Trippin on the Shoestring
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24 episodes
Trippin' on the Shoestring cohosts Shelby Lee and Dusty Christensen bring you a dispatch from one of the most important labor struggles happening in western Massachusetts and maybe even the country. Over the past two years, the town of Hadley — best known for its asparagus — has gained fame for another reason: new union organizing. Since 2022, workers at the Hadley locations of three https://theshoestring.org/2022/07/30/hadleys-trader-joes-united-wins-union-election/ retail https://theshoestring.org/2023/04/17/barnes-noble-workers-in-hadley-to-unionize/ giants https://theshoestring.org/2023/08/21/michaels-workers-in-hadley-organize-stores-first-ever-union/ moved to form the first-ever unions at their respective stores. It all began in July 2022, when employees at Trader Joe's became the first in the nation to unionize at the grocery chain https://theshoestring.org/2022/07/30/hadleys-trader-joes-united-wins-union-election/, giving birth to the independent union Trader Joe’s United. And that sparked a nationwide movement to unionize other Trader Joe's. So far there have been three other successful union drives at Trader Joe's stores in Minnesota, California, and Kentucky. On this week's episode, Shelby and Dusty are joined by Jamie Edwards, who serves as the union’s president and has worked at the Hadley store for more than a decade, and Maeg Yosef, who is the communications director at Trader Joe’s United and has been a Hadley store employee since 2004.
Journalists and civic organizations around the country are currently taking part in Sunshine Week, a national collaboration dedicated to spotlighting just how important public records and open government are. So this week, Trippin’ on the Shoestring cohosts and investigative reporters Shelby Lee and Dusty Christensen dig into some of the big stories they’ve broken recently at The Shoestring… and maybe even some of the details that didn’t make it into print.
On Feb. 15, community members effectively occupied the Northampton City Council chambers, ultimately shutting the meeting down as they called on councilors to pass a ceasefire resolution amid Israel’s continued invasion and bombing campaign in Gaza. Jewish Voice for Peace activist Kaia Jackson and radical social worker Lemy Coffin join hosts Shelby Lee and Dusty Christensen to talk about local governments in western Massachusetts debating ceasefire resolutions and what it’s like to be an activist calling for action in front of those politicians.
State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, joins hosts Shelby Lee and Dusty Christensen to discuss her work in the state Legislature, including what bills our local lawmakers are working on and which ones are dying quiet deaths on Beacon Hill. Their discussion ranges from her Medicare for All bill to non-police peer-response funding, her stance on opening the secretive House and Senate up to greater public scrutiny, and much more. Produced by Ático Studios. Music by An Archaeologist.
Over the last few weeks, new City Council members have been sworn in across western Mass. And in a few cities, the first order of business was to fall immediately into disfucntion and bickering. This week, we bring you: City Council Chaos! Longtime local peace activist Jeff Napolitano joins co-hosts Dusty Christensen and Shelby Lee to talk about the municipal mayhem recently afoot in Holyoke, Easthampton, and Northampton. Produced by Ático Studios. Music by An Archaeologist.
Last year, the United States witnessed a surge in labor militancy as rank-and-file union members worked to transform the labor movement from within. Everyone from actors to auto workers went on strike, leading to more work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers than in any year in the past decade. To talk about reform efforts within unions, Trippin’ on the Shoestring is joined this week by Barbara Madeloni, a Northampton educator who has been at the center of a reform movement within the Massachusetts Teachers Association. A decade ago, she stunned our state’s political class when she won election as president of the MTA as part of a rank-and-file caucus within that union. She’s now a staff organizer at Labor Notes, helping workers build power and democracy in their own workplaces and unions. In this episode, Madeloni talks with Shelby Lee and Dusty Christensen about the MTA’s progressive caucus, her election as union president, how the United Auto Workers strike can spark nationwide organizing, and how teachers unions statewide can provide examples for educators in the 413 to build more democratic schools. Produced in Ático Studios. Music by An Archaeologist.
The Shoestring co-founder Will Meyer joins hosts Dusty Christensen and Shelby Lee to discuss the legacy of Northampton Police Chief Jody Kasper, who officially stepped down from her post last week after 25 years at the Northampton Police Department to take the same job on Nantucket. A Daily Hampshire Gazette retrospective on her career hailed Kasper as a chief who led the department through "trying times" and put forward "a possible blueprint for what a more progressive version of policing might look like." A look back at The Shoestring's coverage of the department under her tenure, however, raises questions as to whether the chief's signature "progressive" approach to policing — decked out in expensive gear and trainings — actually led to better outcomes for the community. Produced in Ático Studios, music by An Archaeologist.
Sierra Dickey facilitates a live discussion of one of our core coverage areas: policing. Reporters Dusty Christensen and Shelby Lee are joined by Daniel Cannity of Northampton's Policing Review Commission to discuss the state of post-2020 transparency reforms, the role of the media as a resource for communities demanding new forms of public safety, and more. Recorded at Abandoned Building Brewery in front of a live audience on November 16, 2023. Produced by Javier Luengo-Garrido, music by An Archaeologist.
As a follow up to our written series, The Long March 2020, editor Brian Zayatz speaks with Hadley musician Michael Hanson about the ways stimulus checks and expanded unemployment impacted both of their lives in 2020 and 2021. In the second part of the episode, Zayatz speaks with Lin Gen, an organizer with the Franklin County People's Fund, which helped redistribute stimulus checks to those who were excluded from eligibility. Unfortunately, audio from Carolina Peña, a fellow organizer at the People's Fund, was lost to technical difficulties.
We speak to writer Dusty Christensen about his latest piece on Sheriff Nick Cocchi's campaign fundraising. Cocchi raised more than any other sheriff in the state to run unopposed. We explore what this says about the politician's power and influence in the region and the state. Read the piece here. https://theshoestring.org/2022/11/11/cookouts-and-cash-sheriff-nick-cocchi-raises-big-money-to-run-unopposed/ To contribute to The Shoestring https://theshoestring.org/donate/
Shoestring reporters Sierra Dickey and Sarah Robertson speak to Terry Gibson and Basav Sen about climate justice efforts in Springfield, MA and beyond and how those struggles overlap with struggles for police & prison abolition.
In this episode we talk with defense attorneys Rachel Weber and Dana Goldblatt, Ben Brucato, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Framingham University, and Chris K., a local anti-surveillance activist about Northampton City Council's recent decision to enter a five year contract with Motorola Solutions.
In this episode we talk with Dr. Steven Thrasher, a professor of journalism at Northwestern University, and author of the upcoming book, The Viral Underclass. We discussed the responsibility of media during the COVID 19 pandemic and more. But first, a quick update about what we're up to here at The Shoestring and the goings on at Northampton City Council.
In this episode we share an interview we conducted in January with Sarah Lanzilotta, the owner of Ten Forward in Greenfield, about the challenges faced by the independent music venue during the pandemic. But first, a quick update about what we're up to here at The Shoestring and the goings on at Northampton City Council.
We sit down with investigative reporter Dusty Christensen of the Daily Hampshire Gazette to discuss his recent work on the internal affairs of the Northampton Police Department.
The Shoestring's Covid data columnist Joe Pater joins us to discuss how public information about the virus has been disseminated and how it hasn't. He compares the local response to that in his home town in Ontario, exposing the scattershot standards between different municipal responses and much more. Pater is a linguistics professor at UMASS Amherst.
The Shoestring talks with media scholar Victor Pickard about the failure of advertising revenue to fund local journalism, the need for publicly funded local media, and the case for media cooperatives.
We talk with Shoestring staff writer and labor correspondent Roman Nicholas about his recent expose on ServiceNet. In the piece, Nicholas spoke to shelter workers about the union bargaining process for better wages, high turnover, and staff burnout, raising questions not just about the non-profit’s labor practices but how they serve the unhoused community.
We talk with Molly Keller about her research on Northampton Police Department Officer Andrew Kohl who was recently featured in our Northampton Police Misconduct Trading Card series.
In this episode we talk with our labor beat correspondent R. Nicholas about workers and the process and challenges of organizing small businesses in the valley.
We invited former Daily Hampshire Gazette reporter and frequent Shoestring and Montague Reporter contributor Sarah Robertson to discuss the state of local news in the valley in this recurring series of discussions we are calling "Disappearing Ink."
The Shoestring has reported on over 50 Northampton City Council meetings in its regularly occurring column "I Go to City Council Meetings." Columnists Jules Marsh and Brian Zayatz along with the editorial team, reflect on what they have learned from their time spent in the chambers.
