Becomes the new selma. We must march. Im glad to see us standing for whats right. Plus, mega drought. The Scientists Say it is on the way. Climate change continues unabated. It is unlike anything we have seen in 1,000 years. Good to have you with us folks. Thanks for watching. The question for the 2016 president ial hopefuls is who can be the best union buster in the bunch. I tell you what. These president ial hopefuls are trying harder than ever to position themselves with the right winger so theyll get the victory. Marco rubio is in deep trouble. His solution is a legislative attack on unions trying to sell it as good for wages. Scott walker is leading the polls in iowa at 16 . Marco rubio is in a distant ninth place with 4 . Rubio is trying to make up those points by taking a page out of walkers playbook. On thursday rubio released his rewarding achievement and incentivizing successful employees act. Now their bill would amend the National Labor relations act. If it gets to the senate the it goes this far, all the righties are going to be on board with this. This is red meat to lamar alexander. Overall, this would affect 7. 6 million unionized workers in this country. The bill would allow employers to give merit based wage increases to individual employees. That sounds got, doesnt it . Rubios website says the raise act would essentially make wages set in Union Contracts a minimum floor while gives employers the flexibility to reward diligent employees for their hard work. Thats where it really sounds good. The bill sounds great on paper, but it is a union buster. Thats what they love to do. The legislation is designed to corrupt the collective bargaining process. This creates a climate in the workplace that sets the table for, i believe, discrimination. I thought we passed all that. This would give companies the template for undercutting any collective Bargaining Agreement and cash whipping any employee to go against the unions next time around. Unions work because there is a solid agreement between all employees and their employer. Dont forget theres a vote. You got to ratify a union contract. This bill drives a wedge between Union Management and Union Workers because workers are going to say, gosh do i really need to do this. It allows employers to pick and choose favorites. What if your boss finds out what your politics are about or your situation personally . What if youre a gay american . Discrimination is written right into this bill. It creates multiple classes of workers pitting workers against each other. The bill does nothing but mangle and undermine the relationship between unions and employees. It is going to hurt workers in the long run as a whole. The congressman from indiana is already trying to tie this bogus bill to the minimum wage discussion. Its also perhaps not a direct answer to but certainly a pivot for this whole idea about minimum wage which we know doesnt work. I want employers to hire more people, not less. Of course as we know it raising the minimum wage does the opposite of that. But what a great answer this could be to that discussion, whether it is at the dinner table or talking across the country or even the world in a forum like this. Answer to the minimum wage yes. The way to put more money in peoples pocket is through Something Like the raise act. Did you hear that folks . He says minimum wage doesnt work. Really . I dont know where these republicans come up with these business theories that it is bad to put money in a workers pocket. What do they have against workers . This bill that theyre talking about is no substitute for federal minimum wage increase. Dont let the republicans fool you. In the end, the raise act will potentially weaken unions. That is the mission here. It will end up lowering wages in the long run. Itll pick and choose. Itll set discrimination guidelines and this is what republicans have wanted all along. They want dysfunction in the workplace. If they are for this how can they be against raising the minimum wage . This is government intrusion into the workplace where all employees arent going to be represented. It takes fairness and throws it right out the back door. Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think. Tonights question is senator marco rubio trying to destroy unions . Text a for yes. Text b for no. I have never seen so many republicans be so concerned about collective bargains. For more let me bring in john nichols. Also with us this evening is larry cohen. Gentlemen, great to have you with us. Larry, you first. Wheres the merit here . What am i missing . Whats good about what youre hearing . Nothing. 80 of American Workers havent had a raise in 30 years, including their predecessors in their jobs. Productivity has soared during that time and none of that is shared with workers. Hes concerned about the 6 of workers who have collective bargaining. Within the Union Contracts, there are dozen of examples of productivity pay increases. Production can determine how much individual workers get and in many areas the discretion goes beyond that but it is objective and theres a process for it instead of this willy li williey nilly. Its an outrage. Pretty amazing. One more question mr. Cohen, on this. Doesnt this set the table for discrimination . Doesnt it set the table for playing favorites . If the boss likes you, youre going to get the raise. Isnt this a Union Busting tool here . I think he thinks it will be a Union Busting tool, but again the problem he runs into is that the other more than 90 of American Workers in the private sector dont have collective bargaining. This is how they do get paid. When they discuss pay with each other, they can be reprimanded and fired for doing it. His intent is clearly solely to put the focus on those 6 and try to bust the unions that we do have. The lowest percentage of any democracy in the world. That is an amazing statement in itself. John nichols, whats the political play here for marco rubio . Why now . He has a book out. Hes trying to position himself for his hoped for president ial race. The problem is he is way behind in the polls nationally and in iowa and new hampshire. Marco rubio didnt count on scott walker coming in so strong and pulling all of those people looking for a new face. Rubio is doing the old political trick, which is trying to steal a page from somebody whose ahead of him. In this case it is important to see this not only as president ial politics but it is part of the republican template in 2016. They are making assaults on labor rights a major part of their campaign and message. Youre seeing it happening in ohio and wisconsin. Youre seeing right to work battles all over. I should say right to work for less. Whats going on in the president ial race is a sort of orwellian rewrite of the language, a suggestion that minimum wage doesnt work but somehow messing with Union Contracts for people who get paid more will work. Its reversing the entire order of the discussion. If theyre so concerned about minimum wage why dont they do something about it . That would give a pay raise to at least 5 million americans. The whole world has minimum wages. I dont think most americans wanted to go back to the 1800s. We want 21st century labor policy. Americans even in red states voted for minimum wage in referendum after referendum. Your thoughts on that . This is an orchestrated effort in this campaign coming up, isnt it . Theyre trying to make it a core issue for the republicans and a suggestion that somehow youre going to get a more prosperous america by getting rid of labor law and protections. This is a really change for the Republican Party. I can tell you as somebody who is working on a history of the Republican Party that there was a time not that long ago where republican senators and president eisenhower were bragging about being favorable to unions. Now we are in a situation where the groups who do do a lot to raise peoples wages are under assault by one of our parties. It really is a harmful politics. Well it is going to pit workers against workers and it is going to create situations. If this bill were to pass if it wasnt filibustered it was probably going to pass the house. It is going to get moving in the senate. There are going to be some conservative democrats who might look at this thing. I think this thing could end up as a filibuster. It might bring us back to a role focus on minimum wages. Does marco rubio know what the climate is like in a union shop . What is a union worker supposed to do . Break rank and go to the boss and say, you got to give me a raise . He doesnt understand the function of the whole thing. Larry, what about that . You nailed it. He doesnt understand it. I dont think he cares. In the last platform, they basically the Republican Party at their last convention with romney said lets get rid of collective bargaining. Yet in 1976 gerald ford championed it and signed the bill and republicans voted for it. We see an ideology from the right wing taking over that party. We will fight it in the shop floor and in the offices and politically as well. I want to go back to your original comment that there are opportunities for contracted collective bargained employees to do better than what theyre doing right now. I would venture to say that rubio probably dont know that. Thats right. Those kinds of things exist. I would like to know how many paychecks he has ever written out for workers. I think we have to get to the fundamentals of this. How much does he really know about business . John, i dont believe he has a record in business does he . Like an awfully lot of these republican candidates he has a record in politics. Aside from scott walker he is one of the longest political careerists in this race. Public service can be very very honorable, but the fact of the matter is we have a lot of people running around saying they want to run government like a business. They want to do things in more efficient ways but messing with labor contracts from above and from outside, thats not something that makes sense in a business setting. It is certainly not something that makes sense for raising wages and improving the condition of American Workers. Gentlemanen, good to have you with us. Keep up the fight, my friends. Thanks so much. Remember to answer tonights question there at the bottom of the screen. Like us on facebook. You can follow us at we got ed as well. Coming up inspiration from the big screen reignites a powerful movement for equality in the south. 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This year will focus on Voting Rights the need to expand medicaid and dealing with the minimum wage. Joining me tonight is my guest. I want to ask you first about the movie selma and what impact this has had. You have been quoted as saying that North Carolina is the new selma. Are things coming together and emotions being sparked with a touch of history and a real reminder about what the Civil Rights Movement was all about . When we look at the extreme turn here in North Carolina and we look at the fact we have a first case of the shelby decision on july 6th federal court 30 days to the date when the Voting Rights act was signed, were fighting to win this case. More than 180 organizations are coming together now. We are fighting back against a regressive tide. This legislature has denied medicaid expansion. They have denied earned income tax credit. They have passed the worst Voter Suppression laws since 1960. We have to fight back now. What is going to be different in this election cycle as opposed to the last one . Are you going to be able to get more people involved . No doubt. Tom tillis did win the senate. Think about it. He won 49 of the vote. We are the only state where incumbent Tea Party Members actually lost because theres a movement here. Were saying to progressives you have got to run. You cant run away from your record and you have to stand. They passed the worst Voter Suppression. They through 100 million at us and the best thing they could do a 1. 3 victory. As i travel around this state, peel people are not discouraged. Theyre going to register organize, fight. Were going to mobilize. 2016 will be a major battle right here in North Carolina. I dont see people wanting to turn back at all. Thousands of people will turn out tomorrow. We have been in the legislature every day this week. People had a diein yesterday over medicaid expansion. Were fighting to raise the minimum wage. You put marriage amendment on the ballot . Put a money amendment on the ballot and let people vote on raising the minimum wage and indexing it with inflation. We are in this for the long haul. Were not just in it for a moment. Were in this for a movement. How many people are you expecting tomorrow reverend . We have more buses lined up than we had last year. Last year was 80,000 to 100,000 people. We have had 200 events around this state since 2013. We are organizing. We have in 60 counties in North Carolina people we are building the local power. Were going into the districts of the new speaker and Senate Leader burger who is antilabor antiprograms that help the poor. Were going to be organizing right in their districts. Im hearing that people are coming from all over the state. They are all different colors races, creeds sexuality. Im on my way to an interreligious Interfaith Group where muslims and christians and jewish people and hindus are coming together. People are standing up. They recognize this is the moment. 50 years after selma, this is the moment. We are committed not to lose this battle. Reverend describe the republicans, their attitude in North Carolina. Do you communicate with them . Do you go visit with republican lawmakers . What do they say to you . How onbstinate are they . The state is changing because of this movement. When we started, people didnt want to raise taxes in order to fund teachers. 60 of people say they would be willing to raise taxes to pay teachers. People want a minimum wage increase. The problem is they are not republicans. We have a republican mayor in bell haven who is working with us on medicaid expansion, but what we have in North Carolina are extremists. They are against everything accept giving tax cuts to the wealthy, making sure people can get a gun easier than they can register to vote. Deny education, deny labor rights, deny immigrant rights deny medicaid expansion. It makes no sense. People are beginning to see how it is detrimental to all people. Well follow these marches and see what kind of impact they have. Coming up the link between Climate Change and a mega drought. Its in the forecast. Plus a look at the nbc allstars, or should i say yeah. The nbc not just the nba, allstars. No. Its called grid iq. The 4 51 is leaving at 4 51. They cut the power. Itll fix itself. Powers back on. Quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. Thrillingly predictable. We come by almost every day to deliver your mail so if you have any packages you want to return you should just give them to us i mean, were going to be there anyway why dont you just leave it for us to pick up . Or you could always get in your car and take it back yourself yeah, us picking it up is probably your easiest option its kind of a no brainer ok, well, good talk meet the worlds newest Energy Superpower. Surprised . 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