potential of affecting 85 million workers in the private sector around this country so what we have to do is mobilize not just organized labor but workers around this country to make sure that they let their senators know from their respective areas that we expect to have redress through the national labor relations board as we have over the last for workers 2014 may be one of the biggest years ever. no question. no question it s one of the biggest years ever, but, ed, you know, this is this is the i epitome of the attack and attacking workers throughout this country so we have to stand up with workers throughout this country and make sure our voices are heard. all right, gentlemen, it s great to have you with us. kasim reed and fred, always great to have you, fred redmonds from the international steelworkers. answer today s question and share your thoughts on twitter @edshow and on facebook. we want to know your thoughts on this subject and how important
isolating this into an organized labor argument. if you have a job, if you re one of the folks sitting in the mainstream who walks around believing that labor doesn t impact you, you re wrong. the reason that wages have been so stagnant, the reason that there s 2 trillion in capital sitting on the sidelines is because there s no energy to raise wages and pay people what they re worth. so this nlrb standing impacts every single person that s watching this show. you got to get in the game. fred, the steelworkers have been on the front line of all of this for a long time. what would it mean not having an nlrb? what would that leave for workers in their future. the mayor is right. the nlrb has not been designed to promote issues that affect organized labor. over 85 million workers that work for private employers are covered by the national labor relations act and only function of the national labor relations board is to enforce the
you need to focus on infrastructure, construction, roads, bridges, we actually did the opposite and because of republican intransigence we ve had to lay off mass numbers of public sector employees and it s impacting the economy and it s affecting people in cities across america. and this inherently affects more minorities in this country, does it not? there s no question. i mean obviously any time you have a spike in unemployment, black people and people of color historically are disproportionately impacted but if you go back and certainly look at the presidency over the last 30 years when we ve had economic downturn, there was a surge in public sector employment even under president george bush. just the opposite has occur in the last four years. it s been an attack, no question. no question. fred, what s the game plan to turn this around? what can be done? well, first of all we have to do exactly what the mayor said and make the case that this is not just a labor issue. t
nlrb here they are with six republican radical governors who made it their focal point and their future to go after public employees and take away their voices in the workplace, what we saw in measure 2 in ohio. what about the number, fred, of right to work legislation for the states doing this? how can we not view this as some major game plan on their part? well, we have to view it as a major game plan because right to work was historically contained the states in the south but now when we look at the attempts that s been made in places like ohio and indiana where right to work legislation has been put forward then we see this as a spreading phenomena, which give workers the right as we say to work for less which takes away their right to collective bargaining and take away their right to have a voice in the workplace so the irony of this, ed, when we look at what s happening in the congress today and in the senate regarding the appointments by president obama, the irony of this is,
67622 or go to our blog at ed.msnbc..com. i m joined by atlanta mayor kassim reid and fred recommenden. great to have you with us. we need to focus is on how serious this s mayor, your thoughts on the destruction of the board. my thoughts we need to act like it s urgent. there are a very small number of people who are acting like this is a big deal aside from you and aside from labor and people not in unions need to wake up and get it. the nlrb has oversight for 80 million american jobs and whether you re in a union or not your wages are impacted by how the nlrb behaves and how labor is treated. so when labor is treated well, even if you re not in a union, you need to care about this and we can t make the mistake of