The Indypendent's Steven Wishnia updates us on the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) strike. He’s been speaking with nurses about their working conditions and demands. Over seven thousand nurses at four private hospitals are on strike. “Bosses have pushed us to strike by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staffing that harms our patients,” says the union.

Yesterday City Council’s labor committee held a public hearing on a measure supported by the Adams administration that would make it possible for the City to transfer 250,000 retired city workers from their current medicare health coverage to privately-run Medicare Advantage. The retirees have put up a fierce battle for over a year. City council is tentatively scheduled to vote on the measure on Jan. 19. We speak with Barbara Karess, adjunct professor at Baruch College in manhattan and a proud member of professional Professional Staff Congres CUNY.

Lastly, we speak with callers live on the air on WBAI 99.5 FM. Callers share their views on the nurses’ strike and how municipal union leaders have set up retired municipal employees to lose medicare benefits.

The Indypendent News Hour on WBAI-99.5 FM // 10 Jan. '22

Listen Up! from Welcome Project Radio brings you a story or two along with discussion of that story from co-director Allison Schuette and co-hosts Willow Walsh and Reagan Skaggs. This week we're doing something new – Allison is interviewing Reagan about her effort to unionize a Starbucks store in Valparaiso.

Find our stories and their transcripts at welcomeproject.valpo.edu or listen to our weekly podcast by searching for Welcome Project on your favorite app.

Listen Up! Unionizing Starbucks

On this Podcast Steven hosts new guest Jake Bowman. 
Jake is a Knight for Medieval Times in Buena Park Ca.  He is one of the main organizers for Unionizing Medieval Times workers & is currently fighting for a fair contract.  Jake has taking time off the picket line to come and talk with Steven to give updates on how the strike is going.

Episode #146 "Living in Medieval Times"

On this Podcast Steven takes a trek to an Amazon Hub in Palmdale, CA to support Amazon Drivers who recently Unionized with Local 396.  A historic event; Steven is there documenting & interviewing fellow Teamsters at the Rally.

Episode #159  "Unionize Amazon"

Episode #216

In this episode, Jackie Hernandez is your host with guest Alejandra "Alex" Quintero, a labor organizer and the creator of AllThingsLabor (http://www.instagram.com/allthingslabor), a social media platform with over 40,000 followers that educates workers about their rights and how to organize.

With coworkers, Alex has unionized her workplace three times, served on both organizing and bargaining committees, and successfully filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board. Alex is also the co-coordinator of the nonprofit circle of the Democratic Socialists of America - LA Labor Committee (https://dsa-la.org/committees/labor-committee-platform) and is a committee member of the Mother Jones Foundation Committee.


News articles related to this show:

* Medicare for All Helps Unions by Taking Health Care Off the Bargaining Table [Truthout]
  https://hc4us.org/medicare-for-all-helps-unions-by-taking-health-care-off-the-bargaining-table-truthout/

* Unions Can Lead the Struggle for Single-Payer Health Care
  https://hc4us.org/unions-can-lead-the-struggle-for-single-payer-health-care-pnhp/


======
Our Health Care for US show airs at our new time, EVERY FRIDAY MORNING at 7:30am (PST) on 90.7 KPFK (kpfk.org) in Los Angeles and 98.7 FM Santa Barbara.

Our radio show is also live streamed on kpfk.org and our website (hc4us.org), with recording made available here on SoundCloud (@HC4US).

For future HC4US shows, we want you to join the conversation by calling in live to the show at 818-985-5735.  You can also email your questions or tips to communications@hc4us.org.

2025-05-23 - HC4US show with host Jackie Hernandez and guest Alejandra 'Alex' Quintero

Health Care for US (HC4US) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization of volunteers championing California single-payer health care. HC4US advocates for comprehensive, high-quality universal health care through single-payer public financing. Our goal is to guarantee health care as a human right for ALL California residents, advancing the larger fight for health care justice and energizing the implementation of national Single Payer/Medicare for All.

Collecting stories to make a difference. These first-person stories are part of the Welcome Project, an audio and video collection at Valparaiso University. Visit us as welcomeproject.valpo.edu.

The Indypendent News Hour airs Tuesdays 5–6 p.m. on WBAI-99.5 FM. Check out our archives to listen to past interviews with movement organizers, authors, elected officials and others fighting for justice in New York City and beyond.

On a journey to discover who I am and what I want to leave behind.

New tracks tagged #UNIONIZE