KBCS Presents: Labor Day Special Programs

September 3, 2026 - 12:01 pm

Photograph of a hand-drawn poster showing a delivery worker on a bicycle. Hand-drawn text reads "WE ARE HUMAN TOO, We are facing exploitation and inhumane conditions. Our demands: Access to bathroom, protection for e-bike theft, app companies disclose tips, real wages & hazard pay, limits on weight & distance, fair process to dispute ratings & termination."

Credit: Techtonic with Mark Hurst on WFMU

This Friday, September 4 and Monday, September 7, KBCS presents six hours of programs celebrating working people and labor organizing.

Thom Hartmann is off both days for the holiday weekend; audio archives of his shows are available at the KBCS Thom Hartmann Program page.

Thom will be back on air on Tuesday, September 8.

Here’s what’s you’ll hear on KBCS this Friday and Monday:

Friday, September 4

9 am

Fighting for delivery worker rights: Los Deliveristas Unidos: App companies like Uber, Doordash, and Grubhub have made billions by exploiting delivery workers: offering no benefits, stealing tips, and firing workers by algorithm. Mark visits Los Deliveristas Unidos, a New York-based group fighting for worker rights. From Techtonic with Mark Hurst on WFMU. Learn more here.

10 am

Facing Project 8-7: Cleanup on Aisle Five: J.R. Jamison is joined by journalist Ann Larson to discuss her new book, Cleanup on Aisle Five, a deep dive informed by her time behind the register that examines supermarkets and how they operate from the inside out with low-wage workers stocking shelves, to the customers who roam the aisles at night, to the communities these stores serve and the larger capitalist forces and corporate interests at play that control how we shop for food. From The Facing Project on Indiana Public Radio. Learn more here.

11 am

The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel: In the early 1970’s, author Studs Terkel went around the country with a reel-to-reel tape recorder interviewing people about their jobs. The result was a book called “Working,” which quickly became a bestseller. But until now, few of the taped interviews have ever been heard. In this hour, The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel. Featuring interviews with a telephone switchboard operator, a hotel piano player, a Chicago police officer, a private investigator, an auto factory worker and more. From Radio Diaries. Learn more here.

Monday, September 7

9 am

Autoqueen Trilogy: Autoqueen Trilogy, by the UCLA Labor Center, chronicles the life of Mohana Sundari, an auto driver in Chennai. Even in India, many are unaware that women drivers like Mohana exist. The first episode details Mohana’s childhood, while the second and third trace her journey into adulthood—through marriage, motherhood, financial struggle, personal loss and, eventually, organizing. Mohana shares her journey to becoming president of a union dedicated to empowering women in non-traditional sectors. Learn more here.

10:30 am

Si Se Puede: An oral history account of the successful workers’ sit-in at the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago in December of 2008, the first American plant occupation since the Flint, Michigan sit-down strike of 1937. From Longhaul Productions. Learn more here.