Ten thousand Black workers at Elon Musk’s Fremont Tesla auto factory have won the right to sue Musk and Tesla for systemic racism and harassment on the job. Host Steve Zeltzer spoke with Bryan Schwartz who is the Oakland lawyer representing this class action suit against Musk and his company Tesla in Fremont.
***
In a wide-ranging discussion of nonprofits, privatization, and the history of the struggle between American workers, capitalists, and their government, labor historian and political scientist Professor Robert Ovetz spoke to Pacifica’s Thomas O’Rourke.
***
In February of last year the major Norfolk Southern train derailment took place in East Palestine, Ohio. The company ignited vinyl chloride to get the trains going quickly after the derailment. Now the National Transportation Safety Board has issued a 212-page report on the incident. Retired Iowa Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Legislative Rep Jeff Kurtz, who is also a health and safety expert, has looked at this report and discovered that the NTSB failed to report on the braking issues that contributed to the derailment. Kurtz has said that Norfolk Southern urged engineers not to use air brakes in order to save money on train brakes. Kurtz talked with Pacifica about this incident and why it could have been avoided.
Residents and railway workers will be going to the EPA and Department of Transportation on October 4 in Washington DC to demand that residents of East Palestine get healthcare and that safety rules be enforced to stop future derailments, as there have been over 1500 more since the February 2023 catastrophe. The action is sponsored by Justice For East Palestine Residents and Workers.
***
Thousands of students, faculty and workers are returning to campuses after the summer break. They continue to fight for an end to the genocide in Gaza and divestment from companies that provide military weapons to Israel. On August 29, 2024, at San Francisco State University, Rami Ibrahim of the Palestine Youth Movement spoke at a rally of students and faculty and raised the issue of workers and the cost of the war and genocide in Palestine and the US.
And that concludes today’s edition of Capitalism, Race & Democracy. We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Thomas O’Rourke, Polina Vasiliev and Steve Zeltzer.
You can find this and all previous episodes at our website “capitalism race and democracy dot ORG”. Make sure you click the subscribe button. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @PacificaCRD.
Thanks for listening!
Music:
Mississippi Fred McDowell – You gotta move
Mike Stout, “Stand up for East Palestine”
War on the Workers by Anne Feeney
