The Young Turks - #hotlaborsummer

Episode Date: August 10, 2022

Donald Trump to be deposed by New York Attorney General. Representative Scott Perry says his phone has been seized by the FBI. The Young Turks interview Chris Smalls. A mega landlord in New York City has bought rent-controlled apartments and then forced the tenants out. Host: Ana Kasparian *** The largest online progressive news show in the world. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. Help support our mission and get perks. Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows us to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world. See Perks: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks/join SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ http://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks TWITTER: ☞ http://www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM: ☞ http://www.instagram.com/TheYoungTurks TWITCH: ☞ http://www.twitch.com/tyt 👕 Merch: http://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA #TYT #TheYoungTurks #BreakingNews Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. The new BMO ViPorter MasterCard is your ticket to more. More perks. More points. More flights. More of all the things you want in a travel rewards card.

And then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO ViPorter MasterC. and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply. Visit bemo.com slash the iPorter to learn more. Welcome to TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian, and we've got some treats for you today. Later in the show, we'll be interviewing in studio, Chris Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union. We'll talk about what he's been up to, what he has accomplished.

And more importantly, what he has planned for 2024. He broke a little news today on Hassan Piker's stream, and we're going to have him elaborate on the possibility of a general strike in 2024 along with other topics. So definitely tune in for that. That'll be later in the first hour of the show. In the second hour of the program, John Iderola will be joining me, as he usually does on Wednesdays to talk about more news. I'd like to say we're going to lighten things up.

We will a little bit, but there are a lot of important topics to get to today. An update on what we broke in news this week with Alex Jones sending intimate pictures of his wife to Roger Stone. There is an update to that story that I want to share with you, but we'll talk about that later in the second hour with John Iderola. But before we get to any of that, I think we need to do an update on the FBI raid into Trump's Mar-a-Lago residents. he has spent all day making himself look pretty guilty of multiple crimes. So I want to break that down for you. Let's get started. Former President Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and declined to answer questions

in a deposition conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James. This is a civil investigation related to potential financial fraud committed by by Donald Trump. And it is fascinating that he has decided against answering any questions related to financial matters, related to anything having to do with this investigation. In fact, he said, quote, under the advice of my counsel, and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution. Now, as with every story, you have experts, weighing in, one expert did weigh in and asked an important question.

I think this is the right question to ask when someone like Trump, someone who is as powerful as Trump refuses to answer questions in a deposition and invokes their Fifth Amendment rights. If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment, this expert asks? Well, if you're wondering who that expert is, it is Donald Trump, who in 2016 said, again, And I quote, if you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment? Now, he made those statements back in 2016 during a campaign rally in Iowa. He was specifically, of course, talking about Hillary Clinton and her use of a private server that included, of course, classified emails. She broke the law in that regard.

And he was talking about that. Let's listen to more of his statements in regard to what Hillary Clinton and those around her did. Have you seen what's going on in front of Congress? Fifth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, horrible, horrible. And will anything happen? That's going to be the question, we'll find out. Will anything happen? That's the question. Fifth Amendment, horrible, horrible, so horrible. Now, I do want to get to more details of this story because Trump, of course, thinks this is nothing more than a witch hunt.

He released a statement saying, quote, now I know the answer to, oh, by the way, after people confronted him about the fact that he went after Hillary Clinton and her allies for invoking the Fifth Amendment, he said this. Now, I know the answer to that question of why an innocent person would invoke the Fifth Amendment, when your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated witch hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the fake news media, you have no choice. You have no choice. He also says that, you know, this is just politically motivated. And look, this is separate, by the way. I want to be clear.

Trump's home in Marlago was rated by the FBI for an entirely separate matter. It has not been a good legal week for Donald Trump. The investigation that we're talking about right now isn't even a criminal investigation. It's a civil investigation. It's a civil investigation related to potential financial fraud. There's supposed to also be a criminal investigation into this, which I would venture to say has kind of been put on the back burner by prosecutors in New York. I'll give you the details on that in just a moment. But this is, again, entirely separate. It's a civil suit that's being pursued by Leticia James. And the showdown follows Trump's failed attempt to block subpoenas for depositions from him and his children, Donald Trump,

Jr. and Ivanka Trump. Now, Trump, who runs the Trump organization with his brother Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, did not assert their Fifth Amendment rights and answered the state's questions. And it's not entirely clear what they said during the depositions, but there were some associated with Trump who refused to cooperate. Their decisions, to break with Eric Trump and former Trump organization chief financial officer Alan Weisselberg, they both asserted their Fifth Amendment rights before, more than 500 times when they were deposed back in 2020. So they decided to use the Fifth Amendment, but Ivanka Trump and Don Jr. did not. So it's unclear what they said during their depositions. I'm sure we'll find out soon.

Now, Trump has been deposed before, and this is what he said about his financial deal. So in a 2007 deposition in a defamation lawsuit, Trump once said he calculated his net worth to a degree on his feelings and that he put the best spin on some of the assets. I think everybody exaggerates about the value of their properties, he testified, adding, who wouldn't? During the deposition, by the way, there's more. Trump was questioned over the family compound in Westchester County, New York, called Seven Spring. where its value nearly doubled in one year from 80 million in 2005 to 150 million in 2006.

The property was valued very low in my opinion. Then and it became very, it just has gone up, Trump said. When he was asked if he had any basis for that view other than his own opinion, he said, I don't believe so, no. So let's talk about what the issue is here, what this investigation is really about. Because for those who feel the need to turn this into a political tribe issue where you provide cover for people who are as powerful as Trump, regardless of what crimes they commit, regardless of what criminality they're engaged in, understand that the criminal justice is, the criminal justice system and its treatment of normal people doing the same thing that Trump is being accused of would be very different, okay? Prosecutors aren't going to play any games if you're committing financial fraud. And what Trump is accused of doing here is inflating the value of his assets in order to

qualify for insurance and for loans that he otherwise wouldn't qualify for, right? He allegedly inflated the value of his assets, which are then used as collateral to qualify for loans. And look, for someone who has gone bankrupt six different times, it's really important that a financial institution is aware, accurately aware of what kind of assets can be used as collateral in case he, you know, refuses to pay back his loans, which he has a history of doing. On the other hand, he was accused of deflating the value of his assets to get all sorts of tax breaks. So that would be tax fraud. Ordinary Americans would not get a pass if they get caught committing tax fraud. And how do we know that there's a possibility that

he did this, that he committed financial fraud? Well, his own personal attorney testified as much under oath. Here's Michael Cohen, who is no longer Trump's personal attorney, but was for very long time. And through this line of questioning, it became abundantly clear that, again, his own personal attorney had witnessed Trump committing financial fraud. So let's hear what Michael Cohen had to say, under oath. Mr. Cohen, I want to ask you about your assertion that the president may have improperly devalued his assets to avoid paying taxes. According to an August 21st, 2016 report by the Washington Post, while the president claimed in financial disclosure forms that Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, was worth more than

50 million. He had reported otherwise to local tax authorities that the course was worth, quote, no more than 5 million. Mr. Cohen, do you know whether this specific report is accurate? It's identical to what he did at Trump National Golf Club at Briar Cliff Manor. Do you know, to your knowledge, was the president interested in reducing his local real estate bills, tax bills? Yes. And how did he do that? What you do is you deflate the value of the asset, and then you put in a request to the tax department for a deduction. Tax fraud.

So what Michael Cohen outlined in his testimony years ago was that Trump intentionally lied about the value of his assets to avoid having to do what all of us are expected to do. What all of us partake in, because if we don't partake in it, and if we're not accurate when we're filing our taxes, we'll get audited. Ordinary Americans get audited all the time. Ordinary working Americans who don't make money off capital gains get audited all the time. The idea that the powerful shouldn't face the same consequences that ordinary people do is ridiculous. I mean, that has been the way this country has functioned for far too long. And for me, this is, well, I don't agree with Donald Trump on most political issues.

For me, this goes above and beyond politics. This goes above and beyond partisan quibbling and partisan issues. If we were having a conversation right now about Barack Obama committing financial fraud, I would want the same investigation to move forward. I don't care if there's a Democrat or a Republican being investigated. I am tired of dealing with this two-tier justice system where powerful people get away with everything and all of us suffer consequences, even if there's the perception of doing the same thing. We get investigated right away.

We have to rack up the legal fees right away. We have to deal with the audits right away. Why is it okay for anyone to provide cover for powerful people to break the law? Honestly, it's a little pathetic. It really is. Whether you're a Democratic voter providing cover for potential insider trading committed by Democratic lawmakers, or whether you're a Republican voter who thinks Daddy Trump can do no wrong. It's pathetic.

Have some self-respect, people. Please, I'm begging you. So again, this is a civil investigation. We'll see how it plays out. He refused to cooperate by answering questions during this deposition. I don't know if that's going to bode well for him. Again, we'll see how it plays out. But this is one of several legal matters that Trump is dealing with.

right now. You've got the FBI raid over classified documents being taken home by Trump illegally, allegedly. You have this civil investigation into financial fraud. Prosecutors in New York say they're still pursuing a criminal investigation into potential financial fraud. The House committee, by the way, looking to obtain his tax documents, will be able to do so according to a decision that was handed down by a federal judge on Tuesday of this week. So it hasn't been looking good for Trump. But if you were to take history as, you know, any evidence of what to predict in the future, the elite never really face any consequences.

You have Wall Street bankers collapsing this entire economy, okay, triggering a global economic meltdown. And who went to prison for that? They committed fraud. How many of them went to prison for that? One low level Wall Street employee ended up suffering the consequences of what people at the very top did. And that's just indicative of how this country works. We should be excited to see that change. We should be able to put our partisan garbage aside and be happy to see that finally there might be a situation in which a powerful person suffers the consequences for doing

something that would get us in a lot of legal trouble. All right. There's one other story kind of related to this that I want to get to, so let's discuss. Authorities have seized Republican representative Scott Perry's cell phone. And this apparently took place a day after former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, was raided by the FBI after he allegedly took classified documents home with him from the White House. Now, the Pennsylvania lawmaker is a Trump loyalist. He's also very upset at what's happening here, even though he trafficked in all sorts of. of lies about the 2020 election allegedly being stolen from Donald Trump.

He says, quote, this morning while traveling with my family, three FBI agents visited me and seized my cell phone. They made no attempt to contact my lawyer who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their wish. I'm sure he would just willy-nilly very easily hand his phone over to the FBI. Had they just reached out to his lawyers because Trump and all of his lap dogs have really proven themselves as individuals who cooperate with investigations. He also says, I'm outraged, though not surprised, that the FBI under the direction of Merrick Garland's

DOJ would seize the phone of a sitting member of Congress. My phone contains info about my legislative and political activities, my personal and private discussions with my wife, family, constituents, and friends. None of this is the government's business. Well, I mean, in order to seize your cell phone, a federal judge would have to sign off on it, sign off on a warrant to do so. And in order to get a warrant signed by a federal judge, the FBI would need to demonstrate that there's probable cause. And so the idea that, you know, federal officials can unilaterally decide they're just going to seize your cell phone without a warrant, especially when we're targeting a specific member of Congress or a politician,

it's just ridiculous. And here's what happens in life for normal people. I know the elite aren't used to this, but for normal people, when you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. And what Congressman Scott Perry loves to do is play stupid games, including repeating unfounded accusations of the election being stolen from Donald Trump when there hasn't been a shred of evidence demonstrating that's the case. More than 60 court battles about this very issue. And Trump's campaign lost, nearly every single one of them. I think he won one of those cases. But it wasn't a case that would overturn the results of the election because there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. But doesn't matter. Perry kept playing this game.

So look, they seized his phone. I don't know if this is tied for sure to the FBI. raiding Mar-a-Lago. But the idea that the FBI would raid Mar-Lago over this national archives issue alone, seems a little weird to me. It's also weird that Trump is making all sorts of claims, but refuses to make the search warrant public, so we have a better understanding of what's going on here. But the fact that they seized Congressman Perry's phone can only mean that they're looking

into his role in what happened on January 6th. I don't know what else they would investigate him for. So he did use this as an opportunity, by the way, to make a political statement about the Inflation Reduction Act, which is weird to say the least. He says, as with President Trump last night, the DOJ chose this unnecessary and aggressive action instead of simply contacting my attorneys, these kinds of banana republic tactics should concern every citizen, especially considering the decision before Congress this week to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to further persecute law-abiding citizens. No, no, no, no. No, the IRS

has been solely auditing ordinary working Americans. And they've been allowing people at the very top, the tax dodgers at the very top, to get away with it because their taxes are far more complicated, takes far more resources to investigate and audit them. And so the idea of bolstering the IRS is not meant to demonize or go after ordinary Americans. The IRS is already doing that. It's to make sure that tax dodgers at the very top aren't getting away with what they're doing. And it's interesting that Congressman Perry is very upset about that and literally used this phone seizure story as an opportunity to make that clear to the American people. What are you afraid of? Are you, should you be audited? Is there some funny business going

on with your taxes? Seems like it. Now, Perry again is on the far right and is an original member of what's referred to as the House Freedom Caucus. These are the most right-wing extreme Republicans in the House. And it's becoming clear that the Trump raid was about more than these classified documents that he allegedly took home with him from the White House. So Fox News reports this. Perry has been a target of interest of the Democratic-dominated January 6th House Select Committee that is investigating the deadly 2021 attack on the Capitol by right-wing extremists and other Trump supporters. By the way, notice the citation here. This is reported by Fox News. Okay, they continue to write.

Perry was in communication numerous times with the Trump White House in the days and weeks ahead of the storming of the Capitol. And by the way, it's been reported that Perry was looking for a presidential pardon for some of the behavior that he was engaged in behind the scenes, apparently. Liz Cheney, for instance, talked about Perry's alleged role in attempting to get Jeffrey Clark, head of the Justice Department's civil division at the appointed as Attorney General because he may be more sympathetic to former President Donald Trump's claims of a stolen election. Representative Perry, who was also, by the way,

involved in trying to get Clark appointed as Attorney General, has refused to testify here. As you will see, Representative Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after January 6th to seek a presidential pardon, Cheney said. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. We got to take a break. When we come back, Chris Smalls, the president of the Amazon Labor Union, will be joining us. Really looking forward to that conversation. Don't miss it.

We'll be back in a few. Welcome back to TYT. It is an honor and an absolute pleasure to have Chris Smalls with us now for an interview. Chris Smalls is the president of the Amazon Labor Union and he not only represents workers who are fighting for better working conditions, better pay. He really represents a modern day David and Goliath's story that I think inspires a lot of people. So Chris, thank you so much for coming in and talking with us. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Absolutely, absolutely. So you broke a little bit of news on Hassan Piker's Twitch stream today because you talked about basically building up to a general strike in 2024. And I have to ask you about that right off the bat because it's definitely exciting to hear that. But at the same time, obviously, it takes a lot of work to get to that point. So tell us about it. What are you planning? What can people do to pitch in and help? Yeah, definitely.

I've been on tour across the country. It's been a real hot labor summer. And we've been spreading the same message, you know, that there's a time in this country right now where labor is really on the uprise. And the only way we're going to get our demands met is by withholding our labor. So I've been spreading that gym pretty much as I've been traveling. And, you know, I just think by 2024, every union in this country should be strike-ready, regardless because of the things that's going on.

You know, abortion rights, gun laws, the tragedies, police brutality, social injustice, environmental. The list goes on and on every day. And, you know, I think just for me, being the current president of the Amazon Labor Union, I know that the company is not going to recognize us. Same thing with Starbucks. They're not going to get recognized. So the only thing we can do is build and build until we're able to strike. You know, when you look at the lack of representation for workers through congressional legislation,

it's just so clear that the only time workers really made gains in this country was the pressure that they implemented through organized labor in the lead up to the New Deal, which wasn't perfect. There were certainly people left behind in the New Deal. But at the end of the day, it's not like Roosevelt decided out of the goodness of his heart to push for economic programs that bettered people's lives, there was a lot of pressure from organized labor. Some of those strikes got violent as a result of the response from authorities to those strikes. But they fought and they made some significant gains. And I think what we've seen from the press in the last several decades was just kind of like this intentional forgetfulness

about how this country came to have like a golden era. You know what I'm saying? All you need to do is vote. That's all you need to do. Electoral politics is all that matters. But I think a lot of Americans are starting to wake up to the fact that only focusing on electoral politics has limited, you know, pays limited dividends essentially. Right? So can you talk about the kind of reception you've received from members of Congress in regard to your efforts to organize labor?

Yeah, I mean, well, that's always a tough conversation because, you know, we have to force them to do their jobs. And, you know, it wasn't until we were victorious that we got any type of support. So to have it now, you know, visiting the White House, having a comrade and Bernie Sanders, that's all good. But I know that's not enough. You know, I know we still have to organize regardless of what happened. You know, we're not going to rely on them to give us what we want. You know, we're not going to get the Pro Act pass. We can't even get, you know, certain protections right now.

The administration still has to fund the NLRB to help our situations out when it comes to these petitions that are being filed, the unfair labor practices that these corporations break every day. It's still a long way to go. So for us that's on the ground, we have to continue to organize and push these politicians in the direction that we need to. If not, we need to get them out, you know, and replace them. 100%. You know, what I appreciated about your handling of members of Congress is how, you know, you don't get rowdy or loud or angry, but you use words that cut. And you recently, well, fairly recently testified before the Senate Banking Committee.

And there was a moment where you specifically addressed Lindsay Graham. And I love that moment because what you said was so powerful and you say, you don't have to get, you know, aggressive about it. You just calmly stated something that was just so true and resonated with so many workers. I want to show a quick clip of that moment and then we'll discuss it. Let's watch. I want to address Mr. Graham. First off, you know, you're, it sound like you was talking to.

about more of the companies and the businesses and your speech, but you forgot that the people are the ones who make these companies operate. And if we're not protected and the process for when we hold these companies accountable is not working for us, then that's not what, that's the reason why we're here today. That's the reason why I'm here to represent the workers who make these companies go. And I think that it's in your best interest to realize that it's not a left or right thing. It's not a Democrat or a Republican thing. It's a workers thing. God, I love that moment, especially with Senator Graham kind of like looking down and shit.

You know he was embarrassed. Like, because you're calling him out on something that I think most people in this country, whether they identify as Democrats or Republicans, you know, can understand. feel because they're dealing with these working conditions and low pay themselves, right? So to call them out specifically on their BS and their lack of representation for the ordinary working man, I think is incredible. And I just like hearing Lindsey Graham's name, I get like, I can feel my heart rate go up. Like the anger start to like, you know, build inside me, you know, but you, you handled it so well. I definitely went off script, I had to hold it in.

Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a fact, you know, they're playing politics with our lives. And this is not about that. This is life or death situation that we're in. And, you know, they forgot that I'm not a politician. They didn't do a thorough background check. I was protesting outside the White House, you know, all last year. And, you know, I had to remind them that you have workers in the room today.

So the disrespect ain't going to go but so far. You know, there was this attempt to paint you as, like, someone who doesn't, is not well equipped to succeed the way that you did. You know, there was that leaked memo from Amazon that clearly Jeff Bezos had to have signed off on that, indicating that it's a good thing that you're the face of this organizing effort because you're not, I don't remember the exact wording, but I believe they said that you're not articulate. And it turns out that you show them you're not only plenty articulate, but you know how to get people together and organize and actually succeed in unionizing literally the top employer in the country, Amazon, one of the most powerful corporations

in this country. And so, you know, what I'm curious about is what kind of intimidation tactics did you yourself experience from Amazon once they realized, oh no, He's actually a threat here. Yeah, they didn't waste any time. You know, within our second week of our campaign, they already had, you know, a team of union buses are flown in. We seen them walking around the building. They're being paid $10,000 a day, some of them.

They started to put the workers in captive audiences. That started months ago. I think we found out after the court hearing was over that they put them in over 3,300 captive audiences. So we had to overcome that. They built a bar-wide fence. They called the fire department on us several times. They called the NYPD on us.

I was arrested myself. Other members were arrested that were actual Amazon workers causing intimidation, you know, trying to create fear and doubt. We dealt with that. And just the demonizing of my character, trying to smear me, trying to smear other leaders, they use that as well. You know, so it's really amazing when I think about it, you know, the odds that we had to defeat, you know, on top of the $4.3 million.

Right. Wasn't there some ridiculous campaign to try to smear you as someone who's going to like pocket the dues that the union would pay to like buy yourself fancy cars? I mean, just gross, gross smears. Insane. They'd come after you if you were delivering food to Amazon workers. and things like that. Now going back to a little of what you said in your testimony before that Senate committee, you said specifically, this isn't a Democrat or Republican thing, and I think workers feel that.

But it's difficult in this political era to get people to work together when your political tribe is usually front and center and your identity, right? So how do you get workers to organize, knowing that there might be some disagreements among them on issues not related to their working environment, just issues related to other political policies?

Well, we try to stare clear of that, you know, the reason why we're an independent union is because we don't want to get tied to politics because we're representing 8,300 members that we know are going to have different political views. So we always keep the conversation based on work-related issues to build off of that commonality. You know, everybody has some grievances that they want to change within their workplace. So we try to build conversations off of that. And not excluding whether you're a Trump supporter or whether you're Biden or whoever. We just want to make sure that we're taking care of one another when it comes to just basic, you know, human rights and having a better quality of life.

And I just think that as union leaders in this country, that we have a responsibility as well to get involved in other. demonstrations in other industries as well. We have to make sure that we're speaking up when it comes to women's rights, speak up when it comes to environmental, social injustice, because labor is the most powerful asset that we have as the working class. You know, we all, that's the only way we can come together is by withholding our labor on things that we all want to fight for. What I love about what you're doing is it just makes it so clear that

There is no profit without the worker, you know, for so long, especially with the help of the corporate press, the thought process is, no, I mean, it's the incredible geniuses at the top. You know, it's the board members and it's the executives who are the ones that matter. And the, you know, the workers are just kind of on the back burner. No one's really thinking about them. But really, when it comes to the day to day, when it comes to generating that revenue, It's the people who are being mistreated by the executives and the board members. And I think it's what we're seeing with this momentum with labor is this realization among ordinary

Americans in general that like, oh yeah, that's right. I mean, we're looking at these incredibly successful companies, many of which don't even pay a dime in federal taxes. And the profits that they're making don't just come out of nowhere. It comes from those Amazon delivery drivers who are doing those brutal delivery routes. with no breaks and they have to defecate in plastic bags, you know, which reminds me, you know, you didn't quit Amazon. You were forced out. You were fired in 2020 after you made a simple request, which is, hey, we're in the middle of a pandemic. We don't feel safe.

We need PPE. We need safety. We need security. We don't want to get sick. And then when your calls for PPE went unanswered, you know, you organized a walkout. And then you got fired for that. Yeah. And on July 18th, get excited. This is big. For the summer's biggest adventure. I think I just smurf my pants.

That's a little too excited. Sorry. Smurfs. Only date is July 18th. Talk about what the working conditions were like. Because you have admitted, you know, out of all those jobs that you've worked, Amazon was competitive with wages, right? But the way that they treat their workers seems pretty gross.

Yeah. No, yeah, we had a, if you had the gym membership, I told you to quit because you're doing 10 to 12 hours of calisthenics. Jesus. The buildings are massive. For example, JFK 8 million square feet, 14 NFL football fields. You walk laps, you know, 30 to 60 miles sometimes, the state of Rhode Island. And a 10-hour shift. And, you know, there's the injuries, of course, they hire anywhere between, you know, 18 to senior citizens.

And they try to get senior citizens to work as fast as somebody who's in their young 20s or 18. That never is going to pan out the right way. So I used to see people get injured all the time, not last very long. And there's also been reports just a few days ago in Albany. Heat exultion, this case in New Jersey and a worker just died on Prime Day. These things are real stories, you know, real lives. And that's the reason why we had to take further action. Let's get back to the general strike.

Because again, that is, if anyone else was pushing for that to happen in 2024, I might roll my eyes. But you've proven yourself to be so effective at organizing workers, and I wouldn't doubt you for a second. Okay, so, but talk to me about what the strategy is. And we have a super active audience, if there's any way they can help, I'm sure they'd want to. So what's the, what's the strategy? What's the plan? Well, yeah, we have to, sometimes we have to hold unions accountable too. You know, I'm only one aspect of the labor movement.

But to be a movement, we all have to move together. So, you know, I've been traveling the country. I've been multiple cities, multiple union conventions, spreading the same message. So we're starting to reach the labor world, but we have to expand that. So now just having that conversation starting my home, your own family members, little things, canceling their prime, showing up for Starboy. workers ordering their drink union strong, showing up for the strippers United, who's been on strike right here in California, showing up for Starbucks workers that are striking all over the country, donating to our funds. Those are the little things that we can start to get

workers prepared to withhold their labor. And we're asking unions that have strike funds to make sure that those strike funds are being used, not just collected. You know, so we have to prepare ourselves little by little, but over time, I think we'll be able to get to a point where we can be on the same accord. Yeah, I'm glad that you brought up those strike funds because there was a report published this week that was pretty damning of some unions and how, you know, they'll collect the dues and they've got the money, but it doesn't seem like they're using it to their advantage. I'm gonna read a few graphics here about this report. So in 2020, for instance, organized labor

had 35.8 billion dollars in assets and 6.8 billion in liabilities, leaving approximately 291 billion in net assets, assets minus liabilities, of course. Over a third of labor's assets are highly liquid with 13.5 billion held in cash or treasury securities, and the remainder in investments and fixed assets like real estate. But at the same time, since 2010, union density has declined from almost 12% to just over 10%, and there are more than 700,000 fewer union members as an absolute number. And according to the Census Bureau, organized labor employees 23,440 fewer employees in 2020 compared to 2010, a 19% decline in the workforce. So the point here is they've got a lot of money. They've got the ability to do more organizing.

They have the resources to fight for more unionization in various stores and warehouses across the country. Doesn't seem like they're using it. And so I think you're right when you mention, hey, it's time to use your strike funds, time to provide the protection the workers need if we do follow through with a general strike. What kind of pressure can be applied to union leaders to make that happen? Let's up to, you know, myself, another, you know, up-and-coming union leaders in the movement. You know, we have to either hold our comrades accountable as well. And we have to make sure that leadership is on board that the fact that this is the new school style of organizing,

you know, we're not afraid, we're not, you know, hiding in secrecy. We're outspoken, we're out front, we're at the doorsteps of these billionaires. And we want to be, we want to have that camaraderie. We want to have our people and our co-workers behind us and militancy. And we want to make sure that they're secured. And if they can provide the resources, there's no need to withhold that. You know, we're ready to go. And I think that, you know, just so a lot of leadership that's just, you know, once again,

playing the political way. They have to wait for certain things. They have to wait for this politician or they're endorsing this candidate. And we can't get caught up in that. We don't have that time to wait. Every day that we're not doing something, the other side is winning. And that's the point that I'm trying to make with calling for general strike. I love it.

Where can our reviewers donate if they want to support your efforts? I don't want our website at Amazon labor union.org, Twitter as well, at Amazon labor. Follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, at Amazon Labor Union. Chris, it was a pleasure speaking with you. Hope you enjoy your time in L.A. And I hope you come back on the show. Really, really appreciate what you're doing. Thank you.

Thank you for having me. All right, everyone. We're going to take a brief break. When we come back, we've got more news for you, including trash landlords that are doing away with rent-controlled tenants. in New York. We've got that and more. Stick around. We'll be right back. What's up everyone? Welcome back to the show. I hope you all enjoyed the interview based on the comments I'm getting. A lot of you did enjoy it. A lot of you say,

that Chris Smalls is your hero, bald guy with a beard, by the way, who just subscribed to our Twitch channel, mentioned that Chris Smalls is a hero of theirs. They've subscribed for seven months, by the way. Chris Smalls is my hero. When I was a teacher in New Mexico, I had to deal with the NEA, barely representing me. They endorsed Hillary in the primary to boot. We now need to stand up to our unions as well as our bosses. He's a powerhouse of people power. Yeah, exactly. I mean, look, there are unions that unfortunately endorse all sorts of terrible corporate Democrats who cast votes against labor, and that infuriates me. But it is really up to the workers to keep their union leadership honest and, you know, basically representing their best interests. So love to see it and we'll, you know, we'll give you guys updates on what Chris Smalls is planning with this general strike.

I'm super curious and inspired by that. Anyway, let's move on. We've got other news to get to, including what is transpiring, not just in New York, but across the country with these mega landlords, evicting people from rent-controlled units. Rent-controlled apartment buildings are getting gobbled up by mega landlords who then proceed to force these tenants out of their homes. Now, the latest story comes from New York City, and the state's attorney general, Letitia James, not too pleased with one mega corporate landlord that has been breaking all sorts of laws to maximize their profit, because that's what they do.

Now in Brooklyn, a company called Inc. Property Group bought dozens of rent-stabilized buildings and low-income communities of color with the intention of illegally deregulating affordable housing for profit. The attorney general's office noted. Through a variety of illegal activities, Inc. forced, rent-stabilized tenants so their units could be offered at market rate. So rent control laws do vary state to state. It sounds like New York has similar laws to what we have here in California and in particular in L.A. So for instance, buildings that are of a certain age, so if it was built somewhere in the 1970s, for instance, it is a rent-controlled building, meaning that the landlord cannot increase the rent on the tenants more than a certain percentage. And the percentage is low. So when there is a rent increase, it's not going to force people

out of their homes. It's a small increase that usually keeps up with inflation related to the utilities and upkeep that the landlord has to pay. And so what tends to happen is landlord starts to make the living conditions in that building so unbearable that people end up leaving because they can't take it anymore. And then once someone leaves, you're able to then rent out that unit to a new tenant at market value. And as we know, rent has really skyrocketed all across the country. And market value is not affordable for a lot of people.

So after ink bought a building, it would start to offer tenants buyouts. We'll give you a little money if you leave basically. If the tenant refused, they wouldn't let up. They even paid a commission of between $2,500 to $5,000 to employees who secured tenant buyouts. Now here is one of the tenants who was actually targeted by ink properties. She spoke out about this practice during a press conference and I think what she had to say here is telling. Let's watch. They continue to harass us, notices, eviction notices, and recent years.

recent years, maybe the last two years, they've been giving us trying to buy us out. We are still there. They will not repair. And if they do, it's a Band-Aid. They will put a Band-Aid on whatever breaks because we are very outspoken. And that's why they come in repair. We get an exterminator and maybe every so often. Their main goal is to get us out, not the building down and rebuild.

And affordable housing does not exist because if you cannot afford to pay $4,000, that is not affordable housing. That was Gladys and she's right about that. $4,000 a month for an apartment is not affordable, not affordable to the vast majority of working Americans in this country. And she mentioned there specifically the conditions that they were dealing with. And the conditions were intentional to basically push these tenants out if they refuse to take the buyouts. So let's talk a little bit about what this investigation found in regard to the living conditions. To deal with people who wouldn't move out, the landlords would let the buildings devolve into a state of disrepair, according to court records. In 2019, residents told the Brooklyn Eagle that they'd found mold and rats in some of the empty apartments owned by ink.

And if you think that's bad, it's about to get worse. The number of housing maintenance code violations across the Inc. Property Group portfolio was and is exceedingly high, court documents said. In fact, Inc. averaged 26 violations per building during the time the AG, attorney general, investigated them. This included 115 Classy violations or immediately hazardous violations for conditions such as defective window guards, lead-based paint, and locked cellar doors blocking access to buildings, heating systems. No, I mean, like, it was intentional. They wanted to drive tenants out, make it so unbearable to live there.

And so then once they drive the tenant out, what can they do? They just do light renovations because that's what the New York rent control laws require them to do. And once they're done doing the light renovations, they can go ahead and charge a new tenant a much higher rent. And they make a lot more money. Let's give you a specific example. The landlords bought a six-unit building in Brooklyn that was fully rent-stabilized.

The legal regulated rents for those apartments ranged from $911.75 to $1,099 per month, according to court documents. The landlords bought out five of the six tenants, renovated the apartments, then brought in new tenants and charged them double, okay? $2,200. So you can understand the motivations here, the incentive to do what this particular corporate landlord did. And look, I know that there's a tendency to treat all landlords as if they're all the same, right? But there is a difference between a small, like a mom and pop landlord, right? And a corporate landlord. And what we're seeing all across the country right now, and certainly in places like Los Angeles in New York, is these smaller landlords are getting gobbled up by major corporate landlords who are far worse.

It's not a person who owns the building who's more responsive and actually takes pride in the building. It's a corporation. It's a faceless corporation. It doesn't care about you and just wants to maximize profits. And so while the end goal is to get to a point where we have an abundance of affordable housing and we're not reliant on the whims of landlords and whatever they want to charge. At the end of the day, I think the number one thing we need to do is protect these rent stabilized buildings and ensure that these corporate landlords stop doing what they've been doing for quite some time now. I want to give you some more information because thanks to this investigation by New York's attorney general, Leticia James,

there were consequences for ink properties, but this is just scratching the surface. I'm glad there were consequences for ink properties, but corporate landlords are a huge problem. During the pandemic, thanks to the Federal Reserve offering cheap money to corporations and banks, you have private equity firms buying up entire neighborhoods of single family homes. And then what do they do with it? Well, they rent them out because they want to really corner the rental market industry. Like, that is what they want to do. And they abuse their tenants.

They don't care for their tenants at all. Something needs to be done about that issue. But when it comes to ink properties, here's what happened in the conclusion of this investigation. The landlords just reached a settlement with the New York City Attorney General where it would pay $1.75 million to maintain sustainable housing in the city. and $400,000 to the tenants it had screwed over. A lot more needs to be done, but I will say it is rare to see any corporation face any consequences for their wrongdoing.

And I'm happy that at least in this case, there was an investigation and there were some consequences. But will it stop these major corporate landlords from doing what they've been doing? Probably not. There needs to be more of a deterrence, and I would venture to say that the profits that they're able to make off of these practices outweigh the penalties they end up having to pay if they get investigated. So dealing with this on a case-by-case basis isn't enough. There needs to be a systemic change, especially in how we think about housing in America. All right, we're going to take a quick break when we come back.

John Ida Rola joins me for more news, including Facebook handing over information about women who then seek abortions in states where abortions are illegal. Just not a good story, bad story, very bad, but we do need to talk about it. We've got that and more coming right up. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.