[laughter] >> i am a retiree from the uaw. i have been to madison, columbus for rallies. i went to beat john stuart rally for sanity. there was no political statement. it was a huge majority of progressives. is there any national rally plans in washington, d.c., in the near future? if not, why not? >> we have a national table right now put together that talks about this and we are doing a follow-up on what happened on april 4. maybe i should give you -- what happened on april 4 because we had people come together from all different walks of life. teachers, firefighters, autoworkers, everybody came together. over 1500 events across the country to talk about the need for collective bargaining. we went as far east as paris, france, and and as far west as afghanistan, where they had events. everybody came together for a common message. you have gone too far, let's get back to creating jobs. we are now talking about the very things that you say. where do we go with this? bringing people into washington, d.c., is sometimes very exciting. bring people into columbus, is sometimes

to recognize for the co-sponsor ship tonight at hoffman vice president of the writers' union of the uaw and current union affiliation. and i want to thank my publisher to recognize it great author, so many of you, if you are sports fans know that you are knowledgeable and incisive on the world of professional and amateur sports. a great new movie out and also the haymarket author. carat of the book to word got started last week in my hometown of boston and amherst at -- massachusetts and cleveland last weekend, last night we had an event with the baltimore orioles and a great newspaper guild member with the little place that is a radical bookstore downtown. i have seven years to prove that i was there and maybe busboys needs to invest into a hookie like this. how many people here? i know people inside the beltway 10 to be more respectable and button up but have you heard of him? guy take a back. good to see no longer there is the mccarthy era as people are willing to frequent the anarchist bookstore connected to the press and the progressive publisher and like busboys an independent boo

. >> i am of home care worker from united home, uaw -- uhw, and we are facing deep cuts in our benefits, which right now are not very much. it is a huge percentage of our benefits. given the potential state that's coming down, which will be 12% in july. that could be 20%. there is not a lot of money for our home care workers to pay the additional health and dental costs, plus many of our members are falling under the minimum amount. i have great concern about that. health care is one of the most efficient uses of our dollars, because every time we use its, we have five times the cost going as people go from home into institutions and people are first to use general hospital, so, of all the savings we are seeing going on, just on my own, i would like to say i am in league perhaps with the president in considering there are revenues. perhaps there is more of a political vacuum where we can only consider cuts that some areas of our economy are prospering, that there should be revenues available in those areas that we need to perhaps spend together as a city, to join up with other cities an

but in new jersey and all these other states, afscme, the ft, the uaw all following the lead of seiu, have organized in total five, 600,000 home-based workers, home health care, home daycare providers in the last 10 years, the biggest source of new union membership and have gained a very precarious foothold in the public sector for these workers who work in nontraditional work bases, predominantly female, nonwhite, often immigrant workers, many as in the case of our joint bargaining unit, childcare providers in new jersey would ask me. still trapped in the post-clinton world of work here. they are women on temporary assistance for needy families. so lots of this day, if you can call it in some media outlets about the overpaid benefit laden, privileged, protected, pampered public sector employee is the fact that there is a huge underclass on the recently organized at the second tier recently unionized public-sector employment, who are losing their rights and their recently acquired contract detection. the case in ohio with the stroke of a pen destroyed through afscme as me when sie you

[laughter] >> i am a retiree from the uaw. i have been to madison, columbus for rallies. i went to beat john stuart rally for sanity. there was no political statement. it was a huge majority of progressives. is there any national rally plans in washington, d.c., in the near future? if not, why not? >> we have a national table right now put together that talks about this and we are doing a follow-up on what happened on april 4. maybe i should give you -- what happened on april 4 because we had people come together from all different walks of life. teachers, firefighters, autoworkers, everybody came together. over 1500 events across the country to talk about the need for collective bargaining. we went as far east as paris, france, and and as far west as afghanistan, where they had events. everybody came together for a common message. you have gone too far, let's get back to creating jobs. we are now talking about the very things that you say. where do we go with this? bringing people into washington, d.c., is sometimes very exciting. bring people into columbus, is sometimes

[laughter] >> i am a retiree from the uaw. i have been to madison, columbus for rallies. i went to beat john stuart rally for sanity. there was no political statement. it was a huge majority of progressives. is there any nationa rally plans in washington, d.c., in the near future? if not, why not? >> we have a national table right now put together that talks about this and we are doing a follow-up on what happened april 4. maybe i should give you -- what happened on april 4 because we had people come together from all different walks of life. teachers, firefighters, autoworkers, everybody came together. over 1500 events across the country to talk about the need for collective bargaining. we went as far east as pas, france, and and as far west as afghanistan, where they had events. everybody came together for a common message. you have gone too far, let's get back to creating jobs. we are now talking about the very things that you say. where do we go with this? bringing peoe into washington, d.c., is sometimes very exciting. bring people into columbus, is sometimes very, v

uaw out against the strike.his is one dumb auto builder because when you -- you are going to be next and he was next because his brothers and sisters were next throughout the auto industry. we constantly have to minimize this tendency of people a rung or two down on the economic ladder rather than cheering those who are trying to hold onto their spot a little bit higher up are kind of rooting for them to slide down as well which and if it's no one as we know. >> steve i wanted to broaden out a little bit and god knows we have several wars and our labor movement here but can we talk a little bit about international labor movement and the fabulous you work you do with folks in colombia? the let's talk about international women's day because i don't want to the fact that 10,000 women, call center workers with t-mobile and twa and their counterpart in germany trying to use international women's day as a basis for solidarity a man at winning some kind of organizing rich agreement at what is now 100% wireless company

i think the problem is that unions and uaw and that kind of thing, they would make the wages -- i haveome relatives of there. they are making $80 an hour. companies that i had worked for because of this kind of thing, they have moved to china where they pay no tax. i want to ask the mayor if he is thinking about maybe we ought to change our laws and de-unionize michigan and the united states and get these wages back where they should be. the young people who are making money, that is not coming from the unions. it is coming from their skills, not their ability to join a union and pull the rest of their population -- host: we get your question. mayor bing guest: i am not anti-union. we were unionized. but there was a relationship with them that i think was positive. as a supplier to the industry, we could not pay the same wage rate that the big guys were paying, so we had a different pay scales, a different benefit package, and i think we were in line with other private industries and the private marketplace. the unions have done a good job over the years. i think they are taking steps

i think the problem is that unions and uaw and that kind of thing, they would make the wages -- i have some relatives of there. they are making $80 an hour. companies that i had worked for because of this kind of thing, they have moved to china where they pay no tax. i want to ask the mayor if he is thinking about maybe we ought to change our laws and de-unioze michigan and the united states and get these wages back where they should be. the young people who are making money, that is not coming from the unions. it is coming from their skills, not their ability to join a union and pull the rest of their population -- host: we get your question. mayor bing guest: i am not anti-union. we were unionized. but there was a relationship with them that i think was positive. as a supplier to the industry, we could not pay the same wage rate that the big guys re paying, so we had a different pay scales, a different benefit package, and i think we were in line with other private industries and the private marketple. the unions have done a good job over the years. i think they are taking steps back

you know that today, seven years later, every single member of the uaw at organizing person has beened or driven out. we are taking direct action. we will not let them violate the first amendment rights, freedom of speech, the right to be a union and to have collective bargaining. ouallies and friends, internationally, to join us in branding them human rights violators, and you will see this in the labor movement. t-mobile, all kinds of unions are saying we're finding other ways to protect labor rights because of the national labor relations board. >> if we put a cross section of the country o here, you know, bill hall represented group, what is the public perception of organized labor today in america? >> i think it is radically different. >> we have been doing polis for about four years. >> you have an interest in this. >> yes, as a matter-of-ft. about 10 years ago or 12 years ago, but people started saying "the unions are not so bad, but they really cannot help me." then about five years ago, something helped make -- something happened. "unions are not so bad, but they can help me

i think the problem is that unions and uaw and that kind of thing, they would make the wages -- i have some relatives of there. they are making $80 an hour. companies that i had worked for because of this kind of thing, they have moved to china where they pay no tax. i want to ask the mayor if he is thinking about maybe we ought to change our laws and de-unionize michigan and the united states and get these wages back where they should be. the young people who are making money, that is not coming from the unions. it is coming from their skills, not their ability to join a union and pull the rest of their population -- host: we get your question. mayor bing guest: i am not anti-union. we were unionized. but there was a relationship with them that i think was positive. as a supplier to the industry, we could not pay the same wage rate that the big guys were paying, so we had a different pay scales, a different benefit package, and i think we were in line with other ivate instries and the private marketplace. the unions have done a good job over the years. i think they are taking steps ba