Political Quotes

“Mr. President, American workers and organized labor do not support your renegotiated NAFTA. Corporate America and wealthy elites might, but don't make any effort to sell NAFTA's half-baked, repackaged broken promises to our workers, be they industrial or farmhands. You defy the liberty of our democracy when corporate elites speak as the democratic process. The promise of higher wages and returning jobs is not to be believed without engagement to ensure the dignity of labor, of labor rights, and labor enforcement on this continent. Hidden between the lines of the current NAFTA text are dollar signs and profits for self-dealing, transnational corporations that have outsourced our jobs, and very wealthy lobbyists who negotiated NAFTA 2's deal. They do not prioritize living-wage jobs, family-sustaining wages, or workers' environmental safety and health conditions across America. NAFTA 2 is still an escalator to the bottom for workers in industrial plants and farmhands. The ravages NAFTA inflicted on America's workers are etched across American communities devastated by the outsourcing of factories, many left in economic ruin. NAFTA served as the ``model'' of modern integration of First World and emerging world economies. It was replicated in Central America with what is called CAFTA-DR. The same plundering of non-rich communities ensued throughout Mexico and Central America. Many fell victim then to drug cartels and gangs, overridden with violence.…”