president james hoffa did send a letter to congress warning that the law would destroy the 40-hour workweek. but in recent weeks, unions have remained silent. i want to bring in lee saunders, president of the american federation of state, county and municipal employees. always good to see you, lee. good morning. good morning. where do you stand on obama care? we support obama care 100%. we know there will be some kinks that have to be worked out but you have to expect that. you had kinking in the social security program, you had kinks in the medicare program, so it s up to the concerned parties to sit down and talk about the problems that exist and work those problems out. but overall we think that it s a good program, it will be a good program. it will provide health care for millions of people across this country and we support it. you re a huge union so you understand what the challenges are. so what do you think specifically short of repeal would get unions on board with it
looting that broke out at a march diverted the story away from the injustices they were facing. it was part of the american federation of state, county and municipal employees, now the country s largest union for employees, 1.6 million working and retired members. joining me now is the current president of that union and the first black man to hold the title, lee saunders. he addressed those gathered for the march yesterday. lee, i think people forget this was a march for jobs and freedom. tell me why there s been such an attack on labor in recent years. i think they want to move labor out of the way completely. they have attacked private sector unions, private member down to 6%, public sector membership and unions is about 35%. they want to come after us. they still have resources. we still have power. they believe if they take us out as they did private sector
this very, very clearly and that s why he traveled to memphis in 1968. he understood the value and understood the importance of linking sift civil rights with union rights with labor rights, with worker rights. he understood those values. understood larger community to address those concerns. thank you so much. we ll have an eye on this show fast-food and walmart work and continued organizing both with afscme and sciu. thank you so much for your work. thank you. up next, a mother on a mission. trayvon martin s mom sybrina fulton joins me live. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i m janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality.
lincoln memorial platform on wednesday will speak volumes. the election of the nation s first black president serves as a testament to america s sometimes halting progress toward what dr. king that day envisioned as an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. joining us now martin luther king iii and the president of realize the dream as well as the civil rights leader in his own right, lee saunders is the president of the american federation of state, county and municipal employees. good to see you, good morning. i want to read a little bit of your op-ed. quote, in the 50 years since the march on washington for jobs and freedom, we have made tremendous strides in the fight for equality. we must continue to move forward not back ward. i fear that what tore this nation apart 50 years ago is happening again today. what is your imperative right now as we look back to where we ve come over these last 50
they got used to the great union benefits, the retirement health care. they got used to all the other, you know, handouts of money from the government, and when hard times arrived, it was impossible to in the end do anything because it would be seen as a cruel reduction of x, y and z. that s charles krauthammer giving the right wing take on the bruches in detroit. still with me is lee saunders from the afscme union, and dean baker, co-director for the center of economic and policy research. dean, you ve been seeing this ever since detroit filed, before it filed, that detroit is everything wrong with liberal governance. if they give everything out in handouts and public sector unions getting exorbitant contracts that you bankrupt the city eventually, you chase out all the makers, leave just