Where companies, starting with the president of the United States really attacked workers and their unions. And then you tell hopeful stories about different creative and innovative ways that workers have been organizing in unions and other forms. And make policy recommendations. One of the things i have to say, a lot of books like this are criticized because they come up short on the policy recommendations but i hope we get into that because you really made quite a few, i thought, interesting suggestions on what might be done to restore the voice and power of workers in this country. Why dont you start by laying out where you see things right now . What is the status ofworking people in this country and their ability to shape their own lives at work . Sure. I covered it at the New York Times for 18 years. One of my concerns and interviewing people all over our nation is so many people have no idea what unions are and what unions do and how they help bring us the 40 hour work week and bring us pensions. The bumper sticker, unions, the folks that brought us the weekend. I wanted to explain to people, unions have achieved a whole lot in American History but now theyre in decline. Theyve been taking it on the chin and as a result, things are considerably worse for workers there was the case 3040 years ago. I think far too few americans realize that American Workers have it bad in many ways compared with workers in other industrialized nations. On basic things. We are the only industrialized nation that doesnt have a law that employers dont pay parental leave. The only nation that doesnt guarantee paid vacation. Four weeks vacation in france. For decades, our workers have been suffering terrible wage stagnation while corporate profits have reached record levels. I think a lot of workers get in their gut that something is broken and they are very frustrated. In my book, i tried to explain why things have headed south for workers in many ways. Worker power in the United States is arguably the weakest its been in decades. The percentage of workers, one in 10 workers are in unions. Down from one and three when unions were at their peak. Unions have their faults but despite those faults, unions have played a key role in building the middleclass and helping give workers a voice. Whether on job safety or pensions. Stopping bullying by bosses. Unions havehave played a key ro in washington. In recent years, unions have been on the defensive and Corporate Power has really trumped union power in many ways. I think we as a nation have to figure out a way to give workers more power to help create a fair nation. To enter wage stagnation. For example, we havent raised a wage in over a decade. That the longest time that the minimum wage hasnt been increased. I argue thats because workers have worker power is so weak in congress. Theyre unable to persuade members of congress to raise the minimum wage and its hard for millions of americans to live on 7. 25 an hour. One of the keys of the book is to educate leaders about the problems workers have and look at strategies to increase power for workers to help create a more prosperous nation for millions of americans and workers. Right, so, i think to a certain extent, a lot of people dont realize how few rights they have. For example, one of your suggestions is that we might go away from our Current System in almost all states. Accept i think montana. In which workers can be fired, a good reason, bad reason or no reason at all. Basically, you have no right to your job in this country. And use a just going towards just cause system where workers could be fired if they did something wrong. Or not just because the boss doesnt like were going out with. Literally, they can fire you for that. Most workers dont think that can happen to them. Until it does. As a reporter, i get a phone call from someone out of the blue saying my boyfriend got fired yesterday at work because he came into minutes late and his boss was angry about his attitude. That he wasnt smiling. Theyd say, isnt that illegal . The United States has at will employment meaning your employer can fire you for any reason or no reason. Except specifically illegal ones like race discrimination. And people dont realize that their jobs can be very precarious. Very uncertain. To my mind, one of the big problems in america that workers dont have enough power. Theyre scared to exercise their voice at work. I write about the Upper Big Branch mining disaster where more than a dozen workers were killed. The workers know about the dangers in the mind but they were so scared of speaking up that they didnt speak up about the dangerous gas filling the minds. Worker voice, workers are way too scared to speak up. Some people argue, we should move from an at will employment to just cause so that workers can only be fired for a legitimate reason. And a just cause system which makes workers more willing to speak up when they see safety problems or encountering Sexual Harassment on the job. The other issue you mentioned, raising the minimum wage. Its unbelievable that weve gone this long in this country without a raise in the minimum wage. As you know, the house we passed the raise the wage act. Which would raise the minimum wage in the United States to 15 an hour by 2025. Gradually, over the next five years or so. We would end the practice of having sub minimum wages for tipped workers who are disproportionately women and people of color and their taken advantage of. And that would put millions and millions of dollars into poor peoples pockets. Working peoples pockets. Workers, i think your point, have not had the power in politics to just get a decent shake in the United States in recent years. One thing that always kills me. I read some editorial pages, lobbyists complain about big labor and that lobbyists are extraordinarily powerful. I did some research and looked at, whos really powerful and big . I saw in 20152016 campaign cycle, business gave more than 3. 4 billion in donations. Which is more than unions. According to a respected, nonpartisan group. Each year in washington, corporations spend just under 3 billion on lobbying. Which is more than 60 times as unions. Which spent 48 million. I think that explains the problems we are seeing in washington. To me, it was clear that congress rushed to enact a 1 trillion Corporate Tax cut for business when corporations already making record profits and wall street already at record levels. How far can we go with this kind of income and on the inequality . Thats the question. Absolutely. It explains why to many folks in congress is doing nothing to raise the minimum wage because they are listening to their corporate donors. Want to talk about these policy ideas but i just want to emphasize to our viewers that i at least got so much out of this book from your stories. And i think its a great part of the book. Really the bulk of the book is telling stories of workers today. But also, throughout American History. So i want to ask you, dont you think that a lot of the stories you tell from 100 years ago say, really have a lot of relevance to today . Why dont you talk about the uprising of the 20,000 for example tell us about that story. I thought that one had a lot of relevance to a lot of the struggles workers go through today. And even a lot of the issues people would think, thats actually not just about work. Issues about immigrant rights and the rights of people of color in society. Minority groups. Sure. Happy to i read a lot of labor histories. Theres been a character that has fascinated me over the years. Her name is clara lem. She was born in the ukraine. She was jewish. Her father was very religious. She worked writing a lot of kids and relatives have moved to new york. She would write letters for them. Because she was very literate. She did some [indiscernible]. Her family moved to new york from ukraine. She has a very awas a very bright young lady. She was hoping to be a doctor someday. When she arrived in new york, she only spoke guinness. Only had a high school education. So what did she do . She worked in a sweatshop. And she was appalled at the conditions. She said i would often work from 7 00 a. M. 7 p. M. I going before the sun came up and i to leave work after. 67 days a week. Yes. Some of the bosses would sexually harass the women. Sometimes they have to theyd be rushed out of the bathroom for not more than a minute or two. Sometimes they have to pay five cents a week to use Drinking Water when theyre just making five dollars a week. She thought, this is appalling. She became an activist. She said im not going to take this. This young woman in her late teens and early 20s became one of the most prominent garment worker activists. People got set up and they started going on strike. There were long strikes at 12 garment factories. It was the decision that, there was a huge meeting saying should we have a general strike of garment workers to try to put maximum pressure on the factories . There was a big debate. The founder of the American Federation of labor was the siding over the meeting. And he was temper rising, well, i dont know if we should have a strike. I dont know if women workers are dedicated enough to their jobs. And clara, just 23 years old, stood up and said i think its time to call a general strike that im tired of being a poor working woman, struggling day after day. The place went bonkers. That began what was the largest trike to date by women in American History. Even to this day. To this day. They were calling for a 52 hour work week. We have a lot of young people that seem to think the 40 work week 40 hour workweek was handed down by god. It was won by struggle by thousands of workers and their unions. It was a strike that lasted two months in the dead of winter in new york. A lot of these women mainly jewish and italian immigrants, their families really went hungry for many weeks. After two months, they won. The 50 hour work week. They won the right to no longer pay for needle and thread. Most of the factories, they won the right to join a union and have union recognitions. One of the few factories that refuse to recognize a union was the factory. Two years later, there was the surrenders tragedy there were 146 workers died in the triangle fire. They were beaten up by sent in by their employers. So my question is, today, when we have these inspiring movements that we should stop mass incarceration. Black lives matter. That immigrant lives matter. That the daca kids are demanding our rights and the rights of other undocumented people. And the movement about climate change. When i read your account, i thought how inspiring for young people and activists today who are fighting for rights in this country. But i dont think in their minds they think, i better look to the early 19th Century Labor Movement for inspiration. One of my themes in the book is that is important. Active protesting to lift themselves up and improve their wages and the climate. But i also stress that agency is very important. They need to be willing to stick their next out and stand up and try to demand justice. Like kara in the uprising. At one point, thugs beat her up and broke 11 of her ribs. How many ribs do you even have . She didnt want to tell her parents because she thought they wouldnt let her go out and lead strikes. Also, explained that the thugs and goons would beat the jesus out of these young women. Police would come and arrest these women and let the thugs go. The police were so onesided back then and it shows how the establishment, the police, courts, or so aligned against the workers. Even despite that, the workers were able to win the strike. In the book, i write about modernday workers who used their agency to fight for better lives. He helped to fulltime fast food jobs. Like kara, he left for work at 6 00 a. M. , come back at midnight. He had three daughters. Hed leave home in the morning, returned after a second job. He complained and the daughters complained, you work so hard trying to make ends meet. He doesnt see his daughters most of the week. For a while, they became homeless when the hours from his job were cut off. It was crazy that someone that was busting his derricre, working two jobs could hardly make ends meet. He became an activist. As i explained in the book, i was the very first journalist in the United States to write about the. When it began 17 years ago and the workers were demanding 15 an hour, i said thats super ambitious. That pie in the sky. Here we are seven years later, new york, california, illinois. Massachusetts. District of columbia have all enacted 15 minimum wage. It shows when workers are willing to stand up. They really can achieve big change. A lot of the lessons todays activists, whether its climate activists or black lives matter or metoo, they learn a lot from the Labor Movement of old. [indiscernible] when workers stand up and come together, they can achieve historical change. Recently as i explained with the strikes in West Virginia and oklahoma and arizona. The teachers were tired of being beaten down. They said we are tired, we have to do something not just to increase our pay but to be sure the schools are getting funding they need. That classsize doesnt alone. That we have enough money to buy modern textbooks. The teacher strikes have sent a message to the nation about how worker power can help build a fairer nation. Lets talk about strikes as a mechanism. They were very important in building the middle class in this country. Talk to worse, you share information and storiesin the book , how many strikes and there were in the 50s70s. Why both because of law and weakness in labor, theyve fallen into near complete disuse. Tell us what your thoughts are today when we are starting to see the teachers, but also hotel workers. The auto workers at gm recently. My kid is on strike as a graduate employee at harvard. Tell us about the sweep and how you see it going forward. So in the 50s70s, there were far more strikes than there are today. In the 70s, there were 300 large strikes. A year. And ahad only been about 13. Far less. Workers had become intimidated. I think a lot of it happened in the 1980s. There was fairly Good Corporation between employers and unions. Employers were very prosperous after world war ii. And come to the 1980s, the United States felt pressure from globalization. Imports of german cars. Imports of closing. Tvs and radios. There was a horrible recession in the 1980s. Those two things put unions under pressure and made employers bold or about confronting unions. [multiple speakers] shortly after when he became president in 1981, air Traffic Controllers went on strike demanding large wage increases. And the four day work week. They engaged in an illegal strike. Reagan, it was a make my day, wet. Even though he had been president of the screen actors guild, he was very tough toward unions but i think hes trying to show, hes not going to let labor push him around and he fired 11,300 air Traffic Controllers for going on strike illegally. The union really mishandled the strike. They didnt work to get enough public support. So they were really clobbered. That was a major setback that really discouraged unions from going on strike. At the same time, reagans crackdown on the air Traffic Controllers really embolden corporate america. We saw this major decline in strikes. And also, we saw corporations getting much tougher whenever there unionization efforts. That made it harder to unionize. Thats a big reason why the percentage of workers in unions is half is what it was in the 80s. They engage in so many sophisticated tactics. They often spy on workers. If workers work to form a union. The number of strikes each year but has fallen to its lowest level in more than a halfcentury. But last year, something happens. I turned in the manuscript of my book, it was a quiet time for unions. And it was the only thing going on. Tens of thousands of teachers wearing red shirts went on strike in West Virginia. It explained how these two teachers, jay oneill, a spanish teacher named those two people really got the ball rolling. They were leadership formally of the union. Yeah. West virginia teachers unions are not allowed to bargain collectively. To give them raises. Cutting taxes to the rich. That really created a freeze in the education budget statewide. Was the richest man in West Virginia. He said, im going to give you a raise of one percent a year for five years. The teachers are upset about that because they have the 48th worst pay level in any state. It often led up, 300 500 a year. The government is offering 400 a year while their premiums would go up more than that. Two teachers started a Facebook Page. Once the governor said, we will give you this tiny raise. The Facebook Page exploded. Thousands joined it. Suddenly, you have this big movement. People are like set up. Fed up. The heat was turning up and up and it was getting worse. They were moving backwards economically because they werent getting raises when their Health Care Premiums were going up. They saw these tax cuts for the rich. They went on strike and they won a raise. They want the ability won the ability so that their Health Care Premiums wouldnt go up so much. They forced the governor to pay more attention. After years of starving the education budget. And then teachers follow suit and multiple others. What surprised many of our viewers where unions are supposed to be weak. Oklahoma, one of the reddest states in the union. I was watching tv and saw what the teachers are doing in West Virginia. I said we can do that in oklahoma. It was really an effort by the teachers and it happened in chicago. That the system is broken. The government is not spending enough on our schools. We are tired of austerity for our schools. Our kids are falling behind in our class sizes getting bigger. We have obsolete textbooks. The teachers went on strike to fight not just for wages for themselves but for a Better School system. They say we are not fighting just for ourselves, we are fighting for the community. And then the recent gm strike, theres very interesting aspects. The day the strike began, the unions chief negotiator said, this strike is not just for us. Its for all americans. He explained that you are also concerned about factories moving overseas. So are we. We are very unhappy about this huge factory in ohio, closing. Thousands of workers losing their jobs. Gm said, we have to close the plant because demand for the car thats made their is declining. Gm closed that plant but it kept open a plant in mexico that makes the chevy cruz. We dont want to tolerate this anymore. We want to try to stop jobs moving overseas. Where i would talk to the senior people, the members who were 10, 20, 30 years and i said what are you out here for . So many of them said im out here for the temps and these senior workers had not had a raise in a long time. They had a lot of their own concerns but they felt it was so unjust that they were working next to somebody making half of what they were and it was corrosive to the culture of the workplace and they wanted to and the whole idea of twotier wages and temp workers who had very few rights and they really succeeded in this strike in improving thatsituation tremendously. So you know, it really was a fight for a whole workingclass of the country, not just for themselves and was inspirational and i have to tell you something, i dont think this not enough attention. Not one person crossed the picket line 49,000 workers. Think about our society where people are, people say our society is so divided. In a, b and c ways area of political parties, race, wage, everybody on their smart phone not paying attention to each other. There were almost 50,000 workers stuck together for over a month and one change and i dont think we appreciate that kind of human solidarity in society anymore but thats what it takes to make change, i think host thats a great point and i think a lot of workers are frustrated. Theyre tired of wage stagnation, they are tired of low unemployment and a gm in many companies, a two wage system where they hire younger workers at much lower permanent wages next Older Workers who are making far more and a lot of people feel the system is rigged and i think thats onereason a lot of workers voted for donald trump. They thought he would be this magical guy who would on rigged the system and i argue in the book at that unfortunately donald trump has done many thingsagainst workers interests. Hes done nothing to raise the minimum wage, hes rollback overtime protections for workers. Public safety protections. Host he wants to reduce healthcare protections, obama took steps to require law firms to work in workers best interest in handling their 401 k s. That policy was scrapped. Host and i think just as many workers turned to donald trump looking for a way to raise themselves to unring the system, for the same reason many workers are looking to unions and i think thats why right now and i think thats why General Motors strikers are important and an annual poll by gallup found that public approval of the unions is at near its highest level in 50 years, 64 percent of American Workers approve of unions and the highest level is among young americans, 67 percent of them and theres a recent study by some professors at mit who found basically one into nonunion workers say they would vote to join the union tomorrow if they could whereas just one in 16 privatesector workers so theres this crazy disconnect that 60 percent of workers want to join unions but only six percent of privatesector workers join unions and i argue and you can explain the chapter and verse how corporations fight so hard to prevent workers from forming unions. Corporations hear that unions are going to make corporations share more of their profits and more prosperity with their workers and that mightreduce their profits and for years , the overwhelming idea in american corporate americawas profit maximization. And unions are saying thats wrong, theres too much income inequality. We labor unions are the most important effective vehicle to try to reduce income inequality and i think thats a big reason why public approval for unions is increasing and i say that even though i just saw the movie the irishman yesterday yet corruption has been a problem, yes for many years unions did discriminate against africanamericans and did not encourage women workers enough so i think that has changed a lot. Theres much less corruption in unions, theres too much and the legacy of discrimination against blacks and asian americans, hispanic americans is way behind unions. Unions see that a key part of the future American Workforce is women and workers of color and unions are saying we battle for everyone. Bluecollar whites and bluecollar blacks and immigrant workers and asian American Workers and women workers and i explained in the book that unions probably have done more than any other institution in society except perhaps our wonderful military ring workers of different races and religions together. Guest i am eager to leave enough time to speak about policy but people who want to read this book are going to want to read it for the stories not just the earlier ones but the more recent ones and i want to ask you to pick out a few ofthose guys as you know , it was fun for me to read this as i live some of them in my years at fci you and at the aflcio so for example, you could sort of take your pick but when i was at the aflcio, some unions collectively helped the workers at lax airport in los angeles organize their and we used the Community Benefits agreement structure was tinier by laying there andyou talk about that story. I got to march on the picket line at the frontier strike, the longest strike where nobody crossed the picket line in over six years in las vegas and you explained really i think in some really effectively and in detail how the Culinary Union, was called united here, union there has an incredible model of empowering and organizing workers, many immigrant workers who are Hotel Housekeeper as amiddleclass white. We brought a lot of young people into the Labor Movement through union summer and i thank you paul threads together in various places about the importance of young people organizing and you know, i mention my son area graduate employees organizing at different universities has been an area of growth for the Labor Movement so talk about, pick out one or two of the stories of the innovations that you have seen workers creating through workers centers, unions that you think could be promising models for workers to gain more voice and power in the economy going forward. Guest but he tell you to stories and ill try not to take too much time. I devote a chapter to the Workers Union in las vegas which has the Union Representing hotel housework waters and i write about them because in many ways there a model union that has done a great job letting them into the middle class, building a powerful union and i profile a Hotel Housekeeper named Francis Garcia who works at the mgm grand and she makes 19. 51 an hour and under the Union Contract to get 40 hours a week. That makes 740 a week and ill hundred 40,000 a year and i visited her apartment, she has a nice three bedroom apartment with three kids, shes raised them on her own. Class and the tremendous healthcare, youve got to mention that. He doesnt pay any premiums for her health care and doesnt need medicaid, doesnt need food stamps and i describe francis as the example to show what a good Effective Union can do to lift people into the middle class and in comparison by contrast the typical nonunion hotel worker in the nation next just 11 an hour cording to the bureau of labor statistics and they often dont work 40 hour weeks, they offer 30 hour weeks so that 330 a week, 17,000 a year and you cant raise a family, three kids on 17,000 a year. You can hardly raise yourself on 17,000 a year so the union is a great example of what unions can achieve. Also, so in the 2016 election is constant and pennsylvania and michigan, the union strongholds have all flicks from blue to red and i explain in my chapter on the Culinary Union about how a very powerful Effective Union that is the great job mitigating with its members, mobilizing them to get involved in elections to make phone calls , union played a key role in flipping nevada from red to blue. And i quote the president of the parent union as saying labor unions are strong in ohio, wisconsin, pennsylvania and michigan if they do what we do, communicate with our workers. Educate them about the economy going on in politics. Unions in those states can do what we did in nevada. So Francis Garcia, she fled honduras because of this huge hurricane, moved to the United States and shes fighting very hard for lifting other workers, for raising her children and i think the colors are a great example it seems to me this story as these incredible implications more for policy and the Labor Movement itself because if we didnt have to subsidize workers, say at another Hotel Company and all around the country where workers are making poverty wages or at walmart or other sectors where the vast majority of workers are nonunion and we the taxpayers are paying for food stamps or temporary assistance for needy families or so many other, medicaid. Its only forms of public assistance, if workers just were able to form their own unions they could take care of themselves and then theres the implication that you talk about in the book towards the Labor Movement where you think they need to devote more money to organizing area well, heres a union that did that area where they need to empower their own workers to take care of themselves instead of picking up the phone and calling the staff person, it sounds like theres a story that you tell in the book as implications broadly for the labormovement and for policy. A few responses, theres been these elaborate studies showing that a High Percentage of walmart workers and Amazon Warehouse workers on food stamps and those studies pressured amazon to adopt a 50 minimum wage at its warehouses so it is true that all these workers who worked really hard still unfortunately need federal food stamps and other assistance. The Culinary Union and i write about several aspects of specifically job improving , increasing wages and benefits stored workers and unfortunately many unions dont do a good enough job involving their members, mobilizing their members, communicating with their members area one of my points about the Culinary Union is does an exemplary job and i profile this housekeeper ranch is garcia, not only does she work fulltime reading rooms, not only does she raise three kids on her own, she volunteers a lot as a shop steward and goes to bat for coworkers who gets maybe punished for running five minutes late or have a hard time finishing cleaning their 14 rooms in the allotted eight hours and this is union where people fight for each other or they have each others backs and its a model because this union really did a lot of organizing, a lot of members involved in organizing drives while many unions have lost members over the past three decades. The Culinary Union has gone from having 18,000 members in the 1980s to 16,000 members, now its more than tripled in size while overall Union Membership in the nation as defined by one third so this is a model union that i think i recommend folks read my chapter on the Culinary Union. It shows what a union can achieve when it does everything right. I need to mention one other aspect of that story because i think im the only member of congress who use to run a state workforce system and you in the book talk about when an innovation might be having states on it administer Unemployment Insurance but be involved in job training and helping workers access it. Talk about how this union has gone beyond helping them access job training but the employer and union have created one of the most inspiring jobtraining systems in america so that you can come in as somebody with no training and start cleaning hotel rooms and rise to become a mactre d or a somali eight making hundred thousand dollars a year. Talk about their Training Institute because isnt that a worthwhile part of the story. Guest absolutely. Some unions do a great job training. The billing unions have positions, not everyones going to go to college and people see a great route is to become a plumbing apprentice or carpenter apprentice, electrician apprentice and people who dont go to college to pursue theseapprenticeships can get jobs that pay 60, 70, 80,000 a year. The Culinary Union working with the Hotel Casinos has this wonderful Training Academy at someone who is a busser, clearing tables and making 25, 30,000 a year , they can take courses to become waiters or bartenders and really double their salary to d, 60,000 a year and these courses are for free and if they really want you can take further courses to become somali eight, to become chefs and triple their salary and make 90,000 a year and this is all free and its a total winwin. The Hotel Casinos in las vegas need a talented, loyal, knowledgeable workforce and the workers are eager to climb and make more money and work in more skilled jobs, so this Training Academy, this wonderful Industry Union cooperative effort trains several thousand workers a year to give them more skills and to enable them to raise their pay and there are all these workers in las vegas who started as Hotel Housekeepers for as busters making not much more than minimum wage and now there making 50, 60, 70,000, 90,000 a year as somali eight, this academy where a worldclass sommelier is teaching these people about why, i attended a class with this amazing pastry chef teaching Hotel Housekeepers how to become pastry chefs. And its really for free and its great for the industry, its great for the workers, its great for society when there are these cooperative efforts to provide industry with the skilled workers they need to lift workers who are eager to move up in the world. Lets talk more broadly about this because you mentioned about policy and how we can help more workers in this Country Access is kind of life. You mentioned the Building Trades and they have incredible apprenticeships where theres this thing that everybody should go to college, a four year college and really theres no economist that has a model of our future economy where they can show that we need more than 50, 60 percent of the workforce to go to 4 year college and we are always going to need what you might call the middle skilled jobs, these jobs that require more than high school but less than a four year degree that are a ticket to the middle class and certainly could be if more industries were organized like the Building Trades are. So, but i dont think most people know that if you sign on to be an ironworker or a laborer or an operating engineer , electrician, plumber , all the different trades that you get education and work. You earn while you learn. You become a master atyour craft. Your offered lifelong education, just like a doctor or lawyer. You go back again and again like electricians go back to learn about installing solar panels and electric charging stations for example and your benefits are portable because if youre a construction worker say, youre going to build one building for six weeks or six months and then youre going to go to another one in each employer contributes to your healthcare and your retirement. So the question is how can we get this kind of a middleclass life for more americans . Because i think people look at the lowend Unemployment Rate and they say why isnt everybody happy but youve told the story in your fight for 15 chapter because all those people have a job, the darn thing is they had two and three jobs and they still didnt have amiddleclass life. So letkickoff the policy discussion , what are your top picks for policy changes that you think we ought to make so that more American Workers can have a real middleclasslife which is i think all we really want. Guest i was in the study for five years based in paris as the times European Economic correspondent and i wrote about companies and workers in germany and italy and france and spain and the netherlands and sweden and england and unfortunately, a lot of the folks i spoketo in europe would say they make fun of the United States. I have this term mcjobs, jobs which pay without benefits or vacation and they sneer at the low level of jobs in the United States and say the United States is a low road economy whereas i wrote in a story about mcdonalds workers in denmark averaged 20 an hour and have great benefits and get Luxury Vacations a year whereas job workers in the us average eight dollars an hour and didnt get vacation so i think something was broken in the United States and thats one of the main points in the book is that too often we have a lower economy with low wages and no benefits it makes it hard for workers to make ends meet to support their families and makes it very hard for family work balance so we have to figure out ways to improve things or workers. So in the book i really look at various models and strategies to makethings better or workers. And i think one way is i think our Campaign Finance system is broken. Corporations far out and worker groups and thats why the minimum wage. Period life is huge attack on Health Coverage for all and i think you have to fix our Campaign Finance system so is not dominated by the rich or not so dominated by the coke brothers, not so dominated by corporations and theres something wrong when one can get hundred Million Dollars and have a huge voice in the campaign and have much more say in a schoolteacher nurse or a steelworker and i think thats something we need to do quite im going to push you to rapidfire here. In the house we passed hr one which would for example have Public Financing for campaigns, people gave up the 200, it would be next 6 to 1 some states, cities have done so thats one. Let me ask you, i counted 17 proposal, i thought it was terrific and i say four or five of them are covered by what were working through in the house right now, protecting the right to organize. Or the product which we have passed through the education and Labor Committee which on the vice chair of and talk about briefly, what happens when workers try to form a union and if you have to name quickly three or four things that need to change that workers could actuallyform a union today, what would they need to be . As i said, we have this disconnect basically one into workers say they like to join a union that only one in 16 are in a union and i explained the corporations do such an effective aggressive job getting back unions and i have this line in the book thats been picked up saying the United States of all the industrial nations, corporations in the us try harder to be back and quash unions and corporations in any other country and a fire workers. They spy on workers and one of the crazy things that under federal law corporations that break the law to keep out unions cant be fine. They say no punishments whatsoever. It often takes years to win back the jobs of workers fired by supporting a union and i argue in the book that something is broken when corporations can frequently and repeatedly blessed break the law to keep out a union and only have the risk so i think we need need much stricter penalties to discourage companies from doing that. And i think another problem is that workers only bargain one workplace at a time whereas in europe theres industrywide bargaining which gives workers much more clout when they bargain with an industry. We have to figure out a way as a society because corporations so dominated now in worker power so you have to find a way to give workers more power in bargaining. So electoral moderate bargaining or Something Like that. Here in new york city , theres tens of thousands of uber and lift drivers and they cant unionize because theyre considered independent contractors but the new york city get a study finding that 95 percent of drivers make less than the minimum wage you have all these drivers driving 60, 70 a week falling asleep at the wheel so the city and enacted a law that creates a minimum pay, minimum compensation for uber and lyft drivers at 7. 22 an hour and their city is stepping up and saying something is broken or tens of thousands of workers and we want to do what we think is fair for the industry and for these drivers to help ensure they can make it easy living and not have to work 70 hours a week. Host one of the things i think your book does an effective job of doing is showing that there is the agency of the individual, theres the solidarity of groups of workers coming together and teachers across the state, whatever the examples are and then theres an ineluctable role of policy and were not different from europe because god ordained it or of the invisible hand, its countries, states, cities make policy that cause these things. So to wrap up, what is your, do you think theres hope for workers in america and if so, why because we got just about a minute left and i want you to leave us on an up note because i feel hope myself and your book gave me hope so why . Im feeling much more hope in a few years ago. Theres been a strike so workers are showing we are fed up and we want better. Public approval of unions is way up. Even donald trump is calling for paid family leave, something republicans opposed for years and Young Workers are standing up, graduate student unions in my profession, journalism, nurses are unionizing and teachers are filling the void so theres a sense something is broken in the workplaceand collective action , unions going on strike, working together even 20,000 google workers went on strike to protest how the company was handling Sexual Harassment workers see there are benefits to collective action, to working together to improve their lives and the family lives in trying to create a Fairer Society and a favor america. Thats great, steve greenhouse, i feel like your book lays out how we could have a more hopeful future if we connect policies that just can unleash all of this energy we seearound the country. Workers can come up with their own solutions to organizing and having a voice at work again so thank you so much for your book, for your work and attached for this conversation, i appreciate. Thanks for doing this, its been great talking toyou. All after words programs can be viewed at ourwebsite on booktv. Org. Over the years book tv has covered several authors discussing president ial engagement. Heres a portion of one of them. In your book you quote the Us Constitution is a primer on the issue of impeachment. The president , Vice President and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Other than the issue of high crimes and misdemeanors in the process of course the house of representatives shall have the power of impeachment to make formal charges against those individuals. The senate will have sole power to try all impeachments but no person shall be convicted not the concurrence of two thirds of the members present. Impeachment is just the first step. Its like an indictment and it requires a majority vote of the house and by the way, theres no appeal. You cant go to the court and appeal and impeachment and of course theres a much higher hurdle for removal as you point out, a president is tried in the senate. If the trial presided over by the chief justice of the Us Supreme Court and it does take a two thirds vote, two president s have been impeached of course, Andrew Johnson as bill clinton. Neither one convicted by the senate if you are convicted by thesenate , you are subject to criminal penalties for anything youve done while president , youlose your community. To access all the cspan and book tv archives on impeachment, visit our website, cspan. Org impeachment. Next, breitbart. Coms Jerome Hudson argues the Mainstream Media favors the political left and then its a program from our archives with anthropologist physician paul farmer who takes a critical look at the relief efforts conducted in haiti after the earthquake that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands on this day 10 years ago. And later professor Clifford Thompson shares his thoughts on politics and race in america. You can find more information on these programs and our entire schedule by consulting your Program Guide or by visiting our website, booktv. Org. Jerome hudson who joined us from Jacksonville Florida and his new book 50 things they dont want you to know. Mister hudson, thank you for being with us. Its an honor and a pleasure to be here. Begin begin with the premise of the book and you write the following area this book confronts the belief that elites hold dear. Challenges the prevailing wisdom and cut through the fog of sensor is Political Correctness and strip crippling our culture and shutting down serious debate. These 50 fax will spark millions of conversations that will begin to finally undo decades of damagero