angered supporters. this is about an hour and 20 minutes. .. >> but i hope when we get to

the questions it will be lively and what does blazing and public is initiating and how many came here last week? and it is an important addition to the labor community and no coincidence that aidan allen the busboy manager is so committed to putting on programming to enable us with the labor related books cultural events, photography exhibits and he is the son of the stryker and was fired along with 12,000 of his co-workers and growing up in that type of family can be formative to say the least. so thank you for the

opportunity to be here tonight. just with a quick calculation, with all my old friends who and the unions represented we probably have 1,530,000 years worth of experience of labor organizing and education and academic work the coalition building and labor trouble making. i know with his golf of experience we will have a great discussion. among our special guest i want to introduce first, one of the courageous nurses who went on strike last friday. [applause]

if he is not here, nvda afl at this ehud -- nurses united we can talk more about the issues involved in the strike. so the hard copy of "the washington post" so the washington hospital center is spending tens of thousands of dollars with the folks of this community. how much do they care about patient care or the quality that they provide? money that is better spent agrees to the proposals of the staffing ratios and other improvements that they needed their contract so for the people that use the hospital. we had another strike last week a similar significance 1200 nurses is out of kaiser permanente a.

[applause] they are members of the new national union of health care workers and there is some contribution on the books over there and an update on the activity from recent months and this is an important new addition to a labor movement in california and the subject of much of the book's sole waters. i want to thank other co-sponsors for helping me out at every stop and i want to think my host here in washington d.c.. where it is linda? [applause] most people a have be sleeping in the west potomac park. [laughter] she is part of the national executive board and part of the newspaper guild. i want to recognize for the

co-sponsor ship tonight at hoffman vice president of the writers' union of the uaw and current union affiliation. and i want to thank my publisher to recognize it great author, so many of you, if you are sports fans know that you are knowledgeable and incisive on the world of professional and amateur sports. a great new movie out and also the haymarket author. carat of the book to word got started last week in my hometown of boston and amherst at -- massachusetts and cleveland last weekend, last night we had an event with the baltimore

orioles and a great newspaper guild member with the little place that is a radical bookstore downtown. i have seven years to prove that i was there and maybe busboys needs to invest into a hookie like this. how many people here? i know people inside the beltway 10 to be more respectable and button up but have you heard of him? guy take a back. good to see no longer there is the mccarthy era as people are willing to frequent the anarchist bookstore connected to the press and the progressive publisher and like busboys an independent bookstores around the country and places that we need patronized because if we

don't, it just seems it is barnes & noble and borders would be the only place to buy books. we have a great group of workers at this event last night. one of them was a man from the sociology club and knowing that i was in mixed company and not everybody was necessarily up to speed with our bewildering array of acronyms, and i was spelling everything out, i did not want to leave out any outsiders or part of the alphabet soup groups and talked about the brotherhood of teamsters and talk about the presidency of itt and a young man was very puzzled i could see it in his face then finally he raised his

hand and said that could lead is a teamster? they are truckers that work for ups and handle packages and will begin the warehouse is then i realized that is not what he is asking. [laughter] and i thought he has every right to be mystified. but it just shows how last century it is that we have an occupation from the previous century prominently featured in one of the largest american unions. how last century it is to the young people it is probably quite off putting to them that in 2011, the union is still projected as a brotherhood rather than

our brotherhood and sisterhood when it represents 400,000 women workers. and a number of unions with brotherhood in the name have grappled with the question of possibly coming up with them lowered gender neutral or gender equal name. one of them even a acknowledges the existence of the recent invention of the electricity. ibew. broke even though it almost made me a convert to a more modern 20% three thinking kind of guy or friend who is now over at georgetown with seoul labor representative as you may recall, and a valuable member of the board of directors said drug

company. i don't know if you notice he is president emeritus and doing an interview in "newsweek" "and say, as in us, unions, seem like a legacy institution. not in this edition of the future" we will see her retirement distances you from us. the us is now them. but this tracks the thinking of many people in corporate america and firms like general electric where chris townsend has the pleasure of dealing with the hour verizon that i have dealt with that try to confine us to the past rhetorically with the constant repetition -- repetition and references to legacy contracts and benefits and

the latter of which we are told no longer affordable in the private or public sector. where we seem to be headed where him in cairo by the lake in wisconsin, a brother bob university of wisconsin probably about on twitter the great labor journalists just returned from madison some hopefully we get reports from a little bit later. anybody else? we have a bunch of out of state cheerleaders now vice the is now called the chatter revolution. [laughter] now on this particular tour those at haymarket although

they have been saddled with the name from two centuries ago, it came up with the subtitle birth of a new workers' movement or death throes of the old?" very savvy marketing because if things are not going well for the labor movement, answer questions in interviews that two while on the subject of organizational staff and dying or if the finns have broke our way, the focus more happily on the prospects of the birth of the labor movement. i just want to say a few words about what is exciting particularly for those who have first and involvement about the upsurge of madison and and talk about how the subject matter into lap -- overlaps with the book which is finished up

before the great development occurred and then opened for questions because we have a lot of folks hear that contribute to the discussion. clearly one of the most exciting things of the fence in madison and relates how to read reach people like those who are not sure what a teamster is a and if we are going to be anything other than a geriatric culture and happen to the youthful energy and idealism of the young people, it clearly any account of the struggle pays tribute to the role of high school students, college students and teaching assistants who are the vanguard of the struggle and members of the union who brought about those that were founded in madison as o growth of the

'60s activism and the fact they did not take a business as usual approach to lobbying. how many people have been on the union lobby day after the state capital? that tends to me highly ritualistic and involve being polite and have been talking points by the union staff and showing up on time for appointments with our debtors in the political class and hoping for the best. these folks have a lobby day and bring the sleeping bags. that occupy the state capital just like it was the administration building circa 1969. and that galvanizes older workers and the workers and most significantly for the

kind of unity we need to build the movement labors of the private sector does a pipe fitter or a plumber holding a design still out there yesterday supporting the public workers. those attacked by governor walker followed the cops and firefighters to have opted of the struggle and we have seen the opposite and expressing very strong support for the teachers, state workers and the county municipal workers and with the attempt to strip public-sector wisconsin workers' bargaining rights. the bottom tier of the

public sector in wisconsin and other states, this is something i do write about quite a bit in the book, we have the largest source of newly organized union members also at risk with the struggles of wisconsin, ohio, indiana and states like new jersey where they come out of the public sector and is here tonight at a huge rally and conflict -- confronted with our charming fellow chris christie on the cover of the sunday times magazine one week ago. he has a brought -- voracious appetite for a number of things but in new jersey all of the other states, the uaw all follows the lead of seiu have organized the five or 600,000 home-based workers

home day care providers of the last 10 years the biggest source of new union membership and that has a notorious foothold for those who work in the non-traditional work place are predominantly female and non-white and been bargaining unit and child care providers still strapped when unarmed temporary assistance for needy families and those of the benefit laid been privileged protective tampered public-sector employees is the fact there is a huge underclass a second-tier recently unionized employment that it

loses their rights for contract protections. to destroy two units of big home health care aides in so one and other states. so within the public sector at all levels of the occupational structure, workers come together aligning with students with the community with what remains of private sector union and activism to fend off these attacks. when of the things that is most inspiring is seeing bottom-up solidarity and rank-and-file initiative and seeing people voicing their opposition to the attacks on collective bargaining

through mass actions we have not seen since public employees were first organized in the '60s and '70s and industrial workers have a great upsurge from the 1930's. but now how do we institutionalize that? with the activist networks of have been created, and elsewhere, is survived? when the unions to lose bargaining rights that is a challenging topic for conversation tonight. i would say we would be in a stronger position to fend off these attacks if we had not had the string of costly disasters and divisive interest of into union conflicts described in civil wars. the story begins in the conflict between seiu and ask me over home care workers and a number of states in 2005 and moves on to the raging battles between the california

nurses that are now they anchor of seiu and a number of other states and california and ohio and the development of the reform movement challenging seiu which i thought was another development in 2008 that our good friend the president of the united healthcare workers west the largest affiliate 100 to 2000 member local very dynamic kind of organization that any union would have loved to have had as part of its union when you hw with the help of a number of people in the workroom, the network began to build the broader teamsters union in the reform caucus challenged the

leadership was down one convention and 80 essentially set the stage for a leadership crackdown the imposition of martial law two years ago in california and the other seiu leaders removed 100 elected leaders and basically eight occupied the local and remove hundreds of stewards in the second largest trusteeship in history. at the same time even though they were part of the dynamic new labor federation known as change to win day turn the guns on the hotel worker side of the fellow founding union unleashing another front of civil warfare what i know all this was going on the mainland the asea you attacks on the puerto ricans teachers three

years ago 40,000 teachers went out on the island a wide strike under draconian public-sector laws under pr and the union was stripped of bargaining rights when it took a strike vote and then the governor for recovery be used to bargain any further and it was over the critical issue of privatization of the schools and seiu that represents the lowe's principals and other school employees are well-positioned to provide solidarity but instead of doing that others try to cut a deal with the then indicted governor to replace the others and the whole convention in pr was desired tata to pull the campaign

and is excluded from the ballot when there was a vote on this question that the teachers voted no and rejected the raid and thousand still pay all the struggles not restoring the bargaining rights. the enter complex with the expenditure of $140 million and then comes at a very inopportune moment we weren't told it would be pregnant with political opportunity the first two years of the obama administration to achieve the highest priorities of health care reform and strengthening the national labor relations act am passing the employee free choice act. there is evidence that both of those critical campaigns

were very much undermined by the internal dysfunction and the civil war as described in the group and some of which have been settled happily as in the case of a collaboration between the cna and seiu with a health care corporation of america with the last few months in kansas, florida, texas, the two unions working together and organizing closed at 10,000 hour pens and other hospital workers and in california the struggle goes on and continues to be another costly it and other leaders the militant socialist president of the union were all just fired from their jobs in teaching license is revoked in direct

retaliation for being strike leaders in 2008 and continuing to wage a militant struggled against school privatization in pr ever since. we will be seeing a big delegation and a continuing opportunity for trade unions to provide the solidarity that the group needs and deserves. let me close by saying that the lessons of the box owe, the implosion of the progressives was described to us so many thought was the progressive wing of labor is almost like a tutorial of what not to do if you want to win against hostile employers and a democratic administration only casually interested in advancing the cause of labor and certainly if we had done

this so distracted with health care and food service and photos with the public-school system of pr when they unfolded, during that period, we had built the grass roots movement we have seen develop in the midwest in response to the recent attacks we would happen much closer in 2008/2009 real health care reform and it would not have been sidelined and marginalized and push aside some easily. perhaps we would not have the wipeout of the suppose of friends of labor from the republicans last fall. and to achieve so much when so many people throughout this room campaign to re-elect president obama from 2008. i will stop there and throw

it open. thank you for coming but i apologize for the formality of having to approached the microphone but many people in this room are used to doing that and have done so effectively in much more daunting circumstances. [laughter] [applause] >> do you want to tell us what happened on friday? [applause] good evening. i am one of the nurses at washington hospital center who went on strike on friday we have been locked out five days we can be allowed to go back to marvell thanks to the attorneys that the hospital that was their gift to us. fenders is decided to go on strike 7:00 a.m. and we

proceeded to pick it around the hospital. they called in the d.c. police and it was very hostile. the police were pushing us to make sure we could not get close to the hospital to pick it but we have support from the community and had a rally at noon and support from a lot of different unions in the city and it is encouraging to us to see people truly support us as nurses to see that the biggest hospital in the city provides decent care and although the hospital is trying to put out it is just about money, it is not it is a part of our contract but at the end of the day we truly need more nurses to ensure we provide great care. although we have elected to work tomorrow without a contract settled we will continue to fight and rally as much support as we can to ensure the center finishes

the contract to implement the things that we need to have saved care at the hospital. [applause] >> is our third fox still here? did he have to leave? [inaudible] >> making $143 million last year although continues to deprive us of a fair and just contract and all of you who sit here to receive os -- services from that hospital we invite you to join us in our continued

effort to contact your hospital in support of the nurses. [applause] >> i want to recognize brother arthur a lot of these parties take on the form of a cast party because "the civil wars in u.s. labor" has a large cast of characters and one of those his brother arthur and want to recognize him. we work together at a teamster reform group in the late '70s the professional drivers council he is one of the foremost democracy lawyers and the country representing reformers and the number of different unions for decades and did some great work on behalf of the embattled members said united healthcare workers west with the abuse of the international union's within other violations for pro

[applause] >> my name is david i am here from seattle from the post orders union if visited a house of ill repute and my question is a change of the labor movement around the emergence of john sweeney a few years ago and the seiu becoming a a bake leader organize organize organize. as cia was mired from the

far they did organize lots of workers somewhere things went wrong and how did it go wrong? i noticed some unions tend to me heavily staffed those who maybe bright college kids that are progressive and eager and well-intentioned but they don't have a base midday half never done the job session of a debate if that is what went wrong if you are of that staffers to have no political power so if you do you are fired and go get a job somewhere else. so what people spots where did the seiu go wrong? was a false promise to start with crack say bad model?

>> exelon questions. the policy committee of labour notes from the postal union from seattle and a great visitor here did you bring yours the bag? the very good questions and ones that are addressed from our own perspective my own people that were involved in the organized campaigns designed fined organizing a lot of different industries what are the appropriate trade-offs between growth and contracts standards? and and what are the quid pro quo in return for getting an employer like at&t wireless like kaiser or

a hotel chain to give us a free and fair election will card to a close some form of neutrality? what type of contract will the workers have but over time to improve conditions to look into a prefab deal but doesn't generate revenue for the union to make the organizing rights? with a contradiction of the strategy which we argue in the book that proposed with those complex i did not mention. >> first of all, thank you for writing this book and a much needed discussion. i was in madison for five days of the white changing experience it for no other

reason to seek a contingents of 30 year-old's to say put scotty in the potty. [laughter] i will never forget but the first is the people of madison the workers of wisconsin where is her like and how do you explain the actions of the leadership and the second question is talking to chris townsend if you look at the republican governors association website vs. the democratic governors website but r.j. support scott walker and defend scott walker it is all about scott walker then you go to the democratic site and there is no mention of wisconsin on the homepage. and it is such a shocking contrast. is part of the problem that the labor movement invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a political party

but at worst is something to be held in contempt? >> people will begin to think these questions orchestrated. [laughter] talk about solidarity among workers let's hear from brother mike. should we just stay on madison for a minute? you lowered just out there can you report? you were reporting for another alternate? >> this is a courageous book is a tough book to write but then you start to get negative as a left-wing union buster. >> i have heard that

accusation. [laughter] >> the incredible thing there's a good friend that "the new york times" that said we will use the incredible momentum to organize one different priorities then the taebo help us organize wal-mart and wrote an incredible article. steve you take them all the different levels from scholars to labor journalist to rank and file and local levels and you see the labor movement is not jerry mcafee making a statement or new ad coming out but it is 12 people coming to the meeting what about those who are so lazy about the real dynamics of organizing?

the story has been this was something organized by the afl and while they play a big role the membership was out ahead in wheeler seeing this with the anti-confession movements of there are some questions that might tie in to that. >> host: i am not a green house fan his reporting stinks in my view because he talks to the talking heads and academia not organizing the 35 years and never handled a grievance or negotiated a contract but part of what he is operating with is the constraints of journalism of the parts of it is his own tendency to frame sayings very bad the his own elitist and bias and has problems with his editors and he was terrible

on talk of the nation the other day but in a discussion of a terrible problem of the pension worker and then to retire with more than $100,000 per year looking up the word many, he mailed and asked for versus statistical corporation for the claim and there was silence i sent an article and a respected academic labor studies guide what the greenhouse did not do to show the media attention for wisconsin public workers is 24,000 per year and only 2% was higher with more than $100,000 per

year the people in management jobs in a political appointees and police chiefs maybe some tension spiking but again we afforded the relevant information here we are reducing eighth fellow guild member here but no response. i complained to the editor with his coverage of the kaiser campaign last fall was terrible his coverage of past telecom complex one of his predecessors put a more positive spin on what you could do on the labor beat to cover strikes and talk to the workers and understood it was a little bigger than and the john and bruce. wrote lowered to nine o our will to the greenhouse picks up the phone occasionally he comes through out of the blue like a jimmy john

campaign now to the other questions. alex? >> you will not be on the tv viewer not approached the microphone. >> you never told us what a teamster was by the way. [laughter] >> a guy who? the whip added team of horses. >> today is international women's day. that provokes my question. the vibrancy of organizing that has taken place in the health care industry those who have a drain on the economy i was a health care is the economy the growing

and sustained industry may disagree but it is. my guess is there are two reasons why this is happening. because of the growth industry but the other is a prominent within the role. i look in your book i did not have a chance to read all of it while eating my sandwich but i do look at the index it did mention women not by words or raise. the extent of those to play a role and the civil war? >> certainly the workforce was involved in the home base child care and home health care aide organizing

predominantly female nursing-home workers again often female and hospital workers in california some of the leaders of the breakaway union was created in response to the terrible trusteeship imposed two years ago there are profiles in courage female profiles throughout the book roseanne figures prominently throw the book to help build up the california nurses association and build relationships with the state nurses organizations here in d.c. and roseanne is very outspoken in recent weeks with a one strategy the labor movement should adopt

with the relentless demands for a confession and we have a difference of opinion between those who will breathe a sigh of relief that we retain bargaining rights but willing to give away the store to do that. but there is serious problems with this strategy of endless confession bargaining it did not end up in a good place of the private sector when that was seen as a survival strategy in the '80s with the meatpacking and so on down the line. it is good to see a woman and union leader challenge the conventional wisdom expressed in the op-ed piece the other day that what we need to offer is shared sacrifice.

i know it is not offering to share the sacrifices from other members, not offering to have the two year pay freeze or to start paying more for his pension or for his health care so he should be more cautious as proposing that as a labor strategy anything friehling the messaging is deeply flawed. you or the health care expert do you want to speak to the question of health care and why it is a battleground? you are shaking your head a rare outburst of shyness from our brothers. [laughter] >> i have not read the book but i would like to and asked to do with the focus only unions with the afl-cio i raise this because the american federation of government employees involved in a huge campaign

to represent transportation safety officers and the tsa. the national treasury employees union has come in very late to vie for those workers. dozier research speak to that specifically because that is one of the union's that has been growing in the face of lots of unions is dying spinach terrific question may be the brothers would speak to that that is a very important representation election if we could add among days among the carnage new employee members in the area of their choice by personal preference seems to have more support 10 login and boston and good tsa full-size have talked to, it is not covered in the book other than to acknowledge

the obama administration did make some changes in the national mediation board and the election rolls that have made it easier for us to win elections with the airline industry and the tsa long overdue election could be coming to this year. it is unfortunate when there is the opportunity for major growth when this is many years coming then suddenly this competition. on the other hand,, i must say having a choice is not always a waste of resources. if you believe in the employee free choice, it is the right and should be under lot not to be exercised just wants then

you are stuck with it, it is something that people should have the opportunity to exercise more frequently over time. as a tool for making sure the unions they pay to properly represent. that is a radical idea and a lot of people think the jurisdiction should be strictly followed once you're in the union they should not be allowed to go to the independent union there is not many options although the treasury employees will the think of them has one the independent union option obviously the nea is independent but one of the group's our work with and canada back in the late 1980's affirm the typographical union was providence wide 145 civil

wars was printed in one of their shops in one of the communication energy paper workers and in quebec during that period i was struck how much more on the ball the unions were with competing federations and contracts were a shorter duration you did not have to wait three or five years to leave or petition and workers got the phone calls returned and they work with the stewards and bargaining because they knew if they go to a third federation there was hopping around which they lack in

many contexts today in a variety -- denigrated in demonized from the lookers liberation movement. >> i want to put to him in a plug for the international woman's day for a small foundation i am involved in and one of the things that we do is provide funds to hire women organizers for a period of time so check out the website and read about us of how we come into being but i want to comment that a lot of the labor force a lot of those are inside the beltway and i like many

people worked in 2008 on the ground in the election campaign where everybody came together unheard to elect barack obama did not seem like they're live those divisions so you could comment about how much flows from inside the beltway jockeying what is viewed as of a shrinking pie who gets what members reunions are struggling with money and membership and looking for how can we maintain the level of service and power radio can comment on this a lowered of labor?

>> one of the things that i talk about the failed entanglements of obamacare i know we are not supposed to use that term the only time i returned-- referred to the entitlement of efca i do talk about the work that when debt and brother did for that attempt to create a united front -- front for the first year of the obama administration it changed the independent and the effort foundered over time as a result of the afl-cio being overshadowed by this projected umbrella structure that is a pooling of resources and it seems to have been revived a new form

a new formation may have been reading about as the inside the beltway response to the public sector crisis and it seems to be a version of the strategy to pool some money for coordinated political work around the threat to bargaining rights. my own experience i am a hard core leftist and real unity workers has got to be built from the bottom up and privilege to be evolved over 25 years to create a strong tie between the representatives telephone workers in new england, those in new york fed is now a monster verizon and olick course of strikes and a joint bargaining we could accomplish things that

never or could never have been dictated from the top but these things have to be organic, based on relationships that the local level but ignoring the difference between brand x and y which is about how wide the difference is in how they actually function. workers themselves in stewards can develop relationships and a joint campaign that feels more like a workers' movement like what we see in madison not the they're all marching in line but all mosh together the way the labor movement should and people are not thinking first not that night and afsme about

us or all of us and what we can accomplish by fighting together so the response around the country in 2005 a lot of people were worried what would happen. they value long-term relationships and the solidary charter the mechanism was developed. and most places relatively little of the feared disruption of unity. regardless of what the people did here. in the area of working together or not. let's hear from other folks from topix we are missing. >> i am mark from the newspaper guild one of the two labor journalist in the audience broke its struck me for many years that there is one thing that the labor

movement really lacks, we are spread all over a lot and we don't have a unifying being. and the other night on the articulate and when he said you shouldn't have to choose between your rights and your job. but do you agree? >> in the book might try to provide examples of how we frame our issues to avoid being so easily targeted as a shrinking island of relative privilege and talking about the telephone

strike in 1989 from the 60,000 members of the two unions or about 44 munn sparrow even back then if there is no previous contributions of management wanted as a concession, have yet to this day, we knew how that would look for those who were paying out of the nose every week for a job based medical coverage and deductibles and co-payments. we frame fact as health care for all nudges us and we have the health care program and jesse jackson anybody fighting for national health insurance and with the issue of insurance because renews there would be little incentive for workers having in their personal what was demonize despicable a by

baucus and harry reid and president of on a as the cadillac you remember the cadillac benefits need to be taxed and restrains the contribution they make to make millions of dollars for the uninsured riches of idea but we knew then that what we had then three years of struggle it was not a cadillac it was a chevy and but if we do not universalize our demands which should be paid by statute if we don't find a way to beef of social

security and increasingly there will be a pending on the private sector against the public sector of the public and private sector i was on a talk radio show in 1981 and got a call from the autoworkers from the gm plant they wanted the four day workweek city was ranting and raving how difficult it is to be the autoworker blah, blah, blah the uaw comes out this was one dumb model builder becaus