we'll ask richard trumka on ask al jazeera.m taking appropriate action in the face of such an >> we're back on talk to al jazeera with richard trumka president of the afl-cio. the minimum wage hasn't been changed since 2009. somebody who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year would make, at a level, is that a problem of unions but has that been a failure of some fashion? >> it's a national disgrace. we haven't kept pace of inflation. the fact that you're paying somebody 40 hours a week, every week of the year you're still below the poverty level, that's not what someone wishes to emulate. the index for inflation and kept there forever, so workers we truly do reward work. you can't say you reward people for working and pay them literally poverty wages. >> the fact that it hasn't been changed, who's to blame? >> all of us, the politician he are to blame. corporations that are to blame. economists that make the bogus arguments that they've been making for 100 years that if you increase the minimum wage, it will cost jobs. 35 incre

the president, the vice-president, richard trumka will be pounding the table at a closed door, white today. listen to what the head of the labors international union said. direct quote, here we go. if the affordable care act is not fixed and destroys the health and welfare funds that we have fought for and stand for, then i believe it needs to be repealed. elizabeth macdonald is following this. what do the labor guys want with this closed door meeting in the white house today? >> they want the same tax breaks, the uninsured will get if they have their insurance in the healths exchanges. the unions want the tax breaks. stuart: a tax subsidy. >> tax subsidy. stuart: they don't get it now and exchange people get it, but they want it. >> they want it. and they've got-- a union has a delay in the cadillac tax until 2018 and won that in 2010. three problems with this, it's against the law. the health law says-- that's right, guess what in the health reform law says the tax credits are meant for unsured in the exchanges not for those who already have insurance. stuart: you could change that

this is now a fshgs lshfl-cio c richard trumka smiling then. not so much now. >> we've been working with the administration to find solutions to what i think are inadvertent holes in the act. when the act was put together it wasn't thought completely through and so we worked on a daily basis. i'm hopeful we will get something done in the near future. >> all right. turns out he discovered those expensive cadillac insurance plans that the law goes after, well, they're like almost every union plan. they're expensive and the unions don't love the law. they want to change the law. that's why -- anyway, charles, melissa, adam and charlie, i am not doing that impression again. >> good. >> that's too bad. what do you make of that was fine then and notine now. >> reminds me of maury in "good fellas." >> remember he sold -- he was the wig guy. >> trumka is wearing a piece? >> the guy he feels like he set up the caper -- >> slightly more current than my abbott and costello reference. >> he was a key part and everybody's got new stuff but him. >> murray's

then remarks from richard trumka. deliversnet napolitano her farewell address. >> joining us on "newsmakers," the president and ceo. he covered economic issues for the "washington post." i was talking with some folks on the hill about being on that show. i said what should i ask him. he said ask him why it has become such a paper tiger. over the past couple of years, your priorities have not fared as well as the priorities of some of the more conservative, right-wing organizations like heritage and clubg for growth. we do not have immigration reform yet. we said we do not have infrastructure spending. you talk about the transformation of the republican party and white seems to be so difficult to advance the interest? >> i do not agree with the argument that we are having difficulty. inyou look at our record the courts, if you look at our record which has a lot to do with the regulatory process, if you look at our record in the senate which is important, if you look at a lot of the rings that we're doing, some of those

richard trumka head of the afl-cio recently told david shuster on talk al jazeera is having unintended consequences on workers. >> the affordable care act does need some modifications. what's happening now is you have employers that the law says if your employers work 30 hours a week or more you got to give them health care. they're restructuring to give 29 and a half hours so they don't have to provide them health care. they're also doing some taxing the nonprofit plans to pay for fosh for-profit plans. so the idea is sound. the country shurlt needs something done with health care. the millions of people who don't have health care should have health care as a matter of right and the act is a good first step. it just needs to be tweaked right now to make it better. >> do you wish that the administration was doing a better job articulating that? i mean you in 30 seconds have done a very clear explanation as to why this is a good thing and yet for whatever reason the white house can't seem to break through that easily. >> i don't know the answer to that. i think on some things the presid

we have to be able to outbuild and outeducate and outinnovate every other country on earth. >> richard trumkatonight. certainly you have a big convention next week. a lot of hot topics. the numbers are a little staggering. last year only 11.3% of american workers were unionized. that's the lowest percentage in nearly a century. 30 years ago, 20.1% were unionized. and unions some say are in a crisis situation right now. what do you say? >> i say we are in a crisis situation right now, ed. we're at a crossroads. we can actually look backwards and complain about what everything that has happened and all the things we haven't done, or we can look at ourselves realistically and change and go forward. open up our doors, broaden our support, join with all progressive groups out there and create a situation of partnership where our issues are our issues, not mine and your issues. so we're really excited about opening up the labor movement to our friends and allies and actually building a movement that can rebuild the middle class. >> and how are you going to do that, sir? >> well, we're going to do i

. ♪ ♪ >> richard trumka president of the afl coy, representing 12,000 workers, a long time low.mka says the workers need a better deal. >> we've given with our wages, we've given with our jobs, we've given with our homes. >> you can't look and say it's the president's fault. he's tried. now would i have done some things different? you bet i would. >> fighting for more jobs. a better deal on

the white house to speak to president obama and his team about the overall of health care was richard trumkahe head of the sci you at the time. there were the number one and two visitors to the white house. trumka was praising the fact that obama was seeing him all the time at the white house. on record for saying that. the biggest cheerleaders for obamacare for socialized medicine chests. now when the realities are coming down the pipe that the plans are going to be taxed. these satellite plants. there will be taxed more, losing benefits to be bad that the reality, all of us to a warning about somebody, now of a sudden they want to be exempted. major unions have already gotten e exempted from obamacare. they want even more exemptions. the longshoremen have always been left-wing. the reason that they are bolting for the afl-cio is because they think obamacare does not go far enough. the one single payer. melissa: all this noise that we are seeing on all sides, does it result in and getting the exemption that thereafter? >> i suspect that it will. i -- i don't know how the president is going

goldman sachs saying it, mercer saying it, donald trump atrump --richard trumka at the o saying it'sating part-time nation. record people are part-timers. >> david: morgan, here is where i will blame the president. past democratic presidents that followed policies that haven't worked changed the policies like bill clinton, for example. bill clinton, the first couple of years, it wasn't working. then he started working workinga not a moderate, newt gingrich. republican newt gingrich led congress with a democratic presidency, bill clinton. got real reform. for example, welfare reform. >> yeah, he should take a look at that. look at the polls. we have seen the demographics, the popularity has gone down in the last couple of months. in large part, the policies haven't been working. to more precise. we haven't seen a lot of policies. to rick's point a lot of that is congress is striking stuff down. one of the policies that president obama was looking to push through was an infrastructure bill. and that would have created construction jobs. when you look at the most vulnerable demographics

this is now a fshgs lshfl-cio c richard trumka smiling then.ot so much now. >> we've been working with the administration to find solutions to what i think are inadvertent holes in the act. when the act was put together it wasn't thought completely through and so we worked on a daily basis. i'm hopeful we will get something done in the near future. >> all right. turn

that is why i was able to make a deal with richard trumka. they have real needs in this deal. that is how we got the deal in the senate. by the way, that is how we're going to get a deal in the house. here are the reasons you have to do that though. we need it. everything we're doing we needed. b, and i say this for the republican folks, if you walk away from this deal you start the elections and 14 and 16 by handing the opposition a pretty good weapon to use on you. finally, and this is the important thing, if we could do that deal, you have a bill in the house. you have a bill in the senate. you do a conference. the president votes and signs it. he will say it worked. maybe we can do another bill. >> going back to the entitlement question. i know we want to immigration. specifically the white house and senate democrats have said we will do entitlement reform but only if republicans agreed to raise taxes on the rich. should they take that deal? >> saturday morning i went down to get a paper. on the front page of your paper was a pullout about the president going around the co

. >> president obama had a confidence with afl-cio president rimple richard trumka. especially a organization like kato, while there are many-o he that hurt bowmg, at the end of the day, cps organized labor is going to start calling for the repeal of obamacare in this situation. while it mate hurt unions, unions have been going on with democratic presidents who have hurt them for decades. >> hold on for a second, i want to show something. there is no doubt that this is going to hurt unions because the benefits are a big draw and that will you know hurt their power to attract members. and this is what terry o'sullivan said last week at the big afl-cio convention. >> if the affordable care act isn't fixed and it destroyed the health and welfare funds that we have all fought for and stand for i believe it needs to be repealed. we don't want it repealed, we want it fixed fixed fixed. >> that addresses what you are discussing, they want it fixed but that doesn't seem to be happening. michael you think we will hear more calls for repeal from the unions? >> well, i think so

richard trumka is on capitol hill this week to talk about immigration there's a great the chamber of commerce wants to see it happen and there's a lot of very high powered groups from all over the place who really want to see this happen but nothing is going to happen until they figure out what to do about both the c.r. and the debt ceiling i think. has to be mentioned in closing pinion from both of your meals is that there is going to run. hillary's making all the all the sort of moves it seems behind the scenes to run it at least and you know it remains to be seen i guess whether or not joe actually do it but i would if i were if i were just placing a wager on it i would say yes i'm going to wager that she would thanks to both of you very much look forward to having you on again thanks you're very well thank you guys thanks to our guest senator chris murphy of connecticut and rolled scoll roll calls neal's less new ski along with keith l.d. of n.p.r. and also thanks to you for joining us don't forget probably on twitter at kings things see you next week for another edition of polit

the afl-cio doing well richard trumka calls a crisis of membership that is really a crisis of declining membership adopting a resolution that allows anyone, anyone to join the ranks and not pay dues raising concerns among current members that the group abandoned the primary mission of worker representation to become nothing more than a political piece for the left. and elections taking place tonight that to give us a sense of what direction the nation is moving or what mood new york city and colorado are in. in new york elections could spell the end for a anthony wiener or in the spitzer or find out they are in a forgiving mood. a whiff of colorado recall election for those that supported tough gun-control law following the tragedy aurora colorado and newtown connecticut. tonight we begin with the president's eager the address to the nation. obama since the decision to attack syria to congress but now he wants to try diplomacy one more time after rush-hour brokered the ad hoc deal with syria but the year-old the vladimir putin has said must include united states removal of the threat of

general richard trumka will pull off one of the greatest victories of the health care law without anyonewing he will us secure the exemption for unions under the more costly provisions including the higher fees for the cadillac plans that dominate committee and with the employer switching to too many of the part-time workers of the you don't know much because i suspect no one will pay attention to because they are focusing on damascus. i am sure julia agrees to that point the view but jedi it is that a real possibility? >> they bouquets because for brought obama to say we don't need union suppor would be ridiculous. the unions came out in support of obamacare there was a lot of meetings that went on they were admitting that they let rob kumbaya -- rock obama no that if we don't like this you will have to be accountable to us because we hope to get you elected twice a get your friends elected over and over. platform of full-time workers going to part-time what does that do to the four dash hour workweek? neil: i don't think their sinister. i think they are stupid. [laughter] a lot of them

look at how the views of one of those leaders, richard trumka, has changed since the law passed. >> weade a difference in this fight and because of that, we're about to take an historic step towards our goal of providing quality health care to every american. this bill is a great step forward. it's going to give us long-term security. >> we've been working with the administration to find solutions to what i think are inadvertent holes the act. when the act was put together, it wasn't thought completely through. >> inadvertent? i don't think so. what i found out today, apparently the unions were told early on that continue to support it and this would be fixed for them. they just left the white house which they declined to make a statement. you never met a labor guy who declined to get in front of a camera. >> you got to love richie trumka. the earlier sound bite, they literally spent millions of dollars to make sure obamacare got through. today, or was it yesterday, he also said today that he's highly troubled by obamacare. are you kidding me? they pushed it. they got it through. they

. >> reporter: that was the same advice offered by richard trumka of aflcio, but the administration doesn'tant to fix problems by mending the law, because opening it up would give critics a chance to change it. bret? >> jim, thank you. >>> another positive day on wall street today, the dow gained 97, s&p 500 was up 13, and nasdaq finished ahead 36. >>> still ahead, harsh language from russia's president toward america's top diplomat. and what happened to the u.s., russia reset? first, brit hume on his analysis of the big stories of the day. >>> talked to one of the president's top advisers about syria, it is time for interpretation of that, and the other big story, obama care and salesmanship of a former president. senior analyst brit hume joins us. good evening. >> hi. >> how about president obama's wonkish speech, it was lessee motional about defending obama care than people thought it was billed as. >> might have expected and hoped for at the white house. don't call in the big dog for nothing. he can be a potent ally as he proved a year ago at the democratic convention when he spoke on b

imposes a 40% levy on general health plans, it is breaking from the aflcio, sending a letter to richard trumkaining about many things, including the tax, saying quote, president obama ran on a platform he would not tax medical plans and that the 2009 convention you stated labor would not stand for a tax on our benefits, yet the federation later lobbied affiliates to support a bill that taxed our health care plans. the tax is also pushing employers to change the insurance they offer. >> that is a big, big factor. every employer as soon as the law was signed said we're not going to pay the cadillac tax. >> reporter: which takes effect in 2018. pricey union plans and benefits required by obama care push premiums in that direction, so employers are cutting costs with high deductible, less expensive plans. >> deductible could be 3, 4, $5,000, below that, the consumer is responsible for expenses. they're often coupled with what are known as health savings accounts. >> the employee controls the money, makes a lot of his own decisions. we're always more careful spending our own money than spending som

publicly argued the affordable care act will cripple union workers due to skyrocketing cost, richard trumka took his case to the white house on friday seemingly upbeat, but not getting much of a report to the media. >> try to get it done in the next week. >> next week? >> yep. >> an act of congress? >> a solution. >> trumka in the past has pointed to the damaging effects of the swooping law calling it, quote, highly disruptive. his labor union saying they won't support the law unless changes are made to protect union multi employer plans. the white house, however, saying members are still not eligible for tax subsidies. releasing a statement and in part it reads, the treasury department, quote, does not see a legal way for individuals in multi employer group health plans to receive individual market tax credits, as well as favorable tax treatment. republicans such as mitch mcconnell are drawing attention to the fact that one of the president's biggest supporters is displeased with the outcome of the law. >> we know big labor is leaning on the president. we know they want him to let them rew

. >> reporter: a smiling afl-cio president richard trumka arrived at the white house for a closed-door meeting with the president and vice president on labors' mounting objection to obama care. he left flanked by other upbeat labor leaders saying little. >> going to try to get it done next week. >> next week? >> yep. >> an act of congress? >> a solution. >> reporter: as the nation's top union boss, trumka's complained the affordable care act has inadvertent holes and was not thought through. at the afl-cio convention in los angeles this week, union workers condemned obama care as, quote, highly disruptive and a tough resolution warning the cost of union health plans will be driven so high workers and employers particularly in retail, construction and transportation will drop their coverage. >> we'll be damned if we're going to lose our health insurance because of unintended consequences and the law. it needs to be changed. it needs to be fixed. and it needs to be fixed now, brothers and sisters. >> reporter: labor is demanding cadillac plans for high end health care coverage not be fed

i recently got the opportunity to talk with richard trumka, the president of the aflcio about what he calls a labor crisis. overall, how big of a problem is it right now? are we at a chris cal mass for unions? >> i think we're in a crisis stage. wages are stagnant for workers. the benefits are disappearing, and unless unions can come back strong, i think you're going to see the economy continue to favor the 1% at the top and the other 99% will be left out in the cold or be so stagnant and so left behind that we won't recognize this country. the middle class in this country is under assault. it was a trade union movement, labor union movement that built the middle class, and we're going to rebuild it again. >> some great back and forth in that interview and some tough questions. you can catch it all in two hours from now at 10:30 eastern time. more on al jazeera here after the break. "consider this" will be right back. >> "consider this" will be right back. ♪ ♪ >>> welcome back to al jazeera. i'm david shuster. here are the top stories this hour. the tributes are pouring in for david f

afl/cio leader richard trumka reportedly tried to get the group to soften. kevin coleman of the national federation of independent businesses says the unions' concerns and public rift over the law only highlights that when it comes to health reform, one size does not fit all. scott and maria? >> all right. thanks, bertha. >> if the unions do turn against obama care, will it survive? >> richard broski is senior fellow and public policy professor at school of business. served as a new york state legislature for 25 years. rick berman, executive director of the center for union facts. rick, what do you make of this u-turn here? it's very possible the health care law would not have even passed in the first place without the unions' support. >> it's clearly that's the case. and this is another example of be careful what you wish for. the unions probably should have listened to nancy pelosi when she said that we got to pass this to find out what's in it. they've now found out that if you do have a multiemployer plan or so-called -- that you don't also get along wit

richard trumka, president of the afl-cio, good to have you on the ed though. >> ed, thanks for having me. keep up the good work. >> "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton is next. >>> thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, making the case. today president obama announced he'll make a new push to energize a war weary public and unite a divided congress over military action in syria. at his last day at the economic summit in russia, the president announced he'll deliver an address on syria this tuesday. >> i will make best case that i can to the american people as well as to the international community for taking necessary and appropriate action. and i intend to address the american people from the white house on tuesday. >> the president said today he understands the skepticism over launching a military strike. >> i was elected to end wars, not start 'em. i've spent the last four and a half years doing everything i can to reduce our reliance on military power. as a means of meeting our international obligations and protecting the american people. but what i also know is that

now this offshoot wrote a letter to richard trumka, the president of the afl-cio who has been going alongnion addresses and this afl-cio is saying look, you let him tax our cadillac plan at 40%. we're not giving the unions what they need. in the end, if they don't really want a single payer system, they're not being realistic about the cost of that. so if they're upset about a cadillac tax, they better start getting upset about the amount of taxes that are going to come out of the paychecks of workers once we get a single payer system, god forbid that ever happens. >> steve: you mentioned that the long shoremen wrote a letter to trumka. here is an excerpt of it. it says: we feel the federation has done a great disservice to the labor movement and all working people by going along to get along. president obama ran on a platform that he would not tax medical plans and since 2009 afl-cio convention, you stated that labor would not stand for a tax on the benefits. but that is exactly the direction they're headed with this thing. going forward, though, historically, unions have fallen on tough

richard trumka expressing concern with some parts of obamacare to try to make the republican. point that there is labor opposition to the law president hoffa has come out and asked ted cruz to stop misquoting him for the record so how do unions really feel about obamacare for more on this as well as the latest in the labor movement i'm joined now by leo gerard international president of the united steel workers. it's great to have you with us again great to be with you go to thank you . first of all. they congressional republicans kim jong il obamacare you know what were the unions at actually look at the. ted cruz is the kim jong il of the republican party number one and the reality is that there are some concerns that we have a boat the affordable care act but they're not concerns we're saying crash the act we're saying these are things we need to work out over the coming months and years just like we did when we had medicare just like we did medicaid just like we do with social security all of those things go worked out over time and the reality is that these guys want to t

richard trumka fighting hard to keep the unions in-house on board and now he's even turning against healthm, because essentially, why do you need unions to do collective bargaining if your health benefits are coming up. stuart: i'm reading it, the white house is calling up labor unions, but they did it anyway, they called it highly disruptive. i think that's a big deal. >> it is a big deal. >> 110 days to obama care. >> and the unions have been the president's most loyal base. they've campaigned for him and health reform. stuart: quick update on the market. we were up in three sessions and now down just 6. look we're at 15,320 as we speak. russian put president vladimir putin taking the upper hand and even invoking god's name. strong words from the former kgb guy. more in a moment. ♪ take a chance, if you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down♪ ♪ take a chance ♪ if you're all alone take a chance on me♪ ♪ (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick tra

it's crunch time for obama-care. 3:35 eastern time, the president, vice president, richard trumka will be getting together in the roosevelt room because labor wants changes to obama-care. they want tax subsidies. the background is labor provided lots of money and campaign workers for the campaigns of 2008 and 2012. there is an implicit threat. if you don't change obama-care we might not turn out the way we did in 2014. i'll quote the labor union's cleave. 550,000 u.s. members. they say if you don't fix obama-care, repeal it. that's a heavy duty threat. 3:35 eastern, roosevelt room, white house. gregg: there have been a myriad of delays and exemptions and 2,000-plus waivers. what we expect something to happen late today? it's friday afternoon. everybody -- they have a history at the white house of dumping important things on the internet at the 11th hour when everybody is asleep at the switch. report * the white house has a history of an information dump late on a friday right before the weekend. it's possible you could see something like that again today. if there is a further exemptio

the very powerful afl-cio headed by white house ally, richard trumka who talked about how many meetings he had had at the white house and auld of that, very cozy relationship with the white house all these years but trumka says fixes need to happen or the health plan that its union members enjoy could soon become a thing of the past. some would say, hello? we've been talking about for a long time. stuart varney joins me now, the host of "varney & company." that has got to hurt. in fact, stuart, there was an effort, ap is reporting on the part of the white house to make sure this resolution did not happen. >> yes. the white house was putting pretty heavy pressure on big labor, calling labor leaders, please, don't put out a strongly-worded statement. big labor went ahead anyway. as you reported, martha, big labor is saying obamacare is, highly disruptive and they want changes. we got 18 days to the exchanges, 110 days to obamacare in full and big labor, one. biggest backers of obamacare in the first place, now says, watch out. change it. make big changes. because, this threatens the union

perhaps, they will have reconsidered as senator mcconnell said and realize that whether it's richard trumka lived up to its promises, and it's time for us to work together to try to protect the american people from the failure of this misguided policy. martha: all right. senator john cornyn, thank you very much. good to have you here this morning, sir. >> thank you. bill: forget the boston red sox winning over yankees in the alcs. that was nothing. fans are calling this one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. why oracle team usa and in this victory so special. that's next. >> to see this come back has been actually nothing short of incredible, it really has. good effort, awesome win for the u.s. martha: we are just learning that an arrest warrant has been issued by interpol for samantha luthwaite, the woman known as the white widow. 29 years old, she was married to one of the london transit bombers back in '05, and she is, some believe, a person who may have been one of leaders in the attack in kenya. so arrest warrant now issued from interpol for samantha lewthwaite. bill: it is o

in a letter to president richard trumka, dated august 29th, the head of the longshoreman's union saidhe 40,000 members are cutting ties with the federation. he cite ad history of militant independence on the part of the international long shore men and warehouse union. in his announcement of the disaffiliation. the letter cites disputes with the afl-cio regarding strikes and picket lines on the west coast but goes on to say, the iowu has also become increasingly frustrated with the federation's moderate, overly compromising policy positions on such important matters as immigration, health care reform and international labor issues. we file the federation does a great disservice for all working people by going along to get along. on health care, president obama campaigned on a platform not taxing medical plans but afl-cio later supported a bill with just such a tax in it. martha? martha: what do they say? what is the afl-cio saying about this split? >> reporter: nothing yet about the letter but trumka, spoke here in washington, the same today that letter was sent and he acknowledged th

our guest is richard trumka, president of the afl-cio. he has brought a guest that he will introduce. he grew up in pennsylvania and followed his father and grandfather into the minds. he worked his way through penn state and earned a law degree from villanova. in 1982, he was elected president of the united mine workers of america. he was -- it was a job not without risks. i read that he and his wife were married in a small private ceremony after a threat on his life wanted a large public wedding to be canceled. he survived and went on to serve three terms. in 1995, he ran to be secretary- treasurer of the afl-cio and became the youngest person to hold that position where he served for 15 years. he was elected president in september 2009. so much for biography, now to the portion of our program. we are on the record. fees, no live blogging or tweeting. no means of filing while the breakfast is underway. no embargo when the session is over. c-span and fox have agreed not to use video of the session for at least one hour after the session.

in its first instance but have been listening to their constituents like i have, people like richard trumka and organized labor who said the promises you made, this simply isn't performing as advertised and we need something to be done to obamacare, and we have solutions that will address that. if we can find five democrats to join us, perhaps those senators who are running for reelection in states that mitt romney carried by double digits, the senate will have voted to defund obamacare. it's just that simple. plenty of our colleagues have acknowledged the harm that obamacare is doing to our health care system and to our broader economy and now they have a chance to do something about it. now they have a chance to actually vote with republicans to stop this law before it's fully implemented. four years after senate democrats voted to enact obamacare on a partyline vote, no republican voted for it, all democrats voted for it -- the consequences of obamacare are plain for all of us to see. by proceeding to the house bill we're forcing each member of this chamber to take a stand either for or

then remarks from richard trumka. deliversnet napolitano her farewell address.

. >> good morning, well union leaders richard trumka look would fairly upbeat after he paid a visit toouse just yesterday. take a look. >> try to get in next week. >> next week? >> yep. >> an act of congress? >> a solution. >> certainly a different message from what we have heard before. to address labor union concerns over the affordable care act just shortly after his union passed a resolution blasting the sweeping healthcare law as, quote, highly disruptive. in fact that i convention last week, union workers warned that the cost of union healthcare plans will be driven up so high that workers and employers particularly in retail, construction, and transportation may drop their coverage. >> we will be damned if we're going to lose our health insurance because of unintended consequences and a law. it needs to be changed. it needs to be fixed, and it needs to be fixed now, brothers and sisters. >> now, this amid previous reports of a plan that would give union workers and only union workers subsidies to help pay for health administration. they said the treasury department had issued a