Ep 138: EPA Workers Attacked!; Why Do People Become Refugees?; Mexico’s Labor Laws: Getting Better?

Working Life Podcast

Episode 138: Wait, didn’t we just talk last week about the attacks on government workers? Well, a week doesn’t go by when another attack against people, who keep our society working, is launched by this administration—this time it’s the workers at the Environmental Protection Agency. AFGE Local 1236 Bethany Dreyfus joins me to give us the lowdown on the draconian rules imposed just days ago. I can’t add to the descriptions of the daily despicable conditions faced by migrants and refugees at the southern border. Instead, what I wanted to do today is go the root of what brought so many to flee their homes—what made people refugees? It’s economic oppression, corruption, the lack of the rule of law—all blessed, supported, encouraged and funded by the U.S. I look at this in two conversations. First, Vicki Gass, Senior Policy expert for Central America and Mexico for Oxfam, describes why people become refugees. And, then, Gladys Cisneros the Solidarity Center’s country program director in Mexico, digs into whether changes in Mexico’s labor law system, especially the process of enforcement, are significant enough to believe that a new NAFTA treaty wouldn’t simply be a new, continuing blank check for corporations to exploit workers. -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3