00:13:00] I am now joined by Luis Feliz Leon, a labor journalist and staff writer at Labor Notes. Luis, thank you so much for joining us on Lever Time today.

Luis Feliz Leon: Thanks for inviting me.

Frank Cappello: So, before we get into the details of the UAW, the United Auto Workers contract negotiations, first I want to set the scene a little bit for our audience.

So, who are... the key players in this current labor struggle between the workers and their corporate bosses.

Luis Feliz Leon: so the contracts for some 150, 000 auto workers across the big three automakers, General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis are expiring September 14th. After workers gave big concessions to these companies following the Great Recession, the companies are making record profits. The big three have reported a combined 21 billion in profits in the first half of 2023.

This comes on top of profits of 250 billion over the past To match these lucrative pay raises the CEOs gave themselves, the UAW is [00:14:00] demanding 40% raises for outer workers who make these stratospheric profits possible in the first place. So, the UAW is raising class struggle unionism. Making the contract about us, the workers who generate these profits, and them, the greedy CEOs who are the primary beneficiaries in an economy fueled by turbocharged wealth inequality.

Frank Cappello: And I want to talk about the workers a little bit because I think a lot of coverage that's come out has come out of mostly the Detroit area where a lot of the auto industry is located. These 150, 000 members that are in contract negotiations and could potentially go on strike.

Where are they geographically? Are they predominantly in Detroit? Um, or are they all over the country?

Luis Feliz Leon: They are all over the country, so the UAW's overall membership is 400, 000, Out of workers, in particular, are spread across, uh, some 247 facilities in every state. There are members and plants in Michigan, as you mentioned, but also Kentucky, Texas, North Carolina, [00:15:00] Indiana, Illinois, as well as component plants in Buffalo, New York, and then smaller parts depots scattered across the country.

Frank Cappello: So this is a, this is a truly nationwide labor struggle playing out right now. now before we get into what's actually happening with negotiations, I want to go back a little bit because this past March, uh, UAW workers voted in a new union president, guy named Sean Fain, who, you know, folks might have seen on social media, leading rallies and marches, and Sean was backed by the reform caucus within the union called Unite All Workers for Democracy and his election ousted former president Ray Curry and ended a, which I was shocked to find out, a 70 year, basically one caucus, one party control within the union.

So, can you tell us a little bit about that recent history of UAW's leadership? and how this election, in March set the stage for these current contract negotiations.

Luis Feliz Leon: you know, let's start at the very beginning. [00:16:00] Right. So Fain was elected in March on a slate, as you mentioned, backed by the reform movement, Unite All Workers for Democracy, on a platform of no corruption, no concessions, no tears, ending nearly 80 years of one party rule in the UAW. They won each seat they contested, coming into office with a clear mandate to take the union in a more militant direction, in organizing internal democracy, And solidarity against tears, similar to the leadership shakeup that we saw in the Teamsters in 2021.

The Members United slogan, as I mentioned, was no corruption, no concessions, no tears. And they've been true to their campaign promise. We are experiencing greater inequality today than at any time since the Great Depression. Much of inflation was just corporate greed. Workers are seeing employers making money hand over fist, while they are being asked to work harder for wages that are worth less and less.

That not only drives the shift in expectations that we are seeing, but creates the chance for pitch battles, like the [00:17:00] one of the big three, to become national referendums on corporate greed. So, now, putting into context some of the past history, Fain is a proud member of Unite All Workers for Democracy, the reform caucus that helped him get elected, uh, to the union's top post.

And that... That caucus is part of a long line of a decades long reform movement within the UAW, fighting for a more democratic and militant union. So Fain, a lot of folks have spotlighted all the great things that Sean Fain is saying on CNNBC, making Jim Cramer lose his mind, but it's important to highlight.

That Fein is part of this slate of reformers, right, that won a majority of the seats, including one independent reformer named David Green. The last time a reformer had won a seat on the UAW board was in 1986, when Jerry Tucker of the New Directions movement became a regional director. New [00:18:00] Directions coalesced a group of reformers into a rank and file resistance movement in the 80s and early 1990s.

And going back even further, the last contested election for the presidency except for Tucker's run for president in 1991 and other symbolic runs was in 1946.

Walter Ruther won. consolidating his power in a 1947 sweep that accomplished what historian Nelson Lichtenstein describes as nothing less than the elimination of his rivals from all posts in the UAW hierarchy. fast forward to 2019, the Reform Caucus, UAWD, unite all workers for democracy, began campaigning for one member, one vote.

The union's internal review board once described the union as functioning like a one party state, but then an investigation by the Justice Department laid bare long standing corruption in the union, including embezzlement, kickbacks, and collusion with employers. [00:19:00] Thirteen union officials went to jail, including two former presidents.

The consent decree that resulted from the corruption scandal made it possible for members to decide whether they wanted to directly elect their officers As opposed to a convention delegate system in December, 2021, UAW members voted 63. 6% in support of electing top officers through one member, one vote so this democratization of the, of the union's internal, elections allowed UAWD to win every post that they ran candidates for. This is a lot of information. So, what are the key takeaways? Unions are dynamic organizations. They can be reformed. Labor Notes believes that to its core.

The u a w of today is a key example of that. Workers can come together and form a caucus to transform their union, modeled after teamsters for a Democratic union within the, teamsters, uh, and [00:20:00] modeled after U A W D within the u a w. We focus a lot on personalities in the labor movement, but it's vital to pay attention to organizations like reformed caucuses where members have banded together, like in Unite all workers for democracy.

To shift the internal culture of their union and move it in a more militant direction. Taking the fight to employers like the big three.

Frank Cappello: Thank you so much for laying out all of that history, and you went a step further, and you gave the analysis, which I think you're right on, which is that Unions, like any political organization, require tending to buy their rank and file members. They require active participation.

also like American democracy, it only works when everyone is working together to make sure That the organization is as democratic and as equitable as possible, and like you said, these, you know, one party, uh, power structures can become codified if, if, you know, if people just sort of let it be for too long.

alright, so now I'd like to move to what [00:21:00] is happening today. So, UAW is in contract negotiations with the big three for these 150, 000 members that work for these companies. So what are some of the key demands that the UAW is making from the big three?

Luis Feliz Leon: Yeah. No, that's a great question Because I think they are lifting class wide demands and it's important to put that in perspective So the UAW was known once upon a time as the vanguard of the American labor movement, you know Since then it's falling off that perch but it may be positioning itself to regain that, position.

So the UAW is pushing demands that fall under a theme of a better quality of life. Across the working class, we are working longer hours with fewer benefits and retirement security. The UAW is, in effect, holding a public teach in on class wide demands, using the Big Three negotiations as a platform to advance the demand that we all deserve a [00:22:00] dignified life.

That demand is not only for auto workers, but for all workers who must put in grueling hours on the job to earn paltry wages. Another big demand is job security for auto workers impacted by the EV, by electric vehicle transition, uh, given the seismic shifts that are coming, uh, to auto manufacturing.

There are other demands, including a key one, which is eliminating tiers on wages and benefits. Plus the double digit races for all that I mentioned, where the union is demanding 40% wage increases across the board. So the elimination of tiers on wages and benefits is really important. So, put simply, tiers are where long term employees doing the same job earn more than new hires, that are doing the same job with them on the shop floor, right?

It erodes solidarity, which is the bedrock principle of Maintaining fighting institutions.

Frank Cappello: and I just want to interrupt real fast. [00:23:00] And these two tiered wage systems, we saw this recently with the UPS Teamsters negotiations. These two tiered wage systems were introduced. Through negotiations for this sort of like old guard, more corporate friendly union leadership that we've been talking about to essentially, throw newer workers under the bus while still maintaining benefits for some of their older workers, so it was a way to kind Concede to the bosses without really bucking the membership too, uh, aggressively.

Is that about right?

Luis Feliz Leon: that's absolutely right. And I mean, I think for these negotiations, one key point of what was given up. So the UAW agreed to tears coming out of the gray recession and the auto company bailouts, right? And they've only grown more complicated and elaborate since then. General Motors workers Chris Viola wrote a great explainer for Jacobin on and I encourage your listeners to give it a read.

But a sore point is the tier benefits like pensions and retirement health care. Workers hired after 2007 don't have [00:24:00] retiree health care or pensions. These jobs are really grueling. Auto workers describe, you know, their bodies breaking down because of the toll of being on the assembly line. So imagine putting in 30 years on the, on the assembly line and then not having the healthcare that you need to live a dignified life in retirement.

Like, that's outrageous, and that's why members are so fired up and demanding more. So very briefly, some other key demands are the right to strike over plant closures. So, Velveteer in Illinois has been idled. Folks have been forced to relocate to plants all across the country. Some have had to pick up other jobs, earning lower wages than what they were earning before.

Another demand is to make all current temp permanent employees with strict limits on the future use of temps, right? A company like Stellantis, which has been a particular focus of negotiations with Sean Fain throwing The proposal that the company [00:25:00] put on the table in the garbage can during a Facebook live all three are targets, but this company in particular, um, has one of the highest number of temp workers, has one of the lowest wages of the big three starting at 1575.

so these demands are really bold. They're not just talking about, let's just boost the wages. They're talking about what does it mean to live a dignified life as a worker in this country?

Frank Cappello: Yeah, something I've seen Sean Fain repeat, is, uh, you know, Record profits demand a record contract. And it really, it sounds like what, that is exactly what they are asking for. so historically, the UAW, during contract negotiations, has only targeted one automaker at a time. meaning like, they would only target, of the big three, they would only go after Ford, or just GM, or just Stellantis.

But this time around, they may be going after the big three together? can you explain a little bit about that dynamic, and why the union may be changing their tactics this time around?

Luis Feliz Leon: Yeah, no, absolutely. [00:26:00] So as you mentioned in past negotiations, the UAW has picked one of the big three legacy automakers, either Ford, General Motors, or Stellantis as a strike target, picking the company that the union believed would agree to the best deal in order to set a pattern for the remaining two.

This time around, the UAW has broken from this practice, right, and has said that all companies are targets, leaving the companies guessing. In 2019, GM was the target after the company closed a plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The UAW struck the company for 40 days, costing it 3 billion. That's what strikes are supposed to do, inflict financial pain to drive home the message that workers generate their profits.

This time, the UAW is shifting, uh, its tactics. The transition to electric vehicles looms large over these negotiations. For example, the OTM cells plant is a stone's throw away from where the GM Lordstown Assembly Plant was located. The union has come out publicly with its demands. This is a [00:27:00] shift from the past, where members only got the highlights, or, in 2011, I think the union started putting whole contracts But members only knew what the union was negotiating after a deal was reached and were never given a clear idea of what the goals were going into negotiations.

Workers are clear on what the goals are. They have generated the goals that the union is fighting for. These are the members demands that Sean Fain and the leadership team are pushing at the table. So the idea is to have the companies put forward ambitious proposals. If they want to avert a strike. Fein, as I mentioned earlier, he threw Stellantis proposal in a Facebook live video in the trash because it came back with a subpar proposal demanding concessions.

So right now, the, what the union is saying is that all companies are a target. So we'll see how the companies respond, in terms of these demands that members have [00:28:00] put on the table.

Frank Cappello: So would it be possible for all 150, 000 of these workers at all three companies to go on strike simultaneously?

Luis Feliz Leon: Um, I mean, anything is possible. I mean, the, they have a big strike fund, right? but I, I'd say that, like, there's a couple of things to consider, right? In terms of the companies. Stellantis doesn't seem amenable from what we've seen. Ultium workers who work for the joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy.

Just got an interim agreement boosting their wages to 20 to 20 to 21 an hour. It's unclear if negotiations factored into GM leaning into their EV partner Joint ventures are separate companies, right, so they don't fall into big three negotiations. But the UAW has called for these EV plants to mirror the wages and standards of auto workers at the big three.

Historically, Ford has been more amenable, proud of it being an American company. But I don't have enough information to make an assessment. So I say that all three are targets until they put a good contract on the [00:29:00] table. it's also not necessary to strike every plant within a company to have an impact.

Right? So that's an assessment that the union would be making. As opposed as to where they have strategic leverage to force the company to see to their demands.

Frank Cappello: got it. So basically everything is on the table and we still have two weeks to see how all of this shakes out. So could, could go in one of any direction. and that's a good segue actually. So the contracts between the Big Three and the UIW expire. Uh, in about two weeks from when this episode airs, on September 14th at midnight.

Uh, this past Friday, uh, UAW workers, those members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a potential strike, with 97% voting in favor, and I believe I read some of the plants voted in margins of 98, 99%, so, do we have any idea, you just mentioned it a little bit about it, but do we have any idea where they're at with negotiations?

Does it seem like there's a hope to reach a deal by the deadline and, and what is the posture of the, the big three right now? Are they at all [00:30:00] amenable or are they planning on starving the workers out?

Luis Feliz Leon: Yeah, I know. I mean, I think that's a good question. I, um, I think that usually the way these negotiations work is that, you know, it's, it comes down to. To the wire in terms of the deadline when they start making some progress So I I would say that you know from what I've seen I don't have like any inside information in terms of where Things are moving.

I I think I answered in part your question in terms of like what are some of the characteristics of the company? So Stellantis You know, is a headquarter in the Netherlands, I believe. They're really far. They're, you know, some of their key leaders were on vacation in Mexico. So there, there's a lot there.

GM, like I said, they are feeling the heat because of, the issues at this Oteum plant. Ford, you know, has gotten, all of them have gotten a lot of lucrative subsidies from the federal government in order to expand EV production, right? So I think this is a historic [00:31:00] moment for the union. And like Sean Fane has said, you know, record profits mean record contracts.

And I think we're going to see a record contract. Who's going to put that contract on the table? We'll have to wait and see. But I've been traveling through the Midwest, and I can tell you that rank and file auto workers are fired up. You know, usually in the UAW, there's always been a culture of striking.

So even when the union didn't put much effort into getting people strike ready, once the call came down, workers hit those picket lines and enforced them. So right now, that militancy is fueling this campaign, and members expectations are through the roof. workers repeat Fain saying on the Facebook Live videos.

But one worker told me, It's not that we are hearing Sean Fain, it's that Sean Fain is hearing us. And that's what you're seeing. This dynamic fusion of the membership and leadership is [00:32:00] raising expectations, as it should. I'm hearing workers say they're saving up to go the distance if a strike is called.

The question isn't whether they'll strike. The question is for how long, and at what company, or all three companies. If I were a CEO at one of these companies, I'd be pretty scared. It's a new day in the UAW and the companies are on notice.

Frank Cappello: I mean, it kind of makes sense that the UAW auto workers in general would be on the forefront of labor struggle historically. And at this moment now, you know, the, the auto industry, one of the first to, have the assembly line, implemented into its. It's, it's work structure, which, you know, completely changed the way that industrialization and the way that factory floors work.

So it makes sense that, uh, the autoworkers are, are here now to get the demands that they deserve. Louise, thank you so much for your work. Thank you for your reporting on this, on this story and, uh, where can our audience find you and your writing?

Luis Feliz Leon: So, I work at Labor Notes. It's my political home [00:33:00] and my workplace. So, Labor Notes has a perspective, which is about rank and file led unions. And what we are seeing is the UAW being led by its, uh, militant members in a new direction. And a leadership that's responsive and taking those cues from the membership.

So, Labor Notes will be covering the UAW. We'll be putting out two to three stories a week. So, stay tuned. What makes Labor Notes different than many other publications is that we... begin at the ground level. We go to the picket lines, we hit the phones and talk to workers to hear directly from them about how they are experiencing their unions, how they're making sense of contracts, and that is very unique.

It's not hard to do, it's not hard to pick up the phone and talk to a worker, but Labor Notes is one of the rare media and organizing projects that really believes that at its core.

Frank Cappello: Awesome. Louise, thank you so much for your time [00:34:00] today. I really appreciate it.

Luis Feliz Leon: Thank you.

David Sirota: That's it for today's show. As a reminder, our paid subscribers who get Lever Time Premium. You get to hear next week's bonus episode. My interview with economist Isabella Weber. She was one of the only economists who got it right on inflation.

To listen to Lever Time Premium, just head over to levernews. com to become a supporting subscriber. When you do, you get access to all of Lever's premium content, including our weekly newsletters and our live events. And that's all for just 8 a month or 70 for the year. One last favor. Please be sure to like, subscribe, and write a review for Lever Time on your favorite podcast app.

The app you are listening to right now, take 10 seconds and give us a positive review in that app. And make sure to check out all of the incredible reporting our team has been doing over at levernews. com. Until next time, I'm David Sirota. Rock the boat.

The Lever Time Podcast is a production of the Lever and the Lever Podcast [00:35:00] Network. It's hosted by me, David Sirota. Our producer is Frank Capello with help from Lever producer, Jared Jacang Mayor.