Ed Shultz Supports Employee Free Choice Act on Hardball

[Omaha Steve]

Transcript:


i'm with you on health care. i think we need a national health care plan. i don't like people working every day, coming to work, especially catching the bus at 6:00 in the morning and coming home without health care. what did you make of the president this week? i think he came away from europe so far being a for trade relations. not some new kind of protectionism like labor guys want.

that's true. the big battle coming up is going to be the employee Free Choice Act. i think that story is made for talk television in this country. we have not examined all the angles. this is what the unions want. this is not slowdown or backdown time. they want this passed. it's the most important issue out there for unions in 40 years. they put barack obama in the white house. they put mr. kaysy in the senate seat in pennsylvania, sharon brown in ohio, also claire mccaskill in missouri and jon tester in montana. this started in '06. this progressive movement. the unions after boots on the ground, millions of dollars put in, they want to make sure the employee Free Choice Act gets there through. the u.s. chamber is against it, business is against it. if we're going to help workers in the country we've got to get rid of intimidation in the work place, give people an open Choice, date specific when it comes to arbitration. voting a union into the work place and getting a deal is a totally different thing. this will take it to the limit. this battle is brewing. i don't hear president obama coming out saying if you get this to my desk i will sign it. i want the answer to that question. and that's coming up on the ed program.

the only question you've got to ask is part of the selling piece if you're going to sell this legislation is the way you described how barack obama won all those primaries. the way he got support from labor, the way the democrats all got elected was in a secret ballot. if that's the way they came to power, what's wrong with unions going to power with a secret ballot?

the fAct is there's a big difference between an election where we have elections to put people in office. but these people, chris, are going to be voting on their future. they're going to be voting. most of workers in this country want to organize if given the opportunity and if intimidation is taken out of the work place. it puts management on the even playing field with the worker. look at what ceo salaries have done in recent years.

i agree with you. your argument is going to have to be the end justifies the means. the democrats are going to have to vote up to 60, elect their leadership in a secret ballot. that's how they do business. ed, you're going to be able to do this fight. thanks for joining us. we're going to have you and you're going to create a huge audience at 6:00. the name of the show is ""the ed show."" watch it week nights here, right here at 6:00 eastern starting monday night. join us monday night at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern for more of this ""hardball.""

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. Schultz told Keith Olbermann the other day that he would be talking LABOR on his TV show

Which debuts Monday at 6:00 EST (just in case someone out there hasn't heard yet)

I wonder how much GE and their corporate sponsors will let him get away with? (unfortunately, I've seen a lot of WalMart ads on MSNBC)

[madrchsod]

2. when he found out the blue cross execs were vacationing in the Caribbean

he spent the entire show on just how fucked up the insurance companies are. with in a day or two the execs were back in north dakota and it was a national story.

i listen to big ed everyday and he`s the best spokesman for the working guys and gals across america.

[Historic NY]

3. I think he will be good for a progressive liberals voice..

:thumbsup:

[Larkspur]

4. I'm not an enthusiastic Ed Shultz listener but I'll give him credit as a big

supporter for Labor and the blue collar crowd. Big Ed may just help Labor save EFCA and push us closer to a single-payer health plan. My only concern with Ed is that he doesn't do his homework as thoroughly as Rachel does. Hopefully, his MSNBC staff will be dilligent in that regard.