i'm a member of three unions. >> thank you. >> and i love being in unions, i love being in my unions. but, i have to say, it's very hard on people who are not in the unions because we union people sort of soak up all the money and there's not much left for everybody else (laughter) >> ben, i could tell you as front of a union construction workers, thank god for private unions. what the president is doing is right on the money. and let's delineate, private sector unions from public sector unions. why do people in the private sector unionize? guess what? working conditions sucked, and they fought back, and nothing wrong with what he's doing here. this should be applauded and by the way, i think conservatives are crazy going after him on a private union thing. do you know how many private union people, blue collar people vote republican conservative? >> listen, i've always been in a private union. i didn't like it. last hired, first fired. you basically tamp down talented people in-- you can't get rid of old people. >> well, you can't get rid of people who have been there longer who are

these are union prisoners of war. they have been taken to a camp outside of charleston, south carolina. and they're awaiting their parole and exchange. that is after they have been taken prisoner, they are going to go home. and so surrendering in the civil war is a fairly easy process. although there are widespread accusations on both sides that people are committing atrocities and executing surrendered prisoners early in the war. that simply does not happen. the prisoners' rights are respected, and they are sent and taken to a prisoner of war camp, taken care of and then after a short period of time, they are sent back to their army back into circulation so they can fight again. and this is kind of a marvelous image here because what do you see but none other than shelves of liquor. these union soldiers have a very easy life and essentially surrendering early on in the civil war is like being out in a game of tag. you're only out temporarily. and you can go back to rejoin your unit once you have been formally exchang

this union attacked occurred on july 22nd. the two northern vessels hit the arkansas glancing blows which appeared to not do significant damage. they cracked the engine's connecting rods deranging the arkansas's weak and unreliable engin engines. two weeks later the connecting rods broke and the arkansas's crew blew her up to prevent her capture by union gun boats. the arkansas had been able to get that far downriver because the navy department sent the welcome orders to take his fleet down to new orleans and then with part of it out into the gulf of mexico to avoid being stranded in the river as the water continued to drop. just so that we are on salt water i shall be satisfied and hope not to grumble at the fates that will take me out of the freshwater river. the failure to take vicksburg in july 1862 was part of a succession of union failures in the second half of that year which arrested the union momentum that had crested with the capture of new orleans and the river navy's capture of memphis. for the time being, the conf

voters and union members were in support of three strikes law and yet union leaders were launching aampaign against it . spending the union members monies on it. it is not right. thomas jefferson it takes people to support a cause they don't believe in it is sinful. >> they are voting away from unions. union membership went down consistently over the years. >> less than seven percent of the sector. i think unions are bad for the business and counselry. but union boss and the right to spend a billion on campaign bribes, that is leadership. i don't want a law. >> hold on, campaign bribings. >> i did say campaign bribes. if we are going to get a law to what next? you don't get a vote. >> you can't force part of what the unions do. they are elected members. >> yeah, but trying to go against the union leadership is difficult. they don't make it easy . it is not like regularly scheduled elections nationwide . where the state does not collect dues for the union members. the dews go down 90 percent. the people don't want the money to for politicings- politics, rest of the it no. >> bill, you

they want out of the union army. and they find they have some brethren in the confederate inmates because they want out of point lookout. so the bounty jumpers in and the confederate inmates start to conspire. the union guards actually start giving them weapons and ammunition. they let them build boats. and there are all sorts of attempts at escaping point lookout. of course, you're probably wondering how in the world did they try to escape point lookout? well, you had to swim for it, right? because you have to basically build a boat on the chesapeake side of the point, sail around the lighthouse and across the potomac river. the river is very wide at that point. but nevertheless, many confederate inmates attempted it, and some succeeded. one of the most humorous incidents occurs where a confederate inmate fakes his own death. every day when they line up the dead at the dead house, you know, they just kind of pile them outside the stockade. and one confederate soldier, while he was outside, he just put himself prone,

union soldiers that mobilized. they would go into temporary encampment here before going off to the front. but after the capture of confederate prisoners in february 1862, this camp now became sort of a permanent home to confederate prisoners of war who either awaited exchange or by 1864 were there permanently. and again, not a pleasant place if you were a confederate prisoner because of the conditions you had to endure. many were kept in freezing cold conditions. the -- at about 500 soldiers died within the first months of operation. one confederate inmate described the sickening conditions of those who were slowly starving or dying of disease. he said in the latrine behind the barracks i saw crowds of sick men who had fallen, prostrate from weakness and given themselves to despair. they cursed and blasphemed as easily as they groaned. there were many sick people who made their condition hopeless by breathing the stenchful atmosphere. exhumed bodies lay over with a few gasps intervening between them and death. suc

if you eliminate the unions, with scott walker facing a recall as a result of his union stripping with ohio union stripping thing like wisconsin's, being repealed in november. the huge backlash where it has been tried so far the republicans are pursuing it they don't say it's about the budget, it's about jobs. so in indiana, mitch daniels signed into law that state's brand new anti-union right to work bill. republicans there say it's about creating jobs in the state. republicans in minnesota advanced their effort to bring the same anti-union legislation to minnesota, too. same with republicans in ohio. republicans in michigan are considering pushing it there as well. the argument from these republicans is that this is all about creating jobs. but in the same way that what happened last year in places like wisconsin was not about the budget, this is really not about the jobs. because passing anti-union laws, anti-union right to work laws, does not appear to do anything to spur job growth. this is not a hypothetical thing, this is not theorhetical, this was tried, there is evidence. chec

you are union soldiers. it essentially created a riot among the union prisoners while lee is trying to take them back down to virginia because they didn't know which of those decisions they should adhere to. and it was easy for the general, general graham, he'll be exchanged right quick. but if you're a private you can expect of course to be in confederate captivity for some time. now, another important issue involving the cartel phase was the question of african-american prisoners. because they would never be exchanged under confederate opinion. in late 1862, southern commanders vowed to return all black prisoners taken in battle to a state of slavery. whether they had been free before the civil war or not. and confederate generals even vowed to execute white officers who commanded united states colored troop regimens under criminal law. many southern states had laws that said leading a slave rebellion was punishable by death. to them, being a white commander in a black regimen was akin to leading a slave r

the union you also need fiscal political union and she also said that you need a common treasury and know what is being discussed today by the n.c.a.a. agrees with this is easily one of the better willy's basin i think of england well . caney well i think the cd you think should be in charge in europe is that we're saying well let's you know i mean that's what i would hope that i would hope that we have more stronger so it would be seen as a half of the you have an art and in germany and this is an end drawing up the fiscal rules of europe as i hope that francois roll on if he wins the french presidential election this me will do but the reality is that what we've seen in the in the eurozone are very harsh and fierce fiscal rules and the fact is if alex salmond wins this referendum he would be doing a deal to drop similar fiscal rules with george osborne it doesn't sound much like independence from a tory tax and spend policy to me nor indeed think it would be for the scottish people as cases no instance because the bank of scotland has been independent the chancellor says nine hundr

the bottom line, maybe unions may need a union so the money is distributed where they want it to go.neil: ben? >> i don't have as-- i'm sorry, i don't have as big a problem with unions super pacs, because union super pacs represent millions and millions of americans, and millions and millions of americans spending their money to have their political voice heard doesn't bother me as much as say, sheldon adelson, one guy, spending 100 million bucks to get his voice heard. that's democracy. >> neil: ben, what do you think of that, ben? >> and there's nothing wrong with unions, they're perfectly legal, being in a union is a great thing. i can tell you as the only union member in this group. nothing wrong with them spending their money. they're on their knees and beaten to a pulp by foreign competition and the industry. you can expect them to try every measure to preserve their strength. >> it's not going to work, the public sector unions aren't on their knees. >> and the governor-- >> in a couple of months, and that's where i worry about it, but listen, like i said, this is a media bias

not for the unions to come in. that's how monopoly operates and to the point and they demand what they say-- let me finish, sir, david. >> brenda: let him make his point. >> when they come in and say, this is the fair wage, we're mandating this, that makes it very, very difficult for the, a company like amelia has to negotiate because the union said, look, is this a fair wage or-- >> amen, amen, put me out of business i can only do my margins, do my margins. >> a minimum wage, just like union members negotiate with employers. >> then you force me to accepted the labor overseas, you force me to go overseas. >> brenda: okay, i've got to let to bey have the last word here, he hasn't said that much. he's over in l.a., i don't know what's going on. >> there's not any oxygen left for crying out loud. when you're competing internationally, germany has a different type of labor union, but health care costs containment and you have to compete on everything. in the manufacturing business, particularly, when you're exporting,

this union attack occurred on july 22nd. the two northern vessels hit the arkansas glancing blows which at first appeared not to have done significant damage. but they evidently cracked the engine's connecting rods, potentially deranging the arkansas's weak and unreliable engines. two weeks later when the arkansas steamed down river to support a confederate infantry attack on the garrison at baton rouge, the connecting rods broke and the arkansas's crew blew her up to prevent her capture by union gun boats. the arkansas had been able to get that far down river as baton rouge because the navy department had finally sent farragut the welcome orders to take his fleet down to new orleans and then with part of it out into the gulf of mexico to avoid being stranded in the river as the water continued to drop. we don't know where we will be next, farragut informed his wife, but just so that we are on salt water i shall be satisfied and hope not to grumble at the face that will take me out of a fresh water river. the failure to take

it's where the sickest of the union soldiers lived. those that were too ill to even move out of the flooding waste area. here's another image showing you the stockade wall in the background and the pigeon roosts. and this shows you an image of the overcrowding. and, again, the prison camp was never expanded. it was continually packed with more union prisoners day by day. and the death rate skyrocketed. about 13,000 inmates died at andersonville or 29% of the population. or about 36 men per day. and to give you some comparison, the battle of gettysburg resulted in just about 10,000 dead, or 6% of those engaged. and it's probably unfair to compare the bloodiest battle of the civil war to a prison camp. but if you put this in some perspective, you are more likely to survive gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the civil war, than you were to survive andersonville. because 29% of the inmates died at that, while only 6% at gettysburg die from combat. and then this is a moving poem i saw about andersonville written by a captive. this is the t

>> translator: the fiscal union is not a transfer union. what we mean when we talk about the beginning of a fiscal union is what we have already decided. that is to say stability and growth, a pact which now is going to be binding. talked a l reducing the debt. people want to in their constitution sometimes. but for the first time, the right to come and check whether the member states have really translated the stability pact in their legislation. and if they have not done it, the european court of justice can sue them. it's a paradox, if you want. we have a stability and growth pact, which is like european legislation, if you want. for all the other european legislation, for all the directives, the supreme court, the european courtsu a country t have applied the directives and the country must apply them. but in the lisbon treaty, we said okay, we're going to do the same with the stability pact. all the heads have said oh, no, no, no. we're not going to do that. it's so important because it's hitting our budgets. so we don't want the europ

union soldiers torched a paper in bangor. ugly incidents all but directed at what people of the day clearly regarded not as loyal opposition but as the fifth column anti-unionism. the war department, a third agency involved, then contributed an order declaring tighter control of the telegraph office because intelligence was being given directly or indirectly to the enemy through the use of this new technology. and keep in mind as we talk about the different press culture, very contention press culture, there was also this new technology which had the same threatening impact on people as julian assange had in the 21st century, the idea of publishing anything anytime. so the war department placed 154 newspapers on an informal but chilling watch list. as early as april, telegraph wires had fallen completely under military control. but at the same time, only one or two sensors worked the telegraph office. so it was a warning but it was never completely enforced. and newspapers in the field, journalist notice field always had the

moreover, union represented the established order. mature nation recognized by the international community while the newly formed confederate states of america represented nothing more than a rebellious insurgency whose constitution, not ens dentley, enshrined the idea of slavery. with all of these odds in its favor, it's not unreasonable to think that the union should have ended the war in 1861 and not 1865. clearly, all of its advantages notwithstanding, it did not. today we're going to mark the 150th anniversary of what should, in a way, have been the end not the beginning of the civil war by probing this largely unanswered question of why. what went so wrong for the north and at first what went so right for the south? we have a distinguished panel of expert historians to explore this mystery and, of course, after we do some questions from the front, we will encourage you all to step to the microphone and ask your questions. this is a nice, long session. and i think we'll have time for lots of participation by the audience, which o

i find my union dues going toward political purposes of which i greatly oppose. >> my union was using my union dues to push political suicide i oppose. >> chairman says this is not an antiunion issue but rather one of workers' rights. >> do workers in unionized organizations have a right to know what it's being used for and whether it has to be taken from them. >> the states regulate part of this. 27 of them, unions can subtract workers from the paycheck whether they join union or not. >> this is a rider where they are obligated to provide services but not obligated to pay. >> 23 states have right to work laws. the supreme court ruled any workers who pay money to the unions also have the right to keep it from being spent on anything other than collective bargaining. a uaw member says it doesn't work for 40% of the union members voting republican. that means 6 million union workers in the united states alone feel harassed and persecuted because of the political activities of the union officials. >> democrats complain loudly that congress should examine corporate money in politics but a

to go into the union.y changed that to whoever showed up. if you had a thousand workers, and 200 came, 101 could vote. i think it is reasonable to hold the referendum. they will be represented. it will not interfere. you cannot just keep calling elections and keep everything in turmoil. you have to have some stability. with union representation, we have to be fair to workers who want to join the unions and that whole process in which you organize, and keep it transparent. host: to you agree with the caller, as he brought up something said have been proved by the union. it improved by the union. guest: -- that has been improved by the union. guest: we have not had an accident with a major aircraft in the united states since december, 2001. in smaller aircraft, we have, and we found out the situation he describes, not enough breast, et cetera, was taking place. we have -- not enough rest, but senator, was taking place. at the institution has administered some roles. after we did some of that, i said we canno

what union members have to do is resign their union membership, so a lot of union members are afraidbecause of the harassment that comes on the workplace from doing that. so fear keeps a lot of union members frommered exercising their -- from exercising their rights. but even after exercising their beck rights, there's something called the agency fee which is the minimum amount that nonmembers have to pay to the unions in order to keep their job. now, this agency fee is supposed to be a reflection of the true cost of unions to represent you in the workplace. however, we know that the agency fee also includes a lot of suntive and what they call -- subjective and what they call education alter that really is very political in nature. and one great example, i am a uaw member, and our monthly magazine called solidarity magazine is loaded with political propaganda from cover to cover. and it is, it comes out of regular union dues. the salaries of the officials who put that together, the printing costs to put that together, and the mailing costs to put that out to all of the membership, no

union troops? is that a myth or is that a reality? that indeed is a myth. of the approximately four million slaves, only about a half million left, 87.5% remained loyal to their slave owners. and that percentage doesn't take into account those slaves that initially left and were not very well treated by advancing federal soldiers and returned back home. now, blacks only served in the union army, myth or reality? that's a myth. the reality is that blacks served in both armies, that of the union and that of the confederate army. about 186 thors blacks -- 186,000 blacks served in the union army. and i tell of accounts of extreme valor performed by these black union soldiers. what about on the confederate side? we do not have good data to give you a firm number. you see estimates as low as 10,000 in the confederate army of blacks and as high as 930,000. i don't know what the correct number is. probably somewhere between those two. even if blacks served in the confederate army, they only served in nonmi

progressive trades union in san francisco. i see business leaders. i see community leaders. i see michael therriot. i see ramon hernandes. i see a lot of folks who worked to make is probably the biggest, most effective utilities district in the country. i am excited to be here today, but i have to confess that this idea did not come from either my desk or my office. it did not come from our organization. this idea came from the public utilities commission management team. they recognize, as do we, that there is a tone in this administration that reflects not just labor solidarity, which to here as often talk about, but city solidarity, engaging in a way that is in the best interest of the city as a whole. we are not afraid of that as a labor organization. we know that what is good for the city of san francisco and what is good for the community is good for the men and women we represent. i think it is an honor not just -- it is an honor for me to be here, representing our union, representing wonderful community leaders. i see

because passing anti-union laws, anti-union right to work laws, does not appear to do anything to spur is not theorhetical, this has been tried, there is evidence. check this out. this is manufacturing job losses in the united states since 1994. it's better to have a smaller bar on this chart, right, because that means fewer jobs lost. as you can see there is no correlation between whether you are a state with union rights or without union rights, in terms of whether you have been losing manufacturing jobs. killing union rights does not make your state more desirable for employers. there is no correlation. you want to look at one state's experience, longitudally, over time? look at oklahoma. manufacturing jobs in oklahoma from 1990-2001. in 2001, oklahoma passed the anti-union law. oklahoma passed its own right to work law. look what happened to manufacturing jobs in oklahoma since then. oh, they've fallen off a cliff. this is not to say that oklahoma's right to work law caused all those job losses but there does not seem to be any correlation to the job picture getting better, either.

the meadow bridges, they were all in union hands. by the end of may. and so joe johnston with his back to the wall so to speak said, look, i can't retreat any further. i'm at the last defensible terrain, i guess if i can't retreat, i'll just attack. so, on the 31st of may, he does just that. he attacks those federal forces that were in positions south of the river. assuming that those north of the river wouldn't be able to come to the assistance of that portion of the union army to the south. it was not a bad plan, but it was a complex plan and dealing with on-the-job training generals like pete longstreet who managed to get lost with a good segment of the attack force on the 31st of may, it really didn't go long for joe johnston, it took an even nastier turn when he got blown off his horse by union fire and badly winded. nevertheless the less the 1st of june the confederates continue to make assault but by this time the union force has been reinforced, bull sumner, edwin "bow" sumner comes down the grapevine bridge north of the river and reinforces th

the unions.d and chrysler extracting money against the will of employees and setting up a political committee that just funded republicans. liberals would be go were serk. but hundreds of millions of dollars in election cycles come from unions and the public sector employees fund the elections then sit act table from them to negotiate the next contract. where do you think the golden healthcare plans come from? >> listen, the $1.1 billion is pac money that employees voluntarily give to so their rights can be protected by electing people hole stand up for labor. to stand up for people who work for wages whetherrer in a union or not. this is just more regulation from an oppressionive republican government that doesn't -- from an oppressive republican government. you know what? you better dot your is, cross your ts and hire lawyers to get your regulations in. i enjoy the general zod look today. megyn: you didn't mean it. there was an audible look in the studio. christopher, you raise an interesting p

and south carolina says we didn't leave the union, the union left us. and therefore, now -- i don't know, david blight, how historians can say the civil war was not about slavery. i don't know what they were reading. because if i found it, you all can find it. and texas was even more ridiculous. texas said slavery was important to white civilization. that's right. mississippi said we can't -- you've got to have black people down here. so first, before we can -- so the civil war was about slavery. the people who started it said it was about slavery. they seceded from the union, they formed this. now, secondly, there would come a time when lincoln would realize he can't win this war without doing something about slavery. and he used the instrumentality of the emancipation proclamation. he used the extraordinary powers of the president which the president has when somebody declares war because these states had formed their own country and they were committing treason against the united states. he uses the emancipation proclamation in september 22nd, 1862 t

union. they say -- south carolina says, we didn't leave the union. the union left us. and therefore -- now, i don't know david blight, historians can read this and say the civil war was not about slavery. i don't know what they were reading y'all. if i found it y'all can find it. texas was even more ridiculous. texas says slavery was important to whilt civilization. that's right. mississippi said, we can't pick this cotton. it's too hot. we can't stand the fiber. have you to have black people down here. so, first before we can -- so, the civil war was about slavery. the people that started it said it was about slavery. they formed this secondly, there will come a time when president lincoln realizes he can't win this war without doing something about slavery. he uses the emancipation proclamation, extraordinary powers of the president which the president has when somebody declares war because these states had formed their own country and they were committing -- they had committed treason aga

store union. if you're seeing a lot more unions wanting to be aggressive in their messaging and activities. indeed in response to occupy wall street, many kenyans were quick to seize upon the 99% slogan of fixing it to buttons and signs for the october 5 march. by 5:30 on october 5 thousands of students and workers laughing chanting and reveling in the power of their numbers. is the sunset they trickled out of the square to the south marching towards liberty plaza and the occupation that occasioned their unity. just a little bit more. this is the biggest moment between labor and occupy, the moment of the first eviction. this is the night for. several working groups began reaching out to the movement supporters to the new york community in preparation for the confrontation that they expected the next morning. a call went out over the internet urging anyone who is able to wait make their way down the park. they secured a strong showing of solidarity from new york city unions contacting park employee