The Southern Poverty Law Center is a historic civil rights organization that, for 50 years, has been advancing social justice through legal, educational, and advocacy efforts, primarily in the Deep South. However, after overwhelmingly voting to unionize in 2019, staff at SPLC say the organization has been stalling negotiations over their first union contract and unfairly treating its lowest-paid and most marginalized workers. On Monday, March 28, as noted in a press release from the SPLC Union, workers held an informational picket outside the organization’s headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama, “to protest management’s forcing mostly Black women employees to return to the office while allowing the option of remote work for white and higher-paid employees.” In this Working People interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with Katie Glenn, who has worked for SPLC for nearly three years and is a member of the SPLC Union bargaining committee, and Lisa D. Wright, who has worked at SPLC for over 20 years, was a member of the original organizing committee, and is also a steward and a member of the SPLC Union bargaining committee.

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Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):
Jules Taylor, “Working People Theme Song”

Pre-Production: Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Transcript

The transcript of this interview will be made available as soon as possible.

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Editor-in-Chief
Ten years ago, I was working 12-hour days as a warehouse temp in Southern California while my family, like millions of others, struggled to stay afloat in the wake of the Great Recession. Eventually, we lost everything, including the house I grew up in. It was in the years that followed, when hope seemed irrevocably lost and help from above seemed impossibly absent, that I realized the life-saving importance of everyday workers coming together, sharing our stories, showing our scars, and reminding one another that we are not alone. Since then, from starting the podcast Working People—where I interview workers about their lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles—to working as Associate Editor at the Chronicle Review and now as Editor-in-Chief at The Real News Network, I have dedicated my life to lifting up the voices and honoring the humanity of our fellow workers.
 
Email: max@therealnews.com
 
Follow: @maximillian_alv