Manufacturing jobs council. This event was hosted by the Christian Science monitor. Here we go. Folks. Here we go, here we go thank you for coming. , i am david cook. From the Christian Science monitor. Our guest today is richard trumka. This is his ninth visit with our group. We appreciate this prelabor day tradition. Our guest grew up in the pennsylvania coal fields. He followed his father and grandfather into the mines. He worked his way to Penn State University and earned a law degree. In 1982, at age 33, he was elected president of the line workers of america, the youngest United Mine Workers of america the youngest person in , history to hold that position. He served three terms as president. He brought the mine workers into the aflcio. In 1995, he ran to be secretarytreasurer and became the youngest person to hold that job, one he held for 15 years. He was elected as president in september 2009 and we elected in and reelected in 2013. Last year, he became a grandfather. Thus ends the biographical portion of the program. I know how important that less detail is, having become one myself. Now onto the breakfast mechanics. We are on the record here. Please, no live blogging. Or tweeting. No filing of any kind while the breakfast is underway, to give us time to listen to what our guest says. There is no embargo when this session ends. He will take several pictures of the session and send them to the reporters. As regular attendees know, if you would like to ask a question, please send me a subtle, nonthreatening signal. I will happily call on you in the time available. Given the size of the group, or limit yourself to one question until we have made it around the table once. We will start with opening comments and moved to questions around the table. Thanks again for doing this, sir. Thank you for having me. I cannot believe this is the ninth time already. Let me start by thanking the Christian Science monitor for hosting the breakfast. I want to thank all of you for being here this morning. I want to say that our thoughts and prayers of the entire Labor Movement are with the people of houston today. Our unions in texas and across the country are mobilizing to help provide the assistance and resources necessary to help the region rebuild and recover. We continue to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the gulf coast. I want to say the word about the job that all of you do. The service that all of you, individually and collectively, provide. Whether you are covering a hurricane or an election, our democracy cannot survive without a free and fair press. Your access and credibility are being threatened by this administration. I want to say how wrong i think that is. At the aflcio we are proud to , represent workers in the media. I know firsthand the incredible dedication and sacrifices americas journalists. All that said, feel free to grill me. I will fire right back. Because thats the way its supposed to work. Labor day is an opportunity to recognize the achievements of working people and to identify areas for improvement. This year, we took a closer look at the tension between work and life. It is an issue that has always been a top concern of the american Labor Movement. Today, work and time off are badly out of balance. You have received a copy of our new report that we are releasing for the first time today. Our survey found the nation overcome by work, as more americans have hardly a moment to savor family, friends, or relaxation. We also found a distinct difference. Union members were much more likely to receive labor day off. For example, and more likely to receive overtime pay if they were scheduled to work. Workers with the Union Contract are more likely to have paid time off in general. Still, the majority of those polled reported working more holidays, taking fewer vacations, and bringing more work home at night. That means less freedom, freedom to take time off when you or a loved one gets sick, rest and recharge after giving birth or attend a childs recital or sporting event, to catch up on some household chores. Paid leave is one area where our economic rules have been written to benefit corporations at our expense. Over the last several decades, it has faced a political onslaught like no other in history. The result has been flat wages, skyrocketing inequality, and diminishing opportunity. When i started, i mentioned our democracy. I want you to really listen to this. A 2016 study shows that only 30 of millennials believe it is essential to live in a democratic nation. At first, that is that statistic absolutely startled me. As i started to observe and a to absorb it a little more, it made more sense area think about what young people have been forced to endure in their formative years. Inequality. Hateful rhetoric and division, skyrocketing student debt. For this generation, the american idea that anything is possible if you work hard and play by the rules has been virtually nonexistent. It is continuing to slip away from workers of all ages. Make no mistake. This crisis helped propel donald trump to the white house. Some working people fed up with working harder for less, sick and tired of a political system that does not address the basic concerns were willing to take a risk on trump. Instead of a bold, new direction all we have gotten his broken promises and dangerous and divisive rhetoric. My message today is this. The change that voters cried out for in 2016 can be found by standing together in union. Union workers, empowered by the freedom to negotiate with our employers, do better on every single economic benchmark. Union workers earn substantially more money. Union contracts help achieve equal pay and protections from discrimination. Union workplaces are safer. Union workers have better access to health care and pension. Heres the good news the popularity of unions is rising. A survey shows over 60 of americans support unions. That number is higher among millennials. The majority of working people said they would vote for joining a union tomorrow, if given the opportunity. So we say, lets give them a chance. Free from the employer interference and intimidation that has become all too common. Whether it is raising wages, paid leave, gender and racial equality, or simply the freedom to negotiate for a better life, unions are needed now more than ever. We can help deliver the economic rules of working people that they are hungry for. That is our focus and mission this labor day and beyond. I wanted to say thank you for listening, and i look forward to your questions. I will do one and then we will go to know noel. You lay out positive things union popularity rising. , we talked about the onslaught you face. You have spoken in speeches about rising popularity. You also said in june that either we grow or we die. We will not settle for merely surviving in the Labor Movement. That is not enough. As you know the Labor Department , figures show Union Membership fell in 2016. What do you see as being able to do that have not done to turn around the membership trend . Let me just correct you a little bit. Membership has not dropped. The percentage of the workforce is what dropped come which means youre not growing as fast as the workforce is growing. We do not have fewer number, we fewer members we have a lower , percentage. Last year you had 14. 6, according to the Labor Department. Thats a long time. There were a lot of newspapers that arent around every anymore. There are a lot of everything that were not around. The aflcio is indifferent. We have lost membership over the years when we had ace light, but and we had a split but over the last several years, we have picked up membership each year. I dont mean to quibble about that. As going to take us Multifaceted Campaign to be able to reverse that trend. There is a strong group of people that are wellfinanced that want to eliminate unions from the play. The republican party, by and large, attacks unions whether its at the state level or at the federal level. We have to work on the Political Climate there. We also have to fight to change the rules of the economy so that working people get a fair shot. Whether thats trade rules, tax rules, labor laws or anything else, that either make it harder or easier for workers to get a voice on the job, we have to attack those. Iss, we have to ramp up the scale that we approach organizing with and we have to become better at coordinating with each other on the organizing front. Acceptable, i guess, no longer a smart strategy, let me put it that way, for us to individually pursue units. Its more important to do so collectively and strategically and thats what we are working on. Is that going to reverse overnight . No, its a long thing. In 25oure being attacked or 26 states of every different level and well financed people like the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Abelson and a number of others, some of the owners of , their sole mission is to eliminate workers having a voice so that they can have the Playing Field to themselves. Its going to be a fight but its nothing new. Labor has always been under attack. I cannot think of another a single time in her history when we werent. We will go to you. A twopart question, i was hoping you concert of trace the deterioration of what relationship you had with the Trump Administration that led to your resignation from the two,acturing counsel and to discuss whether it was ever to trulyfor realign the Political Parties by putting pressure on both republican and democratic leadership by doing something that wouldve capitalized more on the working base that he had and won the election with that would have possibly accept leaders of both party but might have gotten Popular Support . All, we obviously did not support mr. Trump in the election. We endorsed and actively supported his opponent. Election, they reached out and we reached out and we sat down and talked. What i said to them at that time was that we will judge you by what you do. If you do things that are good for working people, we will support them. If you do things that are bad for working people, then we will oppose you. We immediately went into that mode. He started attacking things like the burly and Standard Health and safety standards, coal mine standards and those regulations, i had several meetings with the administration and told them the adverse and bad a fact that had on workers, showed them a position that would reverse that and help workers, make places more safe or increase wages and gave that to them, to the ministration. Unfortunately, in most cases, that was not taken. I think the difficulty that you had was you had to factions in the white house. You had one faction that actually had some of the policies that we would have supported on trade and infrastructure but they turned out to be racist. On the other hand, you have people who are not racist but they were wall street ares. Streeters and they began to dominate the administration and has moved his agenda back to everything that i think they fought against in the election. They are beginning to see that. The committee itself, manufacturing committee, it toer really was a vehicle provide real policy solutions. In fact, the Committee Never met. He had a few ceos over to the white house one time to talk about Manufacturing Policy but we were not invited to that. For of the representatives workers, at think there were three of us on the committee, were invited to that meeting. Way to getort of a every regulation that they did not want to have to deal with off the Playing Field. That was their solution are helping manufacturers. Withusly, we did not agree a lot of that. Itself wasittee never much of a functioning thing. We would have gotten off of it anyway. But then we had the charlottesville thing and the president made what i consider to be a terrible statement. The next day he corrected it and then that you day after that he doubled down on the first day. Theree two issues was the symbolism of being connected with him, with that that, as itatement said earlier, was a spirited ense of white nationalists neonazis and other groups of that sort. And we were not going to be associated with that. So we made the decision after consulting with a number of my affiliates, we made the decision to get off the council and i ofss it eliminate one Area Communications in the white house. Even though it was not what i would call the most effective means of medication, it eliminated that but we made the conscious decision that it was intolerable to have a defensive neo, whilesm, not that too, neonazis and white supremacists. We got off of it. Him to bring the theties together necessary predicate for that to happen would have been a strong agenda that he actually believed in that would have been good for the country, good for the economy, good for working people. I think he lacked that agenda. Care for instance he said he was going to Bring Health Care for everybody and we agreed with that. We think health care should have everything. But every proposal that the republicans came forth with and he supported would have eliminated millions of people from health care. There is not going to be a realignment when the policies that anybody a spouses are so far away from the mainstream of American Economic and political benefit. I think that chance became began to evaporate each time they took a position that was so far away from american thought and values. Francine from the monitor . Thanksare being her being here. Along the same lines, the president today is going to missouri and he will be pitching his tax plan as good for the middle class. He is still working on it at least rhetorically, appealing to middleclass workers and he still has some support among his base. My question for you is how can the Labor Movement win back those working class and Union Members who voted for mr. Trump in the year 2018 which will be if theyal for democrats want to regain the house, for instance . First of all, in the last election, President Trump got three Percentage Points more of our members then mitt romney did. Unfortunately, hillary got 10 of our members less than barack obama did. They either did not vote or voted for a thirdparty candidate. That was because they did not , ar an economic message Kitchen Table economic message that really addressed their needs. My members, just like most americans, are angry that the system is not working for them. That it keeps moving them further and further behind, that upward mobility gets less and less, that wages stay flat, benefits stay flat. Well, the country is the richest country on the face of the earth at its most rich point in time. Hear a message that says im going to address the issues you talk about at the Kitchen Table. And Neither Party did that. As a result, i think they were willing to take a risk on donald trump because what he was saying is im going to destroy or shake up significantly the system and i will give you something different. They thought the risk was worth that. They are not getting that because, in fact, the wall street wing of his administration has won out and they are doubling down. On all the policies that got us here. So what we have done since day one is tell the truth about him. What he promised, heres what he did, heres the effect on you and your paycheck. No editorializing, just giving them the simple facts. He said he would do this, this is what he is doing. He said this would be the effect, here is the real effect. You are beginning to see a lot of people come back across the bridge. Our job we will focus on our members in 2018 and have the most robust member to Member Program that we have had in the history of the aflcio and the Labor Movement. Thats where we will be in 2018. Will continue to give them economic information. The second thing is we have tried to experiment with getting Union Members, worker friendly people, to run for office and we started in new jersey. We had a Pilot Program in new jersey and right now, over 950 members, have been elected to union office in new jersey. One is the president of the state senate and we have a few in congress right now and many, many in the state house. There are also freeholders and county offices and things of can get her that we message out. The next thing that is important for us to do and we are addressing it diligently, is to give our members and working people in general a real Economic Analysis and we have a program called common sense economics. It dissects the economy and d bugs the notion that the and notion that you cannot do anything about the economy and you have to go with the flow and the marketplace knows everything. We break that down. Its nothing but a set of rules. Those rules decide the winners and the losers and those rules were made by the men and women we elect. Andso, beginning to go out being agenda oriented rather than people or party oriented. So we will push our agenda, or economic agenda and they will have to come to us. Support thatu agenda, you can earn our support. If you do not support that agenda, i dont care what your title is, you will not earn our support. Go ahead. 2018 on theocus in blue wall. We will work on that wall a lot thatet people out to vote were not interested in voting and show them how important it is to vote. Think several of those states were lost by 1015,000 votes. People whor 15,000 could change the course of history. Npr . Trumped at a couple of things. He coopted some of your most important issues when he talked about nafta and tpp but he also seems to have sub success some success in the blue all states of creating the impression that he was the guy who was looking out for their interests more than you and the union. He hammered away at that. I disagree with that. I was not running. The union was not running. It was him and hillary and some of them believed he would look out for their interests more than she would and sometimes they did not believe what she was saying. Listening to you describe the agenda and the outrage and just kind of combating what he says with fact, you have always had that message to your membership. But we have not always focused on it. There was an eighth grade teacher that set anytime you point a finger at someone, theres always three pointing back at you so i want to talk about the three their point back. For a long time, our program stopped giving our members, stopped focusing our members and giving them the facts that they really needed. Persuadables and now we are going back and doing it every day. It actually is, its focusing on them and giving them information every day that affects their lives, the things that are important to them. There are issues that they care about that they talk about every thatnd there are issues they go along with that is not motivating to them. In the last election, if you , philadelphia. Community wasan almost demoralized in philadelphia because the candidate did not talk to them. And did not outreach to them and did not work with the community. The Africanamerican Community is one of our most loyal, dedicated groups. Neglected. Lt sat and about six weeks before the election, i could see the lack of enthusiasm. I went up and met with a group and theseunity people for 40ple i work with years. Civil rights movement, the antiapartheid movement, people i have been sidebyside with in fight after fight and when i walked in the room, it wrangled me. I happens to be the person that came to talk to them. They talked to me about that. They said they wont answer phone calls, they wont respond to us, wont come into the community. And so, i tried working through that and we are working through that but the election is over. The results from that election are what they are. We will make sure that does not happen again. But once is once too many, quite frankly. Thanks for being here. A little louder. With the concern that the administration is not going to do as much as as they did in past years to promote open enrollment for the formal care act of this fall, is the aflcio planning to do anything to sign people up . To sign people up for Health Insurance . We do a lot of that through and thingsnions, that are out there. Yeah, we have our own plan in many instances and our members talk to people who are not members and we work with a couple of commodity groups, the united way and others to do the signups. Yeah, we are doing that and we are also looking at the stuff in congress that we need to do to care, whichat obama is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a whole lot better than everything that was offered, so that it does not get undercut and have its underpinnings taken away from it. We work on that and are concerned about health care in general. That is a fight for us overall. There is no stepped up plan for the fears that the administration is scaling back that work . Our network is pretty extensive. It will continue. It will not atrophy but it will continue the way it was. Rollcall, rollcall cq. You their way, i was wondering if you had a dollar figure for your 2018 Political Program . If you can talk about the nafta and what, if any role you are playing in that . First of all, i dont have a clue about a figure. I can tell you this, that our member to Member Program will get the focus of everything we do. Things still do other but the focus of our program is going to be member to member and that will be where the bulk of canresources go so that we its atwofer for us because not only are you talking about an election, its another chance to comedic it with your member. Its another chance to get feedback from your members. When we do a door knock, its not like we walk up and say, hey, vote for this candidate. We have a conversation with them. What they find out are thinking. We want to find out with their issues are. Then we give them, immediately, information on the issues that they identify as the most important to them. Have betweeny to five and eight conversations or can indications with our members in a cycle, whether its a call or a door knock. But we try to have five to eight of those. We have contact at the worksite, we have contact at home, we have contact facetoface with them. And so we will continue to do that. Trade, the first round took place here in the city on nafta on august 16 through the 20th, i think. The first thing we asked for was that the process be made more transparent. In europe or anyplace else, they pass out the stuff and people know, everybody knows, you get a can indications. That did not happen again. It was like a closed system all over again when the u. S. Texts were only cleared by advisors and the Senate Finance committee and ways and means staff only. You could not copy them or anything like that, you could only go in a secure room and read them of your there. That was disappointing. And read them if you are there. That was disappointing. The u. S. Put on the table chapters, if you will, the rules of origin and the procurement chapter relate down but not enough of that was exposed for us to be able to tell whether its going to be a real change or whether its tinkering and windowdressing. We did not have enough information yet on that. The pool chapters on telecom, services, digital trade, technical barriers to trade and sanitary and Sanitary Services and each one of those actually did not have anything in particular that we would consider an improvement. There was nothing to make sure that the Public Interest would be protected from challenge. Theno efforts to reinstate country of origin labeling m foreat which was a high priority for me to which was a high priority for us. Which was a high priority for us. They did not contain everything we would like. They were much improved. The chapters on Critical Issues like labor, investment, and currency have not been added yet. They have not been laid down at all yet. That you can give the overall grade and incomplete because we just dont know enough yet to be able to say whether its going to be a real change or more of the same. We have to wait. The second round takes place i think starting this thursday. In mexico city. It will be administrative and minor text stuff. They will not be presenting any of the critical chapters there. Lets go to nbc news. You, as you think about the big nature and look at things like Driverless Cars a little louder. When you look at driverless teamsters,affects two related questions how big of a threat is that to organized labor and two, do you think that political leaders understand the magnitude of the disruption this kind of technology will bring . To the second question is i think not. People, dont think most take the time to ponder and analyze the magnitude of what that could mean and how it could change the country. But there are some Big Questions and all of that. In all of that. If Artificial Intelligence and Technology Get to the point where they are doing so many things that the government or the country or the system is incapable of supporting a majority of the citizens, what happens at that point . What happens to that country . The first question we ought to be talking about as a nation and really debating is, how does society cope with that . What do you do with it . The second question is, who should get the benefit of all of that Artificial Intelligence and technology that has been developed by society . Who should get the benefit of that . Because if i have a factor in i get rid of every worker and i take that technology and i am there, shareholders may get the benefit, management will get the benefit of it but the community whose resources, brains, hands, thoughts and Everything Else helped develop that Technology May not get the benefit of it. The second question, as a nation, we have to Start Talking about who should get the benefit of Artificial Intelligence and technology and how should they get it, what does it mean . How should they get it . What does it mean for the country . When you go back to the notion that i talked about, millennials said 30 of them so its not important to live in a democracy. The second thing i did not say was 24 of them actually said its bad to live in a democracy. Thats after one generation of globalization and rules that were geared toward the very rich but not to the rest of society. What happens after two generations or three generations . Are we thinking about it . Yeah, we are thinking about it a lot. In fact, our convention which is coming up in october will put together a committee from all the sectors of the Labor Movement to start looking at the future ofwork, the the Economic System and what that means to us, how we have to evolve and change to meet the changing needs of the people and the workers who will still be out there. No existential threat to organized labor potentially . Or a great opportunity. I choose to look at it as an opportunity. Because if we get in front of that curve and we start evolving and changing to meet the needs of those people, thats where they will go. M newsax . Thank you, good to see you again. Good to be back. Good to be seen. I will ask you the same question i asked at this time four years ago. We have touched on the 2018 Midterm Elections. Four years ago, as were on the verge of the last Midterm Election cycle, you laid out at this point targets for labor. I remember the day you look great at me and described Governor Walker as public enemy number one in wisconsin and then listed of the republican governors and u. S. Senators as the areas you felt labor would make the biggest gains. Are you prepared to say now who are the targets of labor for the thee and senate, whether current conservative rule in both houses of congress can be deposed and who is the new public enemy number one . Threefer. A probably not right now. We are still looking at the map. We are still looking at the evolving agenda. Just came out with a new agenda for workers that included the right to workers to join unions. Thats a good start. We want to see who actually will latch onto that and actually that they an agenda are willing to fight for. That helps working people. We will be looking at that. We will let our agenda dictate where we go with those and who we support. It doesnt matter to me where you come from, if you support our agenda and you support working people, we will be with you. Any names of targets . Not right now. I would say not. Its too early in the process. We are still talking to our members. We are still developing things. So i would say im not ready to point a finger at somebody right now. There will be a lot of them. There are states, the obvious and sayou can look at there will be a fight. Weve never run away from a good fight. Quite frankly over the last couple of years, we have been winning more than we have been losing. Thats not a bad thing. In youre house flipable view . With a caveat, if the house comes out with a strong Kitchen Table economic message and agenda and they convince people that they are going to fight for it and its not just a slogan or in or messaging or some Kind Campaign creation, then i think it is. Because people are hungry for change in rules. In the last election, the vast majority of the people whether they voted for donald trump or wanted to change the rules of the economy. Thats what theyre voting for and reaching out for. If you come to them and give them more of the same, the enthusiasm level continues to drop. We had less than 50 of the people, eligible voters who vote in last election. Less than 50 so no matter who a landslide only gives you 30 if you beat somebody. You get 30 of the population, what about the other 70 . They want something to vote for a not to vote against. They are looking at that economic agenda about the issues that they talk about when they sit at the Kitchen Table at night. My wages, my health care, my retirement, my school district, how do i send a kid to college . How do we prepare for retirement question mark all of those things are what concerns american working people. Washington times . I apologize. , thetting back to nafta white house is reportedly pushed an idea regarding isds that if the rules change the countries have to opt into it. I know that you have been sharply critical of isds. What do you think of that . Do you think thats a workable solution or an improvement . Its slightly better than what we have but it does not get us to where we were or where we need to be. Isds is a special court for foreign investors. No worker, no u. S. Corporation, no u. S. Business has access to it. It only applies to foreign investors. Right and need that if they have that than the rest of us should have it. If the u. S. Were to not opt in, would that be a significant improvement . That would be an improvement, yes. Just to go back to the election, you have mentioned your hometown. Do you recall it . I looked at it after the election. Its too small for its own polling place. The county went 71 for trump. What do you say to your folks next time . Next time . In 2018. If i wait until 2018 to Start Talking to them, i have waited too long. Because what they dont need, what they dont want, and what they dont appreciate someone coming in a couple of days before the election saying vote my way, vote for me. They want information. Thats what i tried to do. I try to give them that information on they voted for trump because he was going to do this, do that and do this and do that and he has not done any of thats then ior given that information and dont say a word. I just look at them. If you bombard them and try to say boy, youre not very smart to vote for him, that gets you nowhere. Calling the president names, even if they are accurate, gets you nowhere. It doesnt. Giving people information about the issues that are of a concern to them is the way to move people and thats what we are doing. Every day we are giving them information. And every day more of them are taking the information and drawing the conclusion that their investment in him was not a good investment. From bloomberg could you specify what your role will be . You talked about being happy with the level of involvement and also the idea of this labor chapter, in theory, is that a good idea and how would it help American Workers . We gave this administration, we gave them a complete analysis of nafta, every chapter with language and the effects of the language, everything. We gave that to them. It was a very, very long document. We said we hope you use it. I have had several conversations with them. We have conversations with them on a regular basis hoping that we can get the best bill, get nafta renegotiated so it helps us. The enforceable labor chapter will help all of us because of you go to mexico, mexico has nice laws on the books but they never enforce them. As a result, they squeeze labor, cheap labor, make labor work in unsafe conditions. If we have the ability to enforce that, then we could raise their standard of living at their level and give us a level Playing Field. The same thing here. If our labor laws are not enforced or enforced improperly or unfairly, they dont meet International Standards which they dont, other countries could insist we do the same if we have a trade agreement with them. That would raise the standard up for everybody. The mexicank at worker or the Canadian Worker as an enemy. They are trying to make a living just like we are. Thatthe agreement itself disadvantages both of us. So we want to remove that disadvantage i go from there. Trade can be a good thing if it benefits everybody but it was not designed that way. Nafta was not written that way and that was not the intent of nafta to help workers. Quite the contrary. The intent of nafta was to give corporations and upper hand and thats what they got. From the monitor . Thank you for being here today and i would like to ask do you seegrowth and signs that wage growth may be improving . I read the Economic Policy institute said that workers at the bottom 10 have had the strongest pay growth in the last year. Im just curious for your outlook and if there is improvement, why is that happening . I think there is some improvement. Its not what it should be but its some improvement. The reason is, as you approach full employment, there has to be an upward push and pressure on wages. Full employment is considered at 5 but in the 90s women lower the map and now the unemployed rate is below that so technically, we are at full employment but because wages are not responding quickly, there is. Omething askew you have more people in the workforce and more people working parttime that want to work fulltime. Where probably not really at full employment even those the statistics look at that. I think unions have a good year last year. We raised wages for our members hire than we have for a while. We will continue that push but wages have lagged so far behind over 40 years that it will take a lot more than a year or two to get them back to where they need to be. Remember, when workers get a raise, they spend that money. They spend their money and create demand. The demand creates jobs. The only way to expand an economy is to have the vast majority of your members have an improved standard of living. And the more the standard of living improves, the more the economy will improve and grow. From the Financial Times to what extent are companies who were thinking about moving jobs overseas, which obviously would send a signal to the white house, to what extent do they accelerate in automation which is harder to see and harder to be criticized . I think its a combination. If you look at unionization over the years, we have made companies more efficient because we force automation and improvements and technical improvement. We have worked with our employers to get that up. Are ak people, if you businessman, what is your goal . Your goal is to get as much money as you can. Its never enough. So if outsourcing gets you some money, you will do it. If laying off workers will get you more money, you do it. If illuminating your committed to eat get your money, you do it. So they will use any strategy that works never best interest. Again, our question ought to be where does society fit in . Where the stakeholder does the stakeholder of the committee fit in . Because when they maximize profits for them or their shareholders, if they treat workers as a cost to be cut instead of an asset to be invested in and the community as yesterdays newspaper, why should society continue to tolerate that and support that . Conversationve the that i talked about earlier so that the community and the worker and the country actually benefit from all of the things you just talked about. [indiscernible] first of all, it would be too early to see any trend like that. The things they are doing now are planned when president obama was still in there. Factories or a mine opened up, it has been on the books or seven years and he takes credit for it. Those a bit on the work so its too early to see any of that. . U. S. News question ma you describe the white house as proworker or racist . I do not say proworker. [laughter] there are likeminded economic thoughts. Do you which camp think the president more squarely belongs . Uh the majority of them. I dont know. I wish i have the answer to that question. Of people wish they had the answer to that question. Shown a remarkable dimety to do a 180 on a and i dont know the answer to that. The daily news. When you opened up, you said your allies in the white house left. Im assuming youre talking about mr. Bannon. We dont have any allies in the white house. The people who were likeminded on Economic Issues, im assuming that was steve bannon. Im wondering what kind of relationship you had with him. He says he will be pressing the issue, the Economic Issues from the outside and thinks he can have more influence that way. Do you see any alliance there . The negative that comes along is very weighty. We will look at the issues. The same thing that i will do with the president. Thats goodomething for workers and the economy, then we will support it. If he does something thats bad for workers or the economy, then we will oppose it. The same thing. A 3 trillionget infrastructure built out, we will look for allies. Allies will come from a lot of different corners. Those allies will all come together and hopefully we will have enough weight to get that done. We will see. We got about two minutes left. Last question. Then the first week of trump presidency, some of the building and trade unions and representatives went to the white house, unions and part of the aflcio. There was a photo op and they were optimistic of the time for there was stuff that they could work on with the president. Now that were seven months in, have you and your talks with Union Leaders and rankandfile members who were optimistic about this president , have you seen some of that optimism fading . On a related note, you said at the time you would be calling balls and strikes and the president. Where are we now on the pitch count . Have you seen many strikes at all . Where loaded with walks. Loaded with walks. A strike is something good and ebola something bad. We have seen more balls than the scene strikes. Barillian standard, the overtime standard, Consumer Protection bureau,. Frank, coal mine standards and a number of things. Ofould say the first part the question, yet, i think its significant amount of the optimism has faded away because we have not seen an infrastructure bill. We have not seen any of the things manufacturing renewal of manufacturing, we have not seen the things that we were hopeful about, that we could work on with him on. Dividehave seen things us. And divide the country and become more troublesome. I would say yeah, there is no question that the optimism of a lot of people, my members, working people of all the sectors, not just the building trade but all the sectors, a lot of the optimism has faded. Thank you for doing this. We appreciate it very much. Thanks her having me, i appreciate it very much. Thank you. Thank you to everybody. Host [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979 cspan was created as a Public Service i the American Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. On cspan2, a conversation on access to financial systems. The Brookings Institution will look at ways to create a more inclusive economy and of the role that Digital Technologies can play. That is live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. You can follow it on cspan. Org radio app. Ler and the cspan radio app. The u. S. Chamber of commerce will hold its annual labor day briefing this morning to discuss economic and workplace issues for businesses. Live coverage begins at 10 30 eastern. Coming up, the white house columnist for the hill will talk about the Trump Administration. Host President Trump pitching tax reform calling on lawmakers to deliver on this once in a Generation Opportunity are hardworking americans. Democrats say the plan aims to cut taxes for the wealthiest americans. 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