WEBVTT - School Re-Openings Blocked by Union Stooges. Lanhee Chen Talks to A&G 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:07.600 The Armstrong and Getty show. You're a bunch of cowards 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:11.320 hiding behind our children as an excuse for keeping schools closed. 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:13.600 Do you think you're some sort of martyrs because of 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.520 the decisions you're making when the statistics do not lie 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.120 that the vast majority of the population is not at 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.320 risk from this virus. The garbage workers who pick up 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:27.920 my freaking trash risk their lives every day more than 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:33.160 anyone in this school system. Figure it out, or get 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.320 off the podium, because you know what, they're people like 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:39.720 me and a line enough other people out there who 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:45.479 will gladly take your seat and figure it out. It's 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:50.040 not a high bar. Raise the breaking bar. That's funny 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.880 how one person can have such an effect. I don't 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:55.800 know how many times I heard that clippers saw that 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:58.960 clip love it in the last forty eight hours. Uh. 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:00.720 You know, a guy express seeing what a lot of 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.480 people feel, and I just wonder. I was reaching out 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.800 to a number of people yesterday in the legal community, 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.680 particularly what what are the policy things around this whole 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:13.560 teacher situation. That guy was obviously talking about teachers claiming 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.080 that we're just trying to protect the kids, and he 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:20.240 called them liars and cowards for claiming that the parents, 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:25.679 the kids, the In many cases, the administration, the scientists 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:28.040 all say open the schools. The teachers unions say no, 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:31.160 we're not gonna Let's talk to Lan he Chen. David 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:33.920 and Diane Stephy, fellow in American Public Policy Studies at 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.200 the Hoover Institution, hosted the podcast Crossing Lines with lanh Chen. 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.800 Lani Welcome, our user. I'm doing fine. What a what 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.360 a compelling clip. I need to hear the emotion and 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:45.480 just to hear that, I mean, you know, expressing what 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.280 a lot of parents around this country feel and sincerely feel. 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.560 It's not it's not like fake anger. It's just not 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.000 feeling frustration. I appreciate his eloquence to yeah, oh yeah, 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.919 I have. I've had that level of of anger throughout 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.080 this whole thing about the schooling and everything like that. 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:04.280 You're a lawyer, you understand policy, what can be done legally, 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.840 what can be done policy wise to deal with this situation. 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:11.799 The teachers unions seem to just have all the cards here. Yeah, 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:15.160 I mean, unfortunately, what you're seeing is that in the 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:19.480 public education system, what you are seeing is the product 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:26.440 of decades of essentially collusion between school boards, school administrators, 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:28.800 and the teachers union leadership. You know, it's not in 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.639 many cases, it's not rank and file teachers. You know 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:33.119 a lot. I know a lot of rank and file 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:35.400 teachers who just want to get back to work. What 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:37.200 I do know is that there are a lot of 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.680 union leaders, a lot of union stooges out there who 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.200 are only interested in protecting their own jobs, and they're 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:45.240 trying to figure out, essentially, how can we do that. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.800 And the only way they do that is by being relevant, 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.880 And the only way that they're relevant, quite frankly, is 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.480 by pushing back on what is in many cases a 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:57.840 common sense and science supported idea, which is, let's get 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.760 the schools back open, let's get the kids in. But 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:03.600 when you have decades of this that has essentially gone 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.840 unchallenged in many states, this is what you end up with. 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:11.560 I realize that it differs state to state, but what 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:15.639 about just firing all the teachers unionized teachers who won't 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:17.480 show up to work like Gregan did with the air 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.760 traffic control. You're paid to do a job. Your excuse 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:25.280 for not doing the job as bogus, so you're fired. Well, 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.040 you know, what what districts could do if they actually 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.680 had you know, some courage is essentially to do what 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.400 what happens in many settings, which is essentially you figure 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:37.960 out are there are there replacement teachers, Are there people 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.320 who are non unionized you can bring in. But here's 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.440 the challenge, guys, No school district, I think, well at 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:45.440 least not many school districts that I know of, would 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.240 do that, because the school districts in many cases are 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.240 run by school board members. And by the way, you 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.720 heard this clip right, school board members in many cases 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.800 are supported by the teachers unions. They are in power, 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.240 They are there because the teachers units, again not universally. 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.200 There are some parents and some other community leaders who've 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.320 taken a courageous stand and said, look, we're gonna go 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.880 and and stand for election to school boards to stand 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.960 for the right things, getting our kids equality, education, ensuring 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.240 that they have the facilities they need, all of the 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.799 important things that come with a good education for our kids. 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.520 But in too many cases, guys, too many means people 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.280 on these school boards are there because of the unions. 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.839 They are beholden to them, and therefore they will not vote, 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.440 They will not vote to do the right thing. They 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.919 will never vote across the unions, and that's how you 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.719 end up where you are. One of our fantastic listeners 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.200 dropped us an email today, Lonnie, I had not known 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.719 this one of the if not the biggest teachers union 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:45.440 in America, the California Teachers Association. The people who run 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:50.000 that union are themselves in a union, a different union, 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.680 and they have better benefits than the teachers that they represent, 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.560 which is really a hell of a deal. Uh, talk 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:01.440 to us in general about public and floyee unions and 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.240 why f DR of all people, was against them, and 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.920 why it's a very dangerous idea. Well, look, you know 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:13.360 that the idea of unions is actually something that I 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:16.080 don't oppose. You know, I think that the concept of 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.960 having unions in the private sector, where you have represented 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:25.360 employees engaging in a negotiation with employers, multiple employers, trying 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.200 to figure out how to improve conditions for workers, that's 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:33.440 one thing public employee unions there's no competition in in 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:38.559 in the negotiation. You have a single entity. The state 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:40.880 government in most cases are local government, whatever it is, 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.479 it's government that you're trying to negotiate with. You essentially 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.839 are hiring people to negotiate against yourselves, because the people 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:52.520 paying these workers are tax payers. They're not corporations, their 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.680 tax payers. So essentially, what you have set up is 0:05:55.720 --> 0:06:00.240 a negotiation where people are negotiating against the taxpayers. And 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:03.560 that's the problem with public employee unions. Uh, it's not 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.840 about trying to drive a better bargain with a private 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.039 sector employer who has freedom of contract, who has the 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.840 ability essentially to say these are the terms under which 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.640 I want to hire someone. This is very different. This 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:20.240 is people trying to essentially get benefits over taxpayers. And 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.200 that's the challenge of public employees and that's that's the 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:25.080 reason why people have opposed them. I read a funny 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:27.360 thing yesterday that showed that kind of a negotiation with 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.720 the public sector. Since their negotiation, they're just talking about 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.720 somebody else's money. We wanted two percent, rays we'll give 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:38.440 you three. Let's make it four and part as friends. Yeah. Perfect, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.719 So a couple of quick points. Yeah, private industry unions 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.600 are there as an oppositional force, there to oppose the 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.640 power of the employer to do whatever they want. And 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:50.400 that's fine, it's freedom of association. It's very American but 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:55.360 there is no management in government. I mean, theoretically they're 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.480 there to represent us, the taxpayers and our interests. But 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:03.240 number one, even in the best scenario, they're gonna do 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.599 what's expedient as politicians. And number two, in a place 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:10.080 like corruptive Fornia, for instance, the unions have figured out, 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.280 wait a minute, we can turn out all of our members, 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:18.320 so we'll get our union lawyers elected as government officials. 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:22.080 And so our current union lawyers will be negotiating with 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.400 the guys who are union lawyers last week, and the 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.680 minute they're turned out, they're gonna be union lawyers again. 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:33.320 Which is why California has an unfunded pension atomic bomb 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:37.240 that's gonna go off. Anything you'd like to add on 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.160 to that or disagree with money, no, I mean that's 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.360 that that that's all right. And and in fact you 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:45.760 raise a really important issue, which is, you know, you 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:48.960 talk about the very generous pensions that many public workers have, 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.280 by the way, far more generous than what you know 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.520 pretty much anybody who works in the private sector has, 0:07:56.160 --> 0:08:00.680 and those pensions have been negotiated, and we continue to 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.640 kick the can down the road on the obligations that 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:05.800 have to be paid on these things you know you 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.960 talk about, for example, the healthcare benefits that are provided 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:14.320 to UH public employee workers in excuse me, public sector 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.560 workers in California. Many of those benefits, by the way, 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:21.360 are far more generous than benefits provided even under Obamacare. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:23.200 So a couple of years ago, when there was a 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.960 negotiation between one of these public sector unions and the 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:31.160 and the agency where they work, the argument made by 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:35.520 these union stooges was essentially this, we don't want Obamacare, 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.560 it's not good enough for us. And then the same 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:40.960 people go and turn around and you know what they do. 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.640 They fight for Obamacare. They say, hey, Obamacare ought to 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:48.600 be available to more people. And in the hypocrisy of that, 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.160 the hypocrisy of saying it's not good enough for our people, 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.439 but it's good enough for everybody else, that's why people 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.080 get aggravated and they get angry with these public secutories. 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:00.880 I don't want to leave people feel being defeated here 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.280 on a Friday. So if you were listening wherever there 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.800 in the country, your kids aren't in school. You want 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.160 your kids to be in school, all the sciences they 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.480 can be in school legally or politically, what should people 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:13.640 be doing. Can we get a class action lawsuit where 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.240 all the parents get together and say, Hey, I'm owed 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.800 something and I'm not getting it? Or are you Are 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.520 you saying we should just you know, Phil zoom school 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.600 board meetings or what what should we be doing? Yeah? 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:29.360 I I love the concept of speaking directly to those 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:31.840 who are in a position to make change and telling 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:33.760 them that that that we've had enough. You know, there's 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.679 a group that formed recently in California of parents at 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.719 the grassroots, grassroots movement of parents throughout the state. And 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:43.800 by the way, this is not a Republican thing, it's 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:46.400 not a Democrat thing. It's parents who are sick and 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:48.640 tired of their kids being at home when they should 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.960 be in school, coming together and and and all they're 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.080 doing is they're making their voices heard. They're making their 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.560 voices heard at the school board level, they're making them 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.840 heard at the county level, they're making them heard at 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.920 the state level. And that it's a really important thing. Uh. 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.600 You know, activism matters. We've seen it over and over again, 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:07.840 and this is one example of where you know, yes, 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.120 could you use the judicial system, Of course you could try. 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.920 That's going to take years to resolve. We don't have years. 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:15.559 This crisis is happening now, and that's why activism now 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:17.680 is so important. Yeah, I think it's got to be 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.199 marching on the schools peacefully. Of course, it's got to 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.160 be showing up on mass set to the school board 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.440 meetings and that sort of thing. And uh, and it's complicating. 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:28.920 A friend of mine who's on a school board was 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.240 the president for quite a while, said, yeah, the problem 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.240 is the board in his case, it wants to do 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.040 the right thing, but the teachers union is constantly threatening 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.000 to sue the board in the school district and the 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:42.360 rest of it. And it's some bloody mouth hardball uh 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:46.200 to do the right thing, which is why uh. You know, 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.160 a lot of the great economic thinkers of all time 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.839 have said that the worst of all UH monopolies is 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.240 a monopoly on education. It's the most dangerous one. And 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.200 the public school system in the United States has become 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:02.520 something like an aggress violent monopoly to the point where 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:05.640 they they fight against the idea that you can take 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:07.319 your kid out of a bad school and put them 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.160 in a good one. I mean, it's morally bankrupt, it's 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:14.480 and it's illogical, it's ridiculous. Yeah, it is. And you know, 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:16.920 it does come back to this problem that when you're 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.680 talking about many of these unions, they are able to 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:22.520 have an influence over the political process that quite simply 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:26.800 is outside. So they are able to reinforce the power 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:30.160 monopoly they have, whether it's in state capitals or whether 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.720 it's in the local school board. They're able to do 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.439 it in a way because you know, if you look 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.520 at how much money these unions spend on political activity, 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.440 it's staggering, It is absolutely staggering. And the amount of 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.199 money that they spend, how involved they are, their ability 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.000 to essentially hand pick the candidates they want, they're able 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:51.920 to perpetuate the kind of monopoly that has brought them 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.120 to a position of power over the last three or 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.679 four decades. And this is what you end up with. 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:58.800 What what what you're seeing now is that is the real 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.000 fruits of their labor, and I think for the first time, 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:03.560 a lot of parents, a lot of voters for seeing 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.160 it and they're sick of it. Lanh Chen is the 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.960 David and Diane Staffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.680 at the Hoover Institution, host of the podcast Crossing Lines 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:14.440 with Lanha Chenlan. He thank you so much for the wisdom. 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.600 We appreciate it. Yeah, yeah, that was really good. That's 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.600 the best thing I've heard this stuff. And meanwhile, you 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:25.720 remember assembly Woman Lorrain of Gonzales of Cali, Unicornia, who 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.640 is the gal who got the infamous A B five 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:33.120 through that tried to change all gig workers into permanent employees, 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:37.800 from your ubers and lifts, to hair stylists, to X 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:42.120 ray technicians, to to musicians and artists and set designers, 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.000 just everything. And it ruined so many threw so many 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:49.840 people out of work, It ruined hundreds of thousands of lives. Well, 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.480 she did it because she wants everybody in the union. 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.480 And she just introduced another bill this week that would 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.560 clear the way for capital staff people to form a 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:02.559 union if they so does. Higher so the government, which 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:07.160 is union goons, would have staff that are union goons 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:11.320 negotiating with the union goons. One final note I just 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.880 happen to read this morning. Uh, the and again it's 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.720 about corrupt Afornia. But by god, those of you in 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.880 the other forty nine states followed the horrific example of 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:25.640 California at your own risk. Uh. They cited several of 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.920 the giant union obligations that were sold to the people 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.439 of California. Oh, let's pay for itself. The employees kick 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.240 in some money and they do part of their paycheck, 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.319 they kick into their pension and then we use that money, 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.960 we invest it, it will grow and it will totally 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:44.479 pay for it their benefits. After a ten year unbroken 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:49.240 bull market, a lot of these pension obligations were at 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:55.679 fifty percent funded, six maybe sixty five funded. After a 0:13:55.720 --> 0:14:01.160 bull market that was impossibly uh rich and will never 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.760 happen again, and yielding yes and it will never happen again, 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:11.240 they're at barely funded. What a scam. Well vote or 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.719 vote with your feet, folks. Here in one of these 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:15.559 states arm