Workers' Inquiry is a podcast about work, struggle and revolution by Notes from Below. Each episode interviews a different worker to understand their experiences of work and the lessons they've learned for building a militant rank-and-file labour movement.
52 min
In this episode we speak to Keiran Knutson, call center worker and president of Communications Workers of America Local 7250 in Minneapolis about the Minneapolis general strike against ICE and the organising that made it possible. Subscribe to NFB!
40 min
This episode is a mash up of different recordings and interviews done at the rank-and-file conference, Labor Notes, earlier this summer. The central interview is a half hour discussion with Isaac Nelson, a teaching assistant from Minnesota, about the resistance to Operation Metro Surge. Also featuring: Ellen David Freedman, author of Keep Going: A guide to organising when it's hard Josh McPhee, coauthor of Strike While The Needle is Hot: A discography of workers' revolt For more about Labor Notes, check out their website: https://labornotes.org/ Subscribe to NFB!
59 min
Direct action gets the goods. In this episode we discuss Matthew's experience of working and organising as a teaching assistant, including how they waged a campaign of on-the-job action to resist work intensification and management surveillance. This episode was recorded on the fly, so please enjoy the background ambience of a pub garden in South London. We'll be back to the usual studio setup soon. Read Matthew's article, A Lesson in Class Struggle: Working in a South London School The Whitehall Worker (civil service bulletin) The Handover (St George's Hospital bulletin) Read Notes from Below Subscribe to NFB and get a copy of every print issue Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org
52 min
In this episode we speak to Keiran Knutson, call center worker and president of Communications Workers of America Local 7250 in Minneapolis about the Minneapolis general strike against ICE and the organising that made it possible. Subscribe to NFB!
40 min
This episode is a mash up of different recordings and interviews done at the rank-and-file conference, Labor Notes, earlier this summer. The central interview is a half hour discussion with Isaac Nelson, a teaching assistant from Minnesota, about the resistance to Operation Metro Surge. Also featuring: Ellen David Freedman, author of Keep Going: A guide to organising when it's hard Josh McPhee, coauthor of Strike While The Needle is Hot: A discography of workers' revolt For more about Labor Notes, check out their website: https://labornotes.org/ Subscribe to NFB!
59 min
Direct action gets the goods. In this episode we discuss Matthew's experience of working and organising as a teaching assistant, including how they waged a campaign of on-the-job action to resist work intensification and management surveillance. This episode was recorded on the fly, so please enjoy the background ambience of a pub garden in South London. We'll be back to the usual studio setup soon. Read Matthew's article, A Lesson in Class Struggle: Working in a South London School The Whitehall Worker (civil service bulletin) The Handover (St George's Hospital bulletin) Read Notes from Below Subscribe to NFB and get a copy of every print issue Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org
1 hr 6 min
New from the NFB vault: guest editors Rehana Zaman, Jenny Warren and Allan Struthers join Dante to discuss issue 24 on class struggle in arts and culture. This interview was recorded in late 2025. Read the whole issue here Subscribe to NFB if you haven't already
1 hr 18 min
The podcast returns with an election special on workers' inquiry, fascism, and poultry farms. Lotte's book: An Economy of Starlings The Future In Our Past - out now on Verso Interview about the book with Sam Kelly on Red Medicine Read Notes from Below Subscribe to NFB and get a copy of every print issue Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org
1 hr 19 min
How do you build a militant rank and file movement of thousands of young workers in a sector everyone says is impossible to organise? Nick Troy joins us to talk strikes, hospitality, service work, and the experiences of the Unite Hospitality branch in Glasgow. Read the full interview here: https://notesfrombelow.org/article/afters-building-hospitality-workers-movement-glasg Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org
1 hr 2 min
First off - sorry for the delay! As always, we blame the bosses. Second, enjoy this interview about organising in the care sector during the pandemic. Connor, our guest from episode one of Workers' Inquiry, returns to interview Allison and Steve about their experiences. Read the full interview here: https://notesfrombelow.org/article/moving-beyond-the-terror-care-and-support-workers Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org
50 min
Massive games studio Rockstar just victimised 30+ workers. We jumped on a call with Austin Kelmore, a games worker and IWGB organiser, to get an update on the state of organising in the industry and the birth of his union branch. Read Austin's article from Issue 24 of NFB here. IWGB Game Workers: https://www.gameworkers.co.uk/ Support the victimised Rockstar worker fundraiser: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/support-rockstar-workers-fighting-unfair-dismissals/ Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org
54 min
We're talking about the art and culture sector, workers' inquiry, and how to build rank and file organisation in a sector characterised by low union membership and small workplaces.Steff Huì Cí Ling is a cultural worker and labour researcher based in Vancouver who wrote for issue 24 of NFB. You can read the full article here: https://www.notesfrombelow.org/article/the-only-polemic-left-in-the-art-world-is-worker-p Come hang out with us at Pelican house on Fri Nov 7, from 7pm: https://luma.com/z9fzqwwi Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org
57 min
Today we launch season 2 with an update from the French movement that has toppled two prime ministers and thrown the French political system into crisis. Louise Héritier, a Paris-based actor and culture worker, joined us to discuss 'Cultures en Lutte' , a rank-and-file anti-austerity campaign of culture workers. You can read the full article here: https://notesfrombelow.org/article/cultures-en-lutte Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org
4 min
Thank you for listening to season one! Fill in the listener survey here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeKx08AQOv7v2FGGunciktCVwmpFH4eMq07BrWNcO2RZ5P9hg/viewform?usp=dialog You can find the bulletins from the 2024 delivery strike here: https://notesfrombelow.org/article/delivery-strike-reports-frontline See you in September for season two.
48 min
You can read Thomas' article in issue 23 here. Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org Class composition is produced by the Notes From Below collective Tom Greenwood is our designer Isabel Sanchez Danieli did the music Evelyn Gower is our production assistant We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street
1 hr 24 min
There is great chaos under heaven in the higher education sector. Two university workers, Zara Dinnen and NFB editor Roberto, are on the show to discuss what's going on and what opportunities the situation creates for political interventions in universities as workplaces. Zara's article, How to Stop a University Roberto's two articles on casualisation in HE: Part 1 , Part 2 The book based on the US graduate worker movement, Correspondences from the Upsurge And finally the WhatsApp chat for RNF university workers Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org Class composition is produced by the Notes From Below collective Tom Greenwood is our designer Isabel Sanchez Danieli did the music Evelyn Gower is our production assistant We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street
1 hr 19 min
James is a driver on the Piccadilly Line and talks to us about work, organising and what it's like to operate London's transport infrastructure. James' article for issue 23 is Under London. The Working Class History episode on workmates: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e82-workmates-collective/ Subscribe to Notes from Below Workers' Inquiry is produced by the Notes From Below collective. Designer: Tom Greenwood Music: Isabel Sanchez Danieli Production Assistant: Evelyn Gower We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street.
1 hr 26 min
We're talking about trade unions, social partnership, class compromise, and bureaucrats. Read Matthew and Roberto's article here: Syndicalism and the New Limits of Trade Unions Subscribe to Notes from Below Workers' Inquiry is produced by the Notes From Below collective. Designer: Tom Greenwood Music: Isabel Sanchez Danieli Production Assistant: Evelyn Gower We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street.
58 min
We talk to three comrades from CEDRA, a Slovenian political organisation, about their work with supermarket workers and their method of feminist coresearch. Subscribe to Notes from Below: https://notesfrombelow.org/subscribe Join us this Friday ( 14th) for our issue 23 launch party: https://lu.ma/uoowlj5a Join the Organise Now Gails campaign: https://www.organisenow.org.uk/gails/ Read more from CEDRA: https://www.cedra.si/en Workers' Inquiry is produced by the Notes From Below collective. Designer: Tom Greenwood Music: Isabel Sanchez Danieli Production Assistant: Evelyn Gower We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street.
53 min
Francis and Barbara from PAWA talk to us about their experiences working and organising in the care industry,. Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org Workers' Inquiry is produced by the Notes From Below collective. Designer: Tom Greenwood Music: Isabel Sanchez Danieli Production Assistant: Evelyn Gower We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street.
1 hr 14 min
Mostafa Henaway is an organiser at the Immigrant Workers Center Montreal and author of Essential Work, Disposable Workers. His article for issue 22 of NFB was Experiments in Worker Organising: From Unite Community to the Immigrant Worker Centre in Montréal. You can read the whole issue, including the editorial about a workers' centre in Tower Hamlets, here. Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say helloeditors@notesfrombelow.org Workers' Inquiry is produced by the Notes From Below collective. Designer: Tom Greenwood Music: Isabel Sanchez Danieli Production Assistant: Evelyn Gower We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street.
45 min
Today we're talking to Karin, a Swedish ex-miner who worked in the largest iron ore mine in Europe. She tells us about the experience of Gruvkvinnor [Mine Women], a self-organised group of blue collar women working in production roles. Gruvkvinnor have an article in the upcoming issue 23 of NFB on Infrastructure. Subscribe now if you want a copy as soon as its released! Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org Workers' Inquiry is produced by the Notes From Below collective Designer: Tom Greenwood Music: Isabel Sanchez Danieli Production Assistant: Evelyn Gower We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street
1 hr 0 min
In episode 5 we talk to Nick Francis about his time working as a bouncer. We go over the experience of the work, the possibilities for coalitions in the hospitality industry, and the stories we tell ourselves to make work bearable. Read Nick's article for issue 21 of NFB Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org
1 hr 6 min
Today we talk to Jonas Marvin about the history of sickness in Britain since the mid-20th century, and what health communism has to teach us about the class struggle today. Subscribe to Jonas' newsletter: Marx's Dream Journal Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org Class composition is produced by the Notes From Below collective Tom Greenwood is our designer Isabel Sanchez Danieli did the music Evelyn Gower is our production assistant We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street
57 min
Note: The audio quality in this episode isn't perfect - we had some difficulties recording. Apologies in advance. In episode 3 we speak to Sai Englert, one of NFB's editors at large, about political organisation. We talk about revolutions, parties, and the looming combination of crisis and opportunity. Read Sai's first article, Notes on Organisation Read Sai's second article, Notes on Organisation Revisited Read Notes from Below Support the podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org Class composition is produced by the Notes From Below collective Tom Greenwood is our designer Isabel Sanchez Danieli did the music Evelyn Gower is our production assistant We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street
1 hr 3 min
In episode two we speak to Eric, a chef from London, about hospitality work, organising strategies, and gentrification. Read Eric's article in issue 18 Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org Class composition is produced by the Notes From Below collective Tom Greenwood is our designer Isabel Sanchez Danieli did the music Evelyn Gower is our production assistant We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street
57 min
In episode one we're talking to Lyra and Connor, two ex-care workers who speak about their experience in the industry, covering everything from deindustrialisation and disability to strikes and migration. Read Connor and Lyra's article from Issue 20 Read Notes from Below Support the Podcast Say hello editors@notesfrombelow.org Class composition is produced by the Notes From Below collective Tom Greenwood is our designer Isabel Sanchez Danieli did the music Evelyn Gower is our production assistant We record in-person at the Mayday Rooms, Fleet Street
4 min
Welcome to Workers Inquiry! In this short episode, we introduce the idea behind the podcast and explain we've started it. Read Notes from Below Support the podcast What is workers inquiry?
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