What A Day - Going Into Labor Day

Episode Date: September 2, 2022

Labor Day weekend is coming up, and it's a great time to celebrate American workers. We check in with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh about unions, the state of the job market, and why so many people are ...“quiet quitting” their jobs. And in headlines: a U.N. report accused China of committing human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims, actress Lea Michele addressed rumors about her behind-the-scenes conduct on “Glee”, and Nicole Kidman’s AMC ad is getting a sequel.Show Notes:WAD will be on break for the Labor Day holiday. We’ll have a new episode on Wednesday, September 7th.U.S. Department of Labor: Worker Protections – https://www.worker.gov/Vote Save America: Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/Crooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday 

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Friday, September 2nd. I'm Travelle Anderson. And I'm Erin Ryan, and this is What A Day, where we're preparing to beat the heat this holiday weekend by frantically texting anyone we've ever met who has a pool. Mrs. Bush, my student government teacher from back in the day, has a fabulous pool. Can I come over? She's in South Carolina. Can I come over? She's in South Carolina. Can I come over? On today's show, a UN report accuses China of committing crimes against humanity, against Muslim Uyghurs. Plus, new federal data shows how the pandemic impacted school learning
Starting point is 00:00:41 for young kids. But first, Labor Day weekend is coming up. It's a great time to enjoy some time off from work, but also to celebrate workers in the U.S. And as we know, there's been a lot going on in the American workforce. We're still navigating a pandemic, an economic recession could be on the horizon, when is it not, and so much more. Yeah, and we've seen in recent months what workers are capable of when they come together and fight for better working conditions. You might remember this huge victory from earlier this year
Starting point is 00:01:11 when Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York voted to form a union, the first in the company's history. ALU! ALU! ALU! ALU! Also gave us the gift that is Chris Smalls, who is so cool. Absolutely. Their victory inspired so many other workers to stand up to their employers,
Starting point is 00:01:34 some of whom also work for equally big evil corporations. We've seen workers at Starbucks, Trader Joe's, and even Apple organized for better wages, working conditions, and more. While not all of these efforts have been successful so far, the momentum we're seeing right now is proof that there's been a huge shift in attitudes toward labor. Absolutely. So to check in on the state of the American workforce, I spoke to U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. He actually used to be a labor union leader himself before entering politics.
Starting point is 00:02:04 I started by asking him what he and the Biden administration are doing to keep this momentum going and support workers who want to unionize. We're encouraging employers to recognize and respect the wishes and desires of their employees. Number one, the president has been very clear on that. We're launching Know Your Rights campaign here at the Department of Labor. So if workers want to find out about collective bargaining, what it means, how do you organize, people will get a chance to go on the website and look at it to see what's going on. As a person who grew up in the labor movement, it's exciting to see the interest in the activism out there. What's beautiful about it is seeing young people that have no connection to organized labor that
Starting point is 00:02:41 are out there organizing. They just know that there's power in collective organizing. And that power means bringing more voices to the table. And what's interesting is they're not organizing necessarily over wages. They're organizing over work conditions, life balance, respect. I think that we're going to see more and more organizing going on in this country. And we have more interest this year in union organizing today than we did all of last year. So there's a few different topics I want to ask you questions about. So I'm going to hopscotch around to a few different things. I want to start with this kind of recurring idea that we keep hearing that no one wants to work, right? We know that from the July jobs report that more than half a million people were added to payrolls that month, which
Starting point is 00:03:21 seems like a stat that to me like contradicts that sentiment. But I'd love to hear from you. Where is this idea that people are not interested in working coming from? People aren't staying out of work because their unemployment check, or they're not staying out of work because they got all this money during COVID. They weren't given millions of dollars. They were given a couple hundred bucks a month. People are going through their savings now. So once they go through their savings and they don't have revenue coming in, they're going to have to go to work. I think there's a part of our population that is still concerned about COVID-19 and they're concerned about their personal health. There's no question about that. Then you have folks that are leaving employment,
Starting point is 00:03:53 going to other employments, looking for better opportunities. And they're getting paid more and they're being respected more. And I think companies that are being creative or recruiting employees are getting those folks to come and work for their companies. There are other people out there that don't know how to access a good paying job. And I think that we look at the unemployment rate in the country right now, it's 3.5%. You look in the Black unemployment is 5.7%. So historically, the Black unemployment rate's always been high in the White unemployment rate. So that means that we're not doing something right. So I think that people are starting to become creative on creating those pathways. I feel like anecdotally, for so many people that I know, it's not that they don't want to work, but that the last couple years of a racial reckoning of the pandemic that forced all of
Starting point is 00:04:35 us to work from home has kind of like just changed their idea of the type of work they want to do, the type of work that they're willing to do, right? And so in that process, folks, their understanding of the proper work, like what work should look like, has just changed. And so I'm wondering, like, how does such a fundamental shift in people's understanding of work impact these conversations we're having about labor shortages from your vantage point? You're absolutely right. So let's go back in time. March of 2020, everything got shut down. Several months later, we had demonstrations all across America in the aftermath of George Floyd
Starting point is 00:05:15 getting killed. If you watch the signs in the streets, it wasn't just about police injustice. It was about jobs. It was about racism. It was about discrimination. It was about housing. You're right. It was a reckoning. And I think that cities and employers paid attention to that. And then as time went on, we kind of went back into the regular daily routine that we do every day. I think between what happened with COVID and still with COVID, and then what happened with the demonstrations around the country, that's still in people's minds. And I think that moving forward, there's a new term now. It's not great resignation anymore.
Starting point is 00:05:50 It's quits, short-term quits or whatever it's called. You have people leaving their job looking for better opportunities. They're working long hours. They want to make sure the work-life balance is good. They want to make sure they're respected in the job site. They want to make sure that they're paid the same amount of money. Women are still underpaid compared to men doing the same job. The Latino unemployment rate is not quite double of the white unemployment, but it's still there. There's still a lot of
Starting point is 00:06:11 concern in the workplace. And I think that we have an opportunity to really address the discrimination, the shortfalls, creating opportunities for the middle class. If we don't get it right this time, then unfortunately 20 years from now, there are going to be people on this podcast having the same conversation about, we have to change the way we do business. That has to happen. That has to happen right now. People want that. People are demanding that. You kind of mentioned this earlier. I think this is the term you were looking for, quiet quitting. That's what it is. Yeah, quiet quitting. Sorry. That's what it was. It's a new term to describe what I think like a persistent way that people show up at work, which is like doing the bare minimum, not going above and beyond the call of duty, etc.
Starting point is 00:06:52 You know, there are op-eds and so many different articles out there now talking about how this quote unquote trend might impact the economy. I'm wondering from your vantage point, knowing what you know about this alleged trend, is doing the least at work really going to bring down the whole economy? No, I don't think it'll bring down the whole economy. But I also think that for workers and for employers, I think it's important to have the conversations about what the feeling in the workplace is. I think if you're an employer and you're not talking to your employees today, after what's gone on the last couple of years, you're missing a huge opportunity. The CEOs that are having dialogue with their employees, the CEOs that are concerned about their employees' mental health, a lot of struggles, right? Mental health. You're not seeing them have
Starting point is 00:07:36 problems hiring people. You're not hearing them have problems retaining people. It's the companies that aren't necessarily talking that are just thinking about the bottom line. But you also got to remember, you don't get that bottom line unless you respect your employees. And I think that by having those dialogues is just so important. When you have a workforce that respects and appreciates the mission of the company or respects, appreciates the people they work with every day, that's where you retain people. And we can't talk about all of this without mentioning that R word, recession. There's been a lot of concerns, a lot of talk about whether we are heading in that direction.
Starting point is 00:08:09 Based on what you're seeing at this point, what you're hearing from businesses, where do you see things heading as it relates to a recession? I'm not sold on heading to a recession. And if we are, I'm not sold on high unemployment numbers because I think that there are lots of industry in America right now that are looking for people to work in, that there's an opportunity to help direct people in those areas. One is cybersecurity. You have mechanical electrical engineers. We have an
Starting point is 00:08:34 opportunity in nursing. Those industries aren't going away. So I think what we have to do is make sure we're preparing workers that if their industry slows down, we have the right supports in there to help people train into new industry. I'm less concerned about a recession today. My focus really is about how do we do a better job with reaching people where they're at? How do we get people into those better jobs? That was my conversation
Starting point is 00:08:55 with the Labor Secretary, Marty Walsh. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines. year old Donovan Lewis was asleep in his bed early Tuesday morning when officers arrived at his apartment to serve him with an arrest warrant. In the video, you can see one of them go into Lewis's bedroom, where he was fatally shot while he was still in bed. Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant told reporters that Lewis appeared to have something in his hand when the officer shot him, but in reality it was just a vape pen. Lewis's death has reignited outrage toward the Columbus Police Department following a string of other fatal shootings of unarmed Black residents.
Starting point is 00:09:51 The officer who shot Lewis is currently on administrative leave and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations is currently investigating the shooting. In the meantime, an attorney for Lewis's family said yesterday they may take legal action against that officer. A new UN human rights report released Wednesday accused China of committing serious human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims. This long-awaited assessment had been delayed for nearly a year because the Chinese government has long denied any wrongdoing against that ethnic minority and lobbied against the report's release. And for a few weeks, it actually wasn't even clear whether it was going to be published or not,
Starting point is 00:10:28 but the report managed to come out just 10 minutes before the UN High Commissioner's term ended. The 48-page report validates previous claims by human rights activists, alleging that China detained Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups for religious and cultural differences. One former detainee interviewed by the UN said their time in custody, quote, would amount to torture, which is horrible. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that the report will make any difference because the Chinese government would have to be fully on board to accept the report's recommendations, and that seems unlikely right now. Newly released data shows that the effects of COVID
Starting point is 00:11:05 led to serious learning setbacks for American grade schoolers. Specifically, average test scores for reading and math among nine-year-olds fell dramatically, and the decline was especially sharp for students of color. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, which conducted the research, the effects of school shutdowns
Starting point is 00:11:22 and other pandemic-related disruptions erased two decades of progress in those subjects. the research, the effects of school shutdowns and other pandemic-related disruptions erased two decades of progress in those subjects. Experts fear it might take an entire generation for test scores to rebound, and that could have a domino effect on student success and ultimately hurt their job prospects later in life. An update to the story about SCOTUS wife Jenny Thomas emailing 29 Arizona state lawmakers and encouraging them to overturn the 2020 election results in their state.
Starting point is 00:11:50 It turns out she sent identical emails to two state lawmakers in Wisconsin as well. The existence of the Arizona emails was reported by the Washington Post in June, but the more recent ones were revealed only yesterday. In her message, Thomas pushed legislators to choose new presidential electors in order to, quote, fight back against fraud, which we know there was none. But as we know, Ginny's husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is able to do his job impartially because they don't talk or communicate and maybe haven't even met each other. What do you think an email from Ginny Thomas would look like? I'm picturing. Remember early web chain emails?
Starting point is 00:12:30 Like from 1997, when you would get an email and it was like, forward this to 20 people, otherwise you're going to have bad luck. Yes. Anyway, the actress Lea Michele is putting some rumors to rest before her debut in the Broadway show Funny Girl next Tuesday. In a profile with the New York Times, she dismissed allegations that she bullied her castmates on the set of Glee, while admitting that she had, quote, blind spots caused by perfectionism. But how perfect are you really if your co-workers say you're racist?
Starting point is 00:13:01 Michele also responded to a rumor that's maybe harder to believe that she can't read. Internet detectives based this theory on pictures of Michelle signing books, but her pen isn't touching the paper, among other things. In yesterday's profile, Michelle said she knew her lines every day on Glee and said of the illiteracy rumors, quote, I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn't be the case. You know what she didn't say? She didn't say, I can read. And speaking of women in entertainment, we've got an update on what's coming next from the mayor of movies herself, Nicole Kidman. If you're a fan of AMC theaters,
Starting point is 00:13:40 these nine words have a permanent home in your subconscious mind. Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this. Well, they play in a Kidman-fronted ad for the theater chain before every single movie. We've talked before on this show about the follow-up, which was teased earlier in the month, but an article published yesterday in Vanity Fair gave us more info. Apparently, it will be written by screenwriter Billy Ray, who also wrote the first post. which was teased earlier in the month, but an article published yesterday in Vanity Fair gave us more info. Apparently, it will be written by screenwriter Billy Ray, who also wrote the first post.
Starting point is 00:14:12 Before that, he trained himself to envision Nicole Kidman watching Jurassic Park by writing Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games, and Volcano. And according to Ray, they're not just going back to the well. He said, quote, It's a very, very different approach that is a little bit of a wink to the one we've already done. I really hope it is Nicole Kidman watching a screen and she says, wow, this sucks. Pull back to reveal. She's watching a commercial where she says somehow heartbreak feels good in a place like this.
Starting point is 00:14:43 Oh, so good. That imitation. You should go on the road with that. Thank you. I definitely will. And those are the headlines. We'll be back after some ads to reflect on what swiping right has done to our brains after 10 long, long years. It's Friday WOD Squad and for today's Tim Check, we're talking about the app that
Starting point is 00:15:07 revolutionized dating by making it slightly more shallow, Tinder. Tinder came out in September 2012, which means we're about to mark 10 years with the app. It inspired imitators like Hinge and Bumble, putting what felt like every hot single person on earth inside our phones, plus a few who only said they were single. But let the record show that Grindr came first in 2009. Thank you very much. The gays are always leading the way. Everyone's decade with apps like Tinder has been different.
Starting point is 00:15:41 A survey in 2020 found that 57% of people who tried dating apps described their experience positively, while a more recent survey of 500 people found that nearly 80% had experienced emotional burnout or fatigue while online dating. So Erin, as we reflect on this super important anniversary, what are your thoughts? I'm going to go ahead and say I never had Tinder. But I did meet my husband on OkCupid. Oh, wow. I have a kid. So I think the cynical take is like, oh, dating sucks, dating sucks, dating sucks. But I think that what Tinder and other apps have done has made people realize that actually, it's possible to be happy by yourself. You don't need a partner to complete you.
Starting point is 00:16:28 If you find a person who does complete you, great, awesome, excellent, but also you don't need one and you don't need to waste your time looking for one because there's just so much trash out there. Like Tinder is a fire hose of trash. And before Tinder, it was like a conveyor belt. Now I think people are just sort of like, no, I'm avoiding the trash altogether, which I think is an ultimately good thing. I don't know. How about you? harm and pain and strife in my life, okay? Ooh, that rhymed. Look at me. I should be a poet.
Starting point is 00:17:10 It's a cesspool is what it is, right? You get on this app and you're swiping and you're swiping and swiping. Half of the people on there, they're just collecting likes. They don't really want to go on dates. They don't really want to find their partner in life, right? They're just playing games, okay? I don't know about you, Erin, but I'm telling you, you have a partner and a child, so lucky you.
Starting point is 00:17:34 I may need to try OKCupid. I was thinking about Christian Mingle, and then I was like, hmm, I have some issues. I feel like the challenge with dating apps is standing out. And you would stand out on Christian Mingle. You think? Yeah. People would be like, I will never forget this profile that I just saw on Christian Mingle.
Starting point is 00:17:54 I bet that Farmers Only would be a place you could really make a splash. During the time that I was app dating, it was sort of like, yeah, there's just a lot of bad stuff out here. I don't like it. I would rather just like be at home with my cat and found something that was possible. And now here I am. You know, I will just say that most of the people that I know who have found a partner on these apps, it's not through Tinder. And I'll just leave you with that. Okay. We checked our temps. They're a little lukewarm. Okay.
Starting point is 00:18:26 Maybe a little spicy. Okay. Like a gazpacho. A gazpacho with like some red pepper oil in it. And you're like, oh, this is like more than I expected from a gazpacho. Yet still room temperature. I love that for both of us. Before we go, monkeypox is rarely fatal and hardly new, yet the response to the virus
Starting point is 00:18:59 has been too slow to contain the epidemic and official communication about it hasn't helped. Andy Slavitt, President Biden's former senior COVID advisor, joins Crooked's Positively Dreadful to shed more light on how political pressures can warp decision-making in these kinds of crises. Listen to new episodes of Positively Dreadful every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts. And one more thing, WAD is taking a break for the Labor Day weekend, oh yes we are. To either spend some time in pools or be disappointed by our friends who are hoarding their pools. We'll be back with a new episode on Wednesday, September 7th.
Starting point is 00:19:35 That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave reviews, super like us on Tinder, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the script to Nicole Kidman's next AMC commercial like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Erin Ryan. I'm Travelle Anderson. And thanks for 10 years, Tinder.
Starting point is 00:19:58 10 years of nothing. Literally nothing. I don't have Tinder. I've never had Tinder. Lucky you. I don't have Tinder. I've never had Tinder. Lucky you. I know. Lucky you. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance, Jazzy Marine, and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers.
Starting point is 00:20:29 Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. you

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