Podcast Summary: The Money with Katie Show

Episode: "Your Workplace is Instrumental for a Better Future. Here’s How."
Host: Katie Gattuso (“Money with Katie”)
Guest: Eric Blanc, Professor of Labor Studies at Rutgers, author of We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big
Release Date: October 8, 2025

Overview

This episode focuses on the resurgence of organized labor in the United States—and how worker-to-worker organizing is a uniquely powerful response to the current economic, political, and cultural climate. Host Katie and guest Eric Blanc discuss why unions matter, the differences between traditional and contemporary organizing, and why workplace solidarity is a necessary antidote to the atomization and powerlessness so many people feel today.

Blanc, drawing on research from his book and decades of labor activism, breaks down how bottom-up labor organization can win real victories even in seemingly impossible circumstances—and how this movement is intrinsically connected to broader struggles for democracy, justice, and personal fulfillment.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Helplessness, Hopelessness, and the Power of Organizing

• Katie frames the conversation by referencing a persistent sense of hopelessness about politics and the economy, heard from her audience and in personal conversations.
• She recently found renewed hope after her discussion with Eric and listening to interviews with voices like Ta-Nehisi Coates.

"Worker-to-worker organizing...is one of the most practical and direct ways to both form real oppositional power structures and maybe more surprisingly, actually feel a sense of durable control and hope." (Katie, 01:48)

2. Eric Blanc’s Labor Roots and Organizing Journey

• Blanc grew up in a union family, attending his first picket line at age 13, which proved pivotal:

"It just blew my mind. So much song. It was kind of cool...I was sold. For the rest of my life, I've been deeply involved in the labor movement." (Eric, 03:27)

• He started as a dockworker (ILWU), shifted into academia, and co-founded the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee during the pandemic.

3. Why Unions Matter—Concrete Proof Points

• Unionized workers earn on average 13.5% more than non-union counterparts; they’re far more likely to have employer-provided healthcare (96% vs. 69%).
• Unions significantly reduce racial and gender pay gaps and are force multipliers for social and climate justice globally.
• Workplaces without unions function as “dictatorships”—unions inject essential democracy.

"For the place that you're spending most of your waking life, you're subjected to an authoritarian regime. We just normalize that. Unions are a way of injecting a basic level of democracy..." (Eric, 08:20)

4. Worker-to-Worker Organizing: New Paradigm for Scale

• Traditional model: Professional staffers at the center. Limits scale (one staffer per 100 workers).
• Today’s model: Workers strategize, initiate, and train each other, often before formal union staff are involved.

"Because it’s workers doing it, not staffers, it allows you to have a far wider impact." (Eric, 10:47)

5. Labor as a Check on Oligarchy and Authoritarianism

• Worker empowerment through unions is portrayed as the only counterweight to concentrated wealth/power (Eric openly discusses the threat of Trumpism and recent international examples).
• Cites South Korea’s general strike as a model, as well as statistical evidence of union members voting more heavily against authoritarianism.

"The basic problem of this country is oligarchy...Who’s going to stop [authoritarianism]?...We’re going to have to be able to create so much disruption..." (Eric, 12:54)

6. Disproving the ‘Union Shifted Right’ Narrative

• The narrative that unions or the “working class” have gone rightward is overblown—data shows consistent union support for Democrats and against authoritarian candidates.

"There’s not much factual basis for that...Trump understood that the Democrats have stopped talking about working class issues...he spoke to that pain." (Eric, 17:10)

7. Case Study: Burgerville and Lessons of Leverage

• Detailed story of Marisha Jones, a pregnant worker illegally fired for union activity; public shaming and organizing forced the company to reverse course, illustrating the power of service sector worker leverage and strategic boycott.
• Katie underscores: Union busting is not just unethical—it’s illegal, but weak penalties mean companies often break the law with impunity. (22:47)

8. Full Employment: An Overlooked Left Priority

• A tight labor market (full employment) hugely boosts worker bargaining power and fosters unionization.
• Despite fears of wage-price spirals, data shows recent inflation was driven by supply shocks and corporate price hikes, not wages.

"Full employment was a historic demand of the left...somehow it has gotten lost. It’s not as front and center as it should be." (Eric, 24:44)

• Solution to inflation with strong unions: coordinated sectoral bargaining (as in Northern Europe). (27:20)

9. Union Victories: The Two-Step Challenge

• Winning a union election does not equal a contract; after the vote, companies often stonewall or escalate union-busting.

"The unfortunate reality is that labor law in the US is just completely broken...the cost for them to do so is so low." (Eric, 31:02)

• Service sector organizing is especially tough: small, dispersed workplaces and heavy union-busting. Worker-to-worker models give a sense of ownership and perseverance. (45:07)

10. Culture, Media, and the New Labor "Vibe"

• The aesthetic and aspirational side of labor power: Visibility (Chris Smalls, SBWU) and pop culture (Superstore’s union plot) spark real-life organizing and identity.
• Culture and “vibes” matter: labor is cool now for young, radicalized workers, and this feeds the movement's surprising momentum.

"When I was first getting involved in the labor movement, there was nothing less cool...not the case anymore." (Eric, 39:21)

11. Solidarity as Anti-Loneliness and Emotional Fulfillment

• Organizing meets a deep hunger for solidarity as traditional communities erode.

"There is a real loneliness epidemic...Organizing is talking to your coworkers about trying to make your job different." (Eric, 42:51)

12. Obstacles: Atomization, Suburbanization, and Technology

• Compared to the 1930s, today’s decentralized, suburbanized, and remote workforce makes organic solidarity harder.
• Organizers now must "socialize before you organize"—building bonds via beers, potlucks, games, etc., as a foundation for trust.
• Digital tools can both exacerbate and alleviate isolation. (53:59)

13. The Political Context: 2025 & Authoritarian Threat

• Under a Trump administration, the labor environment is colder: no supportive NLRB, weak labor law, crashed economies.
• Digital organizing and youth energy still persist as sources of hope; bottom-up organizing remains crucial, with or without formal support.
• Blanc foresees potential for a “real social explosion” against oligarchy if and when the current authoritarian dynamic collapses. (55:13)

14. Labor, Class Solidarity, and Electoral Power

• Organizing around shared economic interests is the only path broad enough to beat authoritarianism and right-wing populism.
• Successful union organizing bridges political divides, as during 2018’s teachers’ strikes.

"It’s only in the context of uniting people around this immediate crisis...that you can actually win large numbers of people to a vision of solidarity instead of scapegoating." (Eric, 61:40)

15. Intersections of Labor and Social Justice

• Management resists any worker demand—social or otherwise—because it threatens their “fiefdom.”
• Movements like BLM and #MeToo catalyze union drives, as the skill of collective demands translates into broader organizing.

"All a union is, is workers collectively making demands on management, essentially." (Eric, 64:21)

16. Critiques of Unions: Entrenchment and Corruption

• Entrenched, risk-averse leaders are a problem, but unions remain more democratic than companies—you can vote in new leadership (e.g., Sean Fain and the UAW).

"You can elect out a leadership of a union. You cannot do that in a company." (Eric, 72:23)

17. McCarthyism’s Lingering Effects and Diminishing Power

• The anti-communist smears of the Cold War era deeply weakened U.S. labor but are now losing force, especially among younger generations.
• The popularity of democratic socialism and figures like Bernie Sanders reflect a shifting Overton window.

"Anti-communism is really diminished in its power. It’s not gone...but it creates the space then for the rise of a Bernie Sanders." (Eric, 75:03)

18. Capital’s Adaptation: Decentralization, Offshoring, and Political Solutions

• Business has historically reshaped itself (e.g., decentralization, offshoring) to avoid labor power.
• Strong labor plus political power (e.g., sectoral bargaining, industrial policy) can still rebalance dynamics, as seen in parts of Europe.
• Blanc is cautiously hopeful that the “horrific experiences” of the Trump administration could catalyze broad-based demands for change.

"If you can build this worker power from below, it sets into motion the type of transformation of political consciousness that can also then be reflected in the political arena." (Eric, 80:12)

19. Europe as an Incomplete Template

• Europe’s union density and worker protections are strong, but neoliberalism and anti-immigrant backlash are rising there, too.
• Long-term economic security and political alternatives (strong left parties) reduce scapegoating and far-right support. (83:27)

20. Practical Action Steps for Listeners

• Pre-majority unionism: Organize and take action even before winning a formal election or collective bargaining agreement (Alphabet Workers Union as an example).
• Salting: Listeners with financial security can “salt”—take jobs specifically to organize them from within. (92:36)
• Resource recommendations:
  • Secrets of a Successful Organizer (book)
  • “Unite and Win” pamphlet (from Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee)
  • Eric’s Substack: laborpolitics.com
  • For support: workerorganizing.org — workers can reach out and be connected with a peer organizer within 72 hours.

Notable Quotes

• On Empowerment:
  "It is a beautiful thing...to see someone like you stand up against the most powerful people on the planet earth and fight back." (Eric, 39:21)
• On Worker Solidarity:
  "My heart is broken. You’re a heartless monster. I don’t know how you sleep at night." — Lexi Rizzo's TikTok to Starbucks founder Howard Schultz (Katie quoting, 36:16)
• On Scale:
  "The reason companies were able after the big wins of the 1930s, to eventually move to the south wasn’t just a natural law of capitalism...it’s because the United States passed right-to-work laws and allowed politically the space for companies just to move wherever they want." (Eric, 79:35)
• On the Power of Organizing:
  "If you feel unclear about what to do right now at this moment of horror—building power with your coworkers is really one of the best things you can do to fight against not just Trumpism, but just the sort of indignities of capitalism." (Eric, 91:09)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Aha Moment & Episode Intro: 00:59–02:58
• Eric’s Background in Labor: 02:59–04:19
• Why Unions Matter (Stats & Values): 06:39–08:55
• Worker-to-Worker Organizing: 09:59–11:54
• Labor as Democracy & Resistance: 12:48–14:27
• Case Study: Burgerville: 20:35–22:47
• Full Employment & Worker Power: 24:26–27:55
• Two-Step Unionization Process: 31:02–33:57
• Media, Culture, and Labor’s New Image: 36:16–41:29
• Obstacles of Atomization and Digital Tools: 49:49–53:58
• Political Moment & The Path Forward: 55:13–60:46
• Critiques of Unions and Internal Democracy: 69:25–72:43
• Actions for Listeners (Salting, Resources): 90:00–94:29

Tone & Style

• The episode is passionate but practical, conversational, and hopeful—mixing personal stories, hard data, political theory, and actionable advice.
• Katie maintains her signature tongue-in-cheek wit (“king of the avocado toast smear campaign,” “front row like good boys waiting for daddy”) while Eric provides clear, persuasive explanations and rooted optimism.

Final Takeaway

Organizing at work—through modern, worker-led methods—is the most tangible, powerful way for ordinary people to stand up to oligarchy, improve daily life, and reclaim a sense of agency in troubled times. Whether you’re fired up, fed up, or just looking for meaning, the path to a better future might begin with a simple conversation with a coworker—and this time, with the support of millions.