my name is events with the labor union. we represent the majority of the maintenance workers at the recreation and parks department. i live across the street from the recycling center. one of the reasons we came here today was to talk about something most people are not talking about. that is safe working conditions for the people in the parks. they are gardeners, teamsters, carpenters, and a lot of times, they are confronted, not by members of the community. you could not find a group of workers that work better with the community than the gardening staff. there are folks that come in that are attracted to the recycling center that causes trouble. it is a dangerous situation to be in, especially for the females, but for all of us, when it is dark in the morning. we have to have the courage to address that. it is not that we are opposing anything more supporting anything. we believe that as a factor, the safety of the staff. these folks go to school. they're professionals. they want to garden. they don't want to pick up afte

the new york times." turning to laws to curb unions. pointing out that faced with growing budget deficits -- the elected officials from maine to alabama are pushing new laws is listen to limit the powers of labor unions.

the labor movement. there was an organization called the women's trade union made up of the upper and middle-class new york women who wanted to join women's labor issues with other issues such as suffrage, temperance, and education. they get involved with the il t w you to help with fund-raising and organizing for the strike. they held mass rallies and meetings, monster parade. most importantly they went down to the picket lines. female college students to walk in a witness to what was happening to the young seamstresses, which was pretty brutal because the company said hired thugs to police the picket lines. there were a lot of violent encounters. this played into the hands of the labor costs because the newspapers which are often more critical of labor, these are images that they really couldn't ignore and could not help but feel sympathetic with. young teenage women being beaten up by thugs who had been hired by the company to keep him off the sidewalk. and so you began to see a kind of public opinion trending in the direction of the seamstresses and the coat makers themselves. that particular strike en

next speaker please. >> i am a member of the local 261, the laborers union, and i'm here to support mr. courtney. i have served with him on several boards that the union has, and he has a very diverse aspect on things that i think he will be a great addition to the puc commission. supervisor campos: thank you. any other speaker? good afternoon. welcome to rules committee. >> thank you, and happy new year to you, supervisor. i'm with local 261, here to encourage you to place vince courtney on the commission as of yesterday. again, i've known fenced throughout the year as a union brother, a friend, and a colleague, and he is more than qualified. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> happy new year, supervisors. i'm here to support vince. oftentimes, communities have to work with unions trying to work up the best deal possible and trying to figure out innovative ways to be able to integrate people that are trying to get to work and trying to get to the limited amount of jobs and merge community interests with union interests. i have always found vince as one of

the labor unions are not having it, and they have a very powerful voice. >> we've got to put that off until after the special election. to your point, the only thing worse than what he's got on the table is what happens if this special election doesn't happen. if they don't pass the budget, and then they'll have to find $12 billion more in cuts because there won't be the revenue he's hoping for if these ballot measures, whatever they turn out to be, are passed in june. >> and unlike barack obama, to steal a line from another brown, willie brown, yesterday, this is the last rung on jerry brown's political ladder. at his age he is unlikely to run for higher office. he has bet all of his chips on this move. >> that's helping him. >> in making his case. he has everything to gain and no political agenda out into the future, trying to angle -- >> at least we think. >> we don't know. jerry brown can be unpredictable. >> belva: let's go back to the basics. what does he have to do by what timetable to get moving here? >> well, he needs to get the legislature to pass a budget by march and to pu

the powerful labor union says that its ministers, who resigned earlier in the day, but love be rejoining the government. the new cabinet contained too many of the ousted president's allies. [yelling] >> the revolution must continue he shouts to supporters after his arrival at the airport. after years in exile, the leader of the band congress for the republican party is back and running for president. the election is expected in march. >> this is a day of victory for me. i can feel free in my country. these men and women are free because they took part in the revolution. did is an incredible feeling to feel free in the country and the law to this incredible people. >> demonstrations continued in the streets. they rejected the government of national unity announced on monday because it included ministers that serve under the ousted president and of the -- ben ali. witnesses say the protesters were of less violent than in recent weeks. they also gathered in front of the offices of the ugtt trade union. they had resigned, saying that they would not serve with members of the old regime. >> th

they made war on the remnants of labor unions. hey passed nafta, and that was passed -- bill clinton is the poster child of bankrupt liberalism. [applause] >> clinton understood that if he did corporate meeting, he could get corporate money. and that the working class and labor would have nowhere else to go. and by the 1990s the democratic party had fund-raising parity with republicans. by the time barack obama ran for president, they got more. but the price of that betrayal. of the working class, that traditionally the democratic party and liberal institutions that once protected. and our great failure for those of us who care about ordinary, the rights of ordinary citizens is that in 1994 with the passage of nafta, we did not stand up for the working class and turn our back on the democratic party. [applause] >> we continue to support democratic politicians who spoke in the traditional language of liberalism, that betrayed every single core liberal value. the welfare reform, we now face the prospect with his new midterm election

the new government was formed on monday and included opposition members and labor union leaders for the first time. but a number of ministers from the old government were retained. prime minister mohamed ghannouchi kept his post along with the defense, finance and interior ministers among others. four ministers who opposed former president zine el abidden ben ali resigned on tuesday. about 300 people in tunis protested against the new government on the same day. police used teargas and batons to break up the demonstration. >>> the downfall of tunisia's dictator president ben ali was triggered by the protest of a young unemployed man who set himself on fire. similar acts are spreading to other arab countries. in egypt three men have set themselves on fire since monday. one of the men has died. his family said he had repeatedly criticized the government. in algeria four people have burned themselves in the past week. they were protesting the government's failure to fix chronic unemployment. arab leaders plan to meet on wednesday in egypt to discuss emergency economic measures. they'll att

technically right, but there should be no reason that we forebear helping the green movement, the labor unions the mek, all of those who have a role in a new iran to be built to safely and securely communicate with e anher. can do this and we need to do itow. [applae] secondly, we should realize that although it means pain to the iranian people, the time is getting shrt. he myhave boght a year or sobut it is nothe ultimate victory over the iranian nuclear program, and we need to do what we can to essentially stilize this horrible regime through sanctions together with enabng the green movement labor unions mek dhest i lie ned tte ep eyond those that would be approved even by a slightly reformed view of the oviet -- sorry, i need that slip from time to time -- the russians and the chinese. we need to basically utilize these excellent utilization of financial sanctions even more coming in and even more draconian way. i think what we need to do is pull together the elements of the secondary boycott essentially of all companies in the outside world, especially those in europe and asia that deal wi

the area's seagoing labor organizations specifically, the sailors in and of the pacific, the international organization of managers, maids, and pilots, the inland boatman's unit, and the marine firemen's union, i wish to express our support for this resolution. maritime labor would also like to publicly recognize carry mcclellan for the tremendous effort she put into addressing our concerns and for her work in developing what we believe will be a bit leading to a magnificent series of events for all of san francisco to enjoy for years to come. [applause] supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker please. >> we can only have one microphone on at a time, sir? >> about two years ago, i came over from the east bay by bart, and i walked past the craft center and the farmers' markets and the ferry building. i buy things. i get food there. i spend my money. then i walk down. practically every weekend, i'm out there, and i'm spending my money at local cafes and restaurants along the embarcadero. i would not have done this three years ago before i started coming to san francisco to sale. i'm probably one of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people who would come to san francisco to spend their money because

of the house education and labor committee to the house education and workforce committee so are conservatives showing their dislike for the word labor here or is it their way of showing workers unionsof the g.o.p. is blatantly not on their side labor union leaders are taking this name change as a sign the republicans are going to attack or place laws and regulations so that all these name changes does this just mean the republicans are revealing their true intentions by changing the names of the subcommittees the g.o.p. might be trying to overlook all the hype surrounding them to keep in mind a name and a title carry a lot of meat in this country. well u.s. secretary of defense robert gates is currently in china meeting with his counterparts in the chinese government and according to gates spokespeople this trip is aimed at improving our mutual understanding and reducing the risk of miscalculation but is it a little too late for that last week photographs of tests of china's new stealth fighter appeared in the media reports some officials announced that china's medium range anti-ship ballistic missile had achieved additional operational capability and people freaked out especially

the powerful labor union says that its ministers, who resigned earlier in the day, but love be rejoining the government. the new cabinet contained too many of the ousted president's allies. [yelling] >> the revolution must continue he shouts to supporters after his arrival at the airport. after years in exile, the leader of the band congress for the republican party is back and running for president. the election is expected in march. >> this is a day of victory for me. i can feel free in my country. these men and women are free because they took part in the revolution. did is an incredible feeling to feel free in the country and the law to this incredible people. >> demonstrations continued in the streets. they rejected the government of national unity announced on monday because it included ministers that serve under the ousted president and of the -- ben ali. witnesses say the protesters were of less violent than in recent weeks. they also gathered in front of the offices of the ugtt trade union. they had resigned, saying that they would not serve with members of the old regime. >> th

construction on the white house right over there and they're using nonunion labor so they don't sit down and tell me that you have to use because that was construction of the white house would be union labor right now consistently in practice project labor agreements are predominantly organized labor and that's the reason they're in place you know that that's why democrats lobbied for them so what do i say if i'm one of those construction work ninety percent of construction workers who can't get this job i certainly angry and become very outraged i'm a construction worker and if you join a union. well i'll give you guys are running out of time but you know i just think it's very interesting to see how much this is shifted over the years over the decades in america but do you think of this as a bit of a.

the recession. >> he attended a labor union reception, and in keeping with the nature, only hot dogs, chips and water were served. estimates are he spent less than $100,000 for festivities. and the new governor has to present a new state budget next monday, so he has to get right to work. we're told to suspect more cuts in the face of a $28 billion deficit. live in sacramento abc 7 news. >> and former san francisco district attorney camela harris was sworn in today at california museum for history, women and arts. and is the first female and first african and asian american attorney general in california. and lieutenant governor elect gavin newsom attended but did not take the oath of office today scheduling his own inauguration for monday. a spokesperson says it could happen sooner than that. he's waiting for supervisors to take office. and he is expected to name a new district attorney to replace harris. >> and there is a tom forlickson sworn in today, a veteran of the state legislature. he'll need experience for facing education problems in california. >> after 32 years and politics he may be emba

long ago set aside their interests in favor of expanding government, raising taxes, doing the bidding of labor unions and the personal injury trial bar, activist judges. americans are fed up with the repeated incursions into their liberty. however, their disdain for washington doesn't just stop at the party line. americans are fed up with democrats and can republicans who have embraced bailouts, championed so-called stimulus programs and supported big government giveaways. voters understand the true threat posed by this mountain of debt and are increasingly perplexed by bankrupt federal programs like social security, and they're deeply frustrated by federal officials who do nothing to address these serious problems. the american people are fed up with bureaucrats telling them how to live their lives, calling the shots of health care insurance they say they must buy. what kind of food they eat, what kind of lightbulbs they use in their homes. they're also fed up with elected judges telling them when and where they can pray. how we can display the ten commandments. this simmering frustration e erupted

the local mafia was. kickbacks. they are only relegated to a few sectors. they manipulate labor unions, and the businesses on the waterfront. they are less physical than they have banned in many decades. those decades were immortalized in movies. as a result, this way has deteriorated. >> what do these latest arrests mean? goshawk have been going after individual families -- >> they have been going after individual families. it is decimating the family. a lot of crime will be operated or run more like gangs. families were empires. many captains and associates, it is smaller operations. illegal gambling. you're getting the people at the very bottom now because most of the other guys are in jail. it will be weaker and used to be that you bought a loaf of bread and you were given a kickback not knowing it. you couldn't build a building without their permission. that is deteriorating now. >> hope the chinese president says that america should not be china. the country has no interest in pursuing an arms race. they described it as court chinese interests. there were a number of familiar con

technically right, but there should be no reason that we forebear helping the green movement, the labor unions the mek, all of those who have a role in a new iran to be built to safely and securely communicate with one another. we can do this and we need to do it now. [applause] secondly, we should realize that although it means pain to the iranian people, the time is getting short. he may have bought us a year or so, but it is not the ultimate victory over the iranian nuclear program, and we need to do what we can to essentially destabilize this horrible regime through sanctions together with enabling the green movement labor unions mek and the rest. i believe we need to take steps far beyond those that would be approved even by a slightly reformed view of the soviet -- sorry, i need that slip from time to time -- the russians and the chinese. we need to basically utilize these excellent utilization of financial sanctions even more coming in and even more draconian way. i think what we need to do is pull together the elements of the secondary boycott essentially of all companies in the outsid

fortune magazine put mussolini on the cover and lodded his braking of labor unions and his exultation of the industrial class at the expense of workers and we were saved because we had a liberal class the worked and was able to push through the kinds of reforms that reincorporate a disenfranchised working-class back into the economy. we face now situation and the possibility of an economic collapse that will rival the great depression, and i'm sure there are many of you in this room that read the front pages of "the wall street journal" and "the new york times" this morning. the euro is collapsing because of course they bought all our junk. the social upheavals are spreading throughout the country. there's serious questions about italy's liability and its ability to handle its debt, and there is a limit to how much can be borrowed and how much can be lent. and we have allowed our corporate oligarchs to take from us the final resources that could have saved us from precisely that kind of social upheaval. if you read paul krugman's columns in "the new york times," krugman, and he's righ

of the conclusions i came to in that book is that it is extremely important what the public, ordinary consumers, labor union leaders, the whole gamut, what they think the whole -- to govern is thus the government is going to do. if the mid 1970's, the government did not care about inflation. higher prices would produce higher wages and higher wages would cause higher prices and it that on itself. the government was unwilling to take the punishment of a recession deepens and severe enough to convince people that the government and the federal reserve really was determined to stop inflation and would stop it at any social cost. i think that that lesson has sunk in. even though the fed has kept interest rates very low, people do not expect inflation to increase, there for the business practices and wage practices are quite restrained. businesses do not raise prices because they do not feel that they can and workers are hungry for jobs and do not push for big wage increases. if the psychology changed, you could see a reversal of this. one thing that we have learned over the last 30 years is that economists and

technically right, but there should be no reasn that we forebear helping the green movement, the labor unionsthe mek, all of those who have a role in a new iran to be built to safely and securely communicate with one another. we can do this and we need to do it now. [applause] secondly, we should realize that although it means pain to the iranian people, the time is getting short. he may have bought us a year or so, but it isnot the ultimate victory over the iranian nuclear program, and we need to do what we can to essentially destabilize this horrible regime through sanctions together with enabling the green movement labor unions mek and the rest. i believe we need to take steps far beyond those that would be approved even by a slightly reformed view of the soviet -- sorry, i need that slip from time to time -- the russians and the chinese. we need to basically utilize these excellent utilization of financial sanctions even more comieven more draconian way. i think what we need to do is pull together the elements of the secondary boycott essentially of all companies in the outside world, esp

the local mafioso was. nowadays, they are relegated only to a few sectors -- that is construction, labor unions, and the businesseslong the waterfront. so they are a lot less visible than they have been in many decades. in those days were immortalized in movies like "the godfather." they have been so less visible. gerris way as a result has deteriorated. >> just briefly, what do you think today's arrests will mean for today's mafia? >> today's mafia, what is funny is that they have been going after individual families. now it's the lucesi's. i think it is decimating the family. so what i think will happen is that a lot of crime will be operated or run by gangs. families were empires with one man at the head, and many captains and associates and soldiers. now is the smaller operations -- illegal gambling. a lot of them have been involved in illegal gambling. q. are getting the people at the very bottom out. the top guys are in jail. it will be a lot uighur -- you are getting the people at the bottom now. it will be a lot weaker. you cannot build a building without the mafia cozy permission. i think a lot of that is

the companies who are here. webcor, thank you for helping us. amd, all the unions that are here. janitors, carpenters, laborers and operators are here, too. thank you to all of you. also to the mayor, he is the one that started the jobs program, here in san francisco. i want to let you know how the program works. the program is done september 30. now we have these four guys coming out of there and we have to give them a chance to go forward. they want to do something good. that is why we have these three apprentices here. more than 50% of these guys are san francisco residents. i do not know about the rest of the projects, but this one we have more than 50% from san francisco. thank you for helping us to make this project go forward. >> thank you. [applause] ok, benji, let's talk about community support. i did not know there was such a robust community of bocce players in our city. we talked to our partners, neighborhood groups, i see the folks from the barbara coast, and jerry crowley, one of the great leaders of san francisco, and they showed us the way to put the community support you need to put a project like this together in a publi

technically right, but there should be no reason that we forebear helping the green movement, the labor unions secondly, we should realize that irpeopgh it means pain to the the time is getting short ght us a year or so, but it is not the ultimate victory over the iranian nuclear program, and we need to do what we can to essentially destabilize this horrible regime through sanctions together with enabling the green movement labor unions mek and the rest. i believe we need to take steps far beyond those that would be approved even by a slightly reformed view of the soviet -- sorry, i need that slip from time to time -- the russians and the chinese. we need to basically utilize these excellent utilization of financial sanctions even more coming in and even more draconian way. i think what we need to do is pull together the elements of the secondary boycott essentially of all companies in the outside world, especially those in europe and asia that deal with iran other than by exporting food, pharmaceuticals, matters, substances and product still would relate to the basic needs of the iranian peop

the current labor contract between the nfl and the players union expires a month after the super bowl, the league seems headed straight for a lockout. that means no spring practice. no free-agency deals. and potentially, no 2011 season. >> it's unfortunate that we've gotten to this point. >> reporter: the standoff centers around two, key issues. first, revenue sharing. nfl players currently receive 60% of the league's $9 billion in annual revenue. but team owners say that's unsustainable, given the economic downturn. they want to reduce the players' share by about 9% to 18%. the second issue is the schedule. the league wants to add 2 more regular season games for a total of 18. the players say that increases their risk of injury and they deserve compensation. also at stake, local economies. >> we're not talking about penalizing the players only. everybody in the city hurts when this happens. >> reporter: players hope the economic reality of a league stoppage will influence congress to intervene. so far, lawmakers have shown little indication they will. the nfl owners are eager for a d

the labor movement in san francisco. >> well, that was what i wanted to get to because when it comes to the unions and labor or movement, you yourself have become sort of their personal target. >> that's true. >> so with that target -- that bull's eye on your bank does that lessen the issue? >> no, it only increases my efforts for pension reform in san francisco. i and jeff adoche have been sued by organized labor. we had to defend ourselves in san francisco superior court. the judge threw the case out fortunately for both of us. but the whole campaign of proposition b was a campaign of intimidation threats and just missed information mainly on the part of the special interest groups. >> what you saw not what you were getting into but you are still committed? >> still committed and still working towards pension reform and i hope the 100,000 people that voted yes on proposition b. a huge constit wentsy in constituent base. >>> transit workers will not have to pay for their parking at work at least for now anyway. the metropolitan transportation agency backed off a plan that would have charged muni workers $80 a month fo

almost three four years, there have been small protests by different segments of the population, different labor unions etc., but nothing of this kind of breadth and magnitude that cuts across different groups, different ideological trends and is just a really ready to confront violent apparatus of the state. it's just... we just haven't seen anything quite like this on the part of the egyptian people since about 1977. >> woodruff: so was it the protest in tunisia, the overthrow of the government there, that set this off? >> i think so. i think, you know, the protests in tunisia or ben ali's departure was maybe the match that set off this very large collection of combustible material. but the grievance that... in egypt now that we're seeing expressed in these street protests has been there for a long time and i can't shake the feeling now of thinking that this was a long time in coming. i mean, you have an inflation rate that's around 10%, official unemployment is 10% but probably the figure is double that. and for youth it may be even triple that, youth unemployment. then we just came off of a parliam

. >> if you are caught in north korea, you can be thrown into a labor camp exactly like the old soviet union. >> in the very countries founded as christian nations and contain huge christian majorities. some blame it on the elite. persecutors, not victims. >> we have elite universities basically teaching their dergraduates that the only villians are history were the christians. >> marshal says the elites are openly hostile. >> europeans who can otherwise be laid back get very angry about christians. >> there is an unwillingness to accept the fact that christians have become an endangered species. >> for many secular types -->> it touches on areas they are uncomfortable with. for them it is like the fingernails on the black board. >> aikman worries the obama administration or least obama himself? >> has not been as forthright as president bush. >> many countries contemplating a crack down on christians, doesn't matter, the u.s. is not going to complain. let's make life hard for our christian minorities. >> it can create martyrdom. >>> 2011 is a deadly year. latest attack in egypt. off border

he was a proud member of the carpenters' union and was appointed to this board to represent organized labor on the citizens planning task force in february 2006. he served as the vice chair of the planning principles subcommittee. he was a vietnam war veteran and a highly respected member of the san francisco tennis club. everybody loved to be on his team because of his incredible sense of fairness. he is survived by his devoted wife, juanita. clerk calvillo: thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor cohen? supervisor cohen: i look forward to having a more substantive conversation about this when it appears on our agenda, but today, i want to introduce this regarding the budget proposal as it relates to the redevelopment authority. now, it is no secret that the state of california has a budget shortfall of over $25 billion, it and it is in his proposal dated, i think it was january 10, that he proposes among other things to repeal the authority of the local jurisdictions, such as the city and county of san francisco, " and to eliminate the redevelopment agency. -- city and county of san francis

interestingly, david bonyer, a congressman from the detroit area with close ties to labor unions, and of course, being from detroit where the automobile industry is so strong, he says, yes, we would have wanted to have somebody else, but there was nobody else. clinton was the best that the liberals had. anyone else? >> yeah. two terms as american president or this current international global globe trekker. which do you think he's enjoying more? [laughter] >> well, i think bill clinton loved it. he really does. he gets up every day wanting to give the average joe a shot at the american dreamment i don't know about that, but i know he gets up every day wanting to meet new people and learn new things. he's lucky. now he has said that he has a certain freedom that he didn't have as president. he doesn't have the cast apparatus of power that he had in the white house and doesn't command a vast military establishment and a vast political establishment, but he has the freedom to concentrate on what he wants to, and he has sort of developed a reputation as kind of a global celebrity. he was

the nation's employment crisis took a big toll on labor unions last year. public and private sector groups lost 600,000 members. there are now less than 15 million union members in the u.s. or almost 12% of the population. more funding for facebook: it's raised $1.5 billion in recent weeks. that includes the recent private placement by goldman sachs, which valued the social network at $50 billion. the money will be used for expanding facebook's operations. and if you take your iphone 4 into an apple store for repair. you might be in for a surprise. the stores are now putting tamper-proof screws on those phones, according to a reuters report. apparently, it's to prevent people from taking the phones apart. but, apple has not told customers about the switch. no comment from apple. >> i love the car. i mean, it's done everything they've advertised on. >> susie: the nation's first chevy volt owner takes us on a test drive. some subtle signs that china is willing to let its currency appreciate. treasury officials say there was progress made on this touchy issue d