Essential Voices with Wilmer Valderrama

Heavy Lifting - Part One

It takes the work of many hands to get the products we all rely on from the factory to our homes. What to the consumer may just be the push of a button, requires the heavy lifting of factory workers, longshoreman, truck drivers and hundreds more. Nicole Salima and Armando Pacheco are two of the workers responsible for that heavy lifting. Nicole Salima is a longshoreman at the Port of Long Beach and Armando Pacheco has been a commercial truck driver for decades. They both continued working throughout the pandemic in the face of progressively more difficult and more dangerous working conditions. Part One of a two part series.Episode Transcript:<a href="https://app.trint.com/public/0d5d6fd7-1475-4af6-a683-7c13f4bf5166">https://app.trint.com/public/0d5d6fd7-1475-4af6-a683-7c13f4bf5166</a> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a href="https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com">https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com</a>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

The Covid-19 pandemic introduced the term “Essential Workers” for a class of people who existed before and will persist long after the virus is gone. Vital to society, but rarely heard from, this “essential” class is often hit hardest by the imbalances and injustices of our culture. In each episode, host Wilmer Valderrama will have intimate conversations with people on the frontlines of the food system, transportation, child-care and other workers who are so often overlooked. That conversation leads to a round-table discussion with activists and politically-active celebrities, discussing themes, issues and areas of needed change. The show seeks to reveal the invisible connections between all of us.