seiu was admired from afar like being, they did organize lots of workers. but then somehow summer things that wrong. and i guess how it can what was wrong with the model, is that maybe and i know some unions tend to be really heavily staffed. the staff of these people, mighty bright college kids who really progressive and eager and they are well-intentioned but they don't have a base. maybe you haven't ever done the job. maybe there don't trust the workers to organize themselves. they organize and move on. i remember a debate over that kind of model of organization. if you're a staff person you have no political power. you can say this is wrong, or if you do here fire. hugo kim job somewhere else. i'm just kind of wondering what peoples thoughts are as to what it seiu go wrong. what to the promise of the, was it a false promise to start with? is it a bad model? just throwing out there for your thoughts. >> excellent questions. david is on the policy committee of labor notes, longtime rank-and-file activist. unexpected visitor here inside the beltway. i've n

one seiu of health care aides at risk in wisconsin and so on in other states.so within the public sector, at all levels of the occupational structure, workers are coming together, a line with students, with the community, with what remains the jury union activism to fend off these attacks. one of the things that i think is most inspiring to see in the bottom-up solidarity, sea and the rank-and-file initiatives commenced in the costing and networking, seeing people voicing their opposition to these attacks on collective bargaining and through mass actions that we haven't seen since public employees for scott organized in the 60s and 70s and industrial workers had the great upsurge in the 1930s. the question of course is going to be how to institutionalize that? part of the activist networks that are being created by these mobilizations in the midwest and elsewhere survive when and if some of their unions to lose bargaining rights and that is i think a challenging topic of conversation tonight. let me just say that i think we would've been in a stronger position

she also became president of the s&p nine you local in 1992 -- of the seiu local in 1992, and they went through the merger and transition in 2007. that has been four years now. karen was awarded an award and officially retired. congratulations from the san francisco city and county, 2011, concluding her term as the chapter president and as a member of the seiu executive board on august 27, 2011. we're going to be voting on the comparative agenda in a few minutes, declaring september 27, 2011, karen bishop stay in san francisco. it has been a pleasure to work with you. i have learned so much from you. thank you for letting us honor you today, and i just want to ask if the other supervisors would like to say some words, as well? president chiu: supervisor camera? supervisor kim: it is a good to see you today. i remember you explaining to me when you first came to the library years ago that the books were put in order by color, and you came in, and i think just by yourself, you had to order all of your book -- all of the books, and our school district had for many of our important elements

leaders, karen bishop, the president of san francisco unified school district chapter of sci you -- seiu. president chiu: i will be introducing legislation to help our city small businesses comply with our americans with disabilities act. when i served on the small business commission i heard from hundreds of small businesses as we have around our districts in the city that have been sued allegedly for ada violations. since 2005, there have been five dozen lawsuits in california, and over 300 businesses in san francisco have been sued, some of the multiple times and some have closed their doors because of the suits. the proposal i am putting forth is about ensuring that we are encouraging full compliance with our accessibility laws in doing this in a way that is transparent, fair, and hopefully bring about more cooperation between small- business is and landlords and building owners. this proposal does four things. it prioritizes building permit applications that involve work on accessibility complaints -- compliance. it requires landlords to bring ground-floor entrances and exits into c

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seiu cope is responsible for the content of this advertising.while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. ♪ got so many scratches and scars ♪ ♪ maybe time can mend us together again ♪ ♪ it's not what we've done but how far we've come ♪ ♪ i know that we will recover [ male announcer ] here when you need us most. >>> welcome back to "morning joe." you are looking at a live picture now of one world trade lit up in red, white and blue. we come up two days away from the tenth anniversary of the attack of september 11th. that day, 343 new york city firefighters were killed as they rushed down here to try to put out the fire and save lives. one house, battalion 9, the pride of midtown lost more than any other fire house. 15 firefighters died that day. one of the survivors here, lenny. it's been interesting to sit here with you for a couple hours. we were across the street in

seiu, afscme, and the nea. also were conservative groups looks the chamber of commerce, crossroads, and in many ways, aside from the policy difference, i would suspect, and i'm subject to conspiracy sometimes, that they want to try to break the unions, because it also stops the resources of the opposition. >> absolutely. they attack us in 20-some states that we have to defend ourselves, and you use the resources up to that you would use to educate. they try to get you to eat them up, but in this case it actually backfired. not only did it energized our members, it energized the general public. small business people, members of the religious community, all coming together to say you have overreached, we've had enough of this stuff, we elected you to create jobs, not make war on workers, and try to take away the only ladder that a lot of americans have into the middle class, and that's a union. we didn't elect you for in a, so we're going to come after you. look at what happened in wisconsin. >> i think you're ri

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the senate pro tiem is a former seiu attorney. if i were you in the afl-cio a lot of the private sector union guys are furious too. i wouldn't be defending those people. and a good progressive. >> thank you for the answer. mr. greenhut i'm the judge here and you will listen to what i suggest. stick to the question and answer the question. people have dinner reservations. [laughter] >> mr. greenhut do you believe in a. >> that is a really ridiculous question. >> yes or no. >> that is like asking if i beat my wife. yes i believe in democracy, yes i do. stand union members have a right to run for public office just like anybody else? >> do they have a right to take money without asking their members? >> final question. >> , so in a democracy people can run for office and they receive campaign contributions and they receive support from various corporations, from unions and individuals and so on. is it your belief that an elected official has no free will and is incapable of representing his or her constituents given a campaign contri

seiu cope is responsible for the content of this advertising. >>> we're getting more reaction now to news we broke here at the top of the hour in the "situation room" that the former u.s. ambassador to the u.n., bill richardson was scheduled to land just a while ago in cuba to try to get the release of alan gross, the american management contractor who was arrested in cuba in december 2009 charged with all sorts of charges, convicted, sentenced to 15 years. the u.s. says it wants alan gross out. we're now getting a statement from the gross family. let me read it to our viewers. we are pleased that the cuban government invited governor richardson to havana. we welcome any dialogue that will result in alan's release. we are grateful for his continued efforts. we hope that the governor and cuban authorities are able to find common ground that will allow us to be reunited as a family before the jewish holidays. they come up at the end of september. he was there trying to help the jewish community get better internet access. the cuban government accused him of -- that that was not authori

some proud sons and daughters of michigan representing working people here and across the country, seiusident mary kay henry. [applause] teamster president jimmy hoffa! [cheers and applause] uaw president bob king! [cheers and applause] utility workers' president mike lang ford. we are proud of them, and we're proud of your congressional delegation who are working every single day with your state and local elected officials to create jobs and economic growth and prosperity here in michigan and all across the country. i am honored, we are honored to spend this day with you and your families, the working men and women of america. this day belongs to you. you deserve a little r and r, little barbecue. [laughter] little grilling. because you've been working hard. you've been working hard to make ends meet. you've been working hard to build a better life for your kids. you've been working hard to build a better detroit. [applause] but that's not all i'm going to talk to you about. i also want to talk about the work you've been doing for decades, work to make sure the folks get an honest day'

some proud sons and daughters of michigan representing working people here and across the country, seiusident, mary kay and i, teamster president jimmy hoffa, the uaw president bob king. [applause] utility workers' presence mike langford. we are proud of them and brought of your congressional delegation who are working every single day with your state and local elected officials to create jobs and economic growth and prosperity here in michigan and across the country. i am honored. we are honored to spend this day with you and your families, the working men and women of america. this day belongs to you. you deserved littler &r. a little barbecue. [laughter] a little grilling. you have been working hard. you have been working hard to make ends meet. you have been working hard to build a better life for your kid. you have been working hard to build a better detroit. that is not all i will talk to you about. i also want to talk about the work you have been doing for decades, work to make sure that folks get an honest day's pay for honest day's work. [applause] work to make sure that famili