Voices of Guinness (Encore)

Voices of Guinness (Encore)

Author: laborhistorytoday October 26, 2025 Duration: 37:04
On Labor History Today: In 2005 the Guinness Brewery at Park Royal, West London closed after seven decades of production. Tim Strangleman spent the last six months of the Brewery’s life working with a photographer to record in words and picture the site before it closed. Subsequent research revealed an incredibly rich story of corporate cultural change and the transformation of work and the workplace. Drawing on material from his 2019 book, Voices of Guinness: An Oral History of the Park Royal Brewery, Strangleman, Professor of Sociology, in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, Canterbury, reflects on what that story tells us about work meaning, identity and organizational life in the second decade of the twenty-first century. Our show – which originally aired on October 24, 2021 -- is excerpted from Strangleman’s Zoom presentation at the October 5, 2021 edition of Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives, the lecture series sponsored by the Michigan Traditional Arts Program and the Labor Education Program at Michigan State University. To get on the ODW/ODL email list email John Beck at mailto:beckj@msu.eduClick here for photos of the Park Royal Guinness Brewery.   And, on Labor History in 2:00, the year was 1940; that was the day that the federally mandated 40-hour work week went into effect for U.S. workers.Produced by Chris Garlock. To contribute a labor history item, email laborhistorytoday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @MichiganTradArts @MSUSHRLR @DIndustrialKent @SSPSSR @OxUniPress

Behind every weekend, every safety regulation, and every paycheck that feels fair, there's a story-often a forgotten one. Labor History Today digs into those stories, moving beyond dry dates and names to recover the voices and confrontations that built the world we work in. Each episode connects a pivotal moment from the past, like the fight for an eight-hour day or the rise of a major union, directly to the conversations happening on picket lines and in break rooms right now. You'll hear about the strategies that succeeded, the personalities that led the charge, and the setbacks that reshaped movements. This isn't just a history podcast; it's a deep look at how understanding the battles for worker rights, from centuries ago to just decades past, provides essential context for today's struggles over wages, conditions, and dignity. Tune in for a grounded, narrative-driven exploration of how yesterday's strikes, protests, and organizing victories continue to fuel the demand for a more just tomorrow.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Labor History Today
Podcast Episodes
Cecil Roberts: “ You must continue to fight” [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:04
On this week’s Labor History Today: From Camp Solidarity in Matewan, West Virginia—the heart of the legendary Mine Wars—UMWA President Cecil Roberts reflects on the long struggle of coal miners to claim America’s promise…
Unmasking Anti-union Antisemitism [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:46
This week on Labor History Today, labor historian Joseph McCartin joins Chris Garlock to unpack his recent congressional testimony on unions, antisemitism, and the long fight for solidarity. From the labor movement’s div…
Trouble! at Coal Creek [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:54
On this week’s Labor History Today: Activist and artist Austin Sauerbrei talks about his debut graphic novel Trouble! at Coal Creek, which brings to life the 1890s miners’ uprising in Tennessee, where striking workers an…
Patriotism, Paranoia, and Labor on Trial [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:28
On this week’s Labor History Today: Historian Dr. Jeffrey Johnson tells the story of the 1916 San Francisco Preparedness Day bombing and the infamous frame-up of labor leader Tom Mooney, who spent more than two decades b…
Resisting Trump’s Rewrite: Black Slave Labor’s Secret Strategies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:16
This week on Labor History Today: the Solidarity Forever podcast explores how enslaved Black laborers resisted and strategized before the Civil War. At a time when the President attacks the Smithsonian for “focusing too…
How We Get Free: Worker Solidarity in Racine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:40
On this week’s Labor History Today, scholar and creator Shana L. Redmond sits down with Naomi R Williams, Assistant Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University, to discuss Williams' new book…
Hard Hats, Grapes, and Garbage [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:59
This week on Labor History Today: From Nixon’s “hard hat” protest to reform battles inside the Steelworkers, from Philly’s once-every-40-years sanitation strikes to the enduring call of the Delano grape boycott — we expl…
The Worthy Wages Movement for Childcare Workers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:55
On this week’s Labor History Today, we feature the Tales from the Ruther Library podcast, where Dan Golodner talks with historian Dr. Justine Modica about the history of childcare labor in the U.S. and the “Worthy Wage”…
If Wages Aren’t Increasing, How Do We Expect This to Work? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:00
On today’s Labor Radio Podcast Daily: The Worker Power Hour tackles the housing crisis and wage stagnation in Southern California.In labor history, on this date in 1970, Delano grape growers signed their first union cont…
The Raging Erie: Life, Labor, and the Canal That Changed America [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:53
This week on Labor History Today: author Mark S. Ferrara joins labor educator Linda Donahue to explore the hidden history of the workers who built and lived along the Erie Canal. Based on Ferrara’s book The Raging Erie,…