Listen: Trump Fascism on the March; Workers in Peril; and More!
Trade unionists fight for worker safety in Albany, NY. Photo courtesy of ALIGN
By Bob Hennelly
Last weekend, former President Donald Trump held a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey where his racist anti-immigrant messaging appears to have drawn thousands. While the Associated Press reported tens of thousands attended, other reliable outlets have put the actual crowd size as much smaller. Whatever the size, it’s clear the MAGA fever has not broken. Wildwood indicates it’s still very much with us.
Trump promised to “shut down deadly sanctuary cities such as Newark and Philadelphia” Ironically, the three-time indicted former President added that he would “not let criminals come into those cities. And we will not let them release illegal criminal aliens into your streets.”
Saturday’s rally with all of the red, white and blue trappings was reminiscent of that notorious night in February 1939 when 20,000 ‘patriotic’ Americans packed the old Madison Square Garden to cheer Fritz Julius Kuhn, leader of the American Bund which supported Nazi Germany. Kuhn spoke in front of a massive rendering of George Washington.
We start off this week’s edition of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour with a conversation with Marshall Curry who directed “A Night At the Garden”, the short documentary Academy Award film winner in 2017 that used archival footing to depict the events of that night 85 years ago.
In the next part of the show will get an update from Nadine Williamson, RN, executive VP, 1199 SEIU Nurse Division, on the problems implementing the New York State Safe Staffing Law. The measure was passed back in 2021, and took effect in 2022, but has been off to a shaky start with most hospitals resisting finding common ground with nurses and support staff.
In the final portion of the show, we speak with Theo Moore, executive director of ALIGN, the dynamic community and labor alliance that advocates for a just and sustainable New York, as well as Charlene Obernauer, a longtime friend of this program, and the executive director of NYCOSH, the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. This week is Worker Safety Week and there’s major worker safety legislation still pending in Albany.
The stakes are the high. Last month, the AFL-CIO’s annual Death on the Job report disclosed how workers of color are dying on the job at increasingly higher rates—and fatalities for Black workers hit the highest level in nearly 15 years.
In its 33rd annual report, the AFL-CIO documented how Latino workers, many of them immigrants, continue to face “the greatest risk of dying on the job than all other workers.” The harsh 21st century reality if that every 96 minutes a worker is killed on the job in America.
Last year there were 5,486 fatal work related avoidable injuries across the county according to OSHA. In New York City, we know of 83 people who lost their lives because of horrific workplace injuries. That same AFL-CIO national analysis estimated that 120,000 people die prematurely because of an occupational-related disease.
Pending still in Albany: Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act; Temperature Extreme Mitigation Program or T.E.M.P. Bill; Nail Salon Minimum Standards Council Act; and the Retail Worker Safety Act.
Listen to the entire show below: