choice. if i don't agree with it, i moved to a different fund. host: what are you looking for in today's proceedings? guest: what the different , the argumentsay that will be made. i think there is no way to predict, know exactly what the justices will act, how they will react. that, to me, will be the fascinating part. host: mr. schubert, what are you looking for today? guest: we are hopeful that the court will want to restore workers constitutional rights in this respect angle state clearly when you take a government job, you don't have to check your first amendment rights at the door. host: jacob huebert is with the liberty justice center. child thank you for your time.

us on set, stephan. good morning. about the union fees. why should someone pay for it if they don't want to? the broader issue becomes this. the union provides a vehicle for working people to have a collective voice. the morene of surprising things i found, how the union advocates for the community at large. as a child protection investigator in chicago, i go into some of the most impoverished areas in chicago. i get to see the living standards of folks and what they

have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. the union provides the vehicle for me to come back through a labor management system, where i get to sit down with members of management and discuss what it is i see. and give recommendations with servicean better deliver, better streamline our approach. how we can better access resources and get them to places that are needed. the union bargains for society. host: what about these feeds becoming a political because of union activity? have been under the gun of the governor who has made this political. one of his first orders was to shop the fair -- was to stop the fair share fees.

board,e governor came on they have advocated for society. it cametical aspect of in when the politician came in. guest: unions support candidates which support unions, which support the right of the unions to speak collectively. nothing political about members of society calling 911 and expecting their call to be answered. there is nothing political about that. what is political is when you try to stifle my voice to be able to advocate for those in the community. if you want to ask stephen

questions, call in on the lines. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. thoughts,eet us your @cspanwj. part of the brief filed by mr. advocacyds mandatory groups that individuals are forced to subsidize will have political influence far exceeding citizens' actual support for these groups and their agendas. we need to lay out the battlefield. no one that comes into state government is forced to join a union.

if i decide to join a union but don't want to get involved in the political aspect the union engages in, i do not volunteer to give that portion. anyone that does not want to be involved in the union's political activities does not have to. the union still advocates for those people. we advocate for everyone. what would it do for cohesiveness if someone paying fees and some do not and still receive it regardless? guest: that can have the impact to where some may look at that -eye, so todiced speak. the sanctity of the contract is

more important than individual squabbles. valid contract, when we are dealing with theunity issues, both of overriding principles we work from, the employer or something impedes the contract, that is what we go after. host: do you know mr. janus personally? guest: i do not. host: ralphs, he is up first. it good morning. this whole argument is silly. i work in the private sector. i understand this is public. we haverivate sector, the union security agreements. the argument is silly i was not forced to take my job. i vote on my contract, whether or not to have a union. the case, allin

he wants is a free ride. he was not forced to take that job. pick fors the wrong the supreme court. back workerto roll rights. that is what this is about. having a collective voice on the job. i have to agree. we understand who is behind this. corporate ceos, my governor is leading the pack, if you will. they have been public about the funding the unions. they want to take away the behts of working people to able to come together and have a meaningful voice. from ohio, tom. caller: this is a sad day in

america. years started working 50 39%for the unions, they had of the employees in the country and we had high living standarsds. time to sign a contract and giving employees a right to negotiate a contract, they want to get rid of it. if you want lower social security and lower retirements, hopefully we don't see the supreme court do this. is, 19% is -- the union now. if he does not like paying union

dues, there are 81% that are nonunion. he doesn't want one of those because they do not pay nothing. host: thank you. guest: he states a good premise. public service workers bring a very stable workforce, a wealth of experience and expertise. i have been on my job 23 years. i am still in the middle of the pack in regards to seniority. this their and make profession. a lot of people may come to their jobs, but they come to engage in their profession. we are all professionals. when you talk about best practices or best standards, those are things we have come up with. we have set the tone in regards to how society is dealt with and how the government delivers. host: what are fees like?

local has individual the autonomy to set the fees. there is a minimal standard set by international and it is broken down by that standpoint. from local to local, it varies. it is not a percentage of your paycheck. it is a flat rate. host: how much of waste do you have two say how those fees are used? guest: when a fee increase comes down from international, we have discussions in regards -- do we want to pass this on to members or do we want to eat that? we take it to the membership and let the membership have a vote. if you are a union member,

(202) 748-8003. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. wilson, north carolina, go ahead. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, you are on. i was a union member out of new jersey. i moved to north carolina. i am retired. i enjoyed my union retirement. i got all my benefits. i am enjoying what i paid into it. i have a relative who did not want union and now -- i think my union, my brothers. 560 out of union city,

new jersey. i am enjoying it. this affects them in retirement as well? are a different topic, but it does come into play. a union member and working for the state has afforded me the opportunity to put my children through college, the opportunities to take a family trip. the opportunity to develop and save a pension funds, so i can have retirement. the unions advocate for those things. second to none. this is worked for and earned. is 1.6 billionp working. retired members, 3400 local unions across the states.

chevy chase, maryland, independent line. joe, go ahead. the guest says their activities are not political, but when you went through your activities, they are all political. for better next, why, z. both sides of the aisle say they are advocating for better x, y, z. mean you can say what you want is not political because you think it is good and you think political and the other side is bad. it is laughable to assume, to state these unions are political. they are very liberal. they support democrats 80% to 90% of the time. would be the guest

offended if he were forced to republican or conservative cause. he will say -- you can take out the lobbying, but money is fungible. if somebody said everybody has to be a member of the nra because gun safety is not do,tical, but what we will you just don't have to pay the lobbying part. all you have to do is support the gun safety and child programs and people would object like crazy. i am not suggesting nothing the union does does not have a political component. component the unit does -- the union does engage in has a way of impacting everyone.

colleagues,e of my who does what i do, protects attacked was brutally by a parent we were trying to protect a child from. her name was pam knight. succumbed to her injuries and passed away. the union, a day after her attack, the unions advocated to theirthen and support policies in regards to workers. the unions went to the lobbies -- went to lobby congress to make better ways and to strengthen laws and to protect state employees. our political activity does more

than give us a raise or better benefits. it protects us in society. the president of local 2081, we talked about justice gorsuch, the idea he is probably going to support mr. janus' side of the argument. guest: i can't speak to what he might do. are the unions concerned about that? yes, they are. unionhow does the response? guest: we have been working the plan. we understand the movement is out there. we understand the corporate

ceos, those who are funding and supporting the case. they want to silence the voice of the workers and take the power. we have been talking to our members. we have been engaging them and finding out what we need to approach needsr to be, how we need to problem solve. it ruled against us tomorrow, we would operate the same. there -- it does not mean we will not work hard and still januses of ther. world. are working at looking at alternatives. there has not been a specific plan put in place. they are looking into

alternatives. host: this is philip. hello. caller: member of district council 33 local 488. this case, this is real critical. it's very important that our members, that the union collection dues from fair share members as well. benefits.or the fed you can't get nothing free. i've been working for the city of philadelphia, i've been a union member with my union for 17 years. i see the benefits of being in a union. having a union has allowed me to

go back to school and earn my college degree. it's allowed me to live a comfortable lifestyle. able to take vacations. host: are there members in your union who question the idea of paying fees particularly because of political concerns and how do you respond to them? i've beencently serving as a union shop steward. i have members that ask why should i be in the union, i don't see what the unions benefit me. i always tell them if it was not things thatifices the unions fought for before, they would not have the benefits like health care. host: thank you very much. guest: i have to join my brother in making that point.

when you talk about historically unions have been the vehicle for the working class to move into the middle class for working people to have dignity on the job, to be able to live not necessarily a rich life. no one wasn't a public service looking to get rich. they going to public service to serve. to fill that need that they have and also get something in return. .n return is a comfortable life the brother was on point and i appreciate his comment. host: what do you think about that tact? first amendment context? guest: i'm not first amendment guest: -- not a constitutional scholar anything. i find it kind of laughable. a lot of the issues he raises in after thisall occur

was put on the table. the history of this, governor of illinois, he first brought this issue and had it summarily dismissed in court. .e had no standing in it they went out and had to find someone that would have standing to be the face of this. the corporate sponsors behind this case, they are the ones that are doing the land grab. the ones trying to take over the power, trying to silence the voices of the working class. host: how did the lower court ruled this? guest: my understanding is that the lower courts ruled in favor of the -- as basil you have got to the supreme court level. the other side never put on a defense. they really did not put on much of anything because they wanted to fast-track it to the supreme court.

host: tom is in kalamazoo, michigan. independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. uaw 67he member of the .13 years as a state employee we were flooded with not only mailings but also from the actual union members and stewards and reps themselves with political messages. it almost seemed like a branch of the dnc, we were so covered with democratic dust covered with vote democratic. 90% they asked us to vote democratic for. uniono, i found with this i was a member of a previous union and with this union the stewards andd the

reps were the ones who benefited the most. they pushed their own agenda a lot of times. what they wanted. the newer workers got less and less. still paying the highest dues at the time. host: we will let our guest respond. guest: i can't speak to his union or the practices there but when i can speak to come in collective bargaining there's give and take. unfortunately as years progressed and contracts go on, there's sometimes more give them there is take. sometimes newer members may have to, i'm not going to say they sacrifice. may not enjoy the benefit that older members have. i don't necessarily enjoy the benefits some of my senior members do but i still enjoy the protections. .he union continues to fight

there's always another contract. we always try to increase whatever it is we may have felt we lost out on. we always come back to the table with the argument, these things need to be in place. host: from california democrat line. caller: i have a question about neil gorsuch. host: we will go next to debbie. silver spring, maryland. caller: i am also calling for neil gorsuch because of the russian scandal. i did not understand why neil gorsuch can't be suspended. the president we have now should have no right to make any appointees to the supreme court. host: debbie, only because we are going to keep it to the topic of the actual case even though justice gorsuch is involved with that.

republican line from florida. this is carol. good morning. caller: i'm calling from florida. florida, as most of the states in the south went to write to work shortly after the civil rights pack best civil rights rights passage. you spoke about the benefits labor unions bring forward. the particular case is epicenter of a case that has been running through the system with many cases trying to dismantle the benefit. i heard the gentleman from michigan. woman.0 year plus these are middle-aged white men who were part of a working

career that did not pan out. who is responsible? thecan't be angry with connected benefit. the first amendment right, owning a gun is different than working. the nra.an mentioned you can come together to bargain in florida, we are now facing a bill from our republican legislature that is legislatively controlled. they've been putting forward bills take away pensions. they've got the teachers union that fights that. so now they are primarily the , they brokered out so many bills that dissolved the strength. host: we will leave it there. guest: this is a nationwide attack. may be thet

culminating point of it but this poignantsystemic and throughout the nation. a lot of people have been hurt by corporate interests supporting this case and this is a culminating factor of it. host: republican line, deborah. ilan mills, new york. i'm a little confused because citizens united has allowed corporations to have a some and are able to give political groups large amounts of money and we don't know as citizens who actually is getting the money. havee it seems like unions the ability to counteract or bring back some kind of balance.

people think that corporations are going to be solving all of our social ills by creating jobs. i will listen to what the speaker has to say. host: mr. mittons. guest: many corporate interest in this case can write a couple of checks that go into the millions of dollars. unions don't have that type of capital. billy thing we do have, we do have members, we do have members we can put on the street to go knock on doors to push a point if you will. we cannot manage corporate entities dollar for dollar. we are trying to deliver fairness across the board area host: asked me to website will show you employment sectors covered by their union including corrections, written services, law enforcement and others. to broson.

you are on. caller: hello. i want to thank mr. mittons for what he's doing. i want to let the members listening, you all have to read what's going on instead of just listening to read your to read for yourself what's going on. thank you. host: if the court decides in mr. janice's favor is there any type of recourse available to the organization at large? guest: i'm not one of the attorneys. i would have to do for that to them. what i will say is this, we will still get up and go to work the next morning. servicestill provide an advocate have a cam for the community. host: what are you looking for as you watch the proceedings? to go in is an honor

and see history taking place at the speak. i'm going to try to better understand what the arguments are. i've been very hard-pressed to do so. i still may not after this case, after hearing the arguments. i'm going there to take part in history. host: mr. mittons serves as the president of asked me local 21, joining us to talk about this case before the supreme court today. >> see spam's washington journal, live -- see spam's wasn , new york republican congressman john basso on gun control and school safety. michigan congressman dan kildee talks about infrastructure and what can be done to help older industrial cities.

tom hart of the one campaign will discuss efforts to combat extreme poverty and the effect of president trump's proposed budget cuts. much c-span's washington journal live at 7:00 a.m. eastern this morning. join the discussion. >> here's what's live tuesday on the c-span networks. the house is back at 10:00 a.m. eastern time and will work on operationalne on risk capital requirements and the second measure looks at ways to prohibit online extracting -- online sex trafficking. the senate will continue debate on the nomination of elizabeth branch of georgia to be a federal judge on the 11th circuit court. the senate is in at 10:00 a.m. eastern time on c-span2. on c-span3, jerome powell testifies before the financial

services committee. former chairs janet yellen and then burning people give there their perspectives on the economy -- bernanke janet yellen and then give their perspectives on the economy. >> we will hear from senate minority leader chuck schumer, florida senator bill nelson and utah's orrin hatch. >> mr. president, in the wake of the horrific shootings at stoneman douglas high school, the deadliest school shooting since sandy hook, there has been a broad national conversation about the epidemic of gun violence in this country. it's being led by a group of ,rave high school students friends and classmates of the fallen who i will be sitting down with tomorrow. their passion and