Ralph Nader Radio Hour – September 14, 2025

Podcast: KPFK - Ralph Nader Hour
Hosts: Ralph Nader, Steve Skrovan, David Feldman
Guests: Timothy Whitehouse (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility), Toby Heaps (Corporate Knights)
Episode Theme:
Examining the unprecedented assault on the U.S. federal civil service, public sector worker rights, and science under the Trump administration; followed by an in-depth exploration of cooperatives as a democratic alternative to traditional corporate capitalism, highlighting The International Year of Cooperatives.

Overview

This episode tackles two significant themes:

• The Trump Administration’s War on the Civil Service – With Timothy Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the show dives into the rapid dismantling of worker protections, union rights, governmental oversight, and scientific integrity in federal agencies.
• The Rise of the Cooperative Economy – Toby Heaps, CEO and editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights, discusses the global and local surge of member-owned cooperatives, the democratic alternatives they provide to shareholder-dominated corporations, and the promise of cooperatives in food, housing, energy, and finance, as recognized by the UN’s declaration of 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives.

Segment 1: Government “Vandalism” & Threats to Democracy

Guest: Timothy Whitehouse, PEER
Timestamps: 03:31 – 21:49

Key Points

1. Origins and Mission of PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)

• Background:
  • PEER started in 1992, born from the need for ethical government and whistleblower support, initially in the US Forest Service, later expanding across federal, state, and local levels.
  • “Anyone that comes to us with either a whistleblowing concern or a concern about wrongdoing in the government that affects the environment, public health, or natural resources, we’re there to try and provide them assistance…” (Timothy Whitehouse, 04:16)
• Contact: www.peer.org (05:37; 21:18)

2. Supersonic Dismantling of the Civil Service

• Wave of Firings & Union Busting:
  • Mass firings of probationary federal employees early in Trump’s second term, including maintenance staff, national park workers, and agency scientists, “for no reason whatsoever, contrary to every single civil service law and common sense…” (Whitehouse, 07:42)
  • Executive orders stripping 445,000 federal workers of union rights (09:46); family leave and other contract benefits suspended.
  • Unions and checks on executive power being dismantled; oversight bodies like the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) rendered gridlocked or captured by administration loyalists.
  • “Bust the unions, make sure there’s no oversight over the executive branch, and the agencies that are supposed to provide some level of protection for workers, disassemble them or make them into Trump-facing organizations…” (Whitehouse, 11:29)
  • Supreme Court largely siding with the President, eroding avenues for redress.

3. Consequences for Ordinary Americans

• Decimation of Agency Functions:
  • Public lands and parks risk privatization; public health agencies like CDC and EPA suffer targeted “demolition.”
  • Mass cancellation of research grants and gutting of scientific independence.
  • Sensitive data (Social Security, IRS) improperly downloaded or breached by political appointees – “first people to enter government were usually young people from DOGE and had an affiliation with Elon Musk, who walked into a lot of these agencies and started downloading data that in a normal situation would have been a crime.” (Whitehouse, 13:22)
• Impact on Science and Health:
  • CDC, responsible for epidemic/pandemic readiness, is crippled; “we are seeing… a complete demolition of the center for Disease Control… our foreign enemies could not have devised a better way to sort of grind our system to a halt.” (Whitehouse, 13:22)
  • EPA’s independent Office of Scientific Research eradicated; scientists fired or transferred to non-scientific positions.

4. PEER’s Front-Line Efforts

• 20-fold increase in whistleblower/legal aid requests.
• Pro bono legal support: for government employees facing retaliation or witnessing wrongdoing.
• “We are fighting. We’re very small, so we work with the federal employees that come to us. We’ve seen a 20-fold increase from across the government that have come to us…” (Whitehouse, 17:51)
• Urgent call to the public: support PEER’s work financially and by spreading awareness, especially in “deep red” areas.

5. Call to Action & Closing

• “Now is the time to act, but be very smart about it and how you do it. And for those of us that work with us, you know, they are trying to grind us down. And we tell people: Continue the fight. This is the most important fight, certainly of my life and many lives around us.” (Whitehouse, 21:18)

Segment 2: The Cooperative Alternative – Business Owned by the People

Guest: Toby Heaps, Corporate Knights
Timestamps: 24:05 – 56:20

Key Points

1. Why Cooperatives?

• Traditional corporations are “top down authoritarian institutions,” while co-ops are democratically governed and prioritize community benefit (06:22, Nader).
• UN designated 2025 the International Year of Cooperatives, emphasizing their ability to address global crises like wealth disparity and climate change (26:45).

2. Scale and Scope of Co-ops

• 12% of the world’s people belong to co-ops.
• In the US, 142 million people are members of credit unions (26:00).
• Many major, familiar institutions are co-ops: Associated Press, Best Western, Ocean Spray, and the Green Bay Packers (28:20).

3. Co-ops in Food: Democratic, Affordable, and Local

• Food is central – most grocery dollars go to a few giant oligopolies (e.g., Loblaws in Canada), resulting in price-gouging and supply chain control.
• In Switzerland, two food co-ops (Migros and Co-op) supply 80% of the population’s calories.
  • Migros is “owned by the Swiss people” and has uniquely supported women’s rights, education, and quality of life (30:20, Nader/Heaps).
  • Better prices, local producer support, and genuine democracy are common features.

4. Housing Co-ops: Permanent Affordability

• Co-op housing keeps units permanently affordable, protecting them from market speculation and “Orwellian” definitions of affordability (35:16).
• “The real benefit of cooperative housing is that it becomes permanently affordable.” (Lindsey Harris via Heaps, 35:16)
• In the US, around half of all 1.2 million co-op apartments are in NYC; involvement and engagement are the predictors of resilience.

5. Energy Co-ops: Community and Decarbonization

• Over 40% of rural US electrification came via co-ops (FDR’s New Deal).
• Modern clean-energy co-ops across Europe (esp. Germany) accelerate renewables by giving communities “skin in the game,” reducing NIMBYism and permitting issues (37:41).
• Caution: When members disengage, large co-ops can mimic traditional corporations.

6. Financial Services Co-ops: Challenges and Opportunities

• Credit unions are ubiquitous, with over 100 million US members.
• “Small is beautiful”: challenge for very large co-ops is retaining democratic ideals and resisting corporate drift (39:53).
• Not all co-ops survive – example: Canada’s Mountain Equipment Co-op, purchased by private equity after financial missteps.

7. The Green Bay Packers – Sports as Cooperative Model

• The NFL’s only public-owned team: “The members… live around where they are and they don’t want the team to go away… that’s why it’s there and probably not going anywhere.” (Heaps, 51:11)
• The NFL banned new public ownership models to preserve the power of corporate-style owners and their ability to leverage cities for stadium subsidies.

8. Starting and Sustaining Co-ops

• Resources: CorporateKnights.com; National Cooperative Federation (US), National Cooperative Bank (Washington, DC).
• Education gap: Schools and business colleges rarely teach cooperative models, focusing only on the shareholder-centric corporation (43:59, Nader).
• In Canada and Europe, some universities (e.g., University of Saskatchewan) specialize in co-op studies (45:15).

9. Systemic Impact & The Future

• Co-ops as vehicles for climate and economic justice.
• The shareholder primacy corporation “has proven itself incapable” of addressing transitions to sustainable, humane, resilient economies (Heaps, 45:15).
• Co-ops can democratize the economy, localize control, and insulate communities from absentee owner exploitation.

10. Global Movement

• New cooperative laws in the UAE and other countries – “51% of shares being held on a one member, one vote basis” (48:39).
• International gatherings highlighting co-ops’ role in development (Doha, 2025).

11. Public Awareness Challenge

• Mainstream and business press ignore co-ops despite their wide influence (“...it holds the seeds of a system that could really serve us much better”). (Heaps, 54:39)
• Energy and creativity needed in storytelling and engagement, including through new media.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Timothy Whitehouse on the state of federal workers:

  “There is in the beginning an effort to vandalize the government that quickly morphed… into supersonic speed, into completely destroying the government and bringing [it] under the wishes of Trump and… those that are controlling him.” (07:42)

• On data breaches:

  “First people to enter government were usually young people from DOGE and had an affiliation with Elon Musk, who walked into a lot of these agencies and started downloading data that in a normal situation would have been a crime.” (13:22)

• On housing co-ops:

  “The real benefit of cooperative housing is that it becomes permanently affordable.” — Lindsey Harris, via Toby Heaps (35:16)

• On the Packers and community ownership:

  “The world is kind of boring if the almighty buck decides everything. It’s too predictable. And it’s great to have an NFL team right there in this rural area. You know, it doesn't have to be a megacity.” (Heaps, 51:11)

• On education and co-ops:

  “I can confidently say just about everybody listening to this program… didn’t hear about co-ops in elementary school or high school or college… The model is always the corporate model…” (Nader, 43:59)

• On the necessity of engagement:

  “Co-ops… really require sustained everyday engagement in a meaningful way from the members. And if that’s present, then they can grow and thrive.” (Heaps, 41:52)

• On the fight for democracy and the environment:

  “Continue the fight. This is the most important fight, certainly of my life and many lives around us.” (Whitehouse, 21:18)

Summary Table: Key Segments & Timestamps

| Segment | Speaker(s) | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------|------------| | PEER’s origin, approach, and impact | Whitehouse | 03:31–07:42| | Civil service dismantling, union busting specifics | Whitehouse/Nader| 07:42–12:58| | Harms to ordinary Americans, agency function loss | Whitehouse | 12:58–16:34| | PEER’s legal efforts, whistleblower surge | Whitehouse | 17:51–20:13| | Call to action for PEER support | Whitehouse | 20:13–21:49| | Cooperative model explained, global reach | Nader/Heaps | 24:05–28:20| | Food co-ops, Migros, Switzerland example | Heaps/Nader | 28:20–32:14| | Housing co-ops and affordability | Heaps | 33:03–36:31| | Energy co-ops, rural electrification, pitfalls of scale | Heaps/Nader | 37:41–39:53| | Credit unions/financial co-ops, challenge of engagement | Heaps | 39:53–42:22| | Starting co-ops, lack of education | Heaps/Nader | 43:26–45:15| | Global movement, the UAE law, international recognition | Heaps | 48:39–50:00| | Green Bay Packers and Real Madrid co-op sports teams | Heaps/Nader | 50:40–52:29| | Media indifference, need for co-op storytelling | Heaps | 53:59–54:39| | Final thoughts, local organizing | Nader/Heaps | 54:39–56:20|

Takeaways for Listeners

• The federal civil service faces unprecedented attacks on its integrity, independence, and ability to serve, threatening both democracy and public well-being.
• PEER offers critical support for embattled public employees and needs both financial and grassroots support.
• Cooperatives are a robust, proven model for democratizing the economy—already widely present, but neglected in public discourse, policy, and education.
• Whether in food, housing, energy, or finance, cooperatives offer resilience, local empowerment, and a path forward for communities alienated by corporate capitalism.
• Engagement and active membership are vital for co-ops' integrity and success.
• Listeners are encouraged to learn more, support co-op movements, and consider cooperative options in their own communities.

Further Reading & Resources:

• Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
• Corporate Knights Co-op Issue
• National Cooperative Bank
• National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA)

Closing Quotes

• “Remember listeners, it all starts with community, neighborhood organizing. It all starts with local economies reasserting themselves owned by the people in the local economies as consumers.” (Nader, 54:39)
• “Next time that you are opening up a bank account or looking to buy something, try and find it from a credit union or a co-op.” (Heaps, 55:47)