Bill Press, from the Bill Press Show, talks with United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo W. Gerard about unemployment, the payroll tax extension and the lockout of workers at Cooper Tire and Rubber.
They talked about the decline in the unemployment numbers and when questioned if the employment situation could be better, Gerard replied, “It could be if the Republicans would quit trying to stop everything useful in creating jobs. If you think about what the right-wing extremist governors have done by destroying almost half a million public sector jobs needlessly.”
When asked what he thought of how the economy is doing, Gerard responded, “I think we are moving in the right direction and exposing the fools.”
Gerard said it was unexplainable and unforgivable how the the Republicans would block payroll tax cuts to 160 million middle-class families, yet protect the ultra-rich from having to pay their fair share and saying, “I guess they will have to call Grover Norquist to see if they have permission to do that.”
Gerard talked about how the workers at Cooper Tire and Rubber, over the last few years, bailed out the company by taking concessions and helped them by pushing for legislation to stop the import of Chinese tires that were beating up American tire companies. In return, when asking for a fair contract, the workers get locked out and scabs are brought in to replace them.
