May 13, 2024 • 36 mins
There are a lot of problems in the world, but we need to work to be part of the solution. One of those doing that important work is Yolanda Peoples, a Volkswagen worker who was part of a successful organizing drive at her plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee to join the UAW - United Auto Workers union. Danielle spoke with her about their efforts, why it took three tries to successfully unionize, and why unions are so important across various industries.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Good morning, peeps, and welcome to look F Daily with
Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, Recording from the home bunker. Folks,
I want to start off the show today with some
exciting news things that I have been working on for
the last couple of months that have finally come to fruition.
So first up, Patreon. So let me tell you a
(00:33):
little bit about Patreon and the changes that I've made.
So when Woke a f Daily left unceremoniously serious XM,
I went to a couple of different outlets before landing
with iHeart where you guys find me today. And in
(00:56):
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you know, we were living through a global health pandemic,
I've launched a Patreon account where I could post episodes
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gather folks that were interested in staying in the loop
(01:16):
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and so I have wanted to do a revise of
(01:39):
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(02:01):
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(02:49):
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(03:13):
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head over to patreon dot com slash WOKF that is
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(04:19):
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(04:39):
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(04:59):
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(05:22):
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right to protest right and the right to protest being
(05:43):
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as well as I give you five tips to help
you romance your life a little more.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Why do we wait for.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Other people to romance us when we can romance ourselves
as a way to live a more joy centered life.
So head over to Danielmoody dot com and you can
click on the blog and see the latest and sign
up for the mailing list so that you never miss
a newsletter. And then finally, friends, omg, the damn shop
(06:16):
is open. I have officially launched merchandise. So many of
you have been asking me throughout the years, and I've
launched my first capsule collection, The Future is Woke, which
is out now. T shirts, sweatshirts, totes, mugs, get it,
get at it, gift it to people.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
I want to be able to create and find ways
for us to wear our messages, wear our pride like
and in a time when you have governors that are
trying to ban books and ban curriculum and you know,
weaponize the word woke, I want to fucking reclaim it
and I think that we should rock it. So The
(06:58):
Future is Woke is the first capsule collection that I'm doing.
Grab a T shirt, grab a mug, grab a sweatshirt,
and a toad and let people know just how fucking
woke af you are. So all of that, friends, head
over to Daniel Moody dot com. All right, I'm excited.
(07:19):
I'm super excited because I'm just trying to find different
ways to create, connect and collaborate with all of you
and do so in a way that makes me feel
good and I don't have to go through gatekeepers to
do it. And so that's why that's the other reason
for the creation of this newsletter and the creation of
the store is that, you know, we got to own
(07:41):
our own shit, because apparently at any time, the government
can come in and decide that they're going to go
ahead and ban TikTok, right, and they're going to ban Instagram,
and they're going to ban whatever it is that they want,
and they will create the grounds to do so. So
that is really the impetus of you know folks being like, well,
you know, Danielle, I really want to find a way
(08:02):
to support you, but I don't want to go through
these you know, mass corporations that don't help their creators,
that are really about their own algorithms and selling and
selling your data. So yes, I'm trying to find ways
to be able to go direct to consumer, direct to you,
direct to audience, in a way where we can have
(08:24):
a relationship that we own and that is not owned
and go away in the middle of the night. And
this was all prompted by the recent push with our
Octanegerian elected fucking officials who have decided that they're going
to ban TikTok. Now, the lie, folks that they are
telling us that we've talked about on this show, the
(08:46):
lie that they are spewing is that oh, well, TikTok
needs to be sold to a non Chinese you know, ownership,
and then it'll be all fine and good. Well, come
to find out. I want to tell you you who
has been behind this band, which will shock absolutely no one.
(09:07):
But again it's like, hmm, ask yourself the reason why
things are happening, in the way that they're happening, and
when they are happening. So come to find out, great
site called the Slow Factory which I follow on Instagram,
and a slow factory is, you know, building systemic change
(09:32):
for collective liberation. And they did a nice little roundup
basically telling us that APAC, or the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, has spent millions of dollars silencing the ever
growing movement for free Palestine by using, as they say,
(09:53):
quote corrupt politicians as a way to fuel censorship and
promote apathy. They go on to say that the writing
is on the wall. The lengths the powers that be
are going to to silence our voice online and in
our workplaces, to violently attacking our bodies on university campuses
and our streets have been extreme. But it's clear that
(10:17):
those who support genocide are scared because they currently sit
on the wrong side of history. And this carousel that
they put out points to how the band had passed
through the House of Representatives and the Senate that currently
now TikTok is suing the United States for trying to
(10:39):
institute this ban. They tell us that the bill to
ban TikTok was authored by Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher, who
spoke to Congress about the dangers of lobbyists advocating on
the behalf of foreign countries, referring to China. But come
to find out, this motherfucker has taken upwards of sixty
(11:01):
thousand dollars from guess who a pack while drafting the
TikTok ban. Mike Gallagher has been paid handsomely by Apax
Slow Factory. Reports in March of twenty twenty four, Gallagher
received seventeen thousand from APAC following the forty four thousand
he received from them in twenty twenty two. Y'all, they're
(11:23):
all in on it, right, Everyone is in cahoots. And like,
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but this is not conspiracy.
You have to look at recently a recent interview that
Mitt Romney did with Anthony Blincoln where he openly said,
(11:44):
and Ryan Grimm posted this on x He openly said
that the reason why they are looking to ban TikTok
has nothing to do with fucking privacy and China and
has everything to do with the footage that is coming
in directly from Gaza that is not being filtered through
mainstream media outlets and whitewashed.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
We've already seen reports that have come out from the
New York Times. People have investigated the New York Times
for the use of certain words when they are talking
about Israel and the use of other words when they
are talking about Palestine, and the whitewashing and the fabrication
(12:28):
that was happening in their headquarters, right, that made it
to the front page following the horrific attack on October seventh.
So this is why I started out the show with
saying this is what I'm doing in these different content
creator focused spaces. Because when it comes down to it, folks,
(12:53):
TikTok wasn't seen as a threat when it was just
about dances and bullshit, right where it was just about
dances and gossip and you know whatever the latest challenge is.
But when it started to be used as a tool
to bring awareness to the heinous, violent crimes that are
(13:16):
being committed against the people of Palestine in Gaza at
the hands of Israel that is being backed by the
United States, all of a sudden, TikTok became the enemy
and they want to use the lie of privacy as
the reason for it. Meanwhile, fucking Meta, right, Google, the
(13:42):
rest of them have been selling our data to each other.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
We just learned most recently that Meta sold our data
to Netflix for like a couple hundred million dollars. So
we know that it's fine when it's a quote unquote
American company that is doing dirt, But all of a sudden,
(14:09):
when it's a Chinese operated company that allows us to
have on the ground reporting in real time that is
raw and real, that becomes the problem because now you're
not able to control the masses in the way that
you want to. So this is why I say to folks,
(14:30):
you have to look at the sources. You have to
look what is being said and also what is not
being said. When they are referring to children that are
being killed as adults, right, when they are labeling certain
(14:51):
people terrorists, but ignoring the terrorizing and the complete obliteration
of the Geneva Convention, and as it pertains to the
actions that Israel has been taking. They want these student
protests and all of these things stamped out so that
they can regain control. And who is the they. I'm
(15:13):
talking about our government, I'm talking about our mainstream media.
I'm talking about the powerful one percent that is seeing
a workforce that is becoming untethered to the idea of
working as a machine and our production being our only value.
This younger generation is questioning everything and everyone because they
realize what the rest of us are coming to understand
(15:36):
that we have been sold a fucking lie, a lie
about the possibility of the American dream, a lie about
American excellence, a lie about our diplomacy and the footprint
that we have around the world. And so young folks
(15:57):
are waking up and becoming very aware and conscious and
woke to who America has always been. And so, folks,
in order for us to really get to a place
of systemic change, we got to excavate. We got to
(16:20):
clear out the basement. We gotta take out the skeletons.
We have to do the hard, dirty work right before
we get to reimagine and redecorate. And that is where
I think that we are right at this moment, and
we are a part of it. We are a part
(16:40):
of the solution. I know that there are days when
I get on here and I turn on this mic,
and I am beat down, and I have not even
the mustard seed of hope. But I will tell you
that I have more days than not when I recognize
the systems that are at play to make us apathetic,
to drain us up our hopefulness, to wash away our faith.
(17:04):
And it's when we decide to ban together, when we
decide that our voices are bigger than their descent, that
real change happens. Coming up next, I'm really excited to
welcome to f Daily a conversation that I think is
really important, Folks, that we have often here, but not
(17:25):
with the people that are most adversely affected, and so
today or bringing onto the show Yolanda Peoples, who is
a worker in the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, and I
get into a conversation with Yolanda about their recent win
at Volkswagen to join the United Auto Workers' Union and
(17:50):
what it means to be in a union and why
that matters, and so to really understand from first hand
accounts what it was like to organize and what it
was like to win. And we have been talking about
labor and workers' rights as we saw many uprisings and
boycotts and worker strikes happen from Hollywood to Detroit to
(18:14):
other places and other industries, and so I think it's
really important to bring her voice to the forefront. That
conversation is coming up next, folks. I am very happy
to welcome to wok F Daily UAW member Yolanda Peoples,
(18:36):
who just had a recent victory as a worker at
the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga. And we on this show, Yolanda,
have spent a lot of time good time talking about
the labor movement, talking about the importance of workers, workers protections, workers' rights.
(18:56):
So tell us what happened down in Chattanooga, and why
you all had been in the press for the last
couple of months.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
We won our union.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
We are now officially part of the ua W United
Auto Workers Union.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Congrats, thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
We are all so excited to finally reach this milestone
and to win our union. This was our third time
trying to bring the UAW into Volkswagen of Chattanooga. For
a long time, employees had felt as though they were
being treated unfairly. They being heard, They wanted their voices
(19:38):
to be heard, and they just knew that we could
make Volkswagen the best place to work in Chattanooga. And
so we decided that now is the time to see
if we can try it once more to get our union.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So this was the third attempt. What happened in the
first two. If you can like what happened in those
first two attempts, why didn't why wasn't it able to succeed?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
The first attempt was in twenty fourteen and the second
one was in twenty nineteen. When we first tried to
bring the union into volks Wagons, a lot of people
wasn't really familiar with the UAW, and a lot of
people weren't even familiar with unions at all. So when
(20:29):
we tried to organize, both wagons had brought out a
lot of miscommunication untruths about the union. They brought up
the scandals and things like that that were with the
ras W. They also brought up how the union were
closed factories, and it just wasn't good those times. We
(20:51):
weren't able to speak freely about the union. We can
always talk about the UAW on our breaks and off
company time, so.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
We weren't able to get the word around.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
We weren't able to educate people as much about the
benefits of being part of the UNAW or being part
of a union, and so we weren't really able to
just inform the other employees or get word around the
plant how beneficial this will be. But this time around,
there have been changes in the National Labor Relations Board.
(21:25):
They've changed certain laws that give employees the freedom to
speak about unions and forming a union just as they
were talking about their families or talking about a game,
and so that that was the big change. It allowed
us to be able to have discussions on the line
while we were working, because we're working beside people eight
hours a day, eight to twelve hours a day and
(21:46):
all we do is talk.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
All day long while we're working.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Because of helped the time passed and so I was
a voc a voluntary organized committee person and my job
was to get information into to the plan, talk to
my coworkers, discuss the issues, see what issues they were having,
and see what if they knew about the u a W,
if they knew about unions, and what changes they want
(22:12):
to see broad about. And by me being able to
talk freely, I was able to talk to people I
had never even thought to talk to talk to before
I've been working with I've seen them and pass them,
but I never just stopped and saying anything to them.
So talking about the UAW and discussing these issues, that
was a good way to open up conversation. And during
(22:32):
this process I've made a lot of new friends. I
made a lot of I call them family because we've
been working together for so long. And it just gave
me the opportunity to discuss something that I feel so
passionately about being part of the u a W. And
that was the main factor. Because we just was able.
We were talking. We did a lot of talking. When
(22:53):
I say we.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Talked We did a lot of talking a lot, because that's.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
That's the only we can't bring out our phones on
the we can't do it. So it was just word
of mouth communication. We were not faced with a lot
of backlash or a lot of in the previous years.
You know, people felt as though they were being targeted
and they stood up.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
I was gonna ask if there had been in the
prior to tries retaliation that the company took out against folks, But.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
What was that not the case at all?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
The first two times it was, you know, people were
saying they were getting retaliation.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
It's sound as though supervisors knew that you stood with
the UAW.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
You know, sometimes you'll get right up certain things like
that that just came out of nowhere, and you were wondering,
anybody okay because I'm with the UAW. And in private
conversations that supervisors would have with certain organizers, and may
people really afraid to stand up and say that I
don't want this at the plan? And then are the
(23:57):
employees see this happening? You know? And they was like,
and if our company is fighting this hard against this
against the union, maybe I should just sit back. Maybe
I should say no, just out of fear, you know,
it was. It was really fear because in twenty fourteen,
be cause I started working at Volkswagen in twenty eleven,
and by twenty fourteen, Okay, I knew all about the UAW.
(24:21):
My dad and my grandfather were both part of the UAW.
But I saw the organizers coming into plant, I was excited.
I was like, oh, we finally finna get our union.
From then, I've seen the way they were treated, and
I was like, well, I'm for a reunion. I'm going
to vote yes, but I'm not gonna raise my voice
and stand up because I need my job and because
(24:42):
the way they were treated, it made a lot of
people fearful to really stand up behind the UAW at
that time. And this time the laws I changed, and
then I made it to where the workers can organize
and their company cannot step in. They cannot do anything
(25:04):
in volks banging paid attention to that.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So can you talk to me about some of the
things that the UAW was advocating for for the folks
at Volkswagen, like yourself, Like what were some of the
things that maybe were happening that you were trying to change?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Being the VOLCA our first mission was to ask the
people exactly what they wanted, ask the people that they
have any concerns. And one of the main things that
a lot of people have brought up. We recently had
our insurance changed, and a lot of people are paying
for medical prescriptions and going to the doctor they recently
didn't have to pay for and a lot of people
are upset about that. That was the number one issue
(25:46):
that a lot of people kept bringing up, is insurance.
And then following the Big Three contract and their strikes
and everything and seeing their contracts, we was like, Okay,
they're fighting for better wages, but they already make more
than what we made.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Now we realized that we are so underpaid.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
You know, a lot of people didn't realize that the
other auto manufacturer companies, people that do the same things
that we do, we're getting paid so much more than
what we're getting paid. So when that brought that to
the forefront and we were able to see exactly how
much they were getting paid, they made us realize that
why aren't we getting off what they're getting, you know,
(26:27):
And that was a big issue too. The wages was
a bit different because we have a lot of people
that are working work there in tails off and they're
still struggling financially.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
And to be part of the.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Number one of the number one all the manufacturers in
the world, and to still be struggling while they're making
billions of dollars, that did not sit right with a
lot of my coworkers.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
For myself, also.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
A lot of people are getting up in Asian they're
preparing for their retirement and they just don't feel secure
with just having a fore on like Kay because it's
based on the market and it's not dependsible. It's not
as dependsible as other plans are, or even having a pension.
And a lot of people was upset that we weren't
(27:12):
getting profit sharing. You have other Volkswagon plans and other
bolts bagging companies that are making money off our bags,
and we are not being a part of that.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
We don't have a part of that because we aren't unionized.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
And those were the many issues that I came in
contact with when I was our Simier cords.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
It's incredible because one information is so powerful, right. The
more you know, right, the more you can advocate for yourself.
And so part of Volkswagen's original plan of oh, you
can only talk about this at your break. You know,
I don't know you know how long the break is,
but I guarantee you that it's it's you know, I'm
(27:51):
assuming that it's short. That doesn't really give you a
lot of time to be able to share information. And
just by looking at you know, the Big Three, looking
at the contracts that they had, then you have a comparable,
right like you were able to say like, well, wait
a minute, this position, I'm in this position, and this
is what they're making. I think that the profit sharing
(28:14):
piece is also really important. So when you all just won,
which is incredible because the persistence, right, the persistence over
the last ten years to get this done. So what
are some of the things now that will be accessible
to the workers at Volkswagen now that you all are
officially members of the UAW.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Well, the Volkswagen family has what's called the Works Council,
and VOLKSWAGENO Chattanooga could not partake in the Works Council
because we were not unionized. They make a lot of
the big decisions between the corporate and the regular workers,
between upper management and the regular workers, and we had
(28:58):
never been able to, oh, we say, sit at the
table with them because we were not unionized. All the
rest of the Volkswagen companies are unionized except us here
in Chattanooga.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Oh okay, yes, So.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
We were never able to be part of that. Since
we have our union, now we can partake in decision
making and what type of decisions are being made at
our plant here, and we can be part of the
words council.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Okay, So that piece I didn't realize. I didn't realize
that other areas were unionized with Volkswagen, so they were
not unfamiliar with unions.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
We always had to say Volkswagen is all for unions.
It wasn't Volkswagen is a company that did not want
us to unionize. It was just people placed in certain
positions that really did not want us unionized. And then
it was a lot of political issues that that's why
we weren't able to organized here with Chattanooga.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
So now that you're a U a W member and
you all have the right to organize, this now means
that you're sitting at the table literally with the rest
of the council. Are you now a part of the
collective bargaining right?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
The absolutely?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
What what are some of the things now that you're
going to be at the table. What are some of
the things that you're you're going to be looking for
some of the changes right now.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
What we're going We're going to take a plant wise survey.
We're going to survey every employee to see what their
main concern is. And once we get all everything together,
we're going to see what people are really looking for
one has some majority and what and it's all going
to be voted on by each person in the plant.
(30:56):
And those issues whatever everybody feeling though, is the main concern.
Those are the ones that we were going to address
first when we get ready to go to the bar
and the table. And we haven't put out the survey
as of jets. We're still waiting going our union recognization
to be finalized.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
And how many people are are at your plant?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Almost five thousand people at the plant?
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yes, wow.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
You You had mentioned at the beginning that both your
your dad, right you said, was in a union and
I think did you also say your brother was also.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
My dad and my grandfather your dady and your grandfather.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
I have had the pleasure of speaking with members of
asked me of another union for custodial workers for UH
nurses and the like. And a lot of people come
from family union family. Yes, right that that and are
very very proud of that. And so did you grow
(31:56):
up like understanding the importance of the union in how
did it change the benefits that your family were able
to have.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
My dad and my grandfather both worked in Georgia. They
worked at General Motors going out I said. This was
in the sixties and seventies, and being an African American,
they felt as though they whenever they went up against management,
the supervisors, or their team lead, they always needed somebody
to have their back. So my grandfather started working at
(32:24):
Generalmots first, and when my dad came, he said, you
better join that union because you go to need your
union rep to have your back when you go against
HR for anything that you need. So anytime, and when
I worked there for a season temporary seasonal workers, when
they had the employees' family members come in and work
(32:44):
and get a feel of it, I would hear stories
from all his coworkers and things, whether their union rep
or their line Stewart saved their job.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
You know, it was just hearing all these stories.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
And John, I know anytime that my dad, like my
mom if she needed any legal counseling or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
All she he had to do was call his union
rep and.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
They could get him anything that he wanted or anything
that he needed.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
They were able to put him in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
My dad has been retired since two thousand and four
and my mom recently just passed, and he still needed
help finding out how to handle everything.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
And he was like, let me just call the UAW
and see if they can help.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
And but relieve they were right there to help him
guide him to whatever he needed done, even if it
wasn't benefits related any if from anything they needed to ask,
they always were able to put him in the direct
right direction. So it's not just why you work there,
it's also this is a lifelong relationship that you have.
(33:46):
It's a lifelong concept or somebody have in your back.
I mean, any time he needed anything, all he had
to say, let me call of the union and see
what they can do for me, and they always pointing
him in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I mean, that's credible.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Exactly, and that's why I fight so off. People don't understand,
but I've lived this. I know the good that could
come from this. It's not just for us here. It's
they do stuff for the community. You know, they try
to Okay to a Tendessee is a right to hire,
right to fight in state. But you need that security.
You need some going to always have your bag. It's
(34:23):
nothing like going to work, working eight to twelve hours
a day and then you have the issue with the supervisor.
Now you stressed out about that because you have to
fight on your own. But if you just headed to
your steward, let them take that stress off of you,
and all you have to do is focus on work.
Let them handle all that extra stuff. You don't need
to worry about that. We're here to build quality cards
(34:44):
and if you got all this other stuff on your mind,
it's hard, it's really hard. So they just take the
stress off of you. Basically, that's a lot. That's one
of the Bay reads why a lot of people want
it just to have somebody fight for them or be
there with us so they don't have to feel alone.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yolanda, I just want to want to congratulate you again
on the win on a ten year, ten year battle
that you personally had been in order to get your
Chattanooga facility unionized, and just you know, thank you. So
much for explaining the importance of unions and that it
(35:21):
is necessary for people to be able to do their
jobs and do so with security. And that's what it
really means, is that a union means security for workers. So, Yolanda,
thank you so much for making the time to speak today.
Really appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
These help us all lot if we're trying to help
every other plans and is trying to organize as well.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
That is it for me today. Dear friends on wok
a app as always, power to the people and to
all the people. Power, get woke and stay a woke.
A spot
Good morning, peeps, and welcome to look F Daily with
Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, Recording from the home bunker. Folks,
I want to start off the show today with some
exciting news things that I have been working on for
the last couple of months that have finally come to fruition.
So first up, Patreon. So let me tell you a
(00:33):
little bit about Patreon and the changes that I've made.
So when Woke a f Daily left unceremoniously serious XM,
I went to a couple of different outlets before landing
with iHeart where you guys find me today. And in
(00:56):
the interim, as I was kind of moving around and
you know, we were living through a global health pandemic,
I've launched a Patreon account where I could post episodes
of wokf Daily and just really find a place to
gather folks that were interested in staying in the loop
(01:16):
with me, regardless of what platform I was on. And
so I've had wonderful, amazing dedicated Patreon subscribers for God
the last four years, and I am completely and totally grateful,
and so I have wanted to do a revise of
(01:39):
my Patreon for God the last year or so, and
so finally have been able to do just that, and
so I'm really excited to announce that Patreon has been
refreshed and you can head over to patreon dot com
slash WOKF and take a look at some of the
(02:01):
offerings that I have there. You can become a supporter
with as little as five dollars a month and you
get two video shows of WOKEF a week. That is
woke Wednesday, which is a video show for Patreon subscribers only,
and Bucket Friday, which is also a video show for
WOKF listeners. If you jump up to the fifteen dollar
(02:26):
a month, which is the Explorer level, you get all
of the support of benefits, so you get those video shows.
Plus I'm going to be doing a quarterly Zoom Ask
Me Anything, where you will get to connect with other
explorers virtually in a zoom setting and we'll do about
thirty to forty minutes of Yes, ask Me Anything, and
(02:49):
if you miss the live version of the zoom you
will get a recording in your inbox. And I am
going to be sending out my first Ask Me Everything,
because I'll probably obviously do two in the second quarter
to catch up from the first quarter, but you will
receive that information in your inbox on Patreon, and then
(03:13):
you jump up to the thirty five dollars a month level,
which is the Seeker level of Patreon dot com, where
you receive all of the Supporter and Explore benefits plus
a monthly blog from yours truly that will hit your
Patreon inbox the last Friday of the month. And then
(03:34):
finally for the activators set at the fifty dollar a
month level, you will receive all of the prior benefits
at the Supporter, Explorer and Seeker level plus a monthly
election deep dive via zoom that I will do and
host and bring on some of our favorite guests from
(03:58):
WOKF to be in a live session and setting for
thirty minutes where you're able to ask questions via the
chat as well as connect with other activators and so folks,
head over to patreon dot com slash WOKF that is
Patreon dot com slash WOKF and you can see there's
(04:19):
a new welcome note from me with a video in
the about section, just more info about how to find
different ways to support and like I say, all of
the time, supporting independent voices independent creators is more important
now than ever, and so head over there and we
(04:39):
can get into some good trouble, as the late John
Lewis used to say. And then, lastly, super excited as
well to announce the launch of my new newsletter, The
Damn Digest, which will come out twice a month, and
(04:59):
it we'll have content in there to get you inspired
as fuck, peaceful as fuck, and engaged as fuck as
we try and navigate these unprecedented times. You can head
over to Danielle Moody dot com and join the mailing
list immediately. It is a free newsletter, and I am
(05:22):
looking for other ways to get out content that I
am interested in creating. The times are chaotic and so
I don't want to just be raging, which you will
get a lot of rage. One of my featured articles
up right now at Danielle Moody dot com is the
right to protest right and the right to protest being
(05:43):
under attack, and that is in the Engaged as Fucked section,
as well as I give you five tips to help
you romance your life a little more.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Why do we wait for.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Other people to romance us when we can romance ourselves
as a way to live a more joy centered life.
So head over to Danielmoody dot com and you can
click on the blog and see the latest and sign
up for the mailing list so that you never miss
a newsletter. And then finally, friends, omg, the damn shop
(06:16):
is open. I have officially launched merchandise. So many of
you have been asking me throughout the years, and I've
launched my first capsule collection, The Future is Woke, which
is out now. T shirts, sweatshirts, totes, mugs, get it,
get at it, gift it to people.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
I want to be able to create and find ways
for us to wear our messages, wear our pride like
and in a time when you have governors that are
trying to ban books and ban curriculum and you know,
weaponize the word woke, I want to fucking reclaim it
and I think that we should rock it. So The
(06:58):
Future is Woke is the first capsule collection that I'm doing.
Grab a T shirt, grab a mug, grab a sweatshirt,
and a toad and let people know just how fucking
woke af you are. So all of that, friends, head
over to Daniel Moody dot com. All right, I'm excited.
(07:19):
I'm super excited because I'm just trying to find different
ways to create, connect and collaborate with all of you
and do so in a way that makes me feel
good and I don't have to go through gatekeepers to
do it. And so that's why that's the other reason
for the creation of this newsletter and the creation of
the store is that, you know, we got to own
(07:41):
our own shit, because apparently at any time, the government
can come in and decide that they're going to go
ahead and ban TikTok, right, and they're going to ban Instagram,
and they're going to ban whatever it is that they want,
and they will create the grounds to do so. So
that is really the impetus of you know folks being like, well,
you know, Danielle, I really want to find a way
(08:02):
to support you, but I don't want to go through
these you know, mass corporations that don't help their creators,
that are really about their own algorithms and selling and
selling your data. So yes, I'm trying to find ways
to be able to go direct to consumer, direct to you,
direct to audience, in a way where we can have
(08:24):
a relationship that we own and that is not owned
and go away in the middle of the night. And
this was all prompted by the recent push with our
Octanegerian elected fucking officials who have decided that they're going
to ban TikTok. Now, the lie, folks that they are
telling us that we've talked about on this show, the
(08:46):
lie that they are spewing is that oh, well, TikTok
needs to be sold to a non Chinese you know, ownership,
and then it'll be all fine and good. Well, come
to find out. I want to tell you you who
has been behind this band, which will shock absolutely no one.
(09:07):
But again it's like, hmm, ask yourself the reason why
things are happening, in the way that they're happening, and
when they are happening. So come to find out, great
site called the Slow Factory which I follow on Instagram,
and a slow factory is, you know, building systemic change
(09:32):
for collective liberation. And they did a nice little roundup
basically telling us that APAC, or the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, has spent millions of dollars silencing the ever
growing movement for free Palestine by using, as they say,
(09:53):
quote corrupt politicians as a way to fuel censorship and
promote apathy. They go on to say that the writing
is on the wall. The lengths the powers that be
are going to to silence our voice online and in
our workplaces, to violently attacking our bodies on university campuses
and our streets have been extreme. But it's clear that
(10:17):
those who support genocide are scared because they currently sit
on the wrong side of history. And this carousel that
they put out points to how the band had passed
through the House of Representatives and the Senate that currently
now TikTok is suing the United States for trying to
(10:39):
institute this ban. They tell us that the bill to
ban TikTok was authored by Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher, who
spoke to Congress about the dangers of lobbyists advocating on
the behalf of foreign countries, referring to China. But come
to find out, this motherfucker has taken upwards of sixty
(11:01):
thousand dollars from guess who a pack while drafting the
TikTok ban. Mike Gallagher has been paid handsomely by Apax
Slow Factory. Reports in March of twenty twenty four, Gallagher
received seventeen thousand from APAC following the forty four thousand
he received from them in twenty twenty two. Y'all, they're
(11:23):
all in on it, right, Everyone is in cahoots. And like,
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but this is not conspiracy.
You have to look at recently a recent interview that
Mitt Romney did with Anthony Blincoln where he openly said,
(11:44):
and Ryan Grimm posted this on x He openly said
that the reason why they are looking to ban TikTok
has nothing to do with fucking privacy and China and
has everything to do with the footage that is coming
in directly from Gaza that is not being filtered through
mainstream media outlets and whitewashed.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
We've already seen reports that have come out from the
New York Times. People have investigated the New York Times
for the use of certain words when they are talking
about Israel and the use of other words when they
are talking about Palestine, and the whitewashing and the fabrication
(12:28):
that was happening in their headquarters, right, that made it
to the front page following the horrific attack on October seventh.
So this is why I started out the show with
saying this is what I'm doing in these different content
creator focused spaces. Because when it comes down to it, folks,
(12:53):
TikTok wasn't seen as a threat when it was just
about dances and bullshit, right where it was just about
dances and gossip and you know whatever the latest challenge is.
But when it started to be used as a tool
to bring awareness to the heinous, violent crimes that are
(13:16):
being committed against the people of Palestine in Gaza at
the hands of Israel that is being backed by the
United States, all of a sudden, TikTok became the enemy
and they want to use the lie of privacy as
the reason for it. Meanwhile, fucking Meta, right, Google, the
(13:42):
rest of them have been selling our data to each other.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
We just learned most recently that Meta sold our data
to Netflix for like a couple hundred million dollars. So
we know that it's fine when it's a quote unquote
American company that is doing dirt, But all of a sudden,
(14:09):
when it's a Chinese operated company that allows us to
have on the ground reporting in real time that is
raw and real, that becomes the problem because now you're
not able to control the masses in the way that
you want to. So this is why I say to folks,
(14:30):
you have to look at the sources. You have to
look what is being said and also what is not
being said. When they are referring to children that are
being killed as adults, right, when they are labeling certain
(14:51):
people terrorists, but ignoring the terrorizing and the complete obliteration
of the Geneva Convention, and as it pertains to the
actions that Israel has been taking. They want these student
protests and all of these things stamped out so that
they can regain control. And who is the they. I'm
(15:13):
talking about our government, I'm talking about our mainstream media.
I'm talking about the powerful one percent that is seeing
a workforce that is becoming untethered to the idea of
working as a machine and our production being our only value.
This younger generation is questioning everything and everyone because they
realize what the rest of us are coming to understand
(15:36):
that we have been sold a fucking lie, a lie
about the possibility of the American dream, a lie about
American excellence, a lie about our diplomacy and the footprint
that we have around the world. And so young folks
(15:57):
are waking up and becoming very aware and conscious and
woke to who America has always been. And so, folks,
in order for us to really get to a place
of systemic change, we got to excavate. We got to
(16:20):
clear out the basement. We gotta take out the skeletons.
We have to do the hard, dirty work right before
we get to reimagine and redecorate. And that is where
I think that we are right at this moment, and
we are a part of it. We are a part
(16:40):
of the solution. I know that there are days when
I get on here and I turn on this mic,
and I am beat down, and I have not even
the mustard seed of hope. But I will tell you
that I have more days than not when I recognize
the systems that are at play to make us apathetic,
to drain us up our hopefulness, to wash away our faith.
(17:04):
And it's when we decide to ban together, when we
decide that our voices are bigger than their descent, that
real change happens. Coming up next, I'm really excited to
welcome to f Daily a conversation that I think is
really important, Folks, that we have often here, but not
(17:25):
with the people that are most adversely affected, and so
today or bringing onto the show Yolanda Peoples, who is
a worker in the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, and I
get into a conversation with Yolanda about their recent win
at Volkswagen to join the United Auto Workers' Union and
(17:50):
what it means to be in a union and why
that matters, and so to really understand from first hand
accounts what it was like to organize and what it
was like to win. And we have been talking about
labor and workers' rights as we saw many uprisings and
boycotts and worker strikes happen from Hollywood to Detroit to
(18:14):
other places and other industries, and so I think it's
really important to bring her voice to the forefront. That
conversation is coming up next, folks. I am very happy
to welcome to wok F Daily UAW member Yolanda Peoples,
(18:36):
who just had a recent victory as a worker at
the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga. And we on this show, Yolanda,
have spent a lot of time good time talking about
the labor movement, talking about the importance of workers, workers protections, workers' rights.
(18:56):
So tell us what happened down in Chattanooga, and why
you all had been in the press for the last
couple of months.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
We won our union.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
We are now officially part of the ua W United
Auto Workers Union.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Congrats, thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
We are all so excited to finally reach this milestone
and to win our union. This was our third time
trying to bring the UAW into Volkswagen of Chattanooga. For
a long time, employees had felt as though they were
being treated unfairly. They being heard, They wanted their voices
(19:38):
to be heard, and they just knew that we could
make Volkswagen the best place to work in Chattanooga. And
so we decided that now is the time to see
if we can try it once more to get our union.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So this was the third attempt. What happened in the
first two. If you can like what happened in those
first two attempts, why didn't why wasn't it able to succeed?
Speaker 3 (20:08):
The first attempt was in twenty fourteen and the second
one was in twenty nineteen. When we first tried to
bring the union into volks Wagons, a lot of people
wasn't really familiar with the UAW, and a lot of
people weren't even familiar with unions at all. So when
(20:29):
we tried to organize, both wagons had brought out a
lot of miscommunication untruths about the union. They brought up
the scandals and things like that that were with the
ras W. They also brought up how the union were
closed factories, and it just wasn't good those times. We
(20:51):
weren't able to speak freely about the union. We can
always talk about the UAW on our breaks and off
company time, so.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
We weren't able to get the word around.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
We weren't able to educate people as much about the
benefits of being part of the UNAW or being part
of a union, and so we weren't really able to
just inform the other employees or get word around the
plant how beneficial this will be. But this time around,
there have been changes in the National Labor Relations Board.
(21:25):
They've changed certain laws that give employees the freedom to
speak about unions and forming a union just as they
were talking about their families or talking about a game,
and so that that was the big change. It allowed
us to be able to have discussions on the line
while we were working, because we're working beside people eight
hours a day, eight to twelve hours a day and
(21:46):
all we do is talk.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
All day long while we're working.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Because of helped the time passed and so I was
a voc a voluntary organized committee person and my job
was to get information into to the plan, talk to
my coworkers, discuss the issues, see what issues they were having,
and see what if they knew about the u a W,
if they knew about unions, and what changes they want
(22:12):
to see broad about. And by me being able to
talk freely, I was able to talk to people I
had never even thought to talk to talk to before
I've been working with I've seen them and pass them,
but I never just stopped and saying anything to them.
So talking about the UAW and discussing these issues, that
was a good way to open up conversation. And during
(22:32):
this process I've made a lot of new friends. I
made a lot of I call them family because we've
been working together for so long. And it just gave
me the opportunity to discuss something that I feel so
passionately about being part of the u a W. And
that was the main factor. Because we just was able.
We were talking. We did a lot of talking. When
(22:53):
I say we.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Talked We did a lot of talking a lot, because that's.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
That's the only we can't bring out our phones on
the we can't do it. So it was just word
of mouth communication. We were not faced with a lot
of backlash or a lot of in the previous years.
You know, people felt as though they were being targeted
and they stood up.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
I was gonna ask if there had been in the
prior to tries retaliation that the company took out against folks, But.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
What was that not the case at all?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
The first two times it was, you know, people were
saying they were getting retaliation.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
It's sound as though supervisors knew that you stood with
the UAW.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
You know, sometimes you'll get right up certain things like
that that just came out of nowhere, and you were wondering,
anybody okay because I'm with the UAW. And in private
conversations that supervisors would have with certain organizers, and may
people really afraid to stand up and say that I
don't want this at the plan? And then are the
(23:57):
employees see this happening? You know? And they was like,
and if our company is fighting this hard against this
against the union, maybe I should just sit back. Maybe
I should say no, just out of fear, you know,
it was. It was really fear because in twenty fourteen,
be cause I started working at Volkswagen in twenty eleven,
and by twenty fourteen, Okay, I knew all about the UAW.
(24:21):
My dad and my grandfather were both part of the UAW.
But I saw the organizers coming into plant, I was excited.
I was like, oh, we finally finna get our union.
From then, I've seen the way they were treated, and
I was like, well, I'm for a reunion. I'm going
to vote yes, but I'm not gonna raise my voice
and stand up because I need my job and because
(24:42):
the way they were treated, it made a lot of
people fearful to really stand up behind the UAW at
that time. And this time the laws I changed, and
then I made it to where the workers can organize
and their company cannot step in. They cannot do anything
(25:04):
in volks banging paid attention to that.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So can you talk to me about some of the
things that the UAW was advocating for for the folks
at Volkswagen, like yourself, Like what were some of the
things that maybe were happening that you were trying to change?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Being the VOLCA our first mission was to ask the
people exactly what they wanted, ask the people that they
have any concerns. And one of the main things that
a lot of people have brought up. We recently had
our insurance changed, and a lot of people are paying
for medical prescriptions and going to the doctor they recently
didn't have to pay for and a lot of people
are upset about that. That was the number one issue
(25:46):
that a lot of people kept bringing up, is insurance.
And then following the Big Three contract and their strikes
and everything and seeing their contracts, we was like, Okay,
they're fighting for better wages, but they already make more
than what we made.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Now we realized that we are so underpaid.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
You know, a lot of people didn't realize that the
other auto manufacturer companies, people that do the same things
that we do, we're getting paid so much more than
what we're getting paid. So when that brought that to
the forefront and we were able to see exactly how
much they were getting paid, they made us realize that
why aren't we getting off what they're getting, you know,
(26:27):
And that was a big issue too. The wages was
a bit different because we have a lot of people
that are working work there in tails off and they're
still struggling financially.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
And to be part of the.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Number one of the number one all the manufacturers in
the world, and to still be struggling while they're making
billions of dollars, that did not sit right with a
lot of my coworkers.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
For myself, also.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
A lot of people are getting up in Asian they're
preparing for their retirement and they just don't feel secure
with just having a fore on like Kay because it's
based on the market and it's not dependsible. It's not
as dependsible as other plans are, or even having a pension.
And a lot of people was upset that we weren't
(27:12):
getting profit sharing. You have other Volkswagon plans and other
bolts bagging companies that are making money off our bags,
and we are not being a part of that.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
We don't have a part of that because we aren't unionized.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
And those were the many issues that I came in
contact with when I was our Simier cords.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
It's incredible because one information is so powerful, right. The
more you know, right, the more you can advocate for yourself.
And so part of Volkswagen's original plan of oh, you
can only talk about this at your break. You know,
I don't know you know how long the break is,
but I guarantee you that it's it's you know, I'm
(27:51):
assuming that it's short. That doesn't really give you a
lot of time to be able to share information. And
just by looking at you know, the Big Three, looking
at the contracts that they had, then you have a comparable,
right like you were able to say like, well, wait
a minute, this position, I'm in this position, and this
is what they're making. I think that the profit sharing
(28:14):
piece is also really important. So when you all just won,
which is incredible because the persistence, right, the persistence over
the last ten years to get this done. So what
are some of the things now that will be accessible
to the workers at Volkswagen now that you all are
officially members of the UAW.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Well, the Volkswagen family has what's called the Works Council,
and VOLKSWAGENO Chattanooga could not partake in the Works Council
because we were not unionized. They make a lot of
the big decisions between the corporate and the regular workers,
between upper management and the regular workers, and we had
(28:58):
never been able to, oh, we say, sit at the
table with them because we were not unionized. All the
rest of the Volkswagen companies are unionized except us here
in Chattanooga.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Oh okay, yes, So.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
We were never able to be part of that. Since
we have our union, now we can partake in decision
making and what type of decisions are being made at
our plant here, and we can be part of the
words council.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Okay, So that piece I didn't realize. I didn't realize
that other areas were unionized with Volkswagen, so they were
not unfamiliar with unions.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
We always had to say Volkswagen is all for unions.
It wasn't Volkswagen is a company that did not want
us to unionize. It was just people placed in certain
positions that really did not want us unionized. And then
it was a lot of political issues that that's why
we weren't able to organized here with Chattanooga.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
So now that you're a U a W member and
you all have the right to organize, this now means
that you're sitting at the table literally with the rest
of the council. Are you now a part of the
collective bargaining right?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
The absolutely?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
What what are some of the things now that you're
going to be at the table. What are some of
the things that you're you're going to be looking for
some of the changes right now.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
What we're going We're going to take a plant wise survey.
We're going to survey every employee to see what their
main concern is. And once we get all everything together,
we're going to see what people are really looking for
one has some majority and what and it's all going
to be voted on by each person in the plant.
(30:56):
And those issues whatever everybody feeling though, is the main concern.
Those are the ones that we were going to address
first when we get ready to go to the bar
and the table. And we haven't put out the survey
as of jets. We're still waiting going our union recognization
to be finalized.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
And how many people are are at your plant?
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Almost five thousand people at the plant?
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yes, wow.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
You You had mentioned at the beginning that both your
your dad, right you said, was in a union and
I think did you also say your brother was also.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
My dad and my grandfather your dady and your grandfather.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
I have had the pleasure of speaking with members of
asked me of another union for custodial workers for UH
nurses and the like. And a lot of people come
from family union family. Yes, right that that and are
very very proud of that. And so did you grow
(31:56):
up like understanding the importance of the union in how
did it change the benefits that your family were able
to have.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
My dad and my grandfather both worked in Georgia. They
worked at General Motors going out I said. This was
in the sixties and seventies, and being an African American,
they felt as though they whenever they went up against management,
the supervisors, or their team lead, they always needed somebody
to have their back. So my grandfather started working at
(32:24):
Generalmots first, and when my dad came, he said, you
better join that union because you go to need your
union rep to have your back when you go against
HR for anything that you need. So anytime, and when
I worked there for a season temporary seasonal workers, when
they had the employees' family members come in and work
(32:44):
and get a feel of it, I would hear stories
from all his coworkers and things, whether their union rep
or their line Stewart saved their job.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
You know, it was just hearing all these stories.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
And John, I know anytime that my dad, like my
mom if she needed any legal counseling or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
All she he had to do was call his union
rep and.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
They could get him anything that he wanted or anything
that he needed.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
They were able to put him in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
My dad has been retired since two thousand and four
and my mom recently just passed, and he still needed
help finding out how to handle everything.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
And he was like, let me just call the UAW
and see if they can help.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
And but relieve they were right there to help him
guide him to whatever he needed done, even if it
wasn't benefits related any if from anything they needed to ask,
they always were able to put him in the direct
right direction. So it's not just why you work there,
it's also this is a lifelong relationship that you have.
(33:46):
It's a lifelong concept or somebody have in your back.
I mean, any time he needed anything, all he had
to say, let me call of the union and see
what they can do for me, and they always pointing
him in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I mean, that's credible.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Exactly, and that's why I fight so off. People don't understand,
but I've lived this. I know the good that could
come from this. It's not just for us here. It's
they do stuff for the community. You know, they try
to Okay to a Tendessee is a right to hire,
right to fight in state. But you need that security.
You need some going to always have your bag. It's
(34:23):
nothing like going to work, working eight to twelve hours
a day and then you have the issue with the supervisor.
Now you stressed out about that because you have to
fight on your own. But if you just headed to
your steward, let them take that stress off of you,
and all you have to do is focus on work.
Let them handle all that extra stuff. You don't need
to worry about that. We're here to build quality cards
(34:44):
and if you got all this other stuff on your mind,
it's hard, it's really hard. So they just take the
stress off of you. Basically, that's a lot. That's one
of the Bay reads why a lot of people want
it just to have somebody fight for them or be
there with us so they don't have to feel alone.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yolanda, I just want to want to congratulate you again
on the win on a ten year, ten year battle
that you personally had been in order to get your
Chattanooga facility unionized, and just you know, thank you. So
much for explaining the importance of unions and that it
(35:21):
is necessary for people to be able to do their
jobs and do so with security. And that's what it
really means, is that a union means security for workers. So, Yolanda,
thank you so much for making the time to speak today.
Really appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
These help us all lot if we're trying to help
every other plans and is trying to organize as well.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
That is it for me today. Dear friends on wok
a app as always, power to the people and to
all the people. Power, get woke and stay a woke.
A spot
Host
Danielle Moodie
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