LISTEN: Why is Union Density Declining? NYC Retirees Champion Medicare/And More!

We’re seeing more workers organizing and going on strike — why is union density still on the decline? Photo by Joe Maniscalco

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we visit with noted labor historian and author Joshua Freeman, a distinguished professor emeritus at CUNY’s Queens College, to discuss the significant increase in union organizing and strike activity across the country. We ask with all of this union activity why is union density actually going down?

We also speak with Marianne Pizzitola, president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees, on the growing national movement to protect access to traditional Medicare. She updates us on the New York City retiree battle to resist Mayor Adams and the Municipal Labor Committee’s push to force them on to a for-profit Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan.

In the last half of the hour, we go up to New Hampshire to get the backstory on what’s happening with that state’s 2024 Presidential Primary from Granite state experts Arne Arnesen and Rick Newman. So far, the Democratic National Committee is going ahead with plans to make South Carolina the first official primary and ignore New Hampshire.

Meanwhile, on the ground in the Granite State, Republican presidential wantabes are dominating the debate as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ramps up his run in the Democratic Primary where Biden the incumbent won’t be on the ballot.

Listen to the whole show below: