Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present and Future of Jobs
25 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsBrought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Bringing you stories and struggles, people and perspectives, interviews and commentaries, all on the world of work yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The program explores a wide range of social and economic topics impacting the way we work, presented through a unique historical perspective. Interviews feature local and national guests -- change agents, activists, experts, workers, researchers, and more. | Website: essentialworkpodcast.org | Listener line: 412-326-9435 | Contact us with comments, questions, & suggestions: https://bit.ly/35nMSAd | Sign up for Listener Alerts: https://bit.ly/3tZTMWn | Please support this podcast and the organization: battleofhomestead.org | Host, Producer, Program Manager: Nathan Ruggles (nathanruggles.org) | Host, Pathways to a New Economy that Works for All of Us (addressing labor, environment and health): Dr. Patricia DeMarco (patriciademarco.com) | Feature commentators: Rosemary Trump, Dr. Charles McCollester. | Production advisor: Angela Baughman (thatsoundgirl.com) | Logo design: Brittany Sheets (bsheetscreative.com) | Original Music by Jason Kendall (Jasonkendallproductions.com) | Essential Work is available on popular podcast platforms and apps.
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Episodes
Year in Re/Pre-view (Part 2)
February 16, 2022 02:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBEpisode 3-2 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Part 2 of our Year in Review/Year in Preview with labor leader Rosemary Trump and labor historian Dr. Charles McCollester. They continue their discussion with host Nathan Ruggles on a range of issues facing workers on the job and in society today. Give us five stars and a positive review on Apple Podcasts! Support this podcast and the work of our producing ...
A Year in Work Re/Pre-view (Part 1)
January 25, 2022 20:00 - 45 minutes - 31.1 MBEpisode 3-1 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. A New Year and new season on the podcast! Long-time friends of the show, labor leader Rosemary Trump and labor historian Dr. Charles McCollester join host Nathan Ruggles for a Year in Review/Year in Preview on a range of issues facing workers on the job and in society today. Film: Don't Look Up on Netflix Give us five stars and a positive review on Apple ...
Bonus: The $10 Million “Future of Work” Prize
December 23, 2021 20:00 - 11 minutes - 8.19 MBEpisode 2-5 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. A bonus previously unreleased excerpt from our interview with entrepreneur and author Jeff Wald., in which he talks about his $10 Million “Future of Work” Prize with host Nathan Ruggles. In the last episode, they had an in-depth conversation of Jeff’s book The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations. Check out that in Episode 2-4 her...
Industrial Revolutions and On-Demand Workers
December 09, 2021 20:00 - 1 hour - 44.2 MBEpisode 2-4 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Host Nathan Ruggles discusses the book The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations with author Jeff Wald. A best-selling writer, tech entrepreneur, angel investor, founder of WorkMarket and Spinback, Jeff examines how companies and workers reacted to the last three industrial revolutions. They review this history of work and his anal...
Dr. Joe Trotter and Black Labor in the Making of America
November 23, 2021 19:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MBThis is Episode 2-3 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Nathan Ruggles hosts our feature interview Dr. Joe Trotter is the Giant Eagle University Professor of History and Social Justice and past History Department Chair at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is also the Director and Founder of Carnegie Mellon’s Center for African American Urban Studies and the Economy (CAUSE), Preside...
Microloans for Hidden Peoples
June 25, 2021 01:00 - 1 hour - 53.8 MBSeason 2, Episode 2 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Nathan Ruggles hosts our feature interview with the co-founders of ASA Social Fund for Hidden Peoples: Dr. Louis Picard and Pauline Greenlick. They discuss microloans, and how they provide financial resources and support to qualified individuals and groups -- particularly to vulnerable and fragile children and adults beset by strife, disability, or t...
Back Again!
May 19, 2021 06:00 - 18 minutes - 12.8 MBThis is Season 2, Episode 1 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. The start of a new season! Host Nathan Ruggles talks with Battle of Homestead Foundation Communications Manager and music guru Larry McCullough. After a quick check-in and look back on the organization, Larry kicks off this season with a selection from the cannon of presidential campaign songs. He reviews the New Lost City Ramblers and their...
Farming for the Future: Community & Urban Gardening
February 10, 2021 11:00 - 47 minutes - 32.8 MBThis is Episode 11 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Including: 1. Patricia DeMarco (https://patriciademarco.com) hosts our feature interview with Rayden Sorock, Director of Community Projects for Grow Pittsburgh, who has worked to support the growth and sustainability of more than 100 community gardens in Allegheny County over 9 years. They discuss initiatives around urban agriculture and preserving f...
Investing in Communities to Build a New Economy: A Marshall Plan for Middle America
December 05, 2020 08:00 - 53 minutes - 36.7 MBThis is Episode 10 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. "Investing in Communities to Build a New Economy: A Marshall Plan for Middle America" Includes: 1. A feature interview from host Patricia DeMarco (https://patriciademarco.com), this time with Tom Croft, Managing Director of Heartland Capital Strategies (www.heartlandnetwork.org) and Executive Director of the Steel Valley Authority (www.steelvalley.o...
Working Over Time: What’s at Stake in Election 2020
October 31, 2020 21:00 - 1 hour - 41.6 MBThis is Episode 9 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Working Over Time: What’s at Stake in Election 2020 Includes: Commentators Rosemary Trump and Charlie McCollester return just in time for Election Day with their regular feature Working Over Time. They discuss what’s at stake for working people , with host Nathan Ruggles, the origins of current issues, and look ahead to what we might expect both post...
A 21st Century WPA: Back from Halimuhfack
October 24, 2020 17:00 - 57 minutes - 39.6 MBEpisode 8 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation: A 21st Century WPA: Back from Halimuhfack Taking a look at the most impactful and ambitious employment program in American history: the Works Progress Administration, or WPA Includes: 1. Nathan Ruggles talks with Max Page of the University of Massachusetts Amherst about his recent piece in Labor Notes entitled “In the Face of Mass Unemployment, We Need a 21s...
Pathways to a New Economy that Works for Us
October 17, 2020 03:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBEpisode 7 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation: Pathways to a New Economy that Works for Us Includes: 1. Patty DeMarco returns with Pathways to a New Economy. Her feature interview is with teacher, activist and organizer Michael Bagdes-Canning. They talk dirty jobs and clean ones, failing industry and green, along with fracking and climate change. Dr. Patricia DeMarco: patriciademarco.com Michael Bagde...
¡Que Viva Clemente!
October 10, 2020 03:00 - 1 hour - 41.5 MBEpisode 6 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Includes: A feature interview about the issues facing immigrant workers from Latin America in the United States, and in particular those who are undocumented, with Guillermo Perez from theLabor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA). Topics also include Puerto Rico, baseball, and the annual event celebrating storied Hall of Famer Robert Clemente: ¡Que...
Serving It Up Pandemic-Style
October 05, 2020 04:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBEpisode 5 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Final episode in the series featuring the struggles of food service workers. Representatives of the nonprofit organization The Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) Pittsburgh talk with Nathan Ruggles about their experiences. Organizer and former server Bobbit Linskens, and local barista and member of ROC, Abbey Rideout conclude the multipart interview by det...
Serving It Up Pandemic-Style (ROC Part 3)
October 03, 2020 03:00 - 34 minutes - 23.6 MBEpisode 5 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Final episode in the series featuring the struggles of food service workers. Representatives of the nonprofit organization The Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) Pittsburgh talk with Nathan Ruggles about their experiences. Organizer and former server Bobbit Linskens, and local barista and member of ROC, Abbey Rideout conclude the multipart interview by det...
Nickeled and Dimed (ROC Part 2)
September 20, 2020 03:00 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MBEpisode 4 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Includes: A feature interview continuing the focus on the struggles of food service workers with Part 2 of a conversation with the nonprofit organization The Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) PA and their work fighting to improve wages and working conditions. This part covers the issue of wages and benefits in the industry, through the experiences of Bob...
Nickeled and Dimed
September 20, 2020 03:00 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBEpisode 4 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Includes: A feature interview continuing the focus on the struggles of food service workers with Part 2 of a conversation with the nonprofit organization The Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) PA and their work fighting to improve wages and working conditions. This part covers the issue of wages and benefits in the industry, through the experiences of Bob...
Compliments of Your Waitress (Part 1)
September 12, 2020 04:00 - 40 minutes - 27.8 MBEpisode 3 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Includes: A feature examining the struggles of food service workers through a conversation with Pittsburgh representatives of the nonprofit organization The Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC). Nathan Ruggles talks with organizer and former server Bobbit Linskens, and local barista and member of ROC, Abbey Rideout. Topics in this multipart interview inclu...
Compliments of Your Waitress (ROC Part 1)
September 12, 2020 04:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MBEpisode 3 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Includes: A feature examining the struggles of food service workers through a conversation with Pittsburgh representatives of the nonprofit organization The Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC). Nathan Ruggles talks with organizer and former server Bobbit Linskens, and local barista and member of ROC, Abbey Rideout. Topics in this multipart interview inclu...
Episode 3: Compliments of Your Waitress
September 12, 2020 04:00 - 40 minutes - 27.8 MBEpisode 3 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Includes: A feature examining the struggles of food service workers through a conversation with Pittsburgh representatives of the nonprofit organization The Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC). Nathan Ruggles talks with organizer and former server Bobbit Linskens, and local barista and member of ROC, Abbey Rideout. Topics in this multipart interview inclu...
We Just Come to Work Here (We Don't Come to Die)
September 05, 2020 09:00 - 50 minutes - 34.7 MBThis is Episode 2 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Episode 2 includes: The start of a new monthly feature called Working Over Time, with regular expert commentators Rosemary Trump and Charlie McCollester. Host Nathan Ruggles engages with them on the issue of worker health and safety in the time of a pandemic, with a historic perspective and attention to the role of unions. Following that is a discuss...
Episode 2: We Just Come to Work Here (We Don't Come to Die)
September 05, 2020 09:00 - 47 minutes - 32.4 MBThis is Episode 2 of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. Episode 2 includes: The start of a new monthly feature called Working Over Time, with regular expert commentators Rosemary Trump and Charlie McCollester. Host Nathan Ruggles engages with them on the issue of worker health and safety in the time of a pandemic, with a historic perspective and attention to the role of unions. Following that is a discuss...
The Premiere Episode of Essential Work!
August 28, 2020 14:00 - 42 minutes - 29.1 MBThis is the premiere episode of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. The episode features: Discussion between host Nathan Ruggles and John Haer, current President of the Battle of Homestead Foundation, about the organization, it’s mission, and why it’s starting a podcast. As part of her regular segment Pathways to a New Economy, looking at labor, environment and health, Patty DeMarco interviews one of the le...
The Premiere Episode: ReImaging an Economy for All
August 28, 2020 14:00 - 42 minutes - 29.1 MBThis is the premiere episode of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. The episode features: Discussion between host Nathan Ruggles and John Haer, current President of the Battle of Homestead Foundation, about the organization, it’s mission, and why it’s starting a podcast. As part of her regular segment Pathways to a New Economy, looking at labor, environment and health, Patty DeMarco interviews one of the le...
ReImaging an Economy for All (Premiere Episode!)
August 28, 2020 14:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MBThis is the premiere episode of Essential Work: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Jobs, brought to you by the Battle of Homestead Foundation. The episode features: Discussion between host Nathan Ruggles and John Haer, current President of the Battle of Homestead Foundation, about the organization, it’s mission, and why it’s starting a podcast. As part of her regular segment Pathways to a New Economy, looking at labor, environment and health, Patty DeMarco interviews one of the le...