#1563 Putting Our Kids to Work for Corporate Profits
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2023
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 6/3/2023
Today, we take a look at the dynamics at play between our immigration and labor policies that lead to the exploitation of children in dangerous and deadly jobs.
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Why Child Labor in America is Skyrocketing Part 1 - Robert Reich - Air Date 5-16-23
Corporations are now using the “labor shortage” as an excuse to bring back child labor. It’s part of a horrifying trend: Since 2015, child labor violations have risen nearly 300%.
Iowa’s extreme child labor bill began in the office of Gov. Kim Reynolds and was written by top corporate lobbyists.
Ch. 3: The Child Labor Crisis In America Part 1 - Fresh Air - Air Date 5-4-23
Tonya Mosley spoke with New York Times investigative reporter Hannah Dreier, who has been reporting on the children, and Washington Post business reporter Jacob Bogage, who has been reporting on conservative campaign to weaken child labor laws
NBC News Reporter Julia Ainsley reports on the accusation of PSSI using child migrant labor in Nebraska meatpacking plant.
Ch. 5: Inside the Conservative Campaign to Relax Child Labor Laws - Amanpour and Company - Air Date 4-27-23
In a recent article, Washington Post reporter Jacob Bogage explains how campaigners are cloaking these rollbacks under cover of "parental rights." Bogage joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss why conservatives appear willing to put children at risk.
We detail how uncritical acceptance by centrist––and even liberal––media that the US is seeing an unprecedented "labor shortage" is helping justify repealing child labor protections in roughly a dozen states.
Ch. 7: The Child Labor Crisis In America Part 2 - Fresh Air - Air Date 5-4-23
Our guest Hannah Dreier, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at _The New York Times_, has published a bombshell new investigation headlined "As Migrant Children Were Put to Work, U.S. Ignored Warnings."
We speak with the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Hannah Dreier, We are also joined by Gregory Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Ch. 10: Why Child Labor in America is Skyrocketing Part 2 - Robert Reich - Air Date 5-16-23
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 13: Final comments on what child labor shows us about the ongoing debate within the GOP
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: Colorized historic photo of Addie Card, a 12-year-old blonde girl in a smock with bare feet posing in front of machinery at a textile mill in 1910 where she worked. Her expression is neutral.
Credit: “Addie Card, 12 years old. Spinner in cotton mill, North Pownal, Vermont, 1910” by by Lewis W. Hine via the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Processed and colorized by Kelly Short using Gimp 2.6.11 | License: Public Domain
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of Left Podcast in which we shall take |
| 0:07.5 | a look at the dynamics at play between our immigration and labor policies that lead to |
| 0:12.8 | the exploitation of children in dangerous and deadly jobs. |
| 0:16.6 | And so please do note that there will be descriptions of the type of work exploited children |
| 0:21.4 | are being made to do. |
| 0:23.5 | Cedais are from Robert Reich, Moore Perfect Union, Fresh Air, the majority report, |
| 0:29.9 | Amman Poor & Company, Cytations Needed and Democracy Now with additional members' only |
| 0:35.1 | clips from Moore Perfect Union and Cytations Need. |
| 0:42.2 | Corporations are bringing back child labor in America. |
| 0:48.5 | And some Republicans want to make it easier for them to get away with it. |
| 0:52.5 | Since 2015, child labor violations have risen nearly 300 percent, and those are just |
| 0:58.2 | violations government investigators have managed to uncover and document. |
| 1:02.2 | The Department of Labor says it's currently investigating over 600 cases of illegal child |
| 1:07.6 | labor in America, major American companies like General Mills, Walmart, and Ford have all |
| 1:12.7 | been implicated. |
| 1:15.0 | Why on earth is this happening? |
| 1:17.7 | The answer is frighteningly simple. |
| 1:19.7 | Read. |
| 1:21.2 | Employers who have been having difficulty finding the workers they need at the wages they're |
| 1:24.3 | willing to pay and rather than reduce their profits by paying adult workers more, employers |
| 1:29.6 | are exploiting children. |
| 1:32.3 | The sad fact of the matter is that many of the children who are being exploited are considered |
... |
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