Author Archives: Joe Doc

Novelist Asks: Are Unions Still Relevant? (An Interview By Joan Brunwasser With Author Eric Lotke)

My guest today is author, attorney and progressive activist, Eric Lotke. Welcome back to OpEdNews, Eric.

Joan Brunwasser: We haven’t spoken for quite a while. Union Made has just been published. Congratulations! Your last two books dealt with prison and our legal system. In Union Made, the relationship between management and the workforce takes the center stage. Why did this become your latest literary foray?

Eric Lotke: I was late to unions. Previous books came from earlier stages of my career, fighting mass incarceration and exploring other ways to keep communities safe. That was good work and I stand by it. But even when we could win a fight against mandatory minimum sentences or a private prison company, the country kept moving in the wrong direction. Inequality rising. Politics broken. The criminal legal system basically unchanged.

What might change it? I came to realize that the only thing that would fix those problems was working people working together. Wait a minute! I realized. That’s what unions do. One factory worker alone is powerless – but all the factory workers together can close down the plant and demand a fair share of the profits they help produce.

So I joined the team. I quit my job and went to work for a labor union. A few years later I decided to write a book about it. Partly because I thought people might enjoy the story… and partly because storytelling is part of social movements. That’s why I wrote Making Manna about the criminal legal system and now Union Made, a romance about union organizing.

To Read More, Go To: https://www.opednews.com/articles/Novelist-Asks-Are-Unions-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Interviews_StoryTelling_Union-Busting_Union-Dues-210322-101.html

 

3/13 – Lynne Fox, International President of Workers United, And Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge, John Padova on The Labor Show

Sat. 3/13 – 6PM-8PM – The Labor Show w/JDoc & Krausey on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT Presents:
6PM – Lynne Fox, International President of Workers United,
And Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge, John Padova
7PM – The John Dougherty Hour w/John Dougherty, Business Manager, Phila Building Trades/IBEW Local #98

Book Review: “Union Made” By Author Eric Lotke

A fascinating story of romance and love between two people working in different worlds and on different sides of the negotiating table! One, Catherine Campbell, a union organizer, represents the struggle of the workers’ voice seeking solidarity and a union and, the other, Nathaniel “Nate” Hawley, who works as an accountant for the owner of the company, a corporate retailer, who would resort to the usual hardball tactics to deny the workers their right to organize at all costs. An unlikely moral dilemma ensues when Nate, who’s initial views of the union were less than sympathetic, develops a conflicting and empathetic disposition for the union’s side and a personal interest and fascination with Catherine and thus contemplates risking it all at his own expense by doing the previously unthinkable by providing the union with insider’s information to their benefit and to the detriment of the company!
 An awesome read with fascinating twists and turns featuring the unlikeliest of romantic interests further demonstrating that love and relationships can develop under any conditions. All you need is a heart and a little solidarity!
Highly Recommended! A Must Read!!!
Joe Dougherty
PhillyLabor.com
 To Purchase “Union Made”, Go to – https://www.amazon.com/Union-Made-Eric-Lotke/dp/1734493836