On cspan 2. Cspan has your unfiltered view of government. We are funded by these Television Companies and more, including media,. At media, we believe that whether you live here or right here or way out in the middle of anywhere, you should have access to fast, reliable internet. Thats why we are leading the way and taking you to 10 g. Media, supports cspan as a Public Service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Now a discussion on workplace labor organizing with the president of the aflcio and union members. They discussed the importance of Community Engagement in updating labor laws. This was part of a conference hosted by the center for american progress. Hello everyone. That was okay. Hello everyone. There we go. Thats better. Im mike williams, a senior fellow at the center for american progress. I am thrilled to introduce our next two programs because we are going to be hearing about the state of labor in the u. S. The Union Movement moment is now. It has captured not only employers attention, but that of a whole country. Public support for unions has soared, with approval rates last year hitting 71 for the First Time Since 1965. Over 450,000 workers have gone on strike so far this year. Weve seen people from across a range of industries and states draw inspiration from each other as they demand better wages, safer working conditions, and a seat at the proverbial table. And americans now have the most prounion president in our history. President biden issued a comprehensive set of executive actions to give care workers the support they deserve. His administration passed historic packages, thats plural, packages which have centered the creation of ngGood Union Jobs in transformative investments in climate and Infrastructure Solutions for communities across the country. And just last month, he became the first sitting president to ever join a picket line, visiting the United Auto Workers on strike in michigan. Yes. This surge in Union Momentum coincides, though not coincidentally, with a surge in brazen antiunion and anti worker action from employers. Lets take a look at a recent example. I think the problem that weve had is people decided they didnt really want to work so much anymore through covid and thats had a massive issue on productivity. Chinese have definitely pulled back on productivity. They have been paid and paid a lot to do not too much in the last few years and we are seeing a change. We need to see employment rise. Unemployment has to jump 40 , 50 in my view. We need a new economy. We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around, and theres been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them as opposed to the other way around. So its a dynamic that has to change. Weve got to kill that attitude and that has to come through hurting the economy, which is what the whole global, the world is trying to do, the governance around the world are trying to increase unemployment to get that to some sort of normality, and we are seeing i think every employer now is saying it. There is definitely massive violence going off, people may not be talking about it but people are laying people off and we are starting to see less in the employment market. That has to continue across now. Who. Boo is right. So Labor Movements have to contend not only with attitudes like that, and the punitive actions that accompanied them, but with archaic laws that present obstacles to unionizing. So workers and allies have met the challenge with creativity. Our next two programs will look at how Innovative Strategies have led to the wins for workers and will help them capitalize on this incredible momentum. Aflcio president liz schuller is going to sit down with working people from four different sectors to share key insights drawn from recent worker led efforts. But first well take a deep dive into secular bargaining and organizing with seiu president Mary Kay Henry and member teresa breese. Please welcome them to the stage. Thank you. Thank you. Great to be with you here this morning. Thank you so much to mike and to Patrick Gaspar at cap. Teresa breese and i are so excited to be here to talk to you about this idea of how to build workers power across industries within a geography. I think about my last 40 years at seiu. I started organizing nursing home workers like teresa and i was in st. Cloud, minnesota, where teresa is from, in roseville, minnesota, and it took us two years. Workers walked through a gauntlet of harassment and intimidation. Their schedules being changed, their jobs being threatened, been fired for wearing a union button at work, every which way the employer could discourage nursing home workers from joining together in a union. Ur but thank god for teresa brees and the nursing home workers of 2023 in minnesota. They have big dreams and dig ideas of not going one nursing home at a time but thinking about how to unite all the nursing home workers in minnesota, 25 thousand at a nursing home workforce standards board, and teresa is here to tell us the story about it today through a conversation between she and i. So teresa, tell us about your job and why is this standards board such a dream of yours . Thank you for the introduction. The standards board united all n of us workers, every single worker in the nursing home, not just cnas, not just nurses, not just union. We gave nonunion buildings a voice because we are all under the nursing home workforce board that brought us all together. We used our voice to get this going. Testified before congress, you know the senate and the house in minnesota, how our workloads, short staffing, long, horrible hours and hopefully with the standards board they will help protect us as workers and not just nobody. You know, just a few like nurses and cnas are held above everybody else. Im sorry, it takes every Single Person in a nursing home to make that work. I work in housekeeping and laundry. I work long hours. I work 23 days in a row doing housekeeping, tore my bicep at work. All because we are short staffed. Two people cleaning a huge building for 140 residents. They ask the impossible of us. And its a critical job that you do, because if the laundry wasnt clean and disinfected, it would increase the infection rate of the residence, right . Yes. And you have been a pro as a healthcare provider. Youve been a home care worker, a certified nursing assistant, a pharmacy technician, and now you work in the laundry at roseville nursing home. Tell me how you got involved in fighting for the standards d board. I had a phone call asking if i would tell my story because of my injury and my injury happened over a year and a half ago. And im finally getting surgery to fix it in december. Thats too long. And the surgery is paid for by your husbands healthcare. My final fusion was just paid for by my husbands healthcare. My shoulder in december will be under workers comp. But with the standards board in place i dont believe i an wouldve torn my bicep and they wouldve protected me as a worker. When im telling my bosses and telling managers, im telling everybody, its burning, its killing me, it hurts. I go home crying at the end of the day. Im taking extra meds during the day. Im putting lidocaine cream on, all to try and get through the day. Because staffing is horrific. So the standards board, testifying in everything you testified five times, you told me, in front of the senate for. Five times in front of the senate. Isnt that remarkable . And i testified once in front of the house, and it wasnt just me. It was other coworkers from across the state of minnesota that came to the State Capitol to testify. We have people on zoom that testified. So we gathered everybody together and thats how we made this work. And with a standards board they are going to raise the floor for us. They are finally going to give us what we deserve. I made 16. 18 an hour right now, period. I work anywhere from 8 to 11 hour days, even with my injury, and you cant afford the healthcare, you told me. Cant afford healthcare. They want 80 to 90 of my check just for healthcare. I cant do that. My husband has good medical, so thankfully we have his. What do you imagine possible when you think about theres three unions currently that collectively bargain for Nursing Homes in the state, and these three unions are sitting at the standards board with representatives . Employers will be represented, and government. The idea is can these three parties think about wages and benefits for the workforce in minnesota that deals with the crisis of staffing, that teresa has talked about, that is endemic across employers and one employer at a time cant fix the problem, especially in rural minnesota. So may be the standard board is a way for workers to make the case and for employers to join you in problemsolving how do we fill the jobs and get the staffing level so you can be respected, protected, and paid what youre worth . By raising wages. If they raise the wages while we are fighting for a 25 an hour starting wage for every Single Person that works in a nursing home. That would be a way to deal with the economic aspect darren and patrick talked about. And we know that some rural areas cannot afford that but the governor has set aside millions of dollars to bridge that gap to pay wages for nursing home workers and that raising the wages will bring actual more people into the industry to do the job for your mothers, your fathers, your daughters, your wife, your husband. We all have to deal with it at some point and if theres nobody there, you shouldnt have to wait 45 minutes to get your diaper changed. You shouldnt have to wait that long. The Staffing Levels are so low right now, we cant get anybody in the door. Its not right for the worker or for the resident. No. If you help us, we take better care of you. Yeah, absolutely. Whats your vision, teresa, in five years . The minnesota standards board d begins to meet in april 2024. Theyve already met. They are expecting to actually put policy in place starting in 24. Thats when you have to deliver something . Thats when theyre going to deliver. A contract deadline, if you will . Yes. Even though its not technically a contract, thats what we want to think about, because right now we are going through a process. We have to go through a processe to get it to become a bill and signed by the governor. And now the committee, the board has to go through a process. They are pulling the financials of all these Nursing Homes. So it is a slow, long process to get it even in front of the house and senate. But in the future, better wages, able to support our families without working two jobs, without working doubles, without killing ourselves to go home and just crawl in bed. And not be able to take care of our own home. Medical and if its that you could actually afford. How about that for nursing home workers . That we could actually afford, the dream is just so big and to lay the blueprint for other companies to do the same thing we are doing, not just for nursing home workers but for every worker in america. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Thank you for leading on that vision. Thank you for taking time out of your 70 hour week to go to st. Paul and testify and organize coworkers. You told me there was a qr code on a card and you were going around your nursing home getting your coworkers to call their legislator. We want to applaud what minnesota legislators and governor walsh did, who i know is going to be here later today, and you have inspired other workers. Fast food workers in california won a Fast Food Sector Council board where fast food workers there, advocates and employers are going to sit together with governments, and for a half a million fast food workers, black hannah brown, in a grant, primarily women, they are going to get a shot at finally lifting the floor and the companies have committed to getting to a 20 minimum wage, april 2024, and then to talk about other standards. And when you think about teresas vision and their vision, imagine 4 million fast food workers being able to raise standards and build powerful unions in every city and county across the country. Theres 2 million nursing home workers in the United States now. About 10 are in unions. Imagine these standards boards being able to create a voice for the 2 million workers that are mostly paid by medicaid dollars and are our currently poverty wage jobs, but imagine a federal tax dollars were invested in Good Union Jobs all across the economy. And we share your vision and we see sectoral organizing and bargaining as a part of the solution to expanding workers power through unions, strengthening our democracy and creating a fairer economy that cat was talking about at this ideas conference. So we are really, really grateful that you came to share your vision, from roseville, and tell me any parting thought you want to give this crowd. J. Its not just one process. J. You h journey. Its not just one process that t you have to, get your voices out there. Talk to everybody. Union, nonunions. Everybody. Have them talk to friends. Its a long process. It takes a lot to go through committee after committee after committee. And the house and the senate. And you have to be willing to fight for what you want. And dont give up. Dont give up. If you give up, you dont win. Keep fighting and you will win. Thank you, teresa. I thought it would be great to finish with teresas vision for all of us. And i know were followed by a panel from my sister the scio president schuller and workers that enhave the same vision. Enough is enough, we dont want the status quo. Were going to come together, striking, legislating or politicking a new form of power. And we think we have to use every tool in our box. We have to salute the microsoft in our committee that have evolved to say that workers should decide whether or not to be in a union and we have to challenge the starbucks and the amazons that are fighting tooth and nail against unions. And then we have to understand that too many workers have been written out of current labor law. Because they are rooted in a racist, sexist tradition. And we need to update in the way that the minnesota workers just did. In a way that the fast food workers did and that home care workers are doing together in colorado. So we look forward to doing that. In partnership with every organization, Business Leader and community that is here at the cap ideas conference. Because i agree with you. Were not giving up. We can build the nation that we have the promise to be. Thank you all so much. Thank you. Please welcome mrs. Schuller, robert brown from solidarity and empowerment and Katherine Charles from the Call Center Workers united. Yes, absolutely. And rev ryan. Hello everyone. Good afternoon. So honored to be here im liz shuler. Were a federation of 60 unions. 450 million workers throughout every sector of the committee. Whether its teachers or professional football players. Everything in between. So im so so honored to be here today. We have a panel entitled justice on the job. So aptly named. Were going talk about this incredible, incredible moment that were in. In labor, but in organizing all across the country. And first i want to thank pat. I just saw patrick backstage. I want to thank him for his incredible leadership. If you can hear me patrick. But really the team who put this together. Because from stem to state your from stem to stern i dont know if you all feel this way but these people are incredible. Lets give them a hand. Were putting workers stories together. I just want to thank the amazing leaders for taking a risk, for being part of this segment. I know mary kay and teresa, i was backstage basically just so emotional hearing the struggle. And so were going talk a little bit more about that on this panel. We have reverend ryan brown. The president of the carolina amazonians united for empower. Or cause. Buddy maxwell jr. A member of uaw local 677. And executive board member. Has worked for mac trucks in pennsylvania for 29 years. He is on strike right now. Standing up for 16 days so far. And Katherine Charles who is a Call Center Worker at a Company Called maximus. Anybody heard of maximus out there. Its a contractor with the federal government. And katherine, she does the important work of answering those calls from medicare and Affordable Care acts participants. Incredible work. And she and her coworkers are organizing their union with the cwa. I see your tshirt in tampa florida. And get this. They are preparing to go on strike november 9th. Even though they have not yet officially formed their union. They are planning to go on strike. A courageous act coming up in just a couple of weeks. I cannot wait to start this con variation but i also wanted to conversation but i also wanted to take a moment of privilege to set the stage. Look at this incredible moment were in. Im bringing the 12. 5 million workers across the country from all sectors of the committee. I travel the country a lot. Im talking to workers, im listening to workers about how they feel about their work right now. Ive been walking a lot of picket lines because there are a lot of people rising up. And in my 30 years in the Labor Movement, as an organizer myself who came up throw the electrical union. I have not seen a moment like this. I have not been more hopeful in my entire career. And i dont say that lightly. But as lizzo said, its about dam time. Right. Its about dam time. I was up in detroit last week. Anybody know what theyre calling detroit these days . Strike city. Strike city. Yes. Because there are four big strikes going on in detroit as we speak all at the same time. And were seeing people standing up and taking risks. Its a lot of workers with the three. Theres casino union workers. Nursing home workers. So all of them are standing up together in solidarity and the Community Partners were seeing. Its just been incredible rising up together. New york city, was there long ago, Writers Guild of america finally got their contracts. We have our actors and performers with s. A. G. Still on the line. We were at picket lines where ups drivers were honking in support. Its this moment of solidarity. Amazon workers, manufacturing workers in georgia and alabama all over the south. People are standing up, why is that . We were just talking about it backstage. They are seeing people, its a ripple effect. The courage of people standing up, it gets more people standing up and people are fed up. Theyre fed up with being disrespected. Theyre fed up with not being paid and protected as they should be. And theyre seeing that they can flex their muscle. And fight back. And we not too long ago during the pandemic we heard how essential workers were. And then they came out after sacrifice after sacrifice came out into an economy that is still not working for them and they are being treated as disposable after being called essential. And so the executives that were calling us essential are now wreaking in billions in profit. And theyre saying theres not enough money to pay us a living wage. I call bs on that. Because theyre raking in record profit s right now and theyre trying to divide us whether it be by race, age. Were in the same fight no matter where we work. Theres no better way to fight back than by forming a union and organizing collectively. Unions deliver Better Health care, better wages and respect. Thats the bottom line. Were seeing the public support shift and i will say this one last thing. Because we were just talking about the perception in the south about the union. But the public support for unions is starting to change and we did a poll on labor day. More than 2 3 of the public is supportive of unions. Do you know how hard it is to get 2 3 of americans to agree on anything these days. But they all are saying, no unions are the path forward and get this, among workers under the age of 30, 88 of young people support unions. That is amazing. Its the highest number weve seen in 60 years. So now is the time. We have a generational opportunity. And we can stand up to the greedy executiveless. S. We can stand up and demand together. These are all the big threats that are coming at us in terms of our work. And so, were going to keep pushing together and thats what were going to be talking about today. It is my honor to be on the board with the leaders that are fighting at this moment. Like i said reverend brown, buddy and katherine. Im going to ask my first question to reverend ryan youre coming at us from North Carolina. A deep Family History of organizing. Thank you dr. Shuler for that question. That question has a lot of complexities. We can talk about organizing ourselves. You can appreciate these comments. I can look at it through a historic concept in 196 1961 there was a son of the south named dr. Martin luther king jr. Who spoke to your union. And in that speech we watered down that radical side of brother martin but in that speech, martin was talking about how the Civil Rights Movement and the Labor Movement were intertwined. And what was going on at the time, all of these statements that were in the south, these former confederate states, they were passing these laws, right to work. Brother martin said that that was a, a false slogan. I can appreciate those comments now because i understand that if you ask the average worker in the south what right to work means, we automatically think that just means i can walk into work today and i can be terminated for any reason as long as it doesnt break federal law. But, if you dig a little deeper that right to work is, it was designed to weaken unions. When calls, a union that i represent, when we win our election against scamazon. We dont call it amazon. When we won our election against scamazon we represented 200,000 workers. Were going to fight for every single worker if they supported the union or if they didnt support the union. But they dont have to pay dues. And so that weakens our power. Or that weakens our influence and then, it is the unique history, the ugly history of slavery. That separates workers and scamazon almost makes me see that youre different than i am. And vice versa. And they create a very toxic, toxic, toxic work environment. And then the next challenge then im finished. I am a reverend so i can be loquacious. Im a son of North Carolina. In North Carolina unfortunately were great at basketball but were ranked number 2 in the nation with the least amount of union participation. Then for my relatives, both paternal and maternal who are southern border in south carolina, they are number one. So that creates unique channels and youre listening to a brother talk who i can even tell you on five relatives that belong to a union. So those are the challenges that i see. Scamazon. Im going to take that, rinse and repeat. So youre going to show them what it means you know to stand up and form a union at amazon and were going to help you get there. So buddy, lets move on to you. The collective power of working people doesnt just get leveraged from the front end. It has to be constantly organizing to push those companies to do the right thing and do better by their workers. So youre currently on strike as we heard at mac truck. For the second time, right. So going on strike, no one wants to go on strike, right. This is our tool of last resort. And its a weapon that we have in the tool box. But its a difficult decision. So tell us why you went on strike and why is it so important. What kind of message does it send . Lets start off, when we went on strike in 2016, it seemed like a lot of affair. There wasnt much fire. Now in 2023, theres fire. And the fire is coming. Were young within our m embership. The young membership has lit a fire even under my old but. Theyre passionate right now. Thats the difference between the two strikes. Remember striking isnt all about wages. Its our leverage within our workplace. Its our voice. Thats the only way we get a chance to not only have job security, not only can we get better wages. Not only can we get Better Health care but its also dealing with health and safety within the difference. It deals with the pensions that we have. It deals with also adding 401k, having them match it. Also with our retiree, we cant forget them because theyre the ones who laid the ground work. There was a strike in 1980 with mac trucks. The strike is our leverage and they want to be heard, i want to be heard, the strikes across the nation want to be heard now. Thats why its very important for us to stand up and fight against corporate greed. Yes. Well said, well said. The ultimate tool. Thank you so much, and hearing both of you talk about the history of right to work in the south. And then seeing kind of how that propels us, continue to build that power so that we can ultimately leverage it against a company like mac. Now were moving on to maximus. Which you know its a massive private contractor. Theres a does a lot of work for the federal government. We have federal employees working alongside federal contractors. Tell us more katherine about your job and what its like working in that space. And why are you and your coworkers organizing, what has moved you so passionately everyone. Hello everyone. Ive been at maximus for nine years. I work in the marketplace which is the ata. Maximus has a contract also for medicare. We have a federal contract. But were not treated as federal employees. Our living wages is not to support a family. Our Health Insurance, horrible. I have two kids. I have a 16yearold boy, and a beautiful 10yearold little girl. I am here because i am fighting for something that i believe. Maximus is not respecting us. Maximus treat us like nothing. Two days before mothers day this year, maximus fired 700 employees. Now keep in mind, that the work force that maximus has, most of us are females, single mothers. Black and brown y latinas. For maximus to get all those people into a room, they didnt even give the courtesy to say, lets do this in private and lets give us an explanation why were firing you. They used the phrase, local volume. Thats the reason why were firing all of these mothers. Happy mothers day. Wow. Horrible. And to have that happen to so many people, and the struggle that we have to deal every day, that is what is moving me. Im teaching my children that you fight for what you believe. Im teaching my kids that even though, i am about to lose my job because im sitting here right now, i believe in the cause. We help millions of americans every day. We deal with their Health Insurance. Theres nothing more satisfying than have someone call you and say, i have cancer and my Health Insurance is canceled. And i am afraid that im going to die. And for me to be able to be the voice to help people in that situation, maximus doesnt see that what we do, is something that the American People need. We are supposed to be essential workers but we dont have that respect. They dont treat us right. In order for me to be able to spend time with my children, i have to budget every single minute of my day. I cannot miss a day of work. Because if i dont get paid for the entire week, im not able to make rent. And its not just me. Its all of us working for maximus. The employees right now are so afraid to show their face and say, we want to organize because maximus will call the police on you. They will fire you. So they threaten pretty much everyone that has the nerve to stand up. A lot of fear. It is. Maximus Health Insurance, its horrible as they say. I have a Health Condition that i have to go every three months to get blood drawn. Well i havent done that in two years. Wow. My kids cannot go to any after School Activities because i cannot afford it. I have coworkers that i have seen families move from a little house to either a mobile home, or a one bedroom apartment. And they have other jobs. Thank you for your fearlessness and for standing up and hearing this about maximus is just shame, shame, shame on this company for not recognizing the value and the work that you do and the retaliation were seeing for people who want to form a union are often the ones who are fired. Were ready to strike november 9th. November 9th. Incredible. We dont want to but we will. And we will be supporting you every step of the way. Thank you. Do you hear that support. So we have a few minutes left just for a quick second round here. And i wanted to go back to you rev ryan. Hold up have you connected your organizing efforts with your community and with amazon workers in other parts of the country. In just a minute or so. I appreciate that question. We recognize that our building majority black and brown workers. How we organize is the same methodology that africanamericans and marginalized groups have always used in america to fight back against racism as we see at scamazon. We did not reach out to them, they reached out to us. Theres been several organizations that have reached out to us. Because they see scamazon as a threat. As this monster gets bigger and bigger, they see scamazon as a threat to their livelihoods as well. And scamazon is also known when they come to town to lower standards as they move into various industries. Youre talking about young people, we have a lot of young people who are fighting, new students who went to salem state and a lot of progressive groups. A lot of young people are fighting for the world they want to live in. Incredible. Were seeing a turn over rate i think at scamazon, its 100 every month or so. The organizing has so many challenges but yet you persist. Nevertheless you persist and were so inspired. Thank you so much. Buddy, in just a minute or so here we have left. Building off, you know what the rev said, has your union worked with the community in the midst of this strike and talk a little bit about Community Engagement and how thats propelled it forward. Im going to start out by saying is the community is us as well as we are the community. Thats right. They see themselves in what were doing. They see our fight. And with them seeing our fight they have been to the picket lines. They have brought donuts, coffee, water, firewood for the burn barrels. We have gotten pizza, cheese steaks, i mean people go to mcdonalds across the street and hand out cheese burgers to everybody. The community is like a fire also. Theyre behind us. And without the community, we wouldnt be able to succeed. So the community is pushing us in order to get better wages. Get Better Health care. To get better everything within the workplace because it will encourage them to do a stand up and do the exact same thing. Excellent. Excellent. If anyone here wants to join a picket line, we have a heat map on aflcio that will tell you where a picket line is around you. We appreciate that community support. Thank you so much, buddy. Katherine, tell me a little bit ability november a little bit about november 9th. And leave them with, we know why youre going to strike. Tell us what you need, what can we do to make that a successful day for you. We have called secretary becerra. We need the community to help us. To come out and support us. To show that we matter. We are doing something very important. We need anyone that can write an article, that can show us when were striking to be there. To show precious support to us. Because that will pressure maximus to actually listen to us. Thats right. To treat us with dignity and to take care of us. We are asking for better pay so we can take care of our children, our families. Were asking for better benefits. Because what we have right now, its not good at all. And if you think about it, millions of americans are taking advantage of great Health Insurance. They listen to us happy voice that is on that phone every day, helping them. What happens if were not there to help those people. What happens if were no longer happy with what we do and be there to take care of millions of americans. Catastrophic. Were asking everyone to sends a letter to your senator. Let them know that you have seen, youve heard an employee from maximus explain to you how were feeling. We are going to strike. We dont want to strike. The fact that maximus is not giving to our demand. Yes were willing and ready to go. Thank you, thank you, katherine. You heard it. Were ready. Lets stand up, lets fight back. Thank you for your courage. Katherine, buddy, reverend ryan. On ward. Onward watch campaign 2024 live coverage of the iowa caucuses