so the collective bargaining unit is all for this going out. but we have a reservation about the tasks. president vietor: think you w mr.ong. >> this has been a lot of work, and we have a few comments. >> this is the current item we're talking about, and one thing you're talking about to local 21, the department of public works, and the whole theory behind this need for an rfp is the expertise that we do not have, so the m.o. you clearly states that the infrastructure -- the mou clearly states it will provide whatever resources are necessary to perform the task, and and work outside of that, we will ask for dpw experience, and if none in the city has the experience, then we will ask. the reason we put certain tasks in the rfp is to identify that we may not have this experience, and we want the consultant to provide someone with expertise in that area, and clearly, if we do not need the services, then we do not pay for the services, but we felt it was vital to put it in an rfp. before we do that, we will work with in-house pc, so that is where w

they are part of our collective bargaining unit. their sal i have commezz rat with ours. -- their salary is kommeserate with ours. the majority of students are housed in jail or as part of other program or city agencies, the regular meal service for majority of their students is through the jail. they do not collect revenue from the state for school lunches or meals but at their independent high school one of their locations in the bayview hunters point and maybe steve is going to correct me, the executive director on that, there is a breakfast program that is providing and supporting, again, they do not collect state revenue for that. and that is the budget report complete and so i will read the amended resolutions for the record if that is ok with the board. ok? so for five keys and i'm going to them both. one after the other. so the first resolution is concerning five keys adult school and that's number 112-22 sp 2, authorization to grant the renewal for five keys adult school. whereas san francisco unified school district is a c

before so you know how it works for and i want to go to you and talk a little bit about collective bargaining in the united states from ocracy are the founding fathers a little worried right now as they see what's coming out of ohio and out of wisconsin. the current unrest the united states isn't about the merits of democracy democracy is alive alive and well it's really about sort of spending and fiscal responsibility as relates to government this may be the issue of the decade in the united states to be perfectly honest with you democrats love to blame folks like george w. bush but in reality this situation dates back to over a generation of lenin johnson and frankly both parties are korbel we're running a federal deficit of one point five trillion a national debt nearing fifteen trillion everybody knows we need to cut back but nobody wants to step forward to make the difficult cuts where that said if america wants to remain the world's economic leader it must draw a line in the sand right now and that's what we're saying with scott walker in wisconsin make a second ohio ok steve i'm going to you a lot o

taken by mary was time to occupy these offices demanding the return of collective bargaining rights in response and across the united states and saying maybe seen attack on what is a tap on our until we get the intention of the entire united states working class families and will be in every state in every city until the recognition is here it's a symptom of the growing unrest spreading across america as food prices rose three point nine percent in february this area. is going to. get some are going to fifty dollars and i'll get a lot of heat the largest monthly gain in thirty six years that's the tragedy of inflation it redistributes income from some people who get the new more true the people who get the new money first and from the people that whose has what wages that do not rise coupled with the highest gasoline costs for american households expected to reach two thousand eight hundred dollars this year some say the federal reserve's monetary policies are squeezing regular americans dry people are or are being stretched financially and i think some of them are also gold because they see the dismissive attitude

bargain for i a middle-class life. the five states in the united states that prohibit collective bargain of public employees have a cumulative debt of $225 billion. collective bargaining didn't cause that. look, this isn't about public employees. this was caused by the crisis in the recession we have. we have 15 million people out of work. put them back to work. they pay taxes, the economy starts to hum, and all of us start to do that, live better. and this governor, instead of creating the jobs that he was elected to do, is now trying to destroy more middle-class jobs that will hurt the wisconsin economy even more. >> woodruff: know, rich trumka, he and other governors frame this as this is an argument between all of the citizens of the state-- in this case wisconsin-- versus the public workers and he said when it comes down to that balance, public workers should be willing to give some. >> they have been. he asked for cuts, and they agreed to all the cuts that he asked for. remember this-- those public employees are citizens as well. this is a concerted campaign by a number of republican governors to vilify public employee

. >>> meanwhile, a national debate over collective bargaining rights will be the focus of the three-day convention starting today in detroit where 1200 united auto workers are gathering to talk about contracts that expire with gm, ford and chrysler with the fall term. court knee reagan is following all those developments for us this morning. >> reporter: good morning. futures are trending higher this morning, and that follows yesterday's nice rally when investors cheered the mna action with at&t buying t-mobile and charles schwab gathering up stocks in the express. crude is trading slightly under at the moment amidst the unrest in the middle east. some of the worries over the unrest in the middle east seem to be fading slightly jack. pan's market rose 4% today. europe is a touch higher and it is moving to the way of what we'll call mixed. the dow rose 178 points monday to start trading today at 12,036. the dow did have its best three-day run since september. the nasdaq added 48 points to 2692. >>> well, what's in a name? apple is suing amazon over its app store name so they think it is a lot. apple wants to trademark the app store in the u.

bargaining units. this is reflected in the employee relations ordinance which was updated last year. we have 33 contracts, collective bargaining agreements, or memoranda of understanding. we deal with 37 different employee organizations. probably a record in the nation, certainly in the state. the larger unions and the number of fte's are set out in the bottom of slide to. the largest group of miscellaneous employees are represented by the service employees international union. they represent almost 10,000 employees. the second-largest is the professional and technical engineers local 21 at about 4500. other bigger unions are represented on the slide. turning to the next page, we have a representation of some of the unions, particularly unions within the city and county, the health union, the largest would be the per diem nurses, staff nurses and contract, that represents 1500 employees. supervising nurses represented by teamsters local 856, 124 employees. moving to the safety unions, approximately 1700 firefighters, approximately 2500 police officers, and about 950 either deputy sheriffs or employers of the -- empl

. >> guest: the specific issue is collective bargaining but it is reflective of a great problem in the united states which everybody knows that many of the states and the federal government is simply too indebted and has massive deficits and those together means something has to give. there is a lot of debate as we know about cutting spending. i fear that there will be much more happening on the side and i think it is problematic. the united states already in corporate taxes is 35%. this is much higher than the oecd average of 25%. in fact a friend of mine from denmark quite recently was quite surprised because in the market as we know the income tax of the private level is much higher. 50, 60% tax. but at the corporate level, for corporate taxes to be lower in a place like scandinavium, denmark it's quite surprising. the united states is built on this idea of private sector, innovation and incentives and so it is i think it is really a symbol of how bad things have become the effect of the net is there is going to be a mix of tax rises plus spending cuts in order to get out of the situation.

collective bargaining agreement expires. if in 24 hours from midnight tonight, the players don't bernd. the owners will likely move to lock the players unite. we've been expecting this, how long it lasts is what will be the story of the summer. the nhl cancelled an entire season about six years ago, when the owners locked out their players, eventually the players buckled, because you cannot get paid anything until you play games. that could be the eventual breaking point here. game day checks. aside from bone uses, players in the nfl are paid at the end of each regular season game. that will not start until september. for now they can hold their line and not miss a check. perhaps more extensions. once they stop talking and start digging in, the whole dynamic changes. >> we've seen this before. lawrence, thank you. >>> 60, 70, $80 dollars to fill up the tank? that's the reality. gas prices have gone up 4 cents since yesterday. the average price for a gallon 6 gas today, 3.83 a gallon. in san francisco, it was $3.87 and in oakland, 3.83. the spike in prices, of course, is due to the unrest in the middle east. as oil prices rose to $100 a bar

the unit with about a dozen officers and horses was threatened by the kris yis wisconsin's assembly approved a bill stripping public employees of most of the collective bargaining rights. police remove some before the assembly met. republicans hold majorities in both houses now the bill moves to the desk of the g.o.p. governor scott walker, who is expected to sign it into law. >> today we are heart broken, please... have help all of us restore the representation of wisconsin. >> the this is about giving local governments reforms and state governments reforms they need to make government work better and work for the people of the state. >> he believes it will save the job and requires public workers to pay more towards pensions and double health insurance contribution autos dow jones slid below 12,000 mark in its biggest one day drop since august. the dow closed about 228 points, down over concerns about oil prices. unemployment and america's growing trade deficit. the nasdaq off as well, almost 51 points. >> rising gas prices prompted some northern californiains to get out of their cars. they announced amtrak train ridership jumped 14% in february compared to l

collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight. >>> as we mentioned, with an anniversary for the star-spangled banner. on this day in 1931, president herbert hoover made the song the national anthem of the united states. >>> all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." >>> and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. the very latest on the bitter battle between troubled actor charlie sheen and his estranged wife over the custody of their twin sons. >>> and a mother defends her controversial decision to divorce her husband and leave her children behind to pursue a career. >>> now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

collective bargaining rights that are now on the table of the country, beginning in wisconsin, spreading rapidly and watch out, they could come, insidious movement against collective bargaining could even come to the congress of the united states. we have to stop it in its tracks. in the midwest. and any -- in any free society there are four or five rights that everybody will cite, the right to free speech, the right to religion and guess what, the right to bargain collectively. once you have established that the workers have elected a union, is is one of those fundamental rights. i want to say to the gentlewoman from wisconsin if one of the developing countries that we always complain are not democratic enough were to take away the collective bargaining rights of some of its workers, you would have to fight people at to e-- at the well in order to quell the stampede of people saying, you have violated a fundamental right of a free society. i just came from a hearing on the postal service. it was amazing to hear management and the private sector say that the reason you have a public -- a post office today and that it hasn't gone down the drain is because the workers, across the table from management, have helped them to

. >> a national debate over collective bargaining rights is the focus of a three-day convention that starts today in detroit where 1,200 united auto workers are going to gather to talk about contracts that expire with gm, ford and chrysler this fall. cnbc's courtney reagan is following all the news developing throughout the day that will affect the money this morning. we want to check in with her who is live at cnbc headquarters. good morning. >> reporter: hi, good morning, brent. futures are trending high they are morning following yesterday's nice rally when investors cheered the m&a action with at&t buying t-mobile and charles swab buying up energy express. crude oil is hovering near $103 a barrel. the last time i peeked over here we were just about 5 cents below the mark amid the continued unrest in the middle east. well, some of the worries over libya and japan's nuclear crisis also appear to be fading, at least slightly. japan's market shook it off rising more than 4% today. europe is now mixed but we were higher earlier. the dow rose 178 points monday to begin trading today at 12,036. the dow did have the best three-da

united states. to begin with the demonstrators were not asking for much in the old english which is just not to take away their collective bargaining rights but the state politicians said to chop you laws thank you stability to government workers the people outraged you stronger it's scary there needs to be oversight there needs to be answered and some of it was this congress building simple things like fed up and competition the kind of things you need for the people there we are getting louder in the biggest middle class uprising still america has seen in years i was thinking more and more candidates and i think a lot of the states and it's going to be spreading. during his election campaign promise to walk more step with america's workers but in reality as steve far away from the people who have been begging him for support probably because. forced to play politics like everybody else are forced to. you know voted for obama but i'm tired of democrats doing the best. this sentence has grown even stronger as americans remember wall street not being similarly ignored when it's action spun the economy out of control but we allow the

united states. to begin with the demonstrators were not asking for much and the only less it is just not the case away the collective bargaining rights police state politicians proved said to chuck you new laws to give stability to government workers and people's outrage stronger that's scary there needs to be oversight there needs to be answered and then it was this congress building up like it was back up and us politicians the. teachers are the people there we are getting louder in the biggest middle class uprising. america has seen in years and i think getting more and more than that and i think a lot of the sand it's going to keep running. during his election campaign obama promised to walk in more step with america's workers but in reality as steve far away from the people who have been begging him for support probably because. or simply politics like everybody else are forced to pander. you know i voted for obama but i'm tired of democrats to vote. this sentiment has grown even stronger as americans remember wall street not being similarly ignored when it's action spun the economy out of control if we allow the right wi

>> guest: well, the specific issue there is collective bargaining as we know, but i think it is reflective of a greater problem in the united states which everybody knows which is that many of the states and the federal government is simply too debt -- too indebted and haves massive deficits. those things together means something has to give. there's debate about cutting spending and more happening on the tax side, and it's problematic. the united states already corporate taxes is around 35%. this is much higher than the oecd average which is usually 25%. a friend of mine from denmark remarked recently how it's surprising because in denmark as we know, income tax at the private level is higher. it's 50%-60% tax places, but at the corporate level for corporate taxes to be lowered in a place like scandinavia and denmark is quite surprising. i mean, the united states really built on the idea of private sector, innovation, and incentives, so it is, i think, really a signal just how bad things have become, but the fact of the matter is there's going to be a mix of tax rises plus budget and spending cuts in order to get out of th

united states. despite that monetary success, nfl owners say they are the big losers. the owners pulled out of the collective bargaining agreement late last year claiming that they were basically on the brink of losing money if not losing money already. some of them say they are. tonight at midnight the collective bargaining agreement expires. when it does the owners will have the legal right to lock players out. since it's only march and the season doesn't start until august or september, the experts say the fans shouldn't and won't fret. >> yes, it's a big deal because it's a landmark moment in nfl labor relations history in the sense that we may be headed towards some sort of armageddon come the fall, but is it a big deal really to effect sports fans? not at all. knowing that you've got the world series san francisco giants knocking on the door, the season's about to begin, i think that really softens the blow as far as any kind of looming you know labor disagreements or lockouts in the nfl. >> reporter: in addition to that the nfl held its annual combine. that's when all the players from college go and do various s

united. because everyone has their stake and i want to also mention that a new new york times c.b.s. poll actually said that most people oppose taking away a collective bargaining rights bring that into the conversation bill i think that that's part of what really touched a nerve with people on the one hand in the other part of the world people fighting for an expansion of the marcus lee but here you have this governor and his allies that are attempting to restrict it. and people in the united states in respect of what they you know how they view the economic issue the budgets resists the idea of losing the basic rights and i think that this really did touch this nerve that we know whether you're in a union or not how do you touch our rights a collective bargain but you know the other side of that argument harriet is that this is not in this you're not entitled to this man and we've seen a video cline of private sector unions the question of course is with this going on are we going to see the decline of public sector unions as well and if so what is that going to mean. i'm not sure if i can really address that question all i know is that i've seen people insid

collective bargaining that about a power grab i think we'll have really much less unfettered corporate domination of the public agenda if we remove the last bastion of organized worker strength in the united states and just really briefly i know there's been talk of a general strike happening next what's your prediction on what we're going to see next in wisconsin that's very difficult because drugs are illegal passions are strong enough but i think it may be funneled into these recall elections to change the nature of the legislature to recall the republican senators who get this and then potentially to recall governor walker when that is available next year certainly something keep our eyes on always exciting especially when we see the kind of images that we saw coming out of the state capital today robert craig executive director of citizen action wisconsin. well why are some of the world's biggest investors jumping ship from u.s. stocks and bonds the bill gross of pimco who runs the world's largest bond fund has dumped u.s. treasuries and billionaire hedge fund manager carl icahn is giving investors their money back and talking about the possibility of another market crisis so what do

collective bargaining the right to strike the right to decent wages and benefits prohibitions on child labor and slave labor and protect the air and water quality if you do that then you'll start to see the united states industries a little bit stronger because we have over two hundred billion dollars trade deficit with communist china and what that would mean is we would be slightly stronger economic situation right now we're borrowing money from china to finance a war in afghanistan china is buying up hard assets around the world they're even turning away from investing in us that we need to have a relationship he has economic strength and isn't based on the idea that somehow we have to strengthen ourselves militarily as a last straw in order to maintain our supremacy but china isn't scared to go into perhaps some of these other countries and made deals with them to buy up their resources because they don't have any promises to anybody in the world they're not trying to you know to spread democracy or bring some type of humanitarian cause and is that what's going to make us lose out well china is very very clear they've been very dedicated to economic growth and they've got in ways where they

united states. so many of the things that would make america better still choose a more choice an indication or for over nation teachers unions but even franklin roosevelt said if government unions collective bargaining if you have no place in america. jim de mint quoting f.d.r. i think that's going to explode he and his tea party base don't seem to believe in democracy and would rather see corporations running the show and that's very very. crazy alert return lindau puppy puppy a three month old puppy named wall he was euthanized over the weekend put to death due to overcrowding at an animal shelter in oklahoma after he was confirmed dead while he was tossed in the trash bin be collected the next morning. but perhaps by divine intervention wally arose again the next day an animal control officer noticed some commotion in the trash bin and sure enough there was wally just as healthy as can be veterinarian is now caring for wally until a new home can be found for him so far hundreds of families have responded to wally's finder dot com profile shows a reasonable medical explanation for why all these resurrection but i'd also like to offer this possible explanation. along the guy that. i was double cros

the united behind opposing bill because everyone has a stake and i want to also mention that a new new york times c.b.s. poll actually said that most people oppose taking away collective bargaining rights bringing that into the conversation bill that that's part of what really touched a nerve with people on the one hand and another part of the world people are fighting for an expansion of democracy but here you have this governor and his allies that are attempting to restricted and and people in the united states irrespective of what they do you know how they view the economic vision the budgets resist the idea of losing the basic rights and i think that. it's really part. of the european union and how do you charge to collect the burden seeing people inside the capital. virtually every every group of people that you could imagine there's teachers here there's just normal people there's there's juden there's workers and steel workers there's private sector workers and public sector workers firemen and policemen and i think that i mean at this point our our basic the thing that we are united around is that the will harm the people of wisconsin overall and that that is something t

another recommendation the gao had in terms of collective bargaining and binding arbitration, his recommendation was that the financial condition of the united states postal service should be taken into consideration in the binding arbitration procedures. how do you feel about ha? >> his wish is granted because the financial service of the postal service has been considered in every arbitration we've had. the arbitrator's required to consider the interests of both parties, and that issue has come up and been considered by the arbitrators. >> i appreciate that perspective. to all three of you, you all recognize the recession has had an impact on mail. i mean, there was an increase in volume from 1990 to 2007. we've seen a decrease. do you think that -- i'll start with you, mr. ro land doe. do you think the united states postal service has done enough to cut costs, and if not, what would you recommend they further do? >> i think they should continue what they're doing to work with the unions on win/win solutions. i know my unicaron has worked with them aggressively on adjusting routes to the change in volumes which by their own numbers has sav

bargain collectively barred. that right has been under attack for decades, and the decline of unions in the united states is directly attributable to the difficulty in organizing workers today because the nationally relations act is a figurement of another century -- figment of another century. i think we'll see in some of the statistics coming out of wisconsin and out of the country at large that the decline of unions today does not mean that unions are not institutions in our country. and i will have statistics to show that. what i think most americans recognize is that they owe to the american union movement much that they take for granted today even if you are not a member of a union movement. unions could have been content to bargain at the table for health and safety conditions, for 40-hour week and the rest of it. instead, they led the country in making laws that require a 40-hour workweek, abolish child labor laws, require health and safety conditions, require overpay pay -- overtime pay, require health insurance and pension insurance. those matters which began at the bargaining table now many americans enjo