Broadcast. You know, just so you know. Now, a bit of background. President trumka hails from southwest pennsylvania and comes from a proud family of coal miners, working his way through college and then through law school. He started his union work with the United Mine Workers and became the unions president at the age of 33. And then, since 1989, he has been working on the aflcios executive council and was like a and was elected president in 2009. We are on the record. Please no live blogging or tweeting. No filing of any kind mother breakfast is underway. While the breakfast is underway. The embargo is lifted when the session ends. Here are the important instructions for how to do this on zoom. We are hoping to make this as much like in person event as possible. That is collegial, conversational and informative. We ask all of the reporters keep their video on an audio muted unless you are speaking. To ask a question during the q and a, please use the raised hand function on zoom to help us set up a queue. To access raised hand some of you might know this already click on the participants tab of on the bottom of your screen and click raised hand on the window. When i call on you to ask a question, obviously unmute , yourself and introduce yourself by name and news outlet outlet ifd news you have not already done so. If i have not already done so. Followup questions are fine, but please bear in mind we have a bunch of people on this call and i want everyone to have a turn to ask a question if they want to. If you have a question about how this works or you feel you have not been able to ask a question, please direct a message to our breakfast assistant, noah robertson, and please make sure you are messaging him alone and not the entire call. Now, president trumka. If you would like to make brief opening remarks, the floor is yours. Thank you for that introduction. Thank you all for being here. I hope that wherever you are logging in from, you are healthy and you are safe. I look forward to this discussion every year as a kickoff to labor day. In many ways, it is a Progress Report on the American Labor movement. To the readership and resilience and it is a tribute of our movement that even when the state of our union is in such disarray, the state of americas unions is strong. Union members have answered the call of covid19 every day and in every way. We have served. We have sacrificed. We have healed. We have done at all. We have honored the country we love, the country that unions built. That is why new research from gallup released this very morning puts our Approval Rating at 65 . That is the highest since 2003. One of our best marks in more than half of a century. The problem and more than that the clear and present danger, is that too many of our countrys leaders have not honored us. They have not served us well. They have not protected us. There leading our country crumble and our people suffer. Donald trump and Mitch Mcconnell are at the top of that list. Remember what nancy pelosi and House Democrats did to make america whole. They passed the heroes act on may 15. That is 16 weeks ago tomorrow. More than 100 days. It would protect our paychecks and our pensions and our public services. It would save lives. Mitch mcconnell and his antiworker colleagues in the senate have refused to act. American workers are sitting awake at night worrying, suffering and mourning. Our bills are mounting up at the Kitchen Table because that bill sits on Mitch Mcconnells desk. Across america, some governors and mayors have tried to pick up the slack and they deserve credit. But they cannot do it alone. An unprecedented National Crisis requires a plan from the top. It requires vision and competence and management skills. It requires humility, agility and perseverance. And yes, compassion. Compassion for everyone who calls this country home. The crisis we confront today would challenge americas most revered president s. Our lives depend on the competence and compassion of donald trump. He is simply the worst president to have at the worst time. The worst part of this devastating moment is that it did not have to be this way. In 2016, enough Union Members defected from the Democratic Party to tip the balance in places like michigan and my home state of pennsylvania. When trump was elected, i committed to working with the president on issues where we can agree. I owed that to every working person out there, whether they voted for trump or clinton, or did not voted on. Because if working people are strong, america is strong. At the time, trade and infrastructure manufacturing stood out as areas for Common Ground. But donald trump failed. He failed to seek Common Ground with us. He failed to consult common sense or demonstrate common decency. He broke his promises on infrastructure and manufacturing. The jobs he said were coming never came. Instead of rebuilding america, he is tearing it apart. His tax cut for the ultrarich accelerated the outsourcing of good paying american jobs and worsened inequality. On trade, working people made some progress. But lets get the facts right. Nancy pelosi stood with us in blocking the United States mexican canadian agreement until we finally made it enforceable. Never forget, working people rewrote nafta. The president just rode our coattails. It is more than just broken promises that made him such a reckless president for working people. It is the relentless, reprehensible attacks. There are too many examples to name this morning, but let me point out just a few. Donald trumps appointments from the Supreme Court to the National Labor Relations Board to the department of labor have made it their mission to undermine collective bargaining. Every rule, every decision, every move has made it harder to live and work in america. Not since Ronald Reagan fired the air Traffic Controllers have we seen this level of unionbusting from the white house. Donald trumps disregard for Workplace Health and safety has been dangerous, delinquent and deadly. He has never had a fulltime director of the Occupational Safety and health administration. There were a few inspectors today that any point since it was founded. He has weakened enforcement of the mine safety and health administration, forcing miners to work in hazardous conditions. And as the soner and grandson of miners, that offends me personally. Donald trump inherited a pandemic playbook from his predecessor and he literally tossed it in the trash. He abandoned a workplace Infectious Disease standard they that could have protected our frontline heroes from covid19. Even after the virus hit, he refused to issue a National Workplace standard, leaving millions vulnerable to infection and in too many cases, death. What did we learn from all of this . That working people cannot afford donald trump. We learned that workers might not be able to survive another four years with him. Meanwhile, what has he learned . Precious little. After months of pandemic politics and generations of systemic racism, he is pouring gasoline on the fire. It is a transparent, ugly lastditch effort to scare some people into voting for him and scare others away from voting at all. Our country is sick and donald trump is making it worse. Our economy is weakening and donald trump is making it worse. America is hurting and donald trump is making it worse. America needs healing. He gives us division. America needs hope. Here is the plain truth. For the good of the country we love, working people gave donald trump every last chance to prove himself. It is clearer than ever for working people that to defeat coronavirus, economic inequality and systemic racism, we are going to have to remove this president from the white house. Can i jump in . Im just about done. Working people are ready to push america forward. We are ready to organize and form new unions. We are ready to mobilize and pass the heroes act so that workers can join unions freely and fairly, and we are ready to elect joe biden and Kamala Harris and Union Members and allies from coasttocoast. I will stop there. I wanted to give you a great quote from Lyndon Johnson but i will not. Maybe we can work that in able bit later. I want to get into questions. I will ask a few and then we will go to others. First of all, as you mentioned, bluecollar workers in places like pennsylvania are extremely important to Donald Trumps reelection. As you know, many of them voted for mr. Trump in 2016. Some of them for cultural reasons, whether it is guns or abortion or other issues that are not directly about labor or work issues but are very important to them personally. How can joe biden, a native of pennsylvania how can joe biden and the democrats win these people back and win back these northern formally blue states that are so critical to the democrats . First of all, i think joe biden knows something donald trump never has and probably never will. If you want to restore the economy, you have to defeat the pandemic and to defeat the pandemic, you have to keep workers safe. First thing he would do is keep workers safe. He would bring back inspectors, enforcement to osha so workers who went back to work way be able to do so safely without being injured, infected or even die. He has a plan to bring back america. The infrastructure that donald trump promised to do but has never done, including retrofitting 4 million buildings that would create 4 million jobs for workers. He understands the importance of manufacturing, and would do a tax code that would encourage people to manufacture here, unlike Donald Trumps tax bill, that has rewarded and encouraged people for outsourcing jobs. Joe understands working people and he understands that a job is more than just a paycheck. It is about dignity and it is about respect and it is about safety. He would honor all of those. He knows working people. He will do it for us. The other thing let me supplement that. You remember when donald trump ran, he said wages were too high. He has done everything he can to lower wages. First thing he did in the department of labor was on the misclassification issue, change that law, abandon the work being done. For overtimee law and 3 Million People lost over time. His national Relations Board is stacked with corporate lawyers and unionbusting lawyers and every decision they make is designed to weaken the voice of workers and lower wages. As a result, workers understand the promises he made is not exactly what he did, he did the exact opposite. Ok. I also want to ask you about Teachers Unions. Know, they are absolutely essential to get kids back in school in person so the economy can get going again. The Teachers Union has been a force in keeping teachers out of the classroom. What is the solution to this . Should the unions be working harder to get teachers back in the classrooms so parents can go back to work . Every teacher out there wants to get back into the classroom, that is what they do and that is what they love. Teachers are fiercely protective of their students and the community where they do business. Districts many school dont have the resources necessary to be able to put kids back in the classroom safely, so it protects the students and the professional staff. The heroes act, if it were passed would provide aid to the schools and would have helped us get kids back to school more quickly. Teachers are not going to allow their students or their professional staff and teachers to go back unless it is safe. And yet we have a president who is in a rush to get people back, but he wont do anything to help the School Districts get back safely. He will not pass state and local government so we can get those schools open and get kids back to school. Forspect those teachers standing up and protecting their students and protecting the communities where we do business in. Thank you. To unmute i want you yourself. To ask you a like question. Go ahead. Am i coming in . Yes, you are good. Ok, good. Happy labor day. Two questions if i might. Some, lets talk hardnosed politics. You mentioned labor states, such as pennsylvania, michigan, work each of the president s election, working people going to vote for donald trump and some numbers. How do you see both of those states and wisconsin all three labor strong states doing now . I think joe biden is doing well in all three of those states. We look at the promises that donald trump made. Let me get back and do a frame for your question. Workers back in 2016 did not think either the economy or the political system was working for them. They were looking for someone who would change the rules to make the system work for them. Donald trump said i am going to change the rules. I am going to change the rules on trade, manufacturing, so you get ahead. Years, he hasour changed the rules, all right, but not for the benefit of working people. Working people are smart. They understand what is happening. They know he is the most antiunion president we have seen in decades. Jobsve fewer manufacturing than when he took Office Almost 275,000. We have fewer mining jobs than when he took office. We know all the promises he made on infrastructure never came about. He presented a budget that actually had negative spending on infrastructure, not positive spending. Windows facts get to our when those facts get to our members, they understand he has not lived up to his hype. His rhetoric does not match what he does. Would you say he is ahead in michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin . Biden . Yes, i would. The other question i had is this a number of your predecessors , all of them were also strong voices for freedom worldwide. Strongwas anticommunist. Do you have any thoughts on what is going on in belarus right now in the persecution of a lot of demonstrators, many of them workers, coming out of factories at this point . I do. Ok . Yes . Is that your question for this year . I have another one. I got your question. Year you asked me a question and no butter how i answer it, you have a sensational headline and no matter how i answer, you have a sensational headline. We are working with our brothers and sisters around the world to bring a Free Democratic union around the world, including belarus. So you think he should go . I am not going to get into that. This is about labor day in the United States. Thank you. Bloomberg law. E go ahead. Thank you. President trump earlier this , your, president trumka rejected the idea of this affiliating with police unions, saying you want to engage members rather than isolate them. You weree same time sent a letter, calling your police reprehensible and said they will not and i quote sit down with those marching in the streets calling for death or loud voice that have indicted 850,000 men and women based on one incident. This is still ongoing in kenosha, wisconsin. What progress have you made an engaging and talking to your members . At what point do you give up those efforts and say that a consensus cannot be reached on this . First of all, let me correct what you said. Disaffiliate them from the aflcio. That is a technical correction. People have said you should dis affiliate the police union. Lets assume i did that. Now what . What happens . Does anything change . Nothing changes. It is still all the same. Of the harder thing, quite frankly, is for us to engage them and get them to change their culture and that is what we started doing. As you know, i set up a task force to deal with systemic racism. One of the subcommittees on that task force is dealing with Police Officers. Many, many,s many, most officers are good citizens and trying to do what is right. There are bad cops and those bad cops need to be weeded out. We need to help our members get the tools to weed those that cops out and have Police Forces provide the kind of safety that every community wants. We have started the process. We have 13 unions that have Police Officers and correction officers in them. We have one union that is independent, that is participating in that process, as well. We have started a conversation between officers and the community to try to see where we get. We have had several meetings, it is an ongoing process. In the long run, it will be successful. Rather than cut and run and say you are out of here, i did the easy job, we are going to do the hard work. The hard work of staying and changing a culture and working with all of our members so all of our members can be safe. All of the communities we do business and can also be safe. Did you want to follow up . Yes, i do have one followup. All that byerned at affiliating, it will undermine your sway with black urban voters in the election . Nodded all. Many of those officers are black officers or people of color. They are men, women, gay, straight, every walk of life and they are good people. They deserve a collective Bargaining Agreement and we are working with them. We are engaging people from the committee, the very people you talked about. We are saying, lets jointly define what kind of Committee Safety we want. What did we wanted to look like . What do we wanted to be . We are trying to Work Together with both groups and we are starting to make progress. It is going to take time. It will not happen overnight. I think we can get there and it is a lot better course of action to stay and fight and try to change the culture than it is to say your, im done, and i cool . I dont have anything else to do. Berg from the detroit news, just unmute yourself. Are you still here . Did we lose melissa . If we lost melissa, we will go on to eddie linsky from the washington post. Nmute yourself i wanted to get your differences. Can you tell me anything you heard of that your unions are doing in terms of turnout or pushing the message she said at states,in the swing through 2016. Yousecond question, are getting any feedback from members . I remember one of the striking things was the level of union support, union Member Support for trump, and do you have any data that suggests that has changed and shifted beyond the public polling. In 2016, trunk out three Percentage Points more than romney did. Three, so it wasnt this massive thing. It was clustered in a lot of important areas, which makes that 3 significant at that time and now. Heres what we did, right after the election, i started calling balls and strikes, and i started weekly munication, biweekly meetings with our simple later labor and general board, and started giving them the facts, heres what he has done that helped and heres what he has done that hurts. No editorializing, just giving the facts. Now, back to our grassroots level. As far as getting people out of the boat, we have started that as well. We have town hall meetings, doing more contacts with the locals, still doing things of that sort, but we wont do as much, if any, doorknocking because of covid. Media, al do social number of different social media, working texting, member to member texting, and we are encouraging people to vote early, vote by mail early. Those that vote early will be able to track that. We will try to convert them into volunteer workers for election day, because you saw what happened like in milwaukee. Normally, they have 100 78 voting sites in milwaukee. Five,rimary, they had because they could not had gotten volunteers. We will try to get volunteers and can vote those that vote early into volunteers so we can keep as many polling sites open. It is obvious what donald trump strategy is, to tamp down the vote and prevent you from voting by mail. By putting things in your mind that voting by mail is not safe. First, it is fraudulent, which he has no proof of, but you cant trust him. Members of our Postal Service, they do their job every day, use the facts. The Postal Service has the ability to do four point 7 million pieces of mail per day. Because of the pandemic during the scenes like christmas , they can go to 6 million pieces per day. Right now, they are doing 3. 5 to 4 million pieces per day because of the panda pandemic. That means they are capable of doing another 100 million pieces of mail per day, more than enough to cover the space we need to get voting done. We are encouraging them to vote by mail, encouraging them to go out, and encouraging them to run. We have the past power. We have run hundreds of thousands of our members in the last cycle, almost 2000 of our members elected to public office. We continue to do that this time as well. Is there any inperson geo tv at all that you are aware of t is happening, or it is or is it completely 100 digital phone calls and social media . There is still contact going on because we are still at work, so we are able to do literature drops and leaflets at work with people that are working, but if you are not working, it is more difficult for us to do that, but we still do a contact but digitally. And electronically through phone calls. So just the literature job is the only drop is the only inperson there will be a couple door knocks in nevada and arizona perhaps, but by and large, there will not be, yeah. I see Melissa Burke is back with us. Do you still want to ask a question . Please unmute yourself. I got disconnected. Thank you for doing this. I am with the detroit News Washington bureau, but it sounds like annie may have asked my question, which is what kind of ground game, how you guys have adjusted due to the pandemic. Your outreach, whether you are doing any inperson stuff is maybe the question that was just asked, so i apologize. Let me supplement one thing i forgot to say to her. We have in each one of our locals right now a local union court. That we coordinate with. That we can get information to and information from. Of the locals, particularly in the battleground state will have the coordinator get the information to members and back from members on a regular basis, a shortterm basis, so we can address them. When they have issues, questions about that issue, we can get them the information quickly. When they want to tell us something, they can get it to us quickly. Havehose coordinators become very important in our process right now. Did you say there is increased communication with members that is also due to the pandemic that you are also using as an opportunity to reach out more and encourage them to vote by mail or whatever it might be . Significantly more communication, because i have a meeting right now where i call every week our state feds, a 52 labor, and all central all 250 of them. I have a call with our general board and president of all of our 56 unions and all of our constituency groups. We have also had townhome meetings with one of our constituency groups to talk to them and with them, things on their mind and things we know we are addressing. So the level of communication is probably higher today than it has been in a long time. Are you concerned about the lack of canvassing and doorknocking . You think that will hurt . Any time you have to do things differently you have concerns. Completely a different game plan, the way we are running. Normal,can get back to we will melt the two together and cover all bases. Here, we are hoping there are no gaps we are talking to our members effectively, more effectively in some cases, because if you do a doorknocking nobody is there, you leave a piece of literature we are putting that kind of mail into their boxes every day now. For families, Union Members and union families. Thank you. Eliza collins from the wall street journal, please unmute yourself and ask your question. Thank you. You said you think joe biden is doing well in michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin, but you have any lingering concerns for something you would like to see democrats do more of to engage your members . Absolutely. I think they have to stay fast Kitchen Table economics. Economics that really affect workers and the issues that affect workers at their jobs. Joe biden has been doing a good job of that much better job then we did into any 16, and as a result, i think workers are paying far more attention. The advantage she has is twofold. One of the biggest issues facing us is covid19 and the president has done a horrible job, just flummoxed it completely. Butid not cause covid19, he is responsible for the response and he has done a terrible job. Joe biden know something that donald trump never did and probably never will, that you cannot beat or get the economy covid19ntil you beat and you cant beat covid19 unless you keep workers safe. Trump has never understood that. Biden does and i think that is a tremendous tremendous problem for him. In the issue spoke about specifically i think he has to talk more about Kitchen Table economics. I remind people of the broken promises trump has made, remind people he is the most antiworker present we have seen in decades. One followup. Are there any issues they would specifically like them to stop talking about . [laughter] let me. I dont know about issues i would like for them to stop talking about. I think theyre talking about the right issues. We talk about the economy and covid19 talk about workers, safe living, the tax code manufacturing infrastructure, how to bring the economy better , so those arefore all important issues. I cant think of any specific examples. Maybe not what they are talking about but how they talk about sometimes could be helpful. What do you mean by that . I mean sometimes, just the terminology that is used, and i said i could not think of any butific examples right now, i know that in the past, people would talk about something and i would think that felt real effective with working people. Theres a better way to talk about it just to be straight and say this is how it affects you. When donald trump appoints three busters who are supposed to protect our rights here is how it affects you you will get less wages and less benefits, that is the practical effect on you. Maria from the Austin American statement statesman, sorry. Please unmute yourself first. Im actually with inside u. S. Trade. Trumka, thank you for being here. Has the organization filed any you planllenges or do to use the Rapid Response mechanism anytime soon . We do plan on doing it this month. Concerns withdous mexicos ability to enforce their own laws. They have a system like ours but is a little different. There are people from the old protectionist unions who really arent unions all but an adjunct of the employer working to try to prevent the limitation of. He law ofet we will let you out jail if you promise not to organize for four years and that is a clear violation of the agreement, so we are garnering the facts on that. Later, two organizers were kidnapped and tortured in that same state. Let go and said stay out of this area dont organize. The message was that those employers and their at jobs, those protectionist unions, and i hesitate to call them unions because they are not that they were sending a message that its not going to be easy. And then you have the budget of mexico which has been on the way. Workingn the process of with the trade administrator and our members and people we have on the ground to develop the facts and due to cases. One will be on Rapid Response. And we think that when we do the Rapid Response and are able to stop product for coming in, it will get their attention real fast and they will understand they will have to change comply with the law or their products wont get to come into the country like they did before. There department of labor labor was given hundred 80 million for things like that. It has been parceled out very slowly. I dont know if any has gone out so far so we have been pushing the department of labor to try and get that money out. To do the Capacity Building that is next necessary in mexico to monitor and enforce the trade laws. We will file a case within the next 30 days. Lauren from the Christian Science monitor, please unmute yourself. Welcome, mr. Trumka. Unions are strongest workplaces where you have to show up to do your job. But the workplace is increasingly virtual, looks like a lot more people are going to be working from home post. Andemic how does that change the challenges workers face and what they think the movement offers these people . We offer them a voice on the job and the ability to come together, to have all workers come together whether you are , whether youtacked are a nurse, doctor or teacher, we offer you a strong voice. In this country we talk about inequality and when most people talkabout inequality, they about and inequality of wealth but there are two others they dont talk about that are equally important. One is inequality of opportunity and we are beginning to talk about that now Structural Racism , but the one we dont talk about so much is inequality of power. Corporations are too strong and they get stronger all the time. A Supreme Court that has never seen a Corporate Power they did not want to bestow. You can never correct inequality of wealth or opportunity until you correct inequality of power. Workers get that opportunity whether virtually or not. When that power is balanced out you will start to see better more fair decisions and you will start to see inequality drop. With the level of inequality that we have right now, we are on a trajectory to implosion. A system can only serve the people at the top so long before it actually implodes and you are starting to see the telltale signs of that. Harvard did a study asking millennials how important it is to live in a democracy. 30 said it is important. Not, 24 said it is bad. Why . Because millennials have lived their entire lives under the rules of position. They have seen their parents lose wages health care, pensions and homes, but they were told dont worry, go to school and get a good education and everything will be great so they went to school. They came out with a mountain of debt and they still cant get a good job. It is those millennials that understand whether they are working virtually or whether coming to work in a single place every day that having a voice on the job is the most important thing you can do and the only way you get a voice on the job is when workers come together and have a say to actually negotiate and balance out that power. That is what we offer. That is why we are at a 65 Approval Rating. That is why we continue to grow, what people in South Carolina or texas are joining a union right now. They have come together in some of the most antiworker antiunion states out there to form a union, because they need protection and power and the is by this get that evening. Are you finding it easy or harder to work on these virtual workplaces . They are trying to make it impossible. They came out of the rule that said we are not going to have any organizing during the pandemic and we literally beat them to death over that. They said we will have some drives, but they have done everything they can to make it difficult. Saying you dont have to give people or addresses, they have had to do that since the 1950s, for god sake. Now they want to say you cant do that so they are trying to make it harder and more to. More difficult. They have indicated rulemaking five times we can the act. Administration, and a crack or republic has ever instituted rulemaking more than once in a term. Hey have five going on and by the way, remember the laws that govern us were made in 19 seven. They were amended in 1959. Do you think those laws are still relevant today given what we are talking about with virtual workplaces . We need a new law. Law is calledew the proactive pro act. Joe biden supports it, trump does not. It will overhaul the laws to make the modern to todays work place. Mark trumbull, please him yourself. There are thinking about stakeholders more broadly colluding workers and communities and less thinking of their mission solely as nonprofits. So i am just curious to what degree you see some corporations walking the talk on that . Tos it extend to seeing eye eye with you on worker safety during this pandemic . Thinkingxtend to new on what used to be called worklife balance and may be working hours for people . Look, there are employers out there that i think really want to do what is right by their employees, i think that is true. Some dont know how but they would like to. Lets talk first and let me set the table for that because those employers you talked about changing, they did not do that out of all truism the goodness of their hearts. They understood what i just talked to you about, that if the path continues, we are on a trajectory where the current ,conomic system will implode because it keeps taking care of a smaller and smaller band of people, it will end. People will not tolerate a system that only supports those at the top. They see that coming and so they started talking about it. How do we make this broader . How do we make it at least look like we understand the problem . That we want to share this tremendous wealth in a more equitable way. So theyd started talking about stakeholders and shareholders we have not seen a significant change in their attitude. If you try to unionize a lot of places, they still employ part of the billiondollar union the industry trend keep the workers from having a voice. Here is the question. Let me broaden this out because i think it is an important point. When Technology Comes into the workplace, a union is able to bargain for fairness, a piece of that increased productivity to make sure that technology is safe and healthy and we get a piece of it. But if society does not have a mechanism to be able to do that, to share that wealth, so they are talking about them being all true mystic enough to say we have so much, let a little bit fall down to the people below us. It is a recognition that the system is threatened. If it keeps going on the angle it is thats why this act is so important. It would rebalance the power between corporations and employees and get a more fair balance, like it was, from 1945 until 1975 when the middle class was built in the two quartiles of the bottom end of the spectrum, their wages were growing faster than people at the top end and so inequality was collapsing. Started to reverse and they see the threat, so they are working on it. There are employers out there who care about the health and safety of their work and they work for them. Have employers out there who would like to see a thatnal pandemic standard we have been trying to get done that the department of labor just wont do, the Top Administration just wont do. They would like to have that. There are small employers who want that so they know what they can do to protect their employers and are working with them to that we can keep those workers safe on the job and keep those businesses open. It is growing. Areuld say slowly there more employers that understand that. Most of it right now is talking slowly we are increasing the number of employers that actually walk the walk when it comes to sharing those benefits, keeping workers safe and understanding the importance of having an economy that meets the needs of everyone in it. Followupust a quick for how this pandemic has really questioned the limits of the worklife balance and many working people stretch trying to take care of the kids at home. I dont know how many Union Members are being forced to go to work while their kids are at home. Millions. Think . Hat do you you see this is kind of a wakeup call that unions and employers alike need to do more to help people figure out this blend of work and life even after the pandemic ends . Absolutely. I think what this demonstrated is the need for us to be able to meet the needs to be more flexible with work things. I dont know how a single parent does it by now. If you have to go to work and keep a household going and then you have to take care of a child were to during virtual learning. I have know how you do that. And so we have to come up with a better way, we have to come up with better childcare options. We have come up with Better Health care options work in a different flexibility in the workplace. And i think this pandemic has shown us that we can, that we can change and we can be flexible. Need to work through that a little further and then fill up the holes. The pandemic has also told us that this present this president considers us expendable. Calls us heroes but considers us expendable. He ordered us back to work at the meatpacking place say you must go to work. No health and safety standards, not a one. Thousands of thousands are still being infected. He has voluntary standards right now, saying that is good enough. At meatpacking plant in northern pennsylvania, in fact they are working shoulder to shoulder and getting infected. Diders did nothing osha nothing, saying it is a voluntary standard. They admitted to what we have been saying all along that unless you have a mandatory standard, you have no enforcement power and now workers are getting sick. It does not provide for the 12 Million People who lost health care because they have been so that School Districts can do the things they want to do to get students back in the classroom. Understandst only he just wants the economy open. He does not care what price he has to pay to get it open and we were the price, the expendable ones he was willing to toss into the grinder just so he could say the economy is open and i find that sad and i find that tragic and too many of my members have died because he kept thinking about him rather than the president thinking about what is best for the country. In one here. Ow your term ends in a year, october of next. Are you going to run for reelection . . We will see, what we if you decide not to come is the next president a woman . Regardless of what i did the next time i hope the next president is a woman. Great. Annie linsky has another question. You were noticed while speaking that the wall street journal posted an article about the Firefighters Union and federal investigation into corruption. Im just wondering if there is anything you can say about the, if theres any kind of internal probe going on or anything you can add. You should know there is an internal election going on in the firefighters and just like a general election, many things get rolled around. Rooted out. Illegitimacy will be rooted out, corruption will be found and extinguished and those responsible will pay a price. But right now it is in the middle of a Heated Campaign and that is no different than donald sorry, sayingim barack obama was treasonous. It is outrageous and unfair. But it isn be illegal what it is part of what is happening. So its more of an election smear going on. I dont know the facts because we have not been involved. There is an internal investigation. When that reports out, we will take note of it and do what is appropriate. If there is corruption, we will ask for tickets rooted out and those who are responsible will pay. And if not, then those who hurled the accusations will be enough of a person to stand out and say i took my best shot, im sorry i was wrong. Thank you for coming to the first modern zoom breakfast. Thank you so much for joining us. I prefer meeting in person but i thought this was great. Thank you very much. Let me think the Christian Science monitor for doing this. I do enjoy doing this every year because i enjoy this type of discussion. I do prefer it in person the only thing i regret is its called a breakfast and i kept waiting for my breakfast to come and it never showed up i dont know what to make of all of that. Know you had your coffee and thats the most important thing. This afternoon, president ial candidate joe biden will be talking about the jobs report and the u. S. Economy. Live coverage from delaware gets underway at 1215 time eastern. Lindsey graham later chairs the do dishy airy committee, and will be part of a discussion on the role of judges and the federal judiciary. Thats hosted by the federal society Federalist Society live at 2 00 p. M. Eastern. Contenders, about the men who ran from the president ran for the presidency but lost and changed political history. And george wallace. The contenders, this week at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. When you read the things that were said about thomas jefferson, that he was an infidel and an agent of the french government, sounds a little reminiscent, doesnt it . The things said about abraham lincoln, the things said about fdr, that he wanted to be a debt ther, so it does come with territory, but in trumps case, at least in the modern political era, postworld war ii, ive never seen anything like it. Sunday on indepth at noon eastern, our conversation with Coalition Founder ralph reed whose books include his most recent forgotten country. Join in with your facebook calls, texts, and tweets. Posts, calls, texts, and tweets. Vice president mike pence delivered remarks at a cops for Trump Campaign event yesterday held at the raleighdurham International Airport in north carolina. The Vice President was inched reduced was introduced by tom tillis
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