Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week, we'll discuss media coverage of continuing protests on Wall Street and the investigation into work conditions in the Amazon warehouse in Allentown, Pennsylvania. We'll be joined by Indypendent newspaper's Arun Gupta, Morning Call's Spencer Soper and Alternative's David Barsamain. He was recently deported from India. Join us live at 10 or send us an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. Where did you see the best reporting this week? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:

Arun Gupta, a founding editor of The Indypendent newspaper.

David Barsamian, the founder and director of Alternative Radio, the independent weekly audio series based in Boulder, Colorado.

Spencer Soper, business reporter for the Morning Call in Allentown, PA

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

What's in the Pacific trade deals currently being negotiated?

On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement talks with trade ministers from eight countries, including Vietnam and Malaysia. Manufacturing groups, unions and environmentalists are holding rallies to oppose the deal. If they go through, they'll be the largest trade deals ever signed. How are trade deals affecting job growth in the US? Join us at 10 or email feedback@yourcallradio.org. And how are overseas workers impacted? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Tim Robertson, director of the California Fair Trade Coalition

Charles Kernaghen, director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights

Scott Paul, the founding executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing

Click to Listen: What's in the Pacific trade deals being negotiated?

How are domestic workers organizing for their rights?

On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about domestic workers' labor struggles. In California, there are around 200,000 domestic workers who serve as housekeepers, nannies, and caregivers in private homes. In June, AB 889, the Household Workers Bill of Rights passed the assembly. Join us live at 10 or send us and email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How would this bill protect undocumented domestic workers? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Ai-jen Poo, a long time organizer, founder of Domestic Workers United and director of National Domestic Workers Alliance

Grecia Lima, CA Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Campaign Director

Click to Listen: How are domestic workers organizing for their rights?

How should US law hold corporations accountable for worker rights?

On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the Supreme Court's recent decision to throw out the class action suit brought against Wal-Mart by several of its female employes. The plaintiffs jointly claimed widespread sex discrimination on the job, but the Court ruled they had insufficient commonalities to be considered a "class." So, where does that leave workers who want to file class actions? Join us at 10 or send an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. How could the law change to better protect workers? It's Your Call with Hana Baba and you.

Guests:
Arcelia Hurtado, executive director of Equal Rights Advocates

Liza Featherstone, journalist and the author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker's Rights at Wal-Mart

Click to Listen: How should US law hold corporations accountable for worker rights?

How will the Walmart case alter class actions and women's rights?

How will the outcome of the Walmart sex discrimination case alter the future of class action lawsuits and women's rights in the workplace? On the next Your Call, we'll talk about the Walmart case in the Supreme Court. Originally filed in 2001, it would represent over a million female Walmart employees on claims of sex discrimination in hiring, promotions, pay raise, and general treatment on the job. If the court rules these women can legally form a "class," how will this case alter the landscape for future class action suits? Join us at 10 or send an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. How will this case change sex discrimination for women at work? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guests:
Brad Seligman, a civil rights attorney specializing in class action and founder of the Impact Fund

Noreen Farrell, managing attorney with Equal Rights Advocates

Click to Listen: How will the Walmart case alter class actions and women's rights?

What is it like to work on a farm today?

On the next Your Call, we'll mark Cesar Chavez's birthday by talking about the realities facing small farmers and farmworkers in the United States. A new report based on data from the Department of Labor has found that despite decades of struggle, California's farmworkers continue to live in poverty without adequate access to education and health care. Since 1990, socio-economic factors have barely budged. So what can be done to improve the lives of farm workers? Join us at 10 or send an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guests:
Al Rojas, farm labor activist

Guilebaldo Nunez, owner of Nunez Farms

Judith Redmond, co-owner of Full Belly Farm and secretary on the board of the Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Gerardo Reyes, farmworker and staff member of the Coalition of Imokalee Workers

Click to Listen: What is it like to work on a farm today?

What's the state of worker safety?

On the next Your Call, we'll mark the 100th anniversary of one of the most tragic labor disasters in American history--the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. The deaths of 146 garment workers drastically changed labor laws and worker safety standards. It also electrified the labor movement. So how safe are our workplaces today? Join us at 10 or send an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. How does worker safety in the US compare to regulations in factories overseas? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar, and you.

Guests:
Charles Kernaghen, director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights (formerly known as the National Labor Committee)

Eileen Nevitt, granddaughter of one of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory workers

Dr. Larry Rose, former doctor with Cal OSHA

Click to Listen: What's the state of worker safety?

Do you know who makes your electronic gadgets?

On the next Your Call, we'll look at where our technological gadgets are made and the labor abuses that go into their manufacturing. Ten workers at the Foxconn factory in China--where Apple iPhones are assembled--have committed suicide this year. How do labor practices affect your purchasing decisions? Join us live at 11 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. Do you know where your smart phone is made? Who will be first to offer "fair trade" electronics? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Greg Fay--program coordinator with China Labor Watch
Richard Jones--Freelance journalist and photojournalist

Click to Listen: Do you know who makes your electronic gadgets?

Your Call 090108 Labor Resists the Big Squeeze

At a time when wages are down and factories continue to close, who is paying high wages and offering good benefits? On the Next Your Call, on Labor Day, we'll have a conversation with New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, author of The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. Times are tough, but a handful of CEOs, including Costco's James Sinegals are taking the high road by providing workers with fair wages, health care and pension plans. What will it take to ensure other businesses to follow suit? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guest:
Steven Greenhouse, the author of The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker

Click to Listen: Labor Resists the Big Squeeze

Your Call 100407 Nobodies

What products do you buy that support modern day slavery? On the next Your Call we welcome John Bowe, author of Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy. Slavery was outlawed in the U.S. 142 years ago, but Bowe discovers cases across the continent where people work without rights, without paychecks and without the freedom to leave. Around the world nearly 27 million people are in conditions tantamount to enslavement. Which products are most likely to have been made by slaves? What can you do to join the new abolitionist movement? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
John Bowe, author of Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy. He is the co-editor of Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs, one of Harvard Business Review’s best books of 2000, and a recipient of the Richard J. Margolis Award, dedicated to journalism that combines social concern and humor.
 
Norma Hotaling, executive director of Sage: Standing Against Global Exploitation

David Batstone, founder of The Not For Sale Campaign
 
Click to Listen: Nobodies