By Bob Hennelly

This is the third Monday of Black History Month and we continue to explore how the fight for racial justice in a nation that was built on slavery laid the very foundations for the modern American labor union movement. To this very day, it defines the contours of our struggle.  

Despite decades of pain and sacrifice, race and gender discrimination still exist not just in the private sector economy — but in the public sector and the civil service that ALL taxpayers pay for. It truly adds insult to the ongoing injury and requires we maintain our militancy.

As we have previously reported, New York City continues to flagrantly discriminate against the FDNY EMS workforce, which is primarily women and people of color, by paying them much less than their mostly male firefighting co-workers. In this edition of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we speak with  Dalvanie Powell, president of the United Probation Officers, about her members who are mostly women of color doing a dangerous job — yet are paid tens of thousands of dollars less than what men get in other law enforcement titles.

We also get an update from Nancy Hagans, president of the New York Nurses Association. NYSNA continue to rack up big wins in  its ongoing campaign to improve working conditions for nurses and patients in a healthcare system that insists on putting profits ahead of people. As the nation saw with COVID, the consequences were particularly deadly with thousands of healthcare workers losing their lives and disparate health outcomes hitting neighborhoods already at risk. Nancy makes the public health case for passing the New York Health Act to provide universal healthcare.

But first we will start off with a conversation from John Samuelsen,  international president of the Transport Workers Union [TWU], which represents 155,000 workers across the country in the rail, airline, transit, utility, university, and service sectors. John recounts the deep ties his union’s founder Michael J. Quill had with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, explores the lost opportunity cost of America’s profligate military spending, reflects on Tom Souzzi’s Congressional election win, and critiques the MTA’s congestion pricing plan.

Listen to the entire show below:

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