Ralph welcomes back union organizer, Chris Townsend, to discuss the reasons why the AFL-CIO shrinks from effectively fighting for its members and expanding the power of workers. Then, political scientist Lee Drutman lays out a system of proportional representation that would take away the incentive to gerrymander congressional districts. Plus, Ralph gives some quick takes on Thomas Massie’s primary loss, fish hopped up on cocaine, and the situations in Lebanon and Ukraine.
Chris Townsend has been a union member and labor leader for more than 45 years. He was most recently the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) International Union Organizing Director. Previously, he was an International Representative and Political Action Director for the United Electrical Workers Union (UE), and he has held local positions in both the SEIU and UFCW.
Lee Drutman is a senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America, where he focuses on electoral reform, Congress, and democratic health. He writes the newsletter Undercurrent Events and co-hosts the podcast Politics in Question. And he is the author of The Business of America is Lobbying and Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America.
Katy O’Donnell is the editorial director at Haymarket Books, a radical, independent, nonprofit book publisher based in Chicago.
Ralph Nader talks about what’s happening in America, what’s happening around the world, and most importantly what’s happening underneath it all.