Work in Progress
with Anna Maria Tremonti

Welcome to Work In Progress - a summer series featuring the best of The Current's year-long look at the work we do - why we do it and what it says about us.

From what happens when the work goes - to finding the right fit ... to how we cope when the work we do is a matter of life and death. Whether it's 9 to 5, working from home or heading out on the road - Work In Progress examines how the work we do defines who we are.

Here's what is coming up in our summer series:

• June 29: A history of the Western work ethic, and a look at striking steelworkers in Sudbury.
• July 6: Meet a doctor who spent 370 days working in an isolated station in the Antarctic, and take a glimpse into the working life of an exotic dancer.
• July 13: A look at long-term disability plans, and the erosion of quality jobs in Canada.
• July 20: Follow a group of autistic students as they try to find their foothold in the job market, and find out what happens to a town when the work goes away.
• July 27: When manufacturing jobs disappear, people have to change their expectation that a job is for life.
• August 3: Family farms struggle to survive in the face of corporate backed factory farms, mining interests and tourist developments.
• August 10: A look at how music and work go together.
• August 17: Meet a doctor trying to run a hospital in Kandahar, and a professional dumpster diver in Toronto.
• August 24: Stay-at-home dads and your stories about the quest for the most awesome job ever.
• August 31: Bullying in the workplace and the story of a human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe.

Scroll down below for audio segments.

Bullying at Work: An estimated five million Canadians face -- or have faced -- bullying in the workplace. The behaviour is entrenched. The effects can be devastating. And across the country, governments are passing laws that make it illegal. The Current's Howard Goldenthal spent some time looking into the forms that workplace bullying can take, as well as the damage it can do and the strategies for dealing with it.

Photo: Mujahid Safodien/Star/Associated Press

Fearless- Mtetwa: As a human rights activist in Zimbabwe, Beatrice Mtetwa has had to deal with her fair share of bullies. She has been arrested, jailed and beaten. But she keeps working. She has taken on a deeply corrupt system, and won acquittals for both Zimbabwean and foreign journalists who faced charges under the country's restrictive media laws. Her colleagues call her fearless.

Beatrice Mtetwa is a Human Rights lawyer and the outgoing President of Zimbabwe's Law Society.

MUSIC:   And in the spirit of Beatrice Mtetwa's passion for change, we wanted to end the program -- and this series -- with  a song from famed Zimbabwean musician Oliver Mtukuduzi. It's from his album called Tsimba Itsoka, which means No foot, no footprint. The song is called Kumirira Nekumirira ... which in English means Waiting and waiting. The message that if our feet aren't moving, there are no footprints for others to follow. 

Listen to Episode 10:



(Having trouble with our audio players? Check out the Help Page)

If you are interested in listening to other items we've aired in our season-long series, Work In Progress, Click here

Photo by Flickr User: Sarah G

Beer & Braids: For generations, women have fought to have their efforts on the homefront recognized as legitimate work. Now, more men are taking up the same cause.

And many of them -- especially stay-at-home Dads -- are discovering that's it's awfully tough to cook dinner, do the laundry and break down stereotypes ... all while trying to break up a fight between a three-year-old and a five-year-old. It's something freelance writer and broadcaster Cameron Phillips knows about intimately. We aired his documentary Beer & Braids.

Photo by Flickr User: Beverly & Pack

Awesome Jobs: Staying at home with the kids might  be Cameron Phillips' idea of an awesome job. Others might prefer to spend the night at the office. And in this economy, a lot of us feel that just having a job is awesome enough.

But for Vancouverite Sean Aiken, finding that awesome job became a job all on its own. He spent a year working one new job every week. He chronicled his experience in a documentary and a book called The One-Week Job Project.



Listen to Episode 9:




(Having trouble with our audio players? Check out the Help Page)

If you are interested in listening to other items we've aired in our season-long series, Work In Progress, Click here