At a time when union membership is in decline and labor is being attacked on many fronts, Mike Elk, the labor reporter for the progressive magazine In These Times, is one of the few full-time labor journalists working today. He brings the skills and tenacity of an investigative reporter to his coverage of organized labor and management in America and pulls no punches, no matter who he’s writing about.

Moyers & Company’s Michael Winship, who’s also president of the Writers Guild of America, East, an AFL-CIO affiliated union, gave Elk a call to check in as he crossed the country with the Summer of Solidarity Tour. It’s a road trip leading up to Labor Day organized by what Elk calls “rank-and-file union activists” and aimed at bringing public attention to economic justice issues as well as strengthening ties between community activists and grassroots labor organizers. The two discuss the tour, interesting trends in organized labor and the decline of labor reporting. Elk also gives his thoughts on how we might celebrate Labor Day to best honor those who originally fought for the right to organize and better working conditions.