The Upsurge

05/12/2023

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Upsurge discontinuing

Dear Upsurge listeners and patrons,

After careful consideration, the Upsurge team has decided that a planned second season is not feasible financially and logistically. We write to inform you that Episode 17 was our podcast’s last. We have already ceased patron billing as of December 1.

We are immensely proud of the work we’ve done, and in awe of the support and feedback we’ve received from listeners and patrons since we began this humble show in January 2023. We would not have been able to produce 17 regular and 9 bonus episodes without your support, financial and otherwise.

We started this podcast because we believe in the labor movement. We believe that rank-and-file workers have the power to change their workplaces, their unions, their communities, their countries, and ultimately, the world.

What UPS Teamsters and Big Three Auto Workers have accomplished in the past year inspired us. And one of the goals of the podcast was to inspire you, listener, by unpacking the stakes of this moment, and the significance and ingenuity of these workers’ organizing.

If you want more content like ours, please continue to follow the work of The Real News Network and In These Times. They and others are providing indispensable coverage of the labor movement at this unprecedented moment of potential and hope.

Thank you to our listeners. Thank you to our patrons. Thank you to our partners at The Real News Network and In These Times, without whom we would not have reached as many listeners. Thank you to all of our guests.

But first and foremost, thank you to the workers who shared their perspectives and stories with us. You are the beating heart of the labor movement, which we sincerely hope is at the dawn of an upsurge. We will be forever grateful for this opportunity.

Sincerely,

Teddy Ostrow
Host and Lead Producer of The Upsurge

12/11/2023

“I think that you can make the case that this is a transformative victory for the UAW." From our latest episode at In These Times ⤵️

The UAW reached tentative agreements with each of Detroit's Big Three automakers. Workers around the country are watching.

12/11/2023

The UAW has turned the tide on decades of concessionary bargaining. Workers around the country are watching. Our latest episode at The Real News Network ⤵️

After forty-four days on the picket line, the UAW reached tentative agreements with each of the Big Three automakers. GM was the last domino to fall on Saturday, Oct. 30, just days after Ford and then Stellantis acquiesced to their own tentative deals.

10/11/2023

🪧NEW EPISODE🪧
The Big Three have fallen like a house of cards.

The UAW's historic Stand Up strike has come to an end – for now, at least. After forty-four days on the picket line, the Auto Workers have reached tentative agreements with each of the Big Three automakers. GM was the last domino to fall on October 30, just days after Ford and then Stellantis acquiesced to their own tentative deals.

50,000 strikers have returned to work, and all 146,000 Big Three union members are now voting on the contracts. While it's up to the workers to decide whether the deals are adequate, one thing is already clear: the UAW has turned the tide on decades of concessionary bargaining.

For this episode, we invited Barry Eidlin back on the show to unpack the gains and wider implications of the UAW's tentative agreements. Barry Eidlin is an associate professor of sociology at McGill University, who studies class, labor, politics and social movements. He is the author of Labor and the Class Idea in the United States and Canada, published by Cambridge University Press in 2018.

We explore why the agreements may represent a shift toward a "new kind of unionism," how the UAW's prospects for organizing the rest of the auto industry may have changed, and what listeners should be following in the rest of the labor movement.

The Big Three have fallen like a house of cards. The UAW's historic Stand Up strike has come to an end – for now, at least. After forty-four days on the picket line, the Auto Workers have reached tentative agreements with each of the Big Three automakers. GM was the last domino to fall on Saturday...

19/10/2023

"We’re seeing...change at the top [of the UAW] that is sparking the change at the bottom, which is really the change that we need to sustain reform and this struggle going forward."

The Stand Up strike has already forced General Motors to fold its electric vehicle battery plants into UAW’s master contract. Now, Ford’s largest truck plant in Kentucky is on strike.

19/10/2023

"Class warfare has been going on for a long time. It’s just that the working class needs to waken to the fact that capital has been waging class warfare against the working class for decades and has sort of quelled a lot of the militancy and the ability to fight back...what’s been so amazing is seeing everyone, including workers around the world, kind of taking note of what’s happening in the UAW and seeing such an important historical union say, 'this is not a one-sided class struggle.'"

Lisa Xu and Chris Budnick on the power of worker organizing—and the UAW’s newfound militance.

19/10/2023

🪧NEW EPISODE🪧
Nearly five weeks into the UAW's historic Stand Up Strike, there are just under 34,000 Big Three Auto Workers on strike in assembly plants and parts depots across the country. The latest escalation came on Wednesday, October 11, when the union called on 8,700 Ford workers at the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Kentucky, to walk off the job.

For this episode, we're bringing you a UAW Strike update. You'll hear from two guests: Chris Budnick and Lisa Xu. Chris is a striking Ford worker at the Kentucky Truck Plant and the co-chair of Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD). Lisa is an organizer at the labor movement publication and organizing project Labor Notes, and she was previously an organizer with UAWD.

Chris and Lisa bring us up to speed on the strike escalations, discuss how non-striking Auto Workers are participating in the Stand Up, and unpack the massive concession made by General Motors last week – the folding of their battery plants into the UAW's master contract with the company.

Finally, we take a step back to reflect on the Stand Up Strike overall. We take stock not just of what was won contractually so far, but also of how far the union has come in the past year, and where it's going.

Nearly five weeks into the UAW's historic Stand Up Strike, there are just under 34,000 Big Three Auto Workers on strike in assembly plants and parts depots across the country. The latest escalation came on Wednesday, October 11, when the union called on 8,700 Ford workers at the Kentucky Truck Plant...

02/10/2023

UAW President Shawn Fain has said that “corporate greed” is the enemy, and autoworkers are fighting back.

30/09/2023

"We’re the backbone of the company. We didn’t know our plant was going to strike, but we're here for the fight. We’re going to stand in solidarity to get what we deserve." From our new episode at In These Times.

UAW President Shawn Fain has said that “corporate greed” is the enemy, and autoworkers are fighting back.

29/09/2023

"You want to keep playing this game? We’ll shut the whole thing down... We don’t want to do it, but if you want to get in a street fight with street people, that’s a dumb thing to do if you're from Wall Street." From our new episode over at The Real News Network

Auto workers give updates on the UAW strike against the Big Three along with their thoughts on COLA, the two-tiered wage system, and more.

29/09/2023

🪧NEW EPISODE🪧
The UAW's Stand Up Strike is alive and growing. More than 18,000 auto workers across the Big Three – Ford, GM, and Stellantis – are on strike across twenty states, and just a few hours after this episode posts, thousands more will likely join them. The Fiery Labor Fall is here.

In this episode, we bring you on the ground of UAW picket lines and rallies across three states – Michigan, Ohio, and New York. You'll hear the perspectives and stories of over a dozen rank-and-file auto workers, as well as direct interviews with UAW president Shawn Fain and other union leaders.

Follow Teddy as he zig-zags across states to ask the workers themselves what they think about the strike. UAW auto workers explain the stakes and key demands of their fight, how it's gotten to this point, and what the renewed militancy of their union means to them.

The UAW's Stand Up Strike is alive and growing. More than 18,000 auto workers across the Big Three – Ford, GM and Stellantis – are on strike across twenty states, and just a few hours after this episode posts, thousands more will likely join them. The Fiery Labor Fall is here. In this episode, w...

21/09/2023

“This is what the UAW has always been about. We’ve always been a progressive, organized union fighting for the working class. And it’s good to see it come back.” From Teddy Ostrow's report for The Real News Network.

The UAW’s ‘stand up’ strike strategy has inspired confidence from auto workers on the picket line while sending the Big Three scrambling.