of the oglala sioux tribe; faye wattleton, former national president of planned parenthood; randi weingarten president of the american federation of teachers; and sheryl wudunn, pulitzer prizewinning writer and co-author of "half the sky." we are glad you joined us. irv it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> aft, making a difference every day. pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [applause] tavis: i have done these symposiums for years, and this is the first time in my 20-year career i have been blessed to moderate a panel of all women, and i will tell you this is the most difficult symposium my people have helped me produce. trying to get focused on this, trying to get media attention about this. when you put together a panel of experts, i have a few friends and industry. it is not so difficult to get a platform and i need to talk about the impending conversation. this has been like pulling teeth, trying to get the focus on this issue. >> there are a number of

. >> randi weingarten, i'm going to keep these. thank you so much. >>> president obama stops by a fund-raiser today. for lgbt supporters. he was attending another fund-raiser. he didn't speak but posed for pictures. the other fund-raiser looked like a disco after the lights mysteriously started to flicker. >> we can put folks back to work right now rebuilding america. is there a little show going on here? it's nice. sort of a disco -- disco rally. somebody going to pull the roller skates out now? >> rolling with the punches there. >>> george clooney will host a $6 million fund-raiser for president obama at his los angeles home. entertainment tonight reporting that the tickets will run $10,000 a piece. >> michelle obama on the biggest loser last night. >> balancing on one leg. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton had fun yesterday making her own submission to the viral hit texts from hillary. thanked the website creators lol. she put on her shades to pose with her cell phone just like the pictures on their site. >> you are what yo

>> well, the unions have to get on board here, but randy weingarten, head of one of the unions, sayshave to blow up no child left behind and move to a structure that's a community-based structure. i believe in that. you have to get the community involved in schools. it's not just teachers, it's everyone else as well. >> this is a ground-up community restorati restoration. >> if i'm looking at a system that there's real resistance to change, a broad variety of people agree it is needed, i'm saying then who is standing in the way and what are they benefitting from it. i know in some ways the teachers' unions are, you're saying in some ways they're open to this. is somebody benefiting from the current, you know, mess-up? >> sure. it's like we need mutual disarmament. the professional educators are used to looking at every solution as a rule-based solution. >> as part of their culture. >> yeah, that's how they control it, that's how the department of education controls things. they have incentives from washington. we don't really need in sent ce from washington. if you give kids the free

so please welcome the leader, randi weingarten. [applause] the link between education of the last quality education and poverty is the one day we don't have and republicans agree that the link between miseducation of black arrows. the question is, what is the link between poverty and the child's ability to learn in the classroom quiet >> i'm glad you asked that question. and my colleagues who are so much better statistics than i am. let me just start by saying thank you because we don't ever talk about poverty enough and it's always a one-off and the fact that you are making this a priority so that we shine the light on poverty so no one can say it can be the word, thank you very much. [applause] i find it in my field just morally reprehensible that the debate is a total false choice at the moment you utter the word poverty if you are a schoolteacher, you immediately get you are using it as an excuse. i don't want to use it as an excuse. i want to mitigate it. i want to make sure we address it. and there's a bunch of things they ne

good men and women of the aft under president randy weingarten making a difference every day. their good work at aft.org. if you look at the president's schedule today, at 2:10 this afternoon, in the roads garden he will sign what is called the jobs act. hey, sounds good. doesn't it? but when you read the fine print, as the "new york times" reports this morning includinged in that law which the president is going to make a law, are some provisions that will roll back some majority securities regulations and parts of a landmark legal settlement struck almost a decade ago. the man who crafted that settlement to regulate the companies on wall street was then the attorney general of new york, then the governor of new york and now current tv's latest evening host with "the view point." a good friend, eliot spitzer. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. thank you for being on the show. >> congratulations with the new show. we have been watching. >> thank you. >> what's the deal with this bill? this seems like a big gift rolling back regulations on wall street? >> you know, look.

. >>> hello from new york, i'm chris hayes, with me we have marina sitron, jerry nadaler, randi weingarten're talking about unions and the labor movement and may day, which is coming up this week and the mobilizations planned around may day, the relationship of the democratic party and labor. we're going to talk a little about austerity and what austerity actually looks like in the most brutal laboratory environment of the uk, where we're seeing the results of austerity. we're going to talk about why nations fail and what, what causes the decline. of nations with the co-author of an amazing book. bill you wanted to say something. you wanted to talk about may day and the mobilization around 2006, immigration. >> marina keeps racing the issue around we, who is we, which is very important, as a trade unionist, i've been a trade unionist all of my adult life. what i think is important is that the we is that there's a combination of institutions called unions, and social movements. and the social movements rise and they decline at different points. you have to fuse a relationship between these

the american federation of teachers has a excellent, dynamite president in randi weingarten, and sheis leading the country -- yes, she is. give her a hand. [applause] in initiatives that will bring together businesses and education to help achieve. we have a program in west virginia where she's brought together the commitment, businesses, the communion to help turn that community around. we are, if you talk with the teachers' unions, we will lead you the right way. but yet they want to bash and blame us for all the ills of society. our union in baltimore, we have just negotiated one of the most innovative contracts in this country. where teachers are now being, have a voice about their own career, how fast they will move and whether or not they'll move up one lane to another, from one pathway to another. given our expertise, i know i've been teaching for a long time. i could probably teach this paper how to read. [laughter] but nobody comes and asks us what are the things that we do. there's always a lot of money pulse in to program -- put in to program, and then the program comes an

american federation of teachers have an excellent dynamite president in randy weingarten she is leading the century, yes, she is. give her a hand. [applause] and initiative that will bring together businesses and education to help achieve. we have a program and west virginia where she's brought together the community, businesses, the union to help turn that community of around. we are -- if you talk with the teachers' union, we will leave you the right way but yet they want to blame us for all of the ills in the society. our union in baltimore, we just negotiated one of the most innovative contracts in the country where teachers now have the voice of their own career, how fast they will move and whether or not they will move one line or a mother and one pathway to another. given our expertise, and i've been teaching for a long time. i could probably teach the paper how to read. [laughter] but nobody comes and asks us what are the things we do? there's always a lot of money to put into programs and then the program comes and goes. are there any teachers in the room? [applause] you know w

please welcome randi weingarten. the link between education and poverty is so well established. even republican agrees that there is a link between miss education and a ruling -- lack there of. what is the link between poverty and the trout ability to learn in the classroom? >> let me just start by saying thank you, because we don't ever talk about poverty enough and it's always a one-off, and the fact that you are making this a priority so that we shine the light on poverty so no one can say it can be ignored. thank you very much. >> i appreciate it. >> i find it in my field just morally reprehensible that the debate is a total false choice. of the moment you utter the word "poverty," if you are a schoolteacher, you immediately get, "well, you're using it as an excuse." now, i don't want to use it as an excuse, i want to mitigate it. i want to make sure we address it. there's a bunch of things we need to do in terms of the advocacy, which this town hall is a part of, but also in terms of the interventions which people don't believe we can do. so i think that you have to have bo

about a year ago reverend sharpton, ann lee and randi weingarten, our president, came to toledo, andhey were touring the country talking about the connection between civil rights and the labor movement. and they came through ohio at a very, very important time because we were fighting and successfully did defeat senate bill 5 that would have taken away collective bargaining rights and the rights and voice of workers and suppressed the middle class. so they came in toledo, met with civil rights leaders, the faith community leaders and also we went out to a high school, and they had a great discussion with high school students. so when you look at the jobs act that we have today and compare it to what the aft and other unions were fighting so hard to push around the country, it's really clear there are two very different visions for our country right now. and those of you that were at the breakfast heard that articulated in other ways. you know, on the one hand you have the president's job act, um, which is meant to provide much-needed resources that would create construction jobs, put

please welcome randi weingarten. the link between education and poverty is so well established. even republican agrees that there is a link between miss education and a ruling -- lack there of. what is the link between poverty and the trout ability to learn in the classroom? >> let me just start by saying thank you, because we don't ever talk about poverty enough and it's always a one-off, and the fact that you are making this a priority so that we shine the light on poverty so no one can say it can be ignored. thank you very much. >> i appreciate it. >> i find it in my field just morally reprehensible that the debate is a total false choice. of the moment you utter the word "poverty," if you are a schoolteacher, you immediately get, "well, you're using it as an excuse." now, i don't want to use it as an excuse, i want to mitigate it. i want to make sure we address it. there's a bunch of things we need to do in terms of the advocacy, which this town hall is a part of, but also in terms of the interventions which people don't believe we can do. so i think that you have to have bo