Sick Georgia residents have been abandoned after toxic BioLab fire (w/ Hannah Loyd, Christina O'Connor, & Jeramie Julian)

Sick Georgia residents have been abandoned after toxic BioLab fire (w/ Hannah Loyd, Christina O'Connor, & Jeramie Julian)

Author: Working People December 15, 2024 Duration: 1:17:12

"In late September," Timothy Pratt writes in Capital & Main, "a massive billow of smoke from a chemical fire spread over metro Atlanta, lingering for weeks and prompting national news coverage. The smoke has cleared, but the anger has not dissipated in Conyers, the city of 20,000 where the fire occurred, and in surrounding areas... Smoke from the blaze left some residents with breathing difficulties, headaches, dizziness and skin rashes in the days that followed, along with a deepening worry about their community's safety... The fire was pool-chemical company BioLab's fourth in the last two decades, a track record that has created what one observer described as "generational rage" among residents." In this installment of our ongoing series Sacrificed—where we speak to people living, working, and fighting for justice in America's "sacrifice zones"—we speak with Hannah Loyd, Christina O'Connor, and Jeramie Julian: three residents who live near, and have been directly affected by, the September fire at the Conyers BioLab facility.  

Additional links/info below…

Permanent links below…

Featured Music…
Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song


There’s a conversation happening about the economy, politics, and culture, but too often the actual voices of the people who keep everything running are absent. Working People changes that. This is a place where the lived experience of the working class in modern America takes center stage. Produced in partnership with In These Times magazine and The Real News Network, each episode is built around a candid interview with someone from the vast and varied landscape of the American workforce. You’ll hear from teachers, factory workers, service industry employees, caregivers, and many others, each sharing the unvarnished details of their daily reality. Conversations naturally unfold to cover not just the specifics of their jobs, but the broader context of their lives-their personal histories, their political views, the dynamics within their families, and the unique blend of satisfaction and struggle that defines their world. The Working People podcast doesn’t offer abstract analysis; it provides a direct, human connection to the stories that collectively shape our society. It’s about understanding the hopes, the frustrations, and the resilience that are woven into the fabric of working-class life today. By listening, you get a genuine portrait of the people whose labor is so often discussed, yet whose own narratives are so rarely heard in such depth.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Working People
Podcast Episodes
SpoOoOoky Special 2024: The Movie that Traumatized Us All [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:51
Last year, we summoned all the Alvarez siblings from the ether to record our annual Halloween episode. Sadly, we were not able to record a new Halloween episode in 2024, but to celebrate the holiday and give listeners a…
Workers take on Kaiser Again, Strike for a Fair Contract in SoCal [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:30
On Monday, Oct 21, 2400 behavior health workers at Kaiser Permanente's Southern California locations walked off the job in their ongoing struggle for a fair contract. Over the summer, negotiations between the health syst…
Alec Plant [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:07
Two years ago, workers from several different Trader Joe's grocery stores joined the wave of unionization efforts spreading across the country. Workers in Hadley, Massachusetts, made history in 2022 by not only becoming…
When Work Inspires Art: Labor Poet George Fish [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:50
While Max was inside the Labor Notes conference this past April, attending panels and sharing space with intelligent, hard working organizers, Mel was wandering the conference grounds outside, meeting folks and talking a…