Re-instate KPFA WorkWeek Radio Now!

Re-instate KPFA WorkWeek Radio now!
https://sfbayview.com/2020/01/re-instate-kpfa-workweek-radio-now/
January 29, 2020


Labor leader Clarence Thomas speaks against Port privatization in Oakland rally 1119 by WorkWeek Radio
The show KPFA WorkWeek Radio, aired Tuesdays at 3:30-4:00 on 94.1 FM, was canceled without notice on Jan. 13, 2020. The show has been on KPFA for over seven years and has broadcast the voices of trade unionists and workers not only from the Bay Area but also nationally and internationally.

Sign this Change.org petition to bring it back: https://www.change.org/p/quincy-mccoy-kpfa-general-manager-re-instate-kpfa-workweek-radio-now

KPFA WorkWeek radio is the only Northern California weekly labor radio show. It provides vital and critical reports on the struggle and conditions of working people and unions in the Bay Area, including teachers, public workers, healthcare workers, transit workers, and injured workers.

It has covered the attack on injured workers in California, the attacks on trade unionists who are whistleblowers and the need for union democracy. It has also reported on the fight against privatization and deregulation, the struggle of ILWU longshore workers to protect maritime workers from privatization of the port, the effect of gentrification on workers, racism on the job, May Day struggles, union organizing victories such as Anchor Steam Brewery, and the many strikes and work actions taking place regularly in the Bay Area.

These issues need to be covered by KPFA, and the cancellation of this show prevents unionized and unorganized workers from hearing these issues on the air. It is important to have a regular labor show focusing on all the important struggles working people face.

We call on KPFA Manager Quincy McCoy, who unilaterally canceled this show, to re-instate WorkWeek Radio and Steve Zeltzer, CWA member volunteer producer, and work to expand it a full hour. KPFA and Pacifica need to extend their outreach to unions and all working people, and this show was playing a necessary part of this requirement for free speech community radio.

This is also part and parcel of solving KPFA and Pacifica’s financial crisis. The hundreds of thousands of unionized workers in Northern California need to see KPFA as their station.

Listen to podcasts of recent shows HERE and recent Soundcloud podcasts at https://soundcloud.com/workweek-radio.

Statement from former ILWU Local 10 Secretary-Treasurer Clarence Thomas

I am profoundly disappointed in the recent cancellation of WorkWeek Radio, hosted and produced by Steve Zeltzer on KPFA. To make matters worse, the show was summarily canceled without adequate notice or consultation. For seven productive years, the program has aired on KPFA, providing the community with much-needed programming for labor, the working class, from the Bay Area and nationally and internationally.

With a corporate media that is pro-capitalist and anti-worker, WorkWeek Radio filled a critical void in providing important news and events coverage from a working-class perspective.

As an African American trade unionist and activist living in the Bay Area, I listened avidly to its groundbreaking coverage of labor news and workers’ struggles. It is a voice for the voiceless of the working class.


Oakland Solidarity Rally Against Privatization of the Port, Education and for Unity Internationally: A united front solidarity rally was held last November at Mosswood Park in Oakland against the privatization of the Port of Oakland, against charters and privatization of education and in unity with the workers in Chile, Mexico, and Palestine.
It underscored the importance of democracy at work at the point of production. The interviews with social justice activists, writers, workers ,and working-class intellectuals were unmatched in local media.

For this action to be taking place during this current crisis of capitalism and attacks on the working class and oppressed leads one to draw the conclusion that there must be a corporate influence on this decision.

KPFA needs more working-class programming, not less. WorkWeek Radio was the primary news outlet for providing coverage of the Oakland As an ​attempt to privatize the third busiest maritime port on the West Coast, Howard Terminal in West Oakland.

I join with others calling for the reinstatement of WorkWeek Radio.

How you can help

Contact KPFA General Manager Quincy McCoy at gm [at] kpfa.org or Q [at] kpfa.org or 510-848-6767. Please also contact the

Program Director, pd [at] kpfa.org or ipd [at] kpfa.org
Local Station Board, kpfalsb [at] googlegroups.com
Pacifica National Board, pnb [at] pacifica.org