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UPS Closer To Strike After Contract Talks Dissolve; Casey DeSantis Set To Hit Campaign Trail For First Solo Event; Government Study: Half Of U.S. Tap Water Contaminated With "Forever Chemicals." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 06, 2023 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:30:00]

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He went on this march to Moscow, as he calls his military uprising. He didn't do that. It all blew up and got out of hand. And so he's been managing that crisis ever since.

What we're seeing now though, I think, is Russia really moving to kind of dissolve Wagner businesses and to discredit Yevgeny Prigozhin, perhaps ahead of an arrest.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Steve --

BLACKWELL: Go ahead.

HARLOW: Just to put a button on it, Steve, how striking is it what Matthew just experienced this morning? I mean, they got called to this sort of makeshift press conference. Matthew, is that how you would describe it? And then all of a sudden, they hear this stunning news from Lukashenko?

STEVE HALL, FORMER CIA CHIEF OF RUSSIA OPERATIONS: Yes, it's really fascinating because Lukashenko is, indeed, under the thumb of Putin, but he is under a greater threat from Moscow than he is from Kyiv. And I think that he might see some opportunity.

Look, one of the great opportunities in things about being an (INAUDIBLE), you don't have to speak to the press. He chose to do so, which means that he must have thought there was an advantage in it for him. He may think that if the Wagner guys are in or arrived in Belarus that he might actually have some leverage against Moscow. Perhaps he doesn't need to be Putin's puppet forever. It's one of the many questions we're still trying to figure out, I think.

BLACKWELL: Steve Hall, Matthew Chance, Jill Dougherty, thank you all. Still some questions, obviously, there.

UPS workers edging closer to a strike after marathon negotiations with the Teamsters Union broke down yesterday. We have the Teamsters' president Sean O'Brien to give us an update next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:35:28]

BLACKWELL: Three hundred forty thousand UPS workers are closer to walking off their jobs. The Teamsters Union and UPS walked away without a deal this week after marathon contract negotiations to avoid a strike -- they went nowhere. And if an agreement is not reached by the end of the month, those distinctive brown trucks could be in their tracks -- stopped in their tracks, I should say. A strike could have major economic consequences since about six percent of GDP moves on UPS trucks.

Here's the Teamsters president before talks broke down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN O'BRIEN, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS: Concede to our demands and give us what we deserve and we will go out there and ratify this agreement, or they can take the other road where they don't concede to our demands. They stay loyal to Wall Street and forget about Main Street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Teamsters president Sean O'Brien is with us now. Sir, good to have you.

First, how far apart are you two?

O'BRIEN: We made significant progress since January. We were down to economics and we thought we would have a deal around 4:15 a.m. yesterday morning, but UPS quite bolding told us there was no more to give. We were focused on the part-time portion of the UPS workers who work -- you know, their part-time poverty doesn't work for us in the Teamsters anymore. So we are fighting hard to take care of the part- timers and UPS said we don't have any more to give, and that was it.

BLACKWELL: You made some progress on the MLK holiday. You made some progress on air conditioning for new vehicles and other things as well. But when you say the economics, what are you asking for and what won't they give? Give me more about what the gap is here.

O'BRIEN: Look, there's a -- there's a gap. There's no doubt that the UPS full-timers make good wages, good benefits. But what people don't know -- in the neighborhoods, they see their UPS driver and they love them -- love him or her and they're happy, but they don't see the unsung heroes -- the single mothers that go to work at four in the morning. Those trucks don't go out unless they are loaded.

And our part-timers are the unsung heroes. They are working for poverty wages and we need to drive up the starting rates of pay and reward those people that made the supply chain solution happen during the pandemic. And UPS made record profits -- $100 billion. They need to share some of that.

They're focused on rewarding Wall Street. They should focus on rewarding Main Street. Those are the men and women who make them a success -- 340,000 of them.

BLACKWELL: You're talking about those drivers and the pre-loaders. I have several truck drivers in my family so I know the work.

Let me ask you about this. You talked about they're being well- compensated. You acknowledged in your Senate testimony that the starting salary for some of those drivers -- $93,000 a year -- at the top of the industry. So people who are at home hearing that UPS might be -- the workers might be going on strike and they're already at the top of the heap starting for this, they question why. You tell those folks who are going to be inconvenienced what?

O'BRIEN: Well look, I'd tell them this, simply. UPS didn't give $93,000 a year out of the kindness of their heart. We've been fighting for decades and decades. We didn't -- we didn't get anything from UPS. We had to fight for it.

UPS drivers and pre-loaders and all part-timers provide a tremendous amount of service. UPS is making record profits -- $100 billion. They doubled their profits. They need to take care of those people and stop worrying about Wall Street and focus on the people at Main Street.

BLACKWELL: Let me read this to you from UPS. They put out a statement. "The Teamsters have stopped negotiating despite historic proposals that build on our industry-leading pay refusing to negotiate creates significant unease among employees and customers and threatens to disrupt the U.S. economy."

You say to that what?

O'BRIEN: That statement is compelling but highly inaccurate. UPS chose to walk away. And if there is a strike it's going to be UPS striking themselves.

BLACKWELL: Does this, in some way, hurt the drivers and those pre- loaders, ultimately? We know after the last strike there was a loss of some of the business that was not reclaimed. There are some experts and analysts in the field who say that maybe UPS will get 70 percent back of its business but maybe not all of it. And, of course, that would require potentially fewer pre-loaders, fewer drivers, and then that comes back to your Teamsters members.

O'BRIEN: Well, UPS, whatever they choose to do -- if they choose to do the right thing and concede to the demands we'll be fine. But if they don't that's a self-inflicted wound that they're going to have to shoulder the burden of that.

And look, like anything else, UPS is good times and bad times. This volume will come back. They'll be needing to hire more people. So any negative impact on this is going to be self-inflicted by UPS.

[07:40:07]

BLACKWELL: And it won't impact your members.

O'BRIEN: It could but it's going to be a short-term impact. BLACKWELL: Last question for you. You think a strike is more likely now than not?

O'BRIEN: I didn't think so as of 4:15 yesterday morning. But again, UPS, if they choose not to do the right thing they'll be striking themselves.

BLACKWELL: All right, Sean O'Brien. Thank you so much.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

HARLOW: It's a really fascinating interview because it affects everyone.

BLACKWELL: It affects industry. It affects the individuals. Six percent of GDP. And 340,000 might be on the picket line soon.

HARLOW: Yes, and you said you have truck drivers in your family.

BLACKWELL: I have truck drivers in my family --

HARLOW: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- that's impacted.

HARLOW: We'll see where this goes. We promise to stay on it.

Meantime, Casey DeSantis hitting the campaign trail today in Iowa. It is her first solo event as her husband tries to become president. We'll take a deeper look into the role that she's playing.

(COMMERCIAL)

HARLOW: Casey DeSantis, the first lady of Florida who is currently on a mission to be the next first lady of the United States -- well, she is hitting the campaign trail in Iowa today. It marks her first solo event in support of her husband's presidential campaign.

The once-former local news anchor has been described as the governor's closest adviser. She has also been described as his secret weapon. But also, his greatest asset and his greatest liability.

[07:45:08]

Let's talk about all of this with someone who knows her extraordinarily well in terms of her reporting on it, Emily Mahoney, political editor of the Tampa Bay Times who regularly reports on Gov. Ron DeSantis and Casey DeSantis. Good morning and thanks so much for joining us.

So we're going to see her out solo for the first time today. And I just mentioned she's been described by many as DeSantis' closest adviser -- someone he really trusts and leans on.

What should the people -- voters expect from her? EMILY MAHONEY, POLITICAL EDITOR, TAMPA BAY TIMES, REPORTS REGULARLY ON GOV. RON AND CASEY DESANTIS: Right. So this is her first time with a solo event for the presidential campaign but all of us in the Florida political world know Casey's appearances very well. She's been doing this type of thing for a long time in the aid of her husband's political career.

And she -- one of the greatest assets she is viewed as bringing politically is her ability to humanize Ron DeSantis. He is -- at this point, it's well-known that he is not somebody who is naturally warm. He can be viewed as awkward or aloof in sort of one-on-one interactions and even sometimes on stage.

And Casey, as a former talk show host and TV reporter, is very good at telling anecdotes about the family -- sort of getting a laugh out of people about the kids and also sort of bringing a warmth in the way that she describes his political agenda even. And so that is something that I think we'll definitely see in Iowa today.

BLACKWELL: And that's often the role of a spouse in some of these political campaigns, right? In every cycle, the spouse of a candidate is often called the secret weapon. Hillary Clinton was a secret weapon. Michelle Obama, a secret -- Nancy Reagan was a secret weapon.

But talk about this political relationship and how this is different.

MAHONEY: Absolutely, yes. Casey is definitely much more than a spouse who stands next to her husband and waves at the crowd. Everybody in Florida politics knows that she is his closest adviser. DeSantis is known for keeping a very small inner circle. He doesn't easily trust people. She is the same way. And so, a former campaign official once told me that the sounding board starts and stops with Casey.

So their very small inner circle, really at the core of it, is her. And she is the one who will counsel him on all sorts of decisions, policy and political.

HARLOW: You write in your profile on her, which is fascinating, about a role that she played in this ad for his 2020 reelection campaign. I want to play part of that ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASEY DESANTIS, RON DESANTIS 2022 POLITICAL AD: But if you want to know who Ron DeSantis really is, when I was diagnosed with cancer and I was facing the battle for my life, he was the dad who took care of my children when I couldn't. He was there to pick me off of the ground when I literally could not stand. He was there to fight for me when I didn't have the strength to fight for myself. That is who Ron DeSantis is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And your reporting gives us a new lens on that because you report that was unscripted.

How did Floridians react to it?

MAHONEY: Yes, that's correct, and that ad was, I would say, the most -- probably the most talked about ad in terms of the 2022 gubernatorial midterm election here in Florida.

And what's interesting about it is it doesn't feature Ron DeSantis directly at all, but it was considered the most effective ad of his reelection campaign because of this sort of raw emotion that we see from Casey and her ability, like I said, to really give him a more human lens and give what feels like fairly intimate insight into a struggle that they didn't give a lot of public access to, which was her battle with breast cancer.

HARLOW: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Well, today is the first of likely many solo events for Casey DeSantis.

Emily Mahoney, thanks so much for the insight.

MAHONEY: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Nearly half of all tap water in the U.S. is believed to be contaminated with forever chemicals.

HARLOW: Yikes.

BLACKWELL: Fill up your glass.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to break down the results of a new study and what it will all mean for your health.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:57]

BLACKWELL: A new government study estimates nearly half of the tap water in the U.S. is contaminated with forever chemicals and scientists now believe these human-made chemicals are much more hazardous to our health than previously had been believed.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us now. Sanjay, good morning to you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: Is this as bad as it sounds?

GUPTA: Yes. Look, I mean, we've known about these chemicals for some time. I think what this new study really highlights is just how prevalent these chemicals are. And there's been some new data, as you point out, Victor, about how problematic they could be as well.

So, first of all, the chemicals -- these forever chemicals -- a lot of people know them as PFAS chemicals. That's perfluorinated or polyfluorinated alkyl substances. That's an acronym. That's the stuff that makes your pans nonstick pans. So you imagine a

substance like that that can do that to your pans -- if it gets into the environment it's indestructible. Grease doesn't kill it. Heat doesn't kill it. Water doesn't kill it. That's why they're called the forever chemicals.

But what they were doing in this particular study was they were trying to get an idea -- OK, we know they're out there. How prevalent is this? They looked at some 700 sites around the country and they picked areas that were urban areas -- a lot of humans living there -- rural areas, and even protected lands. And these were the different types of sites.

And what they found was that in about 45 percent of the collections, these chemicals did exist. They existed in all these areas.

They were more prevalent, as you might guess, in areas that are more affected by humans. So, urban areas, for example, had the most of these PFAS chemicals. You can see some of those places they sampled there on the map. But even in protected lands, they also found PFAS, so they are pretty ubiquitous.

Now, one thing about the health impacts. You know, when you have something that's so prevalent it's hard to then draw correlations between those chemicals and other medical issues. But over decades now, they've been looking at this and they have found that it can be associated with certain types of cancer, with thyroid diseases, and most recently even at lower concentrations they can be problematic. So that -- those are sort of the new findings when it comes to these chemicals.

[07:55:14]

HARLOW: How do we know -- I mean, I always sort of brag about New York City has some of the cleanest tap water, best drinking water around, right? I think that's true. Is it true? I mean, how do people know where they live if this is happening to them, and what's being done to address it?

GUPTA: Well, one thing I should point out about these chemicals is that you can't see them.

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: You can't taste them.

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: You can't smell them, OK? So you would not know unless it's tested. So it's not like one of those things the water tastes funny or something like that.

The public utilities have made it a point now trying to address this to try and remove as much PFAS. You have increased regulation. I mean, there is thousands of these chemicals out there but there's probably a dozen or so that are considered the most problematic, so the EPA has sort of focused on that.

But it's challenging. And again, because they are forever chemicals, even if they stopped completely today, it would probably be a generation or so before you could actually get rid of them. So it's challenging unless you're testing it.

HARLOW: A generation?

BLACKWELL: Yes. That seems like they're almost everywhere.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

HARLOW: Appreciate you.

GUPTA: You got it.

HARLOW: President Biden heading to South Carolina today where he plans to tout his record on the economy. We're going to be joined by the co-chair of Biden's reelection campaign. That is South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[08:00:00]