If you live in the eastern or central time zones, call us at 202 7488000. If you live in the mountain or pacific time zone, 202 7488001. You can also send us your thoughts on twitter. You can leave a comment on our facebook page. This fight between president elect donald trump and the labor unions started after what appeared to be a victory last week. He had negotiated a deal with a factory in indiana to keep jobs from moving to mexico. That deal became controversial after these comments from a union leader in indiana. Here is the story in the cannotgton. washington post. The story says that chuck jones, the president of united fuel workers, which represents carrier employees have felt optimistic when donald trump announced he had reached a deal until thee 1100 jobs union leader heard that only 730 of the projected jobs wednesday and 550 Union Members would lose their livelihoods after all. Jones hoped donald trump would explain himself. When he got up there, and for whatever reason he lied in front of a crowd of about a crowd of 150 supervisors. Donald trump said they were heping over 1100 people questioned whether donald trump was inflating the victory. Information from the bureau of labour statistics that shows the level of the Union Membership in america. Union membership in 2015 was inut half the rate it was 1983. You can see the decline from about 20 in 1983 to just over 10 in 2015. That is a Union Membership rates. That data comes from the bureau of labor statistics. Union members are about evenly split between the private and Public Sector. Andcan see the dark blue light blue bars showing you the number of private sector Union Members versus Public SectorUnion Members. There are about 7. 6 million in the private sectors and 4. 4 1983. N fewer than in publicsector Union Membership is about 7. 2 million. That is more than 1983. What is your message to president elect donald trump . We are opening the phone is to Union Members only. We will start with sarah in california. Sarah is not there unfortunately. We will move on to this story that was in politico. Donald trump launches a war on unions. The story says that the war is on. Labor leaders spent almost 100 million campaigning against donald trump, they said they would give him the chance to deliver on his proworker agenda after the election. The ceasefire has eroded. Donald trump announced his choice for secretary of the department of labor as fast food executive andrew president , a whoic puzder, a critic floated the idea of automating restaurants to lower costs of labor. Ofald trump won the election the help with the help of Union Households in the midwest. So far the story says donald trump is making the decision to stand with or against an easy. Assembling a probusiness cabinet that could clash with unions at every turn. Lets try again with the phone my. Sharon from illinois. Good morning to you. Caller i know it is popular to be a right to work state. Years it20 years or 30 has not been popular to be in a union. I am a union member. I think everybody should be a union member, to organize better. I really think that donald trump liked put a commercial out they used to have in the 1970s for everybody to look for the union label, like the shirt workers ladies started in the 1970s. He should make a popular commercial and try to popularize unions. That is my only comment. Can i ask you all right, sharon is gone. Lets go to jesse in arkansas. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host how are you . Caller fine. How are you . Host i am good. What is your question . Caller i cannot say its on the phone. I was a union man for 42 years. We had a strong union back then around new york and new jersey. [indiscernible] breaker. Nion all of his hotels, he fought the unions like crazy not to pay them money. He is playing games with the peoples minds about what he did. When you do that in the union, you have a lot of cities in Southern States that have right to work law, which their job could be killed. Which union were you a member of . Serving awas with and 805. Host that is jesse from arkansas. Joining us now is the author of that political story from a few minutes ago. He is here to talk about Donald Trumps war on unions as he called it. Good morning. Guest good morning. Thank you for having me. Host why are you calling this a war . How dramatic that the next four years be between labor unions and donald trump . Guest after the election you saw major labor leaders say they were open to working with trump. This was someone who used a lot of their rhetoric of bringing jobs back to america, particularly the manufacturing sector. After the election, there was a chance to work collaboratively. Since then it seems like the gloves are off. In particular this selection of Andrew Puzder as labor secretary has major labor leaders campaigning against donald trump, saying this is someone who wants to dismantle the labor agenda. There is almost nothing good they have to say about puzder in general. Host give us a background on him. What do we know about his potential policy stances and his history with regards to labor unions and Worker Rights . Guest this is someone who has great support in the business community. Associations were pushing for him to become labor secretary. One issue in particular, the importantge, which is to labor unions. He is not opposed to the minimum wage hike, but he has said it could lead to job losses and automation. On automation, he has floated the idea of automating more of his last food restaurants. Those things, minimum wage and automation could get under the skin of labor unions. Host what about some of the regulations the Obama Administration had put forward under the department of labor, such as overtime regulations . What is he expected to do when it comes to those issues . Guest for overtime in particular, it is not a particularly rosy picture for its. Laborless of which secretary donald trump ends up with, that is likely not to go into effect the way we see it now. The same goes for other regulations that could be fought by the Trump Administration or overturned. Things were likely to see, more probusiness environment. Host give us a little background. You mentioned the selection of andrew president as labor secretary puzder as labor secretary was controversial for unions, but this was a fight that begin growing before the election. After theediately election you saw a conciliatory tone. Of the richard tromp openio tweeting that he is to working with the president elect on proworker issues. There was a moment where there was an openness to collaboration. Thisld say that is over at point. The choice of labor secretary and betsy devos as labor secretary has the Teachers Union up in arms and so i think the more he moves forward on this ofnda and with a series tweets against a local union. Eader has added to that host you mentioned that there was some initial effort towards conciliation perhaps. Many Union Members voted for donald trump. He is someone who has been strongly antitrade. Talk about that disconnect. I think you look at some of these states like michigan, ohio, is a venue, where Hillary Clinton pennsylvania, where Hillary Clinton was not able to generate the sort of Union Household support that barack obama and Democratic Candidates have had in those states for decades. The fact that donald trump was performing a little better benefited him in those places. I think he goes back to his rhetoric around jobs. People are taking him at his word. The disconnect is that so far it lookingke the way he is to create jobs will not be something that comes through labor unions. Those are the early indications for his cabinet members. His statements on twitter directly at a union leader. That is ted hesson, labor and employment reporter at politico. Guest thank you for having me. Host here are those tweets that donald trump wrote in regards to a union leader out in indiana. Jones, who is president of united steelworkers has done a terrible job representing workers. No wonder companies flee country he followed it up with, if they were any good, they would have kept those jobs in indiana, more time working, less time talking, reduce dues. What is your message to president elect donald trump . John from pennsylvania is up next. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am a union member. The day that donald trump announced that he was running for president , i called into washington journal and said i would never vote for donald trump. I am a registered republican. I voted for Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, a lot of these Union Members who are not familiar with trump went and voted for him. They are going to learn a lesson. In 1970, when the casinos came to new jersey, they were taxed at 8 . The entire time that he was there at 8 by the state of new jersey. Trump filed for bankruptcy at every one of those casinos. He had four casinos in atlantic city. Plaza, taj mahal, and the marina. The casinos in pennsylvania when they came here in 2007 were taxed at 55 , not 8 . There has not been a casino that filed for bankruptcy in pennsylvania since they came here. Host what do you think was compelling about Donald Trumps message to some of your coworkers and colleagues . Caller how is that . Host why do you think some of your Union Members voted for him . Caller he did not really have a message. He attacked everybody. We had 17 candidates on the republican side. He attacked them with lies. He cannot even say the name ted cruz. It was lying ted. It was the lying bushes. He did not have a message. He just attacked everybody. He is the big liar. He is the deceiver. Host that is john in that something appeared lets hear from dana in los angeles. You are up early. Caller i voted for donald trump. Worker. Ibew guy who was arrested for child molestation. He got away with murder because the union kept covering up for him. He has been in the news lately with more child molestation. Host what about donald trump spoke to you . Caller i want him to take care of the corruption like he does in his businesses. He runs a tight ship. Host has any of his actions since the election our previous guest talked about, the nomination of Andrew Puzder as labor secretary change your opinion . Caller it does not. These guys will take care of business. ,here was another guy in texas he is the same thing. He was a child molester, too. Host we will leave it there. Next up is from arizona. Ler did i get your genius. Host i am sorry about that. Dues here formy this subscription tv. I like my money to go to free speech tv and the other cable things they are always asking for money. Because i pay, and i am in favor of everyone getting paid from what i like. That is only a sidebar. To runage is that i like my jobs just like mr. Donald trump. When i run my jobs, i stick with what i say. I dont change back and forth. That is deceiving. Him should be grounds for not being present. , and you maintain policy by having a stance on something. What i wanted to talk to you , and i dont know if i am still being recorded. Host you are on air. Caller when you follow the preamble to the constitution, it says to promote the general welfare. When you run all the money to the top, and they have money, they have money, and you have people out here starving asking for money. Is that promoting the general welfare . I can give you an example of how it could be promoted, in other words make things for this country, not the whole world. The constitution was written for this country i believe. Let me tell you how we can get there. When these guys get up in the senate, especially in congress, they could use phrases like to promote the general welfare number one. Number two would possibly be to maintain stability. To be three could be secure. Number four would be like to maintain sensitivity. Be youe would know, i forgot number five anyway. Host all right. Here is another story by ted hesson in politico. Unions investigate for showing for Hillary Clinton. Union hustles failed to turn out for Hillary Clinton despite a massive Voter Mobilization turnout effort. The assumption is that Donald Trumps positions on trade resonated strongly with Union Members in bluecollar jobs. Looking at exit polls into a deeper dive on reasons. Lost unionp households by 8 , that is the smallest win for democrats since Walter Mondale in 1984. Barack obama won Union Households by 18 in 2012. Mike is on the line. What is your message to president elect donald trump . Caller good morning. I wanted to say that i appreciate what unions have done for this country for a little over 100 years ago. They have run their course. Mediocrity ofut performance that we cannot perform him and he should fix that to help manufacturing, and especially Public Service unions to back off so we can have better performances without protections of the mediocrity that unions can bring to workers who do not care because their union protects them so well that there is no chance of getting fired. Host that is mike in pennsylvania. In jersey city. Caller i am a union member for the American Federation of government employees. I am a union member for 30 years. It is a federal labor union. Trump ande that mr. His administration would preserve some of our rights that ,e have gained over the years not only through past democratic administrations but also republican administrations. Those things are the working conditions that we contractually have enforced over the years. I am hopeful that our contracts affected. Pect issues like reasonable accommodations, gayrights, these are the things i hope they preserved. I also want to point out that yearsl employees over the were really underpaid. We are not overpaid as some people may think. I think the average increase in 1. 2 , has been maybe meanwhile costs for our insurance, Health Insurance and travel costs have all increased. We have not seen a raise in a long time. I would also point out to mr. Membersat 16,000 union did vote for him. Most of them were from customs ice and border, control who voted for him. Our union was not totally for Hillary Clinton. I am hopeful that mr. Trump and forministration looks out federal employees in some sort of way. From next up is ethyl pennsylvania. Good morning. Caller good morning. Family a union was in thefather myon and actually helped brother and into the u. S. Steel business. Unions back at the actually were responsible for a 40 hour week. We were able to afford to do. Hings even henry ford was on the side of the worker at one point because he said if you made the product, you should be able to buy the product. Now we are at a point where cars exceed the working efforts of the people in the Auto Industry with automation. And people like s,nry ford i mean forbe the guy that was antiunion. The history of the unions should be observed because these people are voting against their own interests. Host next up is randy from michigan. What are your thoughts this morning . Caller good morning. I would like to start by thanking you and all the men and women who work behind the scene on this great program. My message would be, you knocked the blue wall down by just over 100,000 votes. I am one of those voters that voted for you because i looked at my kidss tax returns. They are not doing so good. Mr. Trumps tax returns are doing just fine, but mine arent. I would like to remind mr. Trump that those 100,000 of us that voted for you will turn around and put against you if you dont come through. My vote was for my kids. Is there anything that president elect donald trump has done since the election that makes you worried that he will not come through for your children . Caller at first, yes. I was on a school board and had to deal with somebody like mr. Trump. He is going to like to put that pressure out there and step back and stick her about it. I am not going to worry about mr. Trumps game going right now. That is what he has going. Im going to worry about the first tuesday in november four years from now. That is when mr. Trump is going to have to worry about his decisions eating the right decisions for him. This is not about me. This is about mr. Trump getting his second term. There is nothing more embarrassing than being a one termer. I would like to thank you and wish you all a merry christmas. Ho ho ho lets hear from timothy and washington. Good morning. Caller hello. Host you are on the air. Member form a union the shipbuilders. I voted for donald trump. He has a better economic theory i think than many president s before him. America through deregulation and lower taxes. I agree with that. I used to vote labor, labor, labor. Then i became more educated on economic theory and values. Between those two things, i think donald trump outdid hillary a large margin. Carrie from new york is our next caller. Good morning. Caller hello. Host you are on the air. Caller yes, i am a member of the steam layers local. I want to ask mr. Trump how he plans to make good on his promise to the people in appalachia and Middle America to bring back jobs when i am obs, what back coal j i am looking here close to vermonts where they have made huge strides in wind power and solar power . How could those people actually vote for mr. Trump . I am sure they are intelligent. Our coal plants are not producing power anymore. How is he going to make it better for these people . I think those people need to retrain themselves for something we are doing, electronic jobs, computer jobs. Whatever. Host all right. A couple of quick headlines for you. Times rexrk tillerson, the chief executive dealmaking has plun