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?

Are those with jobs working too much, with too little pay?

On the next Your Call, we'll talk to Mother Jones editor Clara Jeffrey, about the flip-side of the unemployment crisis: the "Great Speedup" of the American workforce. According to Jeffrey's cover article, Americans are now working nearly 400 more hours per year than Germans. Is it because fewer people are pushed into taking on a greater number of tasks? Join us at 10 or email feedback@yourcallradio.org. If you are lucky enough to have a job, is it working you to death? It's Your Call with Holly Kernan and you.

Guests:
Clara Jeffrey, deputy editor of Mother Jones magazine and co-author of All Work and No Pay: The Great Speedup

Click to Listen: Are those with jobs working too much, with too little pay?

How is computer use affecting our health?

On the next Your Call, we'll talk about how our minds and bodies are affected by our increasing use of computers and digital devices. 70% of the U.S. workforce now sits on the job, many in front of computers. From repetitive stress to eye strain to depression, scientific studies show that we need to take better care of ourselves. How is your body and well-being affected by computer use? Join us at 10 or email feedback@yourcallradio.org. Could this be a public health issue? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guests:
Andrew Lui, ergonomic specialist and associate clinical professor at UCSF in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation

Dr. James Sheedy, professor of optometry and head of the Vision Performance Institute at the Pacific University College of Optometry in Forest Grove, Oregon

Dr. Joanne Cantor, professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of Conquer CyberOverload: Get More Done, Boost Your Creativity, and Reduce Stress and president of Your Mind on Media

Click to Listen: How is computer use affecting our health?

What does it take to organize in the workplace?

On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about how workers try to form or join a union. Recently employees at a Target store in New York voted against joining the country's largest retail union. What does it take to win rights for workers? Join us live at 10 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How are corporations preventing workers from forming unions? Have you tried to organize in your workplace? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Debbie Fontaine, an employee at the Rite Aid Distribution Center in Lancaster

Lila Shairo, a labor reporter with Huffington Post. She has been writing extensively on the Target employees' efforts to form a union.

David Bacon is a writer and photojournalist based in the Bay Area.

Margaret Van Ness, an overnight stocker at a Wal-Mart store in Lancaster

Click to Listen: What does it take to organize in the workplace?

Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week, we'll discuss coverage of the US Supreme Court decision in Dukes v. Wal-Mart. We'll also talk about President Obama's speech on Afghanistan. How is the media covering US strategy in that country? We'll be joined by Slate senior editor Dahlia Lithwick, Huffington Post's Lila Shapiro and veteran journalist Elizabeth Gould. Where did you see the best reporting this week? Join us live at 10 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. It's Your Call, with Malihe Razazan and you.

Guests:
Lila Shapiro, a Business Writer at the Huffington Post

Dahlia Lithwick is a senior editor at Slate. She writes "Supreme Court Dispatches."

Elizabeth Gould is a veteran journalist and author. She has spent the last thirty years covering Afghanistan.

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

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?

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?

What does it take strike a balance between family and work?

On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with professor Joan Williams, author of Reshaping the Work-Family Debate: Why Men and Class Matter. She says the U.S. has the most family-hostile public policy in the developed world and in order to change policies, class and gender must become part of the national debate. What policies would you want to change? Join us live at 10 or send us email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How do you balance work and family? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Joan Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings College of the Law

Click to Listen: What does it take strike a balance between family and work?

What's life like as a hotel worker today?

What's it like to be a hotel worker? On the next Your Call, hotel workers will tell us what it's like to serve food, make beds, clean bathrooms, and negotiate for fair treatment, pay, and benefits. On the 30th anniversary of the 1980 hotel strike in San Francisco, hotel workers nationwide are marching for better working conditions. What are current labor practices like? What do you want to know about how hotel workers are treated before you make your next reservation? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Riddhi Mehta, research analyst with Unite Here Local 2

Aurolyn Rush, telephone operator at the Grand Hyatt Hotel

Antonio Arenas, room service worker at the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf Hotel

Click to Listen: What's life like as a hotel worker today?