and this was developed, there were 9 million african-americans. of the 9 million, less than 20,000 had acquired degrees. mauricer: professor jackson on w.e.b. dubois, his life, his role as an educator, and his relationships with other advocates. and real america will showcase a series of films. we will look at "science reporter: food for space travelers." algae, fungi, bacteria, or a combination where you would have essentially a small farm in space. he would produce your own food and you might conquer only regenerate oxygen and pick up

co2. >> for a full schedule, go to c-span.org. chris shelton as president of the communications workers of america union and he is our guest this week on the communicators. welcome to c-span. >> we have approximately 700,000 members in every walk of life, reporters, nurses, even some rocket scientists in new jersey. we have printers, manufacturing folks, you name it, we have them.

we are not the old cwa. >> how is it you can represent? >> we have merged a lot of other unions. the last one was the flight attendants union. we have represented these folks. we have been merging other unions. >> what are some of the other telecommunications companies? >> at&t, frontier, verizon, t-mobile. come apeaking of verizon 45 day strike recently ended. what came out of that? what was the strike about? the strike was about one thing and one thing only, jobs and job security.

for verizon, it was about a lot of things. we managed to come out of it with what we wanted and i think we did very well. verizon also did ok. thanks you should go out to kill an employer, you should keep an employer successful if you can. which is what we did up her eyes and. we came out with a bunch of jobs and we didn't have before, got work back from overseas and nonunion contractors, which was our goal going in. host: joining our conversation is david, a reporter. >> you guys went on strike after eight months of negotiations. what prompted the strike? you want making the progress he wanted? verizon dug in on some of the issues? 10 shelton: it was about

months of negotiation and we went on strike because we had no other choice. the company was in the same place 10 months after they started. they wanted every single thing we have been able to gain, they wanted it out and we weren't going to give it to them. particularly our jobs and job security. >> did you get what you wanted on job security? mr. shelton: we agreed with that and thought it was a good idea. all the jobs in the call center, on the call centers in the mid-atlantic region, verizon was threatening to close 14 call centers and we were able to save everyone up those call centers

and region. answered having calls by whoever was available whenever they was available was a great idea and we thought it was great for our customers. we wanted to make sure that verizon's customers were taking care of also and we believe that helped take care. you got a higher pay raise that verizon had proposed. againstpush back pension cuts but you did have to accept and health-care concessions, which some reports put at hundreds of millions of dollars over the next four years. mr. shelton: we did make health-care concessions but we have been willing to do that since sometime in january.

and that didn't seem to get the company -- we think the company was not about money necessarily. they were about trying to crush the union. it's not about money, it's about ideology. that is what we think verizon was after. as you know, verizon puts several full-page ads in newspapers during the strike saying these workers are already making nearly six figures. mr. shelton: we are doing pretty thing wasn't about money. it was about jobs. a matter what you are making, if you have a job, it doesn't matter. we succeeded in getting what we

needed, which was jobs and job security. verizon has taken back work from overseas and contract is that will add up to about 1500 people on the east coast. it is going to be about 1500 new jobs for us. perez did muchom of the negotiating. what was that like? mr. shelton: we have done some negotiating together but i have to say that secretary perez was fantastic. had a stevenson involved in that group. i don't think we could have gotten there without secretary perez for the i think he did and it's down -- and outstanding job

and making sure that everybody's points got across to the other side. i think he did a fantastic job. host: what is your relationship to lowell mcadam? to shelton: we are trying improve the overall relationship between the union and the company going forward. i think he would tell you he discovered that the relationship was worse than he even thought it was. the relationship with me and him has always been cordial. that is not the day-to-day relationship between the union and the company. i think they will truly try to improve that relationship now because they realize a happy workforce is a good workforce. mr. shepardson: how successful do you think verizon was in training managers to do the work of employees during the strike

and how much do you think this her verizon? -- hurt verizon? mr. shelton: i think they did as best a job they could have. it was near impossible to do what they were trying to do because most of the management that used to come up through the ranks and the company doesn't now and they had people who don't know anything about the getting them in a pretty technical job and honestly, they did a pitiful job. the climateon: organized labor has become much harder. management in many sectors is taking. mr. shelton: verizon new they were hurting them. they were hurting themselves with the public.

they were anti-consumer and the department with. i think the presidential candidates helped us. i think that we kind of had the .erfect storm here very quickly after we want on strike, the cfo was out telling people they would lose money in the second quarter because of the strike. everything came together and we got a lot of public support public as you know, the is now into understanding corporations in this country are making too much money while regular people are not doing so

well. and i think that resonated with the public. about 57 or so workers will be under a union contract. what are the benefits of that contract and does it pave the for verizon stores joining unions? i think the benefits they will get, it was the first contract so it's not the greatest contract but it does give them a voice on the to give them ay pay raise they wouldn't normally have gotten. a bunch of stores in brooklyn and one in massachusetts.

will it give us the ability to organize other stores? the company i think was very cognizant of that fact and tried not to give us the opportunity to do that but i think it will. host: they were landline workers striking. as fewer and fewer people use land lines, how is their job security going to be affected? mr. shelton: it wasn't only landline work. it was also verizon wireless workers. realizet people don't and you might is that without a landline network, the wireless

network is useless. we want them to succeed in the wireless world. we also want us to succeed in the wireless world. without the landline division, wireless can succeed. that is part of the reason we want to continue the buildout in lots of places. we think the fiber is the only way we will improve our wireless network. hopefully, boston will be the first peg and a lot of pegs in baltimore and buffalo.

we will see. how has overall technology changed what cwa members do, how has it affected your union? i have been around this union for quite a long time. some other unions decided they would fight technology. we decided probably 50 years ago it didn't make any sense to fight technology. we decided probably 50 years ago that we should embrace technology and in treaty offered companies we work for. programs thatng keep with the ongoing technology changes, our members learning

the technology as quick as it can come out. we have been successful doing that. 1968. mr. shelton: i was a repairman in new york city. host: were you in the union? mr. shelton: i was. host: how did you grow your position? mr. shelton: i got elected actually president of the union june 8 of last year so today is my anniversary. someone sent me a t-shirt and it thatcwa on top and it has i have gone up through the ranks from the union through a local to the national union and held every job there is to hold in the national union and now i'm the president. host: when did your work with

actual new york telephone end as a repairman when your union duties took over? mr. shelton: sometime in the late 70's i guess. of wireardson: in terms business, what is the future? couldsuggested verizon selloff to landline business. does this contract make that work more stable or more or less likely that verizon would try to sell the business? mr. shelton: i don't know that it does either. i don't know that verizon really does want to selloff. basisy do, they have no for their wireless business. they would have to be renting all kinds of technology and structure from another company they sold to so i don't know that it makes sense. know, they have sold properties all over the country

and the only thing they have left is the eastern seaboard. they have said they think the eastern seaboard is a lucrative market and i would take they would want to keep it. i don't know who has enough money to buy what they have to sell. verizon isson: offering people these bundles. is that the way you convince people to keep the land lines? thathelton: i think landline in the voice world may at some point to go away but you people for broadband and more and more want to have broadband capability and all over the united states, it's a big fight. my members did broadband and that's a big part of what we do and i think it will become an

even bigger part of what we do. host: if you would comment on state of unions in america today. what is your thought? notshelton: unions are growing, they are shrinking. we are down to about 6% in the private sector. i think that this fight we just had with verizon kind of can be a rallying cry for unions because we weren't going out after what people try to tell people unions are always after more money, they want more money. we were out after saving middle-class jobs because in every instance where a company moves jobs overseas or to mexico

or to a nonunion contractor, they not only destroy those jobs, they destroy the community because communities are built jobs. people having these the tax spaces in these local communities are dependent on people having jobs in these local communities. host: as the campaign primary season winds down, or message sounds a bit like donald trump. maybe donald trump's message sounds like mine. i didn't want to get into politics. pushingrump kind of is that he is the working class candidate. it's kind of hard for me to understand how a guy who is a billionaire is a working-class candidate. and he's adopted all these principles recently against

trade but has ties in mexico and the philippines and wherever else. isald trump's message probably a lot like mine but i don't know if donald trump believes that message. leavesf bernie sanders the campaign trail, where do you go? mr. shelton: the only place we can go, hillary clinton. mr. shepardson: do you think your members will enthusiastic we support -- enthusiastically support her? mr. shelton: i think it the choices hillary clinton and donald trump, there is no choice for my members. host: what about the tpp? you have come out against it. mr. shelton: so has she. host: is that recent or long-held? mr. shelton: more recent than bernie's but not really recent, about six months or so she came

out against the tpp after the language came out. she said she studied it and didn't agree with it. host: in your particular case when it comes to the communication workers of america, do call centers, is that one of the outsourcing things that hurt your workers in your view? when they have call centers in the philippines or india? mr. shelton: absolutely. during the strike, we got a call worker in thenter philippines. we sent some strikers and one of my employees over to the philippines to find out what was going on. we found out verizon was sending a lot more work to the we knew theyhen were. companies do this all the time. a dealears ago, we got with at&t to bring back that

work. we now have a deal with verizon where we are getting some of it back and getting a lot of the contract work in the u.s. back but call centers is the place where all of these companies decide they can ship american jobs overseas. verizon in spite of their big ads in the newspapers, they were sending some american jobs over to philippines someplace. of sending our strikers on a paid vacation by the union. people sticking automatic weapons in your face i don't think is a paid vacation. host: what do you mean? mr. shelton: when we went over to the philippines, the guy who was employed by me try to go into a verizon management building and was asked to leave, which he did and got a name than outside with three strikers.

and the event took off on the public street and the verizon security force followed the van with people with automatic weapons from verizon security, stopped the van, held them until a philippine swat team could show up who demand the rest of our strikers, took them into custody, held them for 15 minutes and held her eyes -- and pulverized and they were crazy they were crazy. we were just asking for a meeting with some management. that is when they accused me of sending these people on a vacation. mr. shepardson: how motivated do you think organized labor will be to get to the polls this year? mr. shelton: it is incumbent.

this might be the most important election we have ever seen because if trump gets elected, not only is labor and trouble, this country is in trouble, and labor has to get out and make sure trump doesn't become the president of the united states. mr. shepardson: democrats were unsuccessful in getting the employee choice act approved. see ifuld you like to the democrats retain the white house and regain partial control of congress? mr. shelton: i am going to speak to the dnc platform committee tomorrow and one of the things i proven we up, we have just organized almost 8000 direct tv hours because we have a project neutrality agreement. unbelievable in this

country. most places don't have one. if you're just take the fear and harassment out of management, they will join unions in we have had disagreement with at&t for a number of years, organized of thepeople because neutrality agreement and we think it would work for the rest of the country. othere done polls and people have done polls and most people said they would join a they if they could but cannot because of what goes on in this country, people getting fired and harassed. mr. shepardson: you mentioned some of the outsourcing taking place. companies moving jobs from mexico to china. ofou feel there is any sense businesses reconsidering this outsourcing of manufacturing?

mr. shelton: i think the political climate in this country come i don't know of it's because of bernie sanders therump, but i think political climate has changed and i think people are starting to take notice of companies that do this and i think a lot of those companies will have a very hard time if they continue to do it. verizon has now recognize that and have said you are right, we are going to bring jobs back to the u.s.. --t: you are should headquartered here in washington, d.c. how much time do you spend with the fcc or congress and what is your assessment of those? mr. shelton: people that work for me mostly spent time with the sec come i don't spend a lot of time there.

we have 60 seats in the senate and we couldn't even get it done then. what has got to be done is some of the rules in the senate and congress have to be changed so you can get people to get some work done and hopefully, if we get a democratic president, we will get a democratic senate and house of representatives but we will see. host: this is a question we ask nearly everybody. you think there should be a rewrite of the current telecom law? mr. shelton: how much time do you have? [laughter] i think there should be a rewrite. there is a lot of stuff that was laws thatthe telecom have to be fixed. they just have to be fixed.

broadband being a part of the universal service, helping people figure out how they are going to pay for broadband, people making less than $25,000 in this country. i think about 22% of them have the ability to get on the internet. you have kids going to mcdonald's doing their homework because they cannot get on the internet at home. that is a crime in the richest country in the world and we haven't figured out a way to fix it and i think we have got to change some of our telecom laws to make sure stuff like that gets fixed. mr. shepardson: a follow-up to what you said. -- it's not a lot of money. think so.n: i don't we have got to figure out other ways to make sure there is enough money. whenlike 100 years ago

people had telephones for the first time, we figured out a way to do that. a way had to figure out to make sure kids and old folks and people who cannot afford it have the ability to use the internet. the education that can be had on the internet is so important. had we not figure out a way to let them do that? former new york telephone repairman and cw program -- president, chris shelton. >> coming up sunday morning,

including their efforts to combat poverty. next, the future of iran iaeaative on the recent report on the implementation of the iranian nuclear deal nearly one year since the agreement was announced. the untold story of the campaign that started it all talks about the history and lasting impact of the 1976 republican convention and the role it played in setting the stage for ronald reagan's election four years later. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal. join the discussion. >>