and are teachers' unions helping or hurting? randi weingarten, president of the american federation ofrs teacthis week on "firing line." ♪ >> "firing line with margaret hoover" is made possible by... corporate funding is provided by... >> my guest today has spent much of her career working successfully at the combativef intersectionucation and labor. randi weingarten has led the american federation of tchers, a union with 1.6 million members and more than ail $200on annual budget. she has a well-earned reputation as an adept political operator, a fierce negotiator, and a skilled triangulator. a native new yorker, herbo interest in law and unions was sparked by her mother, a schoolteacher who participed in a seven-week strike while randi was in high school. demonstrating that things haven't changed all that much, the decision to go on strike has been embraced by teachers coast to coast in recent months. she is a gifted lawyer and former high school teacher, who has taught medical ethics, political science, and of course, civics.

we have the strongest unions in the country. i'm here today because of unions. and everything that you said today i experienced in and we're experiencing in nevada. that's why i'm so glad we're having this hearing and so proud to fight alongside all of you. let me follow up on a conversation that you started with, senator about, the coke brothers now after this decision, this janice decision now reaching out to public sector workers and saying you don't have to be a part of the union. what you are doing to counter that if anything or do you see a need to counter it? is there any type of strategy that you're looking at or taking? just curious. or is it something we don't want to share? >> well, i can tell you what some people have done. we have had members in various different locals who have set back their e-mail that's they gotten with words that, you know, if i use them right now -- as professor mcclean said, i'd have too much money in my swear jar. there's -- so actually individual members and locals have basically sent a whole bunch of things back to these f

and other member states of the europe union. the irish economy, east-west trade between ireland and great britain is more significant element of our economy than the trade between ireland and northern ireland. [indiscernible] >> is that what you are telling us? prime minister may: if you look at the white paper and the agreement we came to, the proposal is no longer a member of the customs union and put forward a proposal in the specific area of industrial goods. and the customs arrangement that can go along side that which will decide a friction border. let's put that forward and let's argue for that in those negotiations. [indiscernible] >> do you have enough time for your novel ideas? prime minister may: yes, we are all working, both sides in this negotiation. we will be leaving the e.u. 29th of march, 2019. the implementation period for the future relationship. we are still working with the timetable of ensuring that we have withdrawal agreements and the sufficient details of future relationship agreed by october such that i

union and only slavery's demise can ensure the union's survival. here is my word of caution, my soapbox. although race and slavery were : 19lutely intertwined century americans understood that slavery and race were two different things. slavery was an institution. uniontitude of white veterans toward slavery, african-americans and race were exceedingly complex and varied. white veterans admitted black veterans into the post. in some cases, white women worked alongside the wives, widows and daughters of united states colored troops. and from boston's famed memorial at 54th massachusetts to what i is the largest civil war monument in the country, if we leave aside the lincoln memorial, the grand monument in the center of indianapolis. this too plays homage to the role of slavery in the war. albeit in paternalistic ways. union veterans knew that the war had been about slavery. they had not forgotten that african americans slavery had been part of the war. this does not mean that most white union veterans or white northerners in general soft civil and

sounds like a great addition to union square. we were just at the museum of ice cream the other week, and a tourist asked us where the nearest ice cream shop was and could only think of the ben and jerry's in the basement of the macy's. i'll mention it to the mayor today. he'll be so excited. what's the time frame in opening this location? union square is a major economic zone, and the addition of small businesses like yours helps to support its success. his e-mail echos the same sentiment we hear from others when we inform them of our proposed plan. when we became aware that there were some who were opposed to our plan, our strategy was not to push against them, but instead to listen to those specific concerns, address those specific concerns, and make the appropriate accommodation. we reached out in good faith to listen to all reasonable concerns and modified our plans accordingly. we are not a generic snack vendor. we deliberately orchestrated our vehicle to add value and enhance the neighborhood of union square in conjunction

operate in the european union will book.whenas, what we thought -- we signed trade deals with other parts of the world, we ensure that both parts are able to operate under the rules there. businesses will continue to fight these rules regardless by operating in this way. ensuring a frictionless border between the u.k. in the eu, the order that is important to maintain. important in ensuring that we maintain the job and rely on the integrated supply chains. mr. speaker, the prime minister has proposed a free trade area of goods but the fact is our services sectors have been let down and let behind by the government. representsich 700,000 workers in the technology sector has said that a deal that she has proposed will reduce access to eu markets and add to complexity for business. why is she ignoring these businesses that make up most of the british parliament? >> this is not about ignoring services businesses it is about same services as one of the areas that we have great opportunity entry does around world.t of the it is al

these proposals stop well short of a comprehensive customs union, something trade unions and manufacturers have been demanding. instead, they broke a complex plan that has already been deridedby her own cabinet members as bureaucratic and unwieldy . the agreement contains no plans to protect our service industry, no plans to prevent northern ireland and also put forward the idea of regulatory electability which we all know mister speaker, regulation reflect ability is a code for deregulation of our economy. the government proposals would lead to british workplace rights, consumer rights, safety standards and environmental protection falling behind in new standards over time and none of which has even been tested in negotiation. the checkers agreement now stands as a shuttered proof, a sticking plaster or the cabinet crack in this government. the future of jobs and investment are now state. those jobs and that investment are not a subplot in the tory party's civil war. >> and that such a crucial time for our country, in the vital associations, we need a government that is capable of negotia

it with theo european union. to look atouse comes that withdrawal agreement and implementation bill, needs to have sufficient detail about the relationship to make a proper judgment. --the only named checquer's checquer'scalled the disagreement, will go into intense and busy negotiations with the european union. when this house comes to look at the withdrawal agreements, it needs to have sufficient detail over the relationship to be able to make the proper judgment. >> the agreement fell apart and is now called a disagreement. can she tell this house how on earth she is going to persuade the european union to agree to have disagreements with her own cabinet does not agree with it? >> we have forth the u.k. government that has received the european union is something that can be negotiated in the future. >> what matters even more than the agreement reached is the eventual agreement this country will reach with the european union. it promotes jobs and prosperity for helping british business. can the prime minister

because the unions do have the ones in a strong union we have stronger communities and that is the key to the. we look forward to the collaboration and fighting alongside of you. >> thank you, senator white house for convening this important hearing and to all of the witnesses for your work and advocacy and commitment to someone we are a self-governing union we can come to did decide as a group what to do to make the american dream possible for all of us. and i thank you for shining a light on the supreme court decision. it's truly an unfortunate victory for the corporate special interests at the expense of the americans. the decision weakens the ability to bargain and fight for good wages and benefits for the workers undermining efforts to ensure that all of us in all workers in particular can share in an economic growth. and going to continue to fight to protect the right to collectively bargain to expand middle-class opportunities and ensure that all hard-working americans have the ability to get ahead and stay ahead. i want to use the rest of my time today to focus on a particular

union and by contract. okay? that's now susceptible to an the first amendment >> that true in the private sector? problem is janus ap plies to the public sector because it a constitutional hold ing. there will be an effort export janus to the private succor. that will happen through congress and it will also happen in the court. crazy.ht think that's worried about the prospect in the union context fifth justice who replace s justice kennedy. public tot see the the private sector. and then in some ways more and terribly devastating. thee are bread crumbs in what younion about might think of the metro activity. he talks about how many -- i think he uses the phrase billion dollars in agency been extracted from members over the last number of years? know why that's in there callset up janus in a case ed knox. i think what's happening is unions should be on the hook for and, of course, spent over the last handful of years. it might be more comfortable for the justice than kennedy himself >> thanks so much. at ka

we're here to protect the workers, union and non-union workers. we're going to do that. >> thank you. >> honorable supervisors, alex lanesburg. i want to be quick. there's a bunch of information and misinformation. it's on there. i'm sorry this isn't bigger. my computer died. there were numbers being thrown around about apprentices and diversity. i want to share facts. the blue line is ibw local 6. the orange line is sbc. another bad contractor. >> they cannot match the apprenticeship numbers of lb6. number one. when we take a look at graduation rates, again, we don't see these guys coming anywhere close to what we do. when we take a look at total enrollment over the past 16 years, over northern california, over the entire northern california -- >> it's okay if he can just finish this last slide. >> this is the last slide. local apprentices, blue line, light blue line, women. gold, abc. again, 40 times the number of apprentices done in these union programs. the abc is another bad contractor. >> thank you, mr. lanesburg. [applause] >> good morning,

supreme court decision last week that found public unions like the n.e.a. can no longer charge fees to nonunion members who are covered by union agreements the n.e.a. says that ruling is likely to cut its income from dues by fourteen percent over the next two years it has silenced my voice and has really. taken away my ability to have some collective power on behalf of my students and my colleagues in my profession unions are the last line of defense that's what this was about the move was praised by republicans including president donald trump who called it a big loss for the coffers of the democrats supreme court who said that the asians can make unlimited political contributions but the court has limited the sources of union contributions nevertheless these teachers seem enthusiastic determined to make a difference. the high court ruling will not affect states like florida with so-called right to work laws that already bar nonunion workers from paying dues but it does affect public union workers and twenty two other states that don't it is going to make

what it has done for us is it has change the nature of our union from one where the unions saw that they outsource their power to where the elected leaders to wear members see power within themselves. as a result, the decision of the 800,000 people who are affected by this, over 500 30,000 have already signed new union cars. the day after the decision, the mackinac center supported by jesse devoss, they had teacher e-mails across the country, one should wonder how that was allowed. what has happened is people are pissed that they would use their school e-mails, regardless in our union meeting if there's ten people there you'll get 20 opinions. what they don't want is the koch brothers or others to take away their powers and rights. that's where were seeing. people are not dropping, their joining. you hear the defiance in my voice, it is because people are sticking to their union because they understand that what we can do together is impossible for people to do alone. thank you. >> we have the ranking member on the health education committee and a senior member of the democratic leadersh

i don't want to join a union. i don't want to be forced to join a union. i don't want to join a union. i like having my wages go to myself or my wife and kid. i don't want to have to pay dues to the union, have a portion of the check go to the union for dues and have multiple bosses. i just like being nonunion. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good evening, commissioners. jim lazarus, san francisco chamber of commerce. we have supported in the past project labor agreements. we've endorsed them when they've come before the board of supervisors for approval when they meet the test of the boston harbor case from the u.s. supreme court which said major projects that are time sensitive that meet the federal requirement can have a union bid. boston harbor gig, airport terminals, clearly the type of programs multimillion dollar or billion-dollar programs that project labor agreements were designed to serve, and to serve the public interest. what we have here is an obvious conflict between serving the interests of small business and local hire and

we represent a union and nonunion. as it is right now, we have a difficult time for the union contractors to win contracts in san francisco. having this type of p.l.a. will be difficult for the smaller nonunion members to partition -- participate and grow their business in the city of san francisco. there are a few things we would like to exempt the l.b.e. participation from ple ordinance. the threshold should be under 20 million. we will local hire an p.l.a. that is equity focused and we want higher court employees. >> my name is aaron. i work for a paving company. i am also the merchant association president. my family has been in san francisco since 1984. and we are very happy to be part of the l.b.e. program. we are a prounion contractor and we think this p.l.a. is written and it definitely means -- needs a lot more in its. i would like to talk at length with anyone about that. i hope to talk to you soon but i am opposed to the p.l.a. as it is currently written. >> thank you. >> good afternoon supervisors. my name

this is prime real estate in union square. so finally, our other concerns also are around the truck itself. i mean, the truck is charming. if you've seen it, it's a v.w. wagon. i doubt whether the department of public health is going to approve this truck. there's ten different requirements that you need to have, a hand washing station and the other sink and all these other things. i don't think it'll be approved. we got charmed by once before. there was a creme brulee cart, and it wasn't that, it was a kettle corn, kitchen equipment thrown on the sidewalk right on the corner of market street. it's ugly and tachy, and it's -- tacky, and it's not what we were sold. and i'm happy to answer any questions. thank you. >> thank you. we will now hear from mr. roth, the other appellant. >> my name is stanley roth. i've been in this business 44 years. in 1974, this board actually overruled the police department and gave me a peddler permit, which was actually the first peddler permit in the city. i am the owner of the stanley steamer h

union together. before i set out the details of this proposal, i want to start by complaining why we're putting it forward. the settled all of the agreement and we've agreed in implementation period which will provide businesses and governments the time for future relationship with the eu two models from the eu are not acceptable. first, there is what is provided for in the european council's government lines from march of this year, amounts to a standard free trade agreement with northern ireland off in the customs union and parts of the single market to meet commitments under the belfast agreement, there should be no hard border between northern island and ireland. secondly, there is what some people say is an offer from the eu, model that is effectively the economic area but going further in some places and remaining in the customs union for the whole of the uk. this would mean continued free movement, continued pavement of vast sums every year to the eu for market access and continued obligation

powers those stop well short of a comprehensive customs union something trade unions and manufacturers have been demanding instead they form a complex and there's already been derided by your own cabinet members as bureaucratic and unwieldy. the agreement contains no plan to protect our service industry no plan to prevent job order in northern ireland and also put forward the odd take over regular a tree thanks ability which we all know mr speaker regulatory flexibility is a code for deregulation of our economy are what the government's the government's proposals would leave to british workplace rights consumer rights food safety standards and environmental protections for lng behind a huge standards over time thank you and none of this and none of this has even been tested in negotiations the checkers agreement now stands as a shattered truce a spanking a sticking plaster over the cavernous cracks in this government the future of jobs and investment are now at stake they those jobs and that investment are not a subplot in the tory party civil war have and at such a crucial time for ou

how do they reenter the union and how do we reconstruct the union? that is why this time is known as reconstruction. it is not that well known in american history. we have been talking about the civil war, and before the midterms we covered the civil war. everyone knows about the civil war, it has kind of a triumphant end, at least if you're not a neo-confederate. the union winds, slavery is destroyed. reconstruction, on the other hand, does not have a happy ending. it is a great experiment in democracy after the war, it is overthrown. maybe we all like happy endings and that's why we don't know much about reconstruction. but it is a crucial period in american history. extremely crucial because many of the modern ideas about citizenship, what constitutes democracy, about equality, all comes from reconstruction. in a way, it is like the second founding of the american republic. you have three constitutional amendments. you don't have that since the bill of rights. that is when the constitution was adopted, the founding moment of the american republic.

america first that now the european union now is the time where the european union should come together strengthen their positions make more when it comes to defense without creating a parallel structure to nato but just think about the fact that it is not a given that the united states will always be on their side right so those are some of the fears and concerns that we hear in brussels here in germany as well but terry you know going into this summit today we did see that both leaders seem to be playing down expectations a lot what do you make of that. well they certainly wore it weren't going to promise us in advance that they would address some of the issues the rest of the world wants them to address like we said crimea destabilization in eastern ukraine election interference very much on the mind of the american public and of course the democrats in congress there were calls for president president trump to completely cancel this meeting after the indictments of twelve russian agents who were found to have directly colluded directly interfered with the u.s. elections president tr

and the european union. it is my firm conviction and the firm conviction of many others that the handling of this migration issue will decide whether europe will enjoy because it's such a moving issue it's important that we come to this agreement time and again has more from berlin. of this weekend poem and on wednesday anger of america went on german television and in an interview she gave more detail about the sort of shape the plans for migration detention centers might take the crux of this is establishing way in the the person concerned that the migrant the person being detained first claimed asylum your fortunes here in germany would have forty eight hours to hold that person and if they can't establish which country to send that person back to you in that period of time that the sunni will then be sent to a place where they can and not could be held against their will separately to that we received information that suggests that mr minister is a hole for from the christine social union he's talking ab

what were saying is a good would not enter the european union the stupid uk without the european union being expected. [inaudible] but suppose we have lower tariffs than the u.s. and europe has lower tariffs, for example. we would then collect the higher eu tariffs on the goods coming from the u.s. when they came in through liverpool or wherever. would we expect goods coming into the eu from new zealand, would we expect the eu to collect higher tariffs for us or would we expect them to apply their own eu tariffs. >> at the border. >> what i'm saying what the paragraph says is that this is not a question of someone physically handing cash over at the border. the way we would deal with it is a formula revenue agreement between the european union and the united kingdom which would reflect what was required for the goods entering the european union destined for the uk just as the money would reflect goods coming into the united kingdom and destined for. [inaudible] >> but the payments to be made somewhere. if these goods are coming in from new zealand and their arriving in spain or somewhe

european union and the us over your left shoulder? flags, us like in your opinion you-- european union flag so we believe this will be president trump and jean-claude juncker. this was the scramble of all scrambles that we had over the last 18 months or so. as you remember, when i was chatting with you about 20 minutes ago i said to you that there would be a cool spray of correspondence going in to hear from the president and then we all of a sudden got this where we are standing in the rose garden right now. i think you can probably do feel for the chaos as we are setting appear and trying to get ready for this. what is president trump going to announce? we don't know. liz: you have got to believe it. >> something, yeah i mean look it's obvious with the us and the fact that jean-claude juncker is here, but the administration was setting low expectations with this. larry today saying just that, you know maybe something will come of this positively. it was jean-claude juncker a while ago that said we need to talk with each other not at

attacking his european union allies. we had that bombshell newspaper article before he went on to apologize to theresa may. here speaking to cbs news when , donaldout his foes trump named the european union ahead of russia and china. >> i think the european union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. russia is in certain respects. china is economically. that does not mean they are bad. it means they are competitors. from hisking a line playbook, the other donald, the european council president, tweeted america and the eu are best friends. whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news. -- he hadnother another comment about trump, and this was about trade wars, saying it can lead to hot conflict. anna: yes indeed. we have president trump meeting vladimir putin later today. how high or low our expectations? >> expectations are low. we even have the u.s. ambassador to russia saying this is not a summit, it's a meeting. they keep taking down the notch every time we speak to them about what exactly is going to be happening

i almost never take them to union square or downtown. even though that's a place where we have a lot of tourists touring. it's a place where there's multinational corporations. it is a really interesting opportunity that we have to allow a local business to move into downtown, bring some of the loving culture that you've heard people talk about, more people will talk about, and share that with tourists that are coming to our city to city what san francisco is all about. and i don't think that san francisco's all about multinational corporations. i think we have a great culture here, and i don't think it's been accurately portrayed by what's in union square today. it's great that this permit was approved the first time, so i hope you guys will uphold it. as far as macy's, it's interesting that it's ben and jerry's therethere; but ben an jerry's is a multinational corporation. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> san francisco hometown creamery is a place that i go often, like everyone else is saying, i think it represents the best of sa

supreme court decision last week that found public unions like the n.e.a. can no longer charge fees to nonunion members who are covered by union agreements the n.e.a. says that ruling is likely to cut its income from dues by fourteen percent over the next two years it has silenced my voice and has really. taken away my ability to have some collective power on behalf of my students and my colleagues in my profession unions are the last line of defense that's what this was about the move was praised by republicans including president donald trump who called it a big loss for the coffers of the democrats supreme court he said that the asians can make unlimited political contributions but the court has limited the sources of union contributions nevertheless these teachers seem enthusiastic determined to make a difference. the high court ruling will not affect states like florida with so-called right to work laws that already bar nonunion workers from paying dues but it does affect public union workers and twenty two other states that don't it is going to make u

saying the migration measures put forth by the chancellor after she struck a deal with the european union do not adequately accomplish what he is seeking. for also has said he wants to germany to turn away some asylum seekers at the country's borders but the chancellor has insisted on europe wide solutions now melinda could you perhaps take us back to what exactly merkel was able to agree on with her european partners at the summit in brussels that we're hearing is not satisfactory for as a whole for what is he rejecting exactly. well the first thing that they were able to agree on is something that also angle americans conservatives and mr c. ho for is very young party the c.s.u. do agree on namely a tightening of the external borders of europe both by creating new centers offshore in mostly northern african countries that would be so-called centers of disembarkation that means that people who attempted to go to the european union via . the sea would then theoretically be intercepted and taken back to these offshore processing centers and would have to apply for asylum from there that's

the union is barking down your back because you haven't paid for the union dues. when you're small and trying to grow your business, that's not the kind of pressure you need, and to be able to scale your business and say yes, this makes good business sense, let's go ahead and become collective bargaining. and the other thing, and to your pointition commissioner, when you -- point, commissioner, you have to remember, when you join a union, it takes five years or 60 consecutive monthly contributions to be vested. and if you don't get vested, all those pension contributions go away, and you'll never see them, and you'll never benefit from those benefit plans because you never got vested. so if you do a one year city plan, that one year of contributions goes to the union. you never see them. i think that's diametrically wrong, and i think the city shouldn't organize or the union. the union can organize themselves. thank you. >> okay. thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is jim lau. i'm representing bay area light works. i'm happy to be part of the l.b.e. progra

he didn't name someone who would help the unions or someone who would leave the union alone.mp's nominee was deciding vote in the janice case which is the latest attempt to break th b of the unions. >>> you know that's not to go goi .un republicans are firing back. republican senator of utah who was on the long list blastedclir li o one. >> absurd, high p billic rhetoric and i think secretary clintons suld beshamed and i ca upon her to rescind them. it's not not helpfu not accurate. i believe it certain es that othe democratic party red adr dec >>es this will be ag lon democrs will work overtime, it's unreasonably they will s results. they started an ad campaign to convince the party to vote no. the date isp in the air, mitch mcconnell expects they wl start inat l early sent. kavanaugh could beonfirmed on october 1st and before mid terms. >>> as we mentioned with clinton she and warren made the ma during a giants ptest in sb. ous cras the nation took to the streets in the response tournghe t s they decided tors nllotow secto the 5-4 dealt a major bl in 22 states. >> it was a

supreme court decision last week that found public unions like the n.e.a. can no longer charge fees to nonunion members who are covered by union agreements the n.e.a. says that ruling is likely to cut its income from dues by fourteen percent over the next two years it has silenced my voice and has really. taken away my ability to have some collective power on behalf of my students and my colleagues in my profession unions are the last line of defense that's what this was about the move was praised by republicans including president donald trump who called it a big loss for the coffers of the democrats supreme court who said that they were asians can make unlimited political contributions but the court has limited the sources of union contributions nevertheless these teachers seem enthusiastic determined to make a difference. the high court ruling will not affect states like florida with so-called right to work laws that already bar nonunion workers from paying dues but it does affect public union workers and twenty two other states that don't it is going to

has almost no cards to play against the european union and so when the e.u. says we're not going to accept this check is still there you either have the full thing about an customs union or none of it except northern ireland that no prime minister no matter how strong or charismatic is going to be able to change that position because the e.u. at the moment has no incentive to give britain what it wants because the e.u. is its credibility and cohesion are at stake and the e.u. has all the power at the moment because it knows that the u.k. cannot settle for no deal partly because the part of it would never accept that and partly because it's equipment a national self-immolation is simply not a viable option for the government and that means that the u.k. will concede to pretty much everything the e.u. wants and it has done in the last year already all right so you talked about the checkers deal jonathan that was the agreement fleshed out last friday at the prime minister's country residence when she got her cabinet together to figure flesh out a briggs's ambiti

once we leave the european union. on the basis of the agreement that was made here at checkers and that i've put forward to the european union. and just be clear, that is an agreement that delivers on the brexit vote that we had in 2016 here in the u.k. that delivers what i believe is at the forefront of people's minds when they were voting to leave the european union. so at the end of these negotiations, we will ensure that free movement will come to an end. the jurisdiction of the european court of justice here in the u.k. will come to an end. the sending of vast sums of money every year to the e.u. will come to an end. we will come out of the common agriculture policy, we will come out of the common fishers policy, and will ensure, by not being in a customs union, that we are able to have an independent trade policy and do those trade deals around the world. and as you've heard from the president, the united states is keen for us work, we're keen to work with them and whether he do a trade deal with them and with o

it would be a profound betrayal of our union. —— our precious union.ining in the customs union for the whole of the uk. this would mean continued free movement, continued payment of our sums every year to the eu for market access, a continued obligation to follow the vast bulk of eu law, no independent trade policy with no ability to strike our own trade deals around the world. i firmly believe this would not honour the referendum result. if the eu continues on this course, there is a serious risk it could lead to no deal. this would most likely be a disorderly no deal, for without an agreement on our future relationship, i cannot see this parliament would approve the withdrawal agreement with a northern ireland protocol and financial commitments, and without these commitments, and without these commitments the eu would not sign a withdrawal agreement. a responsible government must prepare for a range of potential outcomes, including the possibility of no deal. given the short period remaining before the conclusion of negotiations, the cabinet agreed o