Union membership in the U.S. has been declining for decades. But, in 2022, support for unions among Americans was the highest it's been in decades. This dissonance is due, in part, to the difficulties of one important phase in the life cycle of a union: setting up a union in the first place. One place where that has been particularly clear is at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Back in 2008, Volkswagen announced that they would be setting up production in the United States after a 20-year absence. They planned to build a new auto manufacturing plant in Chattanooga.
Volkswagen has plants all over the world, all of which have some kind of worker representation, and the company said that it wanted that for Chattanooga too. So, the United Auto Workers, the union that traditionally represents auto workers, thought they would be able to successfully unionize this plant.
They were wrong.
In this episode, we tell the story of the UAW's 10-year fight to unionize the Chattanooga plant. And, what other unions can learn from how badly that fight went for labor.
This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Willa Rubin. It was engineered by Josephine Nyounai, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and edited by Keith Romer. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
The origins of competitive gaming are rooted in college campuses going back to the early 1970s. Now a globally popular industry, esports is at the center of many questions about long-term financial viability.
Today, we dive deep into the hype surrounding esports and why the luster seems to be rubbing off the industry that was once seen by some as the next NBA.
Related episodes: Forever games: the economics of the live service model (Apple / Spotify) Designing for disability: how video games become more accessible (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
People used to pay one standard price for their favorite games in a one-off transaction. But now, many game companies are offering their games for free, supported by in-game purchases. This is called the live service model.
Today, the first episode of a week-long series about the video game industry. We investigate the promise and pains of the live service model and explain how it turned the industry upside down.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
The United States is millions of homes short of demand, and lacks enough affordable housing units. And many Americans feel like housing costs are eating up too much of their take-home pay.
Gaming provides entertainment and community for billions of people worldwide. However, video games haven't always been accessible to those with disabilities. But this is changing.
Today, in the next installment of our series on the business of video games, we explain how accessibility has become an increasingly important priority for game developers and how advocates pushed them to this point.
Related episodes: Forever games: the economics of the live service model (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Americans often rank the economy as a number one voting issue. As part of NPR's "We the Voters" series we check back in with four Americans we've been following since the pandemic.
They share how they're faring in a the current economy, and how that might influence the positions they take in the 2024 presidential election.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
With demand for jobs like HVAC technicians, electricians and wind turbine installers, enrollment is ticking up at vocational schools as four-year college costs continue to soar.
The economy is a top voting issue for many Americans. Four "American Indicators," people reflecting different sectors of the economy in different parts of the country, talk about their politics.
In a parking lot and on San Francisco Bay, NPR witnesses two different tests for solar geoengineering to tackle climate change. With much science unsettled, experts say regulations aren't keeping up.
Lots of older Americans say they'd love to downsize, but it doesn't make financial sense. The housing roadblock has left some would-be buyers stuck. We asked experts what policies could change that.
For the last year and a half, the story of FTX has focused largely on the crimes and punishment of Sam Bankman-Fried. But in the background, the actual customers he left behind have been caught in a financial feeding frenzy over the remains of the company.
On today's show, we do a deep dive into the anatomy of the FTX bankruptcy. We meet the vulture investors who make markets out of risky debt, and hear how customers fare in the secretive world of bankruptcy claims trading.
This episode was hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and Amanda Aronczyk. It was produced by James Sneed and Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang, and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
It's highs and lows in this edition of Indicators of the Week! The surprisingly high amount of electricity needed for artificial intelligence, basketball star Caitlin Clark's surprisingly low base salary, plus a potential crackdown on the ticketing company everyone loves to hate (possibly because of those high fees).
