Unfiltered coverage live as it happens, reyears and anytime on cspan. Org. Six 2020 democratic president ial candidates spoke at a forum on labor issues hosted by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union in cedar rapids, iowa. The first candidate to speak his former Vice President biden. Ok, i want to introduce our first candidate who will tell us why we should elect him, former senator from the great state of delaware, former Vice President joe biden. [applause] [cheers and applause] mr. Biden ok. Welcome. Mr. Biden thank you. It is good to be home. Vice president biden, we are in a room full of teamsters and i want you to tell all of them here and all of them watching, why they should vote for you. But no malarkey. Vice president biden, we are in a room full of teamsters and i want you to tell all of them here and all of them watching, why they should vote for you. But no malarkey. [laughter] mr. Biden no malarkey. I tell you why. First i should thank you. The only reason i am sitting here is that in 1972, i was losing in the polls the sunday before the election, the newspaper went on strike. You guys had put on a gigantic insert in the sunday paper to go out on the republican party. You guys would not cross a picket line. And i won by 3100 votes. [applause] if you think i dont like secondary pickets, youre wrong. The reason is, i am, as my grandfather would say, labor from belt buckle to shoe sole. Where i come from, i understand a very basic notion. Wall street did not build the United States of america. The middleclass did it. And unions built the middle class. I am the real deal. [applause] passed nlrb, when it was , did not say there could be labor, it said the government should promote labor unions for a simple basic reason. When you are strong, labor you are the only one that can keep the barbarians at the gate. No joke. They only understand power. Power countervailing power. , and you guys have been getting when you are strong, labor you killed, organized labor. We are down to 6 . When i started off as United States senator, it was 34 of all people working that were part of organized labor. And there has been a war on labors house for the last 30 years. I give a speech 12 years ago to the aflcio National Convention , and i said that and they thought i was exaggerating. Everything going on here is about keeping you from being able to compete with corporate power. And without unions being strong, we are in deep, deep trouble. The last point i will make, and then i guess my time is up. But folks, it used to be there was a basic there was a direct correlation a basic , bargain in america, if you contribute to the wealth of the outfit you work with, you got to participate in the profits. Well, guess what . From the end of world war ii, and by the way this is pearl harbor day, everyone of you who are veterans out there, thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do. [applause] but look, think about this. Productivity went up 92 from the end of the war until 1978. Wages went up because of labor 94 . Wages went up. From that point on as the war on labors house began, guess what . Productivity went up 68 and wages went up 8 . 8 . 8 . Now, everybody thinks that the only obligation we have, Corporate America has, according to milton friedman, god rest his soul, i hope you had little contrition on the way up. The fact of the matter. Think of what is being said these days. The only obligation corporate and has is to stockholders. They say they have no obligations to employees, not a joke. No obligations to the community. And what has happened . Workers are being killed. The last point i will make. As the war on labors house has succeeded they have not only , stifled labor, look at what they have done. They have gone out on the right and make sure it is impossible for you to compete for your own, to represent yourself. You work for jimmy johns, you have to sign a noncompete agreement that you will not walk across town to work for mcdonalds and get three cents to five since more. Other fortune 500 companies, over 350 make you sign an agreement, if you come to work for them you will never discuss the ways you make with another the wage you make with another employee or you get penalized. Why . Because you are doing the same job that he is doing and your guinea pig less because you are a woman and they do not want , anybody to know about it. The third thing is, last year billion in overtime was denied for hourly workers who were not unionized. 1. 2 billion. So you stack spaghetti sauce in a store, in a supermarket. You control the guy or the woman who brings out the carts on a forklift. So what happens . They make you management. And you cannot get paid overtime. You see it happen with labor as well. The bottom line is i am for you because America Needs you to grow. We need to to grow. When labor does well, the whole country does well. [applause] i am sorry. Im really angry about this. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, mr. Biden. We have a video question now barack, a member of that teamsters local 817 from freeport new york freeport, new york who provides transportation for film and Stage Productions throughout new york city. Hello, i wanted to find out what provisions are theyre going to be and what promises are made, to make sure that collective bargaining is always going to be available to us as unions, as Union Members and his brothers. Thats my only question. Fmr. Vp biden it is the 64 question. Here is the deal. Folks, number one, i was the original sponsor of the employer free choice act. On by the way, my employees my Campaign Just joined the teamsters. They signed us. [applause] but all kidding aside, you have to do at least three things. The employer freetrade act and the proactive. Act. E pro i came from a state when i ran for the first time was a right to work state. We should change the federal law that there is no right to work allowed anywhere in the country, for real not a joke. , [applause] not a joke. Number two. The way we should be moving, i say to the gentleman from freeport, is that right now we are in a situation where last year, on a yearly basis, billion perent 1 year trying to bust unions from being able to start off in the first place. Ok . Now, under the pro act and under the lewis act, what we are going to be able to do is two things. When they engage in the, not unionbusting, but preventing unions from being able to be formed in the first place, they should be subject to significant fines. I know i only have a short time, but here is bottom line. Right now it calls for a 50,000 first fine and the second find fine 100,000ond , dollars. For a major corporation, that does not mean a thing. But here is what will change it. You want to get someones attention . Fine the managers personally. [applause] not a joke. Fine the management. If they are engaged in keeping unions by violating the rules of organization, and you know them all, than they should be held accountable. For a multimillion Dollar Corporation to be able to take , out 50,000 as a fine, their shareholders hit a price. Take it out of the pocket. Take it out of the pocket. And if, in fact if it becomes a , serious, serious offense, we should take about criminalization of some of these things. [applause] i am not i really mean it. If you engaged in trying to prevent people from voting in a polling place in a regular election, what happens . You can be held criminally liable. What is the fundamental difference between saying to you that a powerful employer can intimidate workers to not get engaged and vote for a union that you have a right to vote for . Ok . And in fact, if it is as egregious enough, why is that not similar to denying your right to vote in a general election . I do not think it is dissimilar. I tell you what, as they say in southern delaware, and awful lot of employers have had an altar call, as they say. And theythe lord, would see it quickly. There would be very few come in to prosecutions but some are so , egregious that they should thing about that. We also have to do a lot of things that relate to employer pensions whole range of things. , abut the bottom line is, to be a position where you enforce the ability of unions to be able to organize. And if there is interference, and the rules are pretty clear, you make sure that it is enforced and the penalties are imposed. And if it is because of a particular management and it is a repeat offense, it should be a higher fine, and it should be directed to the person who was in charge of putting it together. [applause] am i going too long . You have a little more time. Leslie we have a question from our audience. This individual is mr. Frank pastorino, a 36 year ups number of local 238, right here in iowa. He is also a board member of the National United committee to protect pensions and his , question is regarding pensions. [whistle] Frank Pastorino . Right here. Mr. Biden , i may be irish, but i not but i am not stupid. I remember her daughter. Said, frank retired membera from winterset, iowa. I saw you a couple of weeks ago at your town hall. I have gotten involved to protect my pension, my coworkers pensions, but also for my grandson here. Im worried about the Work Environment he is going to inherit from us when it comes to , education, when it comes to opportunity, when it comes to compensation. I think these are all important things. You are familiar with the and ongoing crisis we have with the employer Pension System. That is going to hurt the retirees as far as devastating , cuts to their benefits. We are going to have a negative effect on actives in their retirement, when it comes along. We are reaching a point where we are going to have a pension benefit guaranty corp. , the pbgc, go bankrupt. That is the federal Insurance Agency which is responsible for covering these pensions. There going to collapse and go bankrupt. These are good, hardworking people. All the way through this, they have worked their entire lives in order turn these pensions. They pay their taxes, more than their fair share of taxes to our nation. And many of our people are veterans. Probably better than 50 of our group in des moines are veterans. Many of them are vietnam veterans, and we cannot disrespect them again. We need to make sure that we honor these pensions. My question to you is, what is your plan to address the pension crisis in america and restore Retirement Security to American Workers . [applause] fmr. Vp biden number one, there was a great senator in ohio who introduced the bush lewis act. Here is the deal. Folks, look, the fact is these multiemployer pensions are the only way it works for the vast, significant number of labor unions, particularly you all particular the teamsters. , and im going to see to it, according with the act and may and maybe go beyond it, that we open up to use the fancy term of the trade, open up a window at the Treasury Department meaning that can provide 1 , loans, 1 loans to make sure multiemployer pensions are able to sustain themselves so they dont go bankrupt so , that you are able to maintain the pension, number one. Number two, the way that works is youre going to have, in addition to that, we have to be sure that we deal with the larger sections. You talk about veterans, you talk about other means. I remember, i grew up in a household where my dad did not belong to a union, although the folks up in scranton where i came from, if you listen to barack, you would think i climbed out of a coal mine with a lunch bucket, scrappy joe biden from scranton. But my dad was a whitecollar worker. And when coal died in scranton, pennsylvania, everybody lost their job. My dad, we moved to a little steel town called claymont, delaware, which has been eviscerated now, but that is another story. I remember my dad, we lived in a threebedroom splitlevel home with a grandfather and four kids. We were not poor, it was just the normal, technically lowermiddle class home. And the walls were thin. And i can remember my dad being so concerned and restless and i asked my mom, what was the matter . And she said the outfit he worked for, there is no more pension. The pension went under. And i remember my dad saying, your job is about more than a paycheck, it is about your dignity, about respect, it is about your place in the community. And he would say to me at all of my siblings, it is about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, honey, it is ok, and mean it. All the people can no longer say that. Go back to the old neighborhoods where people are not Union Members. And how can they say it . They do not have faith. For the first time in american history, you have more than half, no longer the wealthiest middleclass in the world. We have over 55 of all people thinking their children will never be able to reach the state they have reached the economic , prosperity they had. And it has got to change, and it gets back to all of you. The reason that has happened is because of the loss of power of unions in america. So when you talk about pensions, we have to talk about the Pension Guarantee Fund that is able to be funded, funded through federal government funding at a low, 1 rate, so that we can maintain the hundreds of billions of dollars time to needed over keep these pensions alive. With regard to your grandson, you asked a separate question, at least i view it as separate. What you do to make sure he has a shot . What you do to make sure he or she, your granddaughter has a shot . Two things. Number one, the idea that anybody in america works, and works 40 hours a week, and lives in poverty, is absolutely barbaric. It is not who the hell we are. So immediately we should move to, it will not affect you all. But a 15 minimum wage. We also have to change the way we educate people in america. Ladies and gentlemen, you have an awful lot of kids growing up in title i schools, where the tax base is low, not based on color. It is based on income. But guess what . The teachers are leaving. They are not getting paid enough, so they cannot stay there. There are increasing class sizes. Number two, they find themselves in a situation where there is no social workers in the school anymore. They do not have people, School Psychologists. There is one School Psychologist for every 1500 kids in america. Kids coming from tough homes, no matter what their background is, need help. They need help beyond learning how to read, write, add and subtract. I would triple the amount of money from 15 billion to 45 billion per year for preschool, so everything a child in america aged 3, 4, and 5 can go to school, school. And we can do it. [applause] and every study shows, by all the great universities, that increases exponentially the prospect that that student no matter what their background is, that the student will do very well in school and go beyond high school either to trade , school or to Junior College or college. It is about opening opportunities. You know better than i do it is about giving opportunities. 12 years of education in the 21st century is not enough. It is not enough. Is my time up . No, ive got another few minutes. I see you looking at your watch. m boring the hell out of you it is your wife . Well, answer the damn thing. I answer mine when she calls. , 12 years of education is no longer enough. There are a hundred thousand jobs out there, 100,000 decent paying jobs in Hightech Industries that we are fully capable of being able to do, but no one has been trained to do them. Companies are not spending the money. If you look at the details, theres a guy from the university of massachusetts who did this long study. Corporations made trillions of dollars. Guess what they did . They took 35 of it and gave it to their stockholders. They took another, over a 12 year period, they took another 59 and used it to buy back their stock. They buy back their stock and it increases the benefits the management gets, because they get paid in stock. They left 9 for everything else. 9 for new wages, research and development total. , 9 for new development. 9 , thats it. That is what is happening today and it is wrong. , its simply wrong. And i come from the corporate state of america, delaware. But guess what . I have been a prounion guy and have a better record than anyone you are going to be talking to, for that entire 36 years i was a senator. [applause] because what happens is, again, when you get people a shot to get into the middle class, everybody benefits. The wealthy do very, very well. Very well when the economy is growing. Because guess what . Middleclass folks like my dad and my mom and you guys and you , women, you spend everything you have. Not because there is a lot, not profligate, but because you need it to get by and hope you have a little bit , of breathing room. And guess what, that grows economy for everybody. Everyone. And that is not happening now because were denying access. Denying access. And we should have Free Community college for everybody. [applause] it is only 6 billion. We can put everybody into Free Community college. Cutting in half the cost of college. And by the way, im talking about people coming back. We are in the middle of an industrial revolution. I wont give his name, because i dont have permission, but one of my buddies i went to school with in claymont, i went to a Catholic High School called holy rosary. And afterwards i went on to the local Catholic School that was a prep school, it was an academic academicallychallenging school. I worked in the summer to be able to get the tuition on the , school grounds. This guy went on and became a trucker. Guess what . As used always point out to me, he made more money than i did over time. But i saw him three christmases ago. I will end with this. I am sorry but it is important. , we wonder why people have anxiety. We treat people where i come from and the neighbors i come from, with high school degreesi did not have any friends who had parents who had college degrees. We would treat you like all dummies if you do not go to college. B