RUSH EXCERPT:
BROWN: "One of the questions looming out there from this announcement by the president is how much will ending DACA affect the work force, in your view?"
TRUMKA: "It will make the workplace less fair. It will make it more difficult to come together and raise wages for everybody. There are 8 million people making contributions every single day. Taking away their rights, making them exposed to being fired at will is not only cruel, it’s very, very wrong for the economy. It’s the wrong thing to do. So I think we would probably respond in two ways. The first thing we’ll do is work with those DACA workers to make sure that their rights are protected, their job is protected. And then we’ll fight to get legislation so that the contributions that they make are celebrated rather than assaulted.
BROWN: "I want to play you some sound from secretary Steve mnuchin, treasury secretary, of course. This is what he said about the impact on the economy and jobs."
[START CLIP]
MNUCHIN: "I’m less concerned about the economic impact. We’ll make sure that we have plenty of workers in this economy. We want to put more people back to work."
[END CLIP]
BROWN: "So is this not about protecting jobs for U.S. Citizens?"
TRUMKA: "No, it isn’t. It’s really — this is a political move, is what it is. It’s the president trying to satisfy a promise that he made during the campaign. Look, these people have been here. The DACA workers have been here since birth. They’ve been contributing to this economy. They pay taxes at twice the rate of the rich around the country. Twice the rate. Not just once but twice the rate. So taking them out of the work force, taking their rights away will leave every workplace out there less safe and less fair. It will hurt us in our efforts to try to raise wages for every worker out there."