City Works is a monthly news magazine program produced by the Murphy Institute at CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies (SLU) in collaboration with CUNY TV and hosted by Laura Flanders. The show’s mission is to create a visual and thematic presentation of work, workers, and worker organizations. Episodes include topical examinations of the changing nature of work, tributes to unsung heroes, and analysis of the enduring challenges faced by workers. The show spotlights the vast array of occupations of working people across New York City, and explores individual and collective efforts to make a better life for workers and a more prosperous and equitable society.
Air Time City Works airs Mon. – Thur. at 12 noon (new episodes premiere on the first Monday of the month).
Contact
cityworks@slu.cuny.edu
Watch the Latest Episode
Captive Labor Forcing Prisoners to Work
On this episode of City Works, host Laura Flanders speaks to Calvin John Smiley, Associate Professor of Sociology at Hunter College, and Bianca Tylek, Founder and Executive Director of Worth Rises, to talk about what some have labeled the last remnant of legal slavery in America: prison labor. The three discuss the history of forced prison labor, how it hurts both those inside and outside of prison, and what is being done to finally end this centuries-long practice.
Previous Episodes
Season Five
- Special Episode – A Year of Strikes and Organizing
- Episode Ten – Danger on the Job
- Episode Nine – New York’s Labor Movement: Unions Are Winning Again
- Episode Eight – Pride at Work
- Episode Seven – Adjunct Faculty: The Growing Crisis in Higher Ed
- Episode Six – Artificial Intelligence: The Promise and the Peril
- Episode Five – Out with the Old: Reimagining the Way People Work and Earn a Living
- Episode Four – Making History: The 2023 UAW Strike
- Episode Three – Children at Work
- Episode Two – Working on the Railroad: The Fight for Railworkers’ Rights
- Episode One – Hollywood on Strike
Season Four
- Special Episode – Rebuilding Labor’s Power for the 21st Century
- Episode Ten – New Protections for Workers and “How Workers Win” Conference
- Episode Nine – A New Frontier for Labor: Video Game Workers Get Organized
- Episode Eight – The Threat to NYC Public Housing and the Fight to Keep It Public
- Episode Seven – Peril in the Factory Protecting the World’s Garment Workers
- Episode Six – A Life in Activism and Advocacy
- Episode Five – Worker Cooperatives Building a Better Workplace
- Episode Four – 2022 Midterm Election Aftermath: A Reporter Roundtable
- Episode Three – Gender Equality in the Workplace: The Struggle Continues
- Episode Two – Organizing at Amazon and in the American Theatre
- Episode One – Los Deliveristas: NYC App Delivery Workers
Season Three
- Episode Ten – The Future We Need: Organizing in the 21st Century
- Episode Nine – A People’s Guide to NYC & Wall Street’s Grip on Worker Pension Funds
- Episode Eight – Elder Care in America
- Episode Seven – Examining Racism’s Economic and Health Impacts In America
- Episode Six – Solving the NYC Yellow Cab Debt Crisis
- Episode Five – Organized Labor and The Global Climate Crisis
- Episode Four – Challenging Monopoly and “Bezosism”
- Episode Three – A Tale of Two Cities Revisited: NYC’s Mayoral Transition
- Episode Two – The State of the Unions & Occupy Wall Street Ten Years Later
- Episode One – Workers & Disability Rights: Beyond the Pandemic
Season Two
- Episode Nine – Transgender Workforce Activism: Pride is Political
- Episode Eight – Worker Organizing in 2021 America
- Episode Seven – COVID Recovery and Essential Workers: What’s Next?
- Episode Six – The Biden Administration and the Working Class
- Episode Five – New York’s Housing Crisis: Tenant Organizing in a Pandemic
- Episode Four – Post Election Reporters Roundtable
- Episode Three – Pandemic Economics
- Episode Two -Immigrant Workers: Contesting the Narrative
- Episode One – BLM and Police Unions
Season One
- Episode Nine – AOC – Pramila Jayapal – COVID-19 Frontline Workers
- Episode Eight – Domestic Workers and the Pandemic
- Episode Seven – Activism in the Gaming Industry
- Episode Six – Nurses on the Front Lines of Healthcare Delivery
- Episode Five – Teacher’s Strike with Stacy Davis Gates; Randi Weingarten
- Episode Four – Beyond Resistance
- Episode Three – Street Vendors; UAW Strike; Vinny Alvarez
- Episode Two – Wage Theft; State of the Unions with Ruth Milkman
- Episode One – Workers in New York City; Steven Greenhouse
Host
Laura Flanders (@GRITlaura) is the author of several bestselling books, the host of the nationally-syndicated public television (and radio) show Laura Flanders & Friends, a contributing writer to The Nation Magazine, and the recipient of a 2019 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship. She lives with her partner, the action-hero Elizabeth Streb in New York. She is the founding host of City Works.
Production Team
The show is a collaboration between CUNY TV and CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. Chiqui Cartagena, the station’s Interim Executive Director and Gregory Mantsios, the School’s Dean are executive producers. Rose Imperato is a co-producer along with Joseph Montalbano of CUNY TV, and Sarah Watson, Director of the Murphy Institute is a consulting producer.
CUNY TV
The City University of New York’s television station, CUNY TV, has been educating and informing viewers for more than three decades. Established in 1985, the station has steadily increased its ambition and scope, in 2009 transitioning to high definition and adding over-the-air broadcasting to its existing cable distribution. Now reaching 7.3 million broadcast households in the New York metro area, CUNY TV is committed to extending the academic mission of the university to offer lifelong learning opportunities to all New Yorkers.