Aria J. Velasquez 

@laborpains
Union member and journalist. Recently minted Chicagoan. Audiobook fan.

My final Substack newsletter went out today. In the future you can find Labor Pains over on Ghost: laborpainsmedia.com. Thanks for reading. See y’all on the other side.

5 Labor Stories I'm Watching Right Now

the two moods of a writer:

  1. oh no, nobody is reading my stuff

  2. oh no, people are reading my stuff

Well, well, well... Look what the media layoff dragged in!

TikTok becoming a giant vehicle for selling products was so predictable, yet it still saddens me to see just how far they’re about to go. Among other things the app is increasingly teaching younger generations hyper-consumerism at a scale I find hard to fathom.

Public Funding of Journalism Is the Only Way

Who will report on the slow march toward authoritarian rule if there are no more journa—oh 🫤

no, influencers can't save journalism

HUGE!!! Platformer, one of Substack’s biggest publications, announces it will leave the platform if leadership won’t reverse course on banning nazis.

They’re meeting with them this week to discuss.

platformer.news/p/opena…

I feel like the pro-labor stance of my newsletter should make it abundantly clear, but in case there’s any confusion Labor Pains is staunchly anti-Nazi.

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Who is allowed to have an opinion online?
#4: What are America's unions saying about Gaza?