you are on the air with thea lee , deputy of the afl-cio. caller: i would like to make it official since i have waited for 30 minutes here. the first thing i would like to say is that walmart, one of the largest employees that we have here can afford to pay their employees $10 per hour. the unitedl 40% of or i should say they encourage as much money as the lowest paid employers here in the united states. i have noticed a few times that i go in, they no longer have checkers, they have self checkouts, that means they are making more money. so what happens to their employees. taxpayers, it is not fair, and since i am retired i am looking at this, the republicans seem to always be on the side of the rich people and until we, the people of the united states get involved and know what is going on, you will always have people calling in, saying not to raise the minimum wage. i would like for those people to try to live on minimum wage. the other thing i would like to say is you mentioned something about if there should be a cap on payments, to the

reagan has one deal, deliver a speech to the afl-cio. it's 2:00, reagan's the motorcade's just arrived at the washington hilton hotel, which is behind us. this is the special entrance, the v.i.p. entrance reagan walked into when he first arrived. >> governmental duty is to protect the people, not run their lives. >> the event is covered by all the major networks. for abc news photographer, hank brown, it's a routine job. >> we were with the crew that travels with the president wherever he goes. he wanted to get the picture of the president walking out of the hotel and getting in the limo. >> 15 feet from that door was a rope line. >> all that the cameramen and everybody's laughing. it was unsecured. no i.d. checks. people thought it was a press line. it wasn't. anyone could be behind that line. >> you see hinckley's face about three rows back totally passive. no reaction at all. >> i get my camera out, aimed it at the door that the president's coming out. i could see it through the viewfinder even now. >> reagan is walking towards his mo

who better to spoke to the vote than afl-cio president richard trumka. that's coming up next. >>> also, seaworld stock has been down roughly 20% since the controversial documentary "blackfish" was released in july. coming up ceo jim acheson will lay out his strategy for countering this pr nightmare. >>> also ahead -- ♪ >> can you tell who is who? >> i was going to say, it took me a second actually. jimmy fallon and bruce springsteen lampooning chris christie's bridge scandal. we want to know what impact you think that parody could have on prolonging bridgegate or does it seem less serious? your best tweets on this subject coming up. keep it right here. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. [ male announcer ] this is betsy. her long day of pick ups and drop offs begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪ and shift through all eight speeds of a transmission connected to more standard horsepower than its german competitors. and that is the moment that driving the l

the afl-cio. .. dedicated to socialist revolution. illegal immigrants are not going for unionized workers but they are real good for socialist revolution. and that is why the afl-cio is now so hard-core pushing them. the man who got the unions to reverse their policy back in 2000 at their conference in louisiana was mr. alastair medina and member of democratic socialists of america, a marxist. why does he want it? he wants more members but the real big deal is this. he let the cat out of the bag at a progressive conference in washington d.c. two years ago. he got up in front of the comrades and said this. immigration reform is our number one priority for the progressive moment. in 2008 latinos voted 70% for mr. obama and candidates. if we give these people citizenship and voting rights they will stand by obama. this will give us at least 8 million more democratic party votes. this will give us a governing majority not just for the next few election cycles but for the foreseeable future. in other words, a permanent democratic one-party

equipment maintenance and repair technicians could become the e-tailers first labor union members, afl-cio's head richard trumka says there's a reason why amazon's workers want to unionize. >> a lot of it has to do with rules, they jerk people around on vacation, don't let people have adequate vacation. they don't give them the adequate respect that they deserve. and so they wanted a union. hopefully we'll get it for them. it will be the beginning of organizing amazon so we can make it a stronger, better company. >> well amazon issued a statement about the vote in part. it said medium pay inside our fulfillment centers is 30% higher than that of people who work in traditional retail stores. amazon also said the top priority of our fulfillment center network is safety. it's safer to work in the amazon fulfillment network than in a department store. john fort has been following the story and joins us now. it's very fascinating story. so let's say they have the vote. how do you think that's all going to play out and what does it mean for amazon? >> it's unclear, suzy. both amazon and the union

i would sit down and i would meet with the chamber of commerce, i would meet with the afl-cio, i would meet with the united auto workers, i would meet with naacp at the beginning of the year. and i met with two of the largest companies, the ceos and their boards, in the state of delaware and they were at that time fortune ten companies. and i would listen to what their concerns were for the coming year, across the board, business, labor, activist roups, et cetera. i was in the board room of one of the major corporations, and everyone was being very nice except the ceo. and he was really just upset with me. i had forgotten this until you started talking. i was sitting to his right and i finally said -- because he was being close to rude -- i said, mr. chairman, what's your problem? i know that doesn't sound like me. i've always been very liable. anyway, i said, mr. chairman, what's your problem? i said, if i'm not mistaken, you invited me here. i didn't ask to come here. i said, what's the problem? and in a burst of honesty, he looked at me and said, you know, all you're going to do is

big labor, afl-cio, which is more difficult to understand because of the fact that they traditionally were opposed to increases in immigration, but they have had troubles in terms of splintering in the big labor movement with the service employees international union withdrawing from the afl-cio, in part because of the issue of immigration. iu has a large number of union members who are illegally in the country. they feel they would better be able to represent those workers and to unionize other locations that have large numbers of immigrant workers if amnesty were adopted so that those workers could no longer be threatened with deportation if they became engaged in working for a union shop in their industries. in addition to business and labor, you have ethnic advocacy groups of virtually every ethnicity and many different nationalities. one of the eye openers for me when i started working on this was finding that there was an irish lobby for amnesty because of the illegal immigrant population from ireland in the country. in addition, you have most mainstream religious organizations

host: we are back with thea lee, deputy chief of staff for the afl-cio.s talk about the state the union address. the president, richard trumka, his wisho had laid out list before. did you hear everything? guest: we heard a lot of what we wanted to hear. he identified in the quality at the number one challenge of our time and laid out things to do and that he hopes congress will do. did not hear,e particularly on collective bargaining and the role unions play in boosting the middle class and closing the inequality cap. it was a great beach. congress' court, we went to see action on employment insurance and minimum wage, and some other things like universal pre-and garden -- universal prekindergarten. host: what about extending long-term unemployment insurance benefits? when do you expect that to come up? sure exactly,t but this is a disgrace this has not happened already. workers are losing benefits. they have to looking for a job. they are in the labor market. christmas came and went, congress went home to their comfortable homes. millionore than 1.5 work

we did that with the cooperative basis with the afl-cio and lots of other people. and then we started working in the house where i believe we have received very positive response. 485 people, not just a hundred of them, and we brought in 600 people to one group, we brought in faith-based and -- and folks from all sorts of social activities, you know, people, community leaders. we're going to -- and we brought business people in who see opportunities to create jobs and to bring companies here. we may not be otherwise bringing here. and what we're going to do is a lot more of the same. and we're going to do it back home as well. and you see my own view, i think democrats and republicans alike would like to go home and run for office with something they got done that's significant. and i believe we're two-thirds of the way there. i've been encouraged by a lot of the noise and soundings out of the house. and i'm not discouraged -- every now and then wake up in the morning and see a story about some reason it's not going to work. 435 people have to go home and run for o

you recently wrote to the afl-cio around this.f labor unions and whether or not you can strengthen labor unions in a way that effectively strengthens this issue. >> to show you how easy it is to get this minimum wage up to 1968, which would be about $10.70, only a few thousand workers supported by fciu have got an lot of this publicity, picketing mcdonald's and other fast-food chains. imagine if a million of the 30 million workers hit the streets, how much faster this would occur. this has huge popular support all over the country. a conservative worker in walmart is going to say, i'm conservative, i want to work for $8 an hour. doesn't happen. and so what we're seeing here is the democrats in congress are too sluggish. george miller and senator harkin, they have put this bill in after a little pressure from some of us. but they're not really pushing it. and so i wrote richard trump, the afl-cio, like my fourth letter and said come on, take a real lead here, for heaven's sake. these workers are potential union members in the futur

. >> meanwhile, afl-cio officials say it was mostly from people dropping out of the labor force, not by healthy job kraencreatiot it is more critical than ever for congress to quit dawdling and pass an extension of the unement ployment insurance immediately. harry reid is willing to consider a limited number of republican amendments to the extended unemployment bill, which had been considered the hold-up, and it may break the impasse. >> let's go inside the numbers now, learn more about what they mean. melissa francis is in new york. she's the host of money with melissa francis weekdays at 5:00 p.m. on the fox business network. good evening. the question i get so much is why did the unemployment rate drop so much, but only 74,000 jobs were added? >> no, absolutely. those are two totally different surveys, first of all. that 6.7% number looks really good until you realize that 350,000 left the work force. that's five times as many as found a job. and those who support the president try to spin it and say a lot of those people are retiring. they're baby boomers. but that's just a fract

so joining me now to discuss, daryl hahn from florida and maria cairo, associate director for the afl-cioenting the plaintiff in this case. thanks to you both. >> thank you, karen. >> i want to start with you, maria, because one of the things that struck me about this case is the plaintiff in particular has such an interesting story as a navy veteran, a young father. he's in school. i would say, you know, doing all the right things and just essentially needs assistance, which is supposed to be the social safety net, that's supposed to be part of our values as americans, and as a veteran he understands drug testing and yet essentially now that he is just asking for help the state of florida is saying no, you have to be drug tested before we help you. >> right. louis lebron really blew the old and persistent stereotype of welfare applicants and recipients out of the water. he's a veteran, a single father, a law student at the time, and takes care of his disabled mother. no different from you or from me. >> one of the things i read, this idea of having to take a drug test is part of the four

there is a vote among workers in a delaware warehouse to vote on joining a labor union, a unit of the afl-ciot's only 30 people we are talking about. the distribution center has this teen hundred people who actually work there. the company has about 100,000 people who work for it. in terms of the actual numbers, not that significant, but this would be the first union in the united states for amazon. there have been some attempts at union station, a broad, but this would be the first here. analysts have said there have not been bigger attempts to unite because the workers are relatively well paid. they get benefits, yada yada yada, but amazon has been very vocal about not wanting unions. >> you are chomping at the bit to jump in. >> listen, when you take care of your employees, they are less likely to unionize. we all remember that iconic scene from "norma rae." it was not "we want more lunchtime." that was not the grievance. it was, "we are working in egregious conditions." that is not the case with amazon. i will tell you this much -- my admonition to those people who are trying to unionize

they are trying to join a union that is part of the afl-cio.has never happened before in the united states. amazon has successfully blocked efforts to do it, and there don't seem to be that many worker propelled units -- >> amazon has tried to block this before -- they have tried to do this before? >> there was one back in 2000 that amazon successfully thwarted. >> so let's say they are successful tonight, all 30 of them say we are here, get used to it. could this spread? >> in talking to various analysts, they did not think so. they did not put the vote chances at a high level. a couple of reasons for that. amazon has hired a high-powered law firm to prevent this from happening. also a union spokesman told another reporter that some of these employees have been pulled into captive audience sessions meetings with-one their bosses at amazon. these guys are paid relatively well if you look across the industry. >> the machinists? >> they get benefits, higher paid for.options there was a bbc documentary that looked at alleged abuses at the distribu

who were the biggest cheerleaders for obamacare, i mean, the seiu, andy stern, richard trumka, the afl-cio they were talking to the white house or to members of his staff every other day trying to push obamacare through. and now they are the biggest whiners because now reality has set in for them the way it has for every other american. martha: yeah. apparently, they're shocked they're being treated like everybody else. monica and juan, thank you very much. >> pleasure. good to talk to you both. bill: thank you, guys. he's the football player accused of bullying a teammate right off the team. relationship chi incognito is telling fox news he's got the evidence that proves that he harassed no one. that's next. martha: and what poses the biggest threat to our country. the director of national intelligence, james clapper, is saying it's not who you think. >> terrorists and other adversaries of country are going to school on u.s. intelligence sources meds and trade craft, and the insights that they are gaining are making our job much, much harder. en you have diabetes like i do, getting the ri

is i would go to all the major constituencies, i would go meet with the chamber of commerce, the afl-cio united auto workers, the naacp, at the beginning of the year i met with two of the largest companies, the ceos and the boards. i would listen to what their concerns were for the coming year across the board will stop business, labor, activist roots, etc.. i was in the boardroom of one of the major corporations and everyone was being very nice except the ceo. he was upset with me. i had forgotten about this and i was sitting to his right and i finally said because he was being close to rude, i said what is your problem? i know it doesn't sound like me. pliable.ys been very i said what's your problem? youhat if i'm not mistaken, invited me here. i didn't ask to come here. what's the problem? in a burst of honesty, he said all you are going to do is go down there to washington and work with teddy kennedy to try to get health care done, a socialist program. i thought of that -- i had an in close to 40 years. but because of you and your we don't argue about whether it's a right anymore. ev

i remember when i would go to the major constituencies at the chamber of commerce and the afl-cio and united autoworkers and the naacp at the beginning of the year. with two of the largest companies in the state of delaware and there were 10 companies at that time. and i would listen to what their concerns were for the coming word -- coming year. business, labor activist groups, i was in the boardroom of one major corporation in everybody was nice except the ceo. he was upset up with me but i had forgotten this. i finally said because he was being close to brood. i said what is your problem? the ideal that does not sound like me. [laughter] i have always been very pliable. [laughter] if i am not mistaken in you invited me here. i did not ask to come. in a burst of honesty he said all you are going to do is go to washington and work with teddy kennedy to try to get health care done a socialist programs. i thought of that that is the god's true story i have not thought of that and close to 40 years but because of fraud and your troops we're not arguing about that anymore either republic

it was one of those rare cases where the afl-cio and the chamber of commerce came together because it would dramatically improve the economy, dramatically improve the wages of people, and would lower the deficit. it is a no-brainer. and that's why we came together in the senate. the leadership of the distinguished senior senator from nevada, others -- republicans and democrats we came together, we passed it. they should take it up. if they want to make some changes, do soavment i'm so. i'm ready to go to conference at a moment's notice so we can get this bill passed and on the president's desk. we've done it with the violence against women act which they at first refused to take in the house and even the white house was backing off on some of the parts that we added to it here because they were are afraid it might not go through. but senator crapo and i stuck together on it, and a bipartisan group in the house stuck together. we passed it in the houser verbatim what we passed here. it went into law the violence against women. we added sexual trafficking a good bill. we can do it if pe

[applause] secretary treasury of the afl-cio. senior editor of the journal of commerce. [applause] president and ceo of the association of american railroads. [applause] finance and investigative reporter and center for public integrity. [applause] skipping over our speaker, president and member of the committee to organize today's lunch. thank you. [applause] to executive director of new jersey transport. [applause] washington correspondent -- correspondent for the record [applause] and professor of media studies at georgetown university. [applause] >> our guest today is not criticize about the hand that feeds him saying depending on rail is insufficient to the point that we are eating grass has alive. joseph boardman president and chief executive officer since 2008 last year the board said it was so happy with its work if they would extend his contract by another two years. writer ship has risen to a record 30 1.2 million. mr. boardman told congress and amtrak covered 80% of its operating costing gained passengers on all routes even long-distance trains that traditiona

we did that with the cooperative basis with the afl-cio and lots of other people. and then we started working in the house where i believe we have received very positive response. 485 people, not just a hundred of them, and we brought in 600 people to one group, we brought in faith-based and -- and folks from all sorts of social activities, you know, people, community leaders. we're going to -- and we brought business people in who see opportunities to create jobs and to bring companies here. we may not be otherwise bringing here. and what we're going to do is a lot more of the same. and we're going to do it back home as well. and you see my own view, i think democrats and republicans alike would like to go home and run for office with something they got done that's significant. and i believe we're two-thirds of the way there. i've been encouraged by a lot of the noise and soundings out of the house. and i'm not discouraged -- every now and then wake up in the morning and see a story about some reason it's not going to work. 435 people have to go home and run for o

[applause] larry willis, secretary-treasurer of the transportation department afl-cio. [applause] william cassidy, editor of the journal of commerce. [applause] bob, president and ceo of the association of america and rail lines. [applause] allyson fitzgerald, a reporter at public integrity and chairwoman of the committee at the press club. [applause] skipping over the speaker for just a moment, matt, president for the advocate of growth and member of the committee that organized today's launch. thank you, matt. [applause] jim wang xin of new jersey transit. [applause] herb jackson for the bergon record. [applause] michael yesses, aol chief. [applause] and christopher chambers, professor of media studies at georgetown university. [applause] >> our guest today is not shy about criticizing the hand that feeds him. [laughter] the point that we are eating our assets alive. joseph boardman has been president and chief executive officer of amtrak since 2008. last year the board said they were so happy with his work that it was extending the contract by another two years. duri

the afl-cio optics that makes sense. for motorists think it makes sense. farmworkers think it makes sense. angelico's think it makes sense. certainly the congress of the united states ought to agree with the overwhelming majority of the american people and interest groups sunnyside that it makes sense to do. those jobs grow our economy and it is the right thing to do from a moral standpoint in any event. so i would hope we can reach common ground and, frankly, the speaker is taking steps to address immigration. the majority leader says the immigration system is broken. so we certainly have a consensus that it needs change. we certainly ought to be able to reach consensus on how to do that. >> yet been around here for a while, heard a lot of the state of the union addresses. this is the fifth from this president. give us the kind of running commentary on the state of the union addresses. >> most of the addresses i of persia follow pretty good. the president, republican, democrat, and been here since ronald reagan. so ronald reagan, george bush the first, bu

to all of the major constituencies, sit down, and meet with the chamber of commerce, me with the afl-cio me with united auto workers, me with the naacp, at the beginning of the year. and i met with two of the largest companies, the ceos in the state of delaware, and there were at that time ten companies. and i would listen to what their concerns were for the coming year across the board. business, labour, activist groups. and i was in the board room of a lot of the major corporations. everyone was being very nice except the ceo. he was really upset with me. i have forgotten this. i was sitting to his right. i finally said, because he was being close to rude, mr. chairman, what is your problem. another dozens of like me. anyway, i said to doe was your problem. but not mistaken you invited me here. i did not ask to come here. what's the problem? and in a burst of honesty he said, all your going to do is go down there to washington and work with chairman kennedy did try to get health care done, a socialist program. i thought of that. i had not thought of that enclosed a four years. a mother

[applause] larry willis secretary-treasurer of the transportation trades department of the afl-cio.plause] william cassidy senior editor of the journal of commerce. [applause] add hamburger president and ceo of the association of american row roads. [applause] alison fitzgerald, finance investigative reporter at the center for public integrity in the chairwoman of the dash press club. [applause] stepping over our speaker for just a moment the president and member of the speakers committee who organize today's lunch. thank you. [applause] jim weinstein executive director of new jersey transit. [applause] herb jackson washington correspondent for the bergen record. [applause] michael ess editor-in-chief of aol travel. [applause] and christopher chambers, professor of media studies at georgetown university. [applause] our guest today is not shy about criticizing the hand that feeds him. [laughter] saying federal spending on rail and other transportation needs is insufficient to the point that we are quote getting our assets alive. his appointment has been present and officer of amtrak

. >> i'm standing here with richard trumpka, the president of the afl-cio. he listened the speech tonight, and i have to ask you, what your reaction was here to president obama. you have heard him give these speeches before. what makes you think 2014 is the year that he can really deliver for your constituency and later? >> first of all, i think it was the best speech he has ever given wrfsh as a president that went back to his roots, talking about the middle class, talking about job creation, and all the points that were important for the middle class he hit. not only that, he used examples of everyday, average working americans to make those points. i thought it was a good point, and i thought he was forceful, and i thought it was a good speech. >> he talked about raising the minimum wage to $10.10, but only for federal contractors and contractors that haven't actually gone out yet. where do you think we are in this country on the minimum wage debate right now? where would you like to see it ultimately be? >> i would like to see congress get together and s

. >> on the next "washington journal", the afl-cio on the present state of the union and andrew campanellaon his group's work to promote charter schools and other alternatives in "washington journal" is live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> bringing attention to what women do or how we are going to continue this, always returns to the question of the body. many object to bring this into a high school classroom. because there is an assumption that it is only about sex or controlling abortion and it is also about women working on this with prime ministers. and it is to break down the fear that many people have. what goes on in a woman's study classroom. >> living history and the antifeminist backlash. women's studies professor bonnie morris will take your questions in depth for three hours starting at noon eastern on in that c-span2. on monday still have a few days to weigh in on this booktv bookclub. the liberty amendment. join the conversation. click on bookclub to enter the chat room. >> senate majority leader harry reid here is whether the two leaders said. >> mr. president, americ

clearly their pitching was the afl-cio. which person really got control of the direction. it turned from a mass protest to a long, drawnout series of electoral campaigns. first, over a judicial election, and then attempts to recall very state senators and ultimately governor walker. most of which, they never recall state senators and none of, respond by trying to recall democratic state senators. didn't recall any democrats. some republicans but not enough to change the majority. and, of course, a failed to recall walker. a lot of the original activists were unhappy about that whole direction because they thought they were more interested in the protest. secondly, because once there was an electoral campaign, it looked just like any other electoral campaign. they lost the ideological thrust. looking for scandals. the people they beat were most because they found some kind of scandal and played that up. they lost him public support because result a lot of people were really not happy. some people were obviously and voted that way but some people were really not happy about

in about 45 minutes afl-cio deputy chief of staff with reaction to state of the union. school choice advocates have organized events across the country to promote alternatives to traditional public schools. we will talk to the national school choice week president. ♪ host: good morning, everyone. thursday, january 30. welcome to "washington journal," president obama traveling to milwaukee and nashville to talk about what he laid out in the state of the union. on capitol hill, the senate expected to take up the five-year farm bill after a coalition of democrats and republicans in the house overwhelmingly approved it yesterday. we will stay with congress and get your take on representative michael grimm, a republican of new york, and his behavior after the state of the union address. he threatened

and according to the afl-cio, c.e.o. pay has gone from $42 for every $1 a worker made in 1982 o $354 for every $1 a worker made in 2012. it's time to raise the wage. according to forbes, the top 25 c.e.o.'s of hedge funds, the top 25 earners of hedge funds earn more than all 500 of the top c.e.o.'s in the fortune 500 combined. it's time to raise the wage. in 2007, one c.e.o. made $3 billion. $3 billion is $400 a second. . it would take a minimum wage worker working full time 198,000 years. something bear repeating. it would take a minimum wage worker 198 years to make what that c.e.o. made in one year. it's time to raise the wage. if we can pay c.e.o.'s $400 a second, we can raise the wage. if we can pay corporate c.e.o.'s 354 times what workers are making, we can raise the wage to $13 an hour. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from indiana, mr. young, for five minutes. mr. oung: thank you, speaker. a fellow hoosier, fellow marine and fellow patriot died on

now, in washington he's head of the afl-cio. that deserves an applause. but i think of him wearing other hats. he's a native of southwestern pennsylvania. he still owns property there. he was just there over the holidays. and now i want him to retire in southwestern pennsylvania. but before he retires, we want him to keep leading working men and women on a whole range of issues but especially on an issue that is so important, the great leader and someone who cares passionately about workers and their families and , ose who are without work rich. >> thank you, senator casey. bob, when i retire, you'll get your rich. i'll return to southwestern pennsylvania. i want to say, happy new year, brothers and sisters. the weather outside is like america's job market right now. it's pretty cold. in fact, it's freezing out there. and my friends spoke before me have talked about jobless workers, but i really think it's worth repeating because we're talking about 1.4 million people. let me repeat that again. 1.4 million people jobless who are feeling the real pinch of

afl-cio chairman called the principles a nonstarter as they would not offer a special pass to citizenship for illegal immigrants. if you are a republican and you support this proposal, (202) 585-3880. , if you are a republican and you are disagreeing with this reform proposal. we will begin with john. a republican in watertown, new york. caller: good morning. i emphatically disagreed with this proposal for several reasons. nowfirst reason is right our unemployment is still -- depending on who you listen to -- anywhere between 6.5% or 7.5%. we need to enforce the laws we have on the books right now instead of trying to add more people to a weak economy. andfact that the democrats the republicans both are looking at this and saying it is that will get the more votes in the upcoming elections is shortsighted and foolish. thank you. nic is: from cleveland, georgia. --calling from cleveland, georgia. caller: good morning. good morning, america, i should say. what we're are saying is this kind of legalization to those that were formerly known and still are by government isinition as illegal ali