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Independent Global News

Controversial new “workfare” law creates new class of worker and new forms of corporate welfare

StoryMarch 28, 1997
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Union organizing campaigns begin around the country for welfare recipients forced to work for benefits. 1 to 2 million former welfare recipients must now take low wage jobs displacing other low wage workers and decreasing pay rates. Corporations benefit through tax cuts, grants and cheap labor. Amy interviews organizers and workfare Work Experience Program (WEP) participants.

Segment Subjects (keywords for the segment): welfare, workfare, union, NELP, Emsellem, Schur, ACORN, WEP

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Guests
  • Antonia Juhasz
    is an author and activist. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Cambridge University Review of International Relations Journal, and the LA Times. She is the author of “The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time”, now out in paperback.
  • Maurice Emsellem
    Staff attorney for National Employment Legal Project
  • Amy Schur
    Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
  • Juan Gollan
    Workfare recipient
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