The New York Times’s recent exposé on child labor in the United States wasn’t about what might be called “child labor lite”: examples, say, of kids working in candy stores, logging long hours as babysitters, or getting up early to do paper-delivery rounds. Instead, it was about truly Dickensian conditions: children, many of whom were unaccompanied migrants, getting mangled while working overnight shifts in meat-packing plants; children working long hours on construction sites; children working into the wee hours in food-processing facilities; children getting chemically burned after working overnight shifts as janitors. These kids were, plain and simple, being labor-trafficked...
I was right that politicians would indeed be goaded into action; I was wrong, however, as to what action they would take. Far from shoring up protections against the exploitation of children by multinational corporations, by temporary employment agencies and by the “guardians” who, like Dickensian villains of yesteryear, send their wards out to work, GOP politicians took it as an opportunity to weaken child labor laws. - Truthout
Friday, April 7, 2023
Republicans are pro-child labor
The crazed stupidity does not end. I get that the right wing is scared and flailing, but that doesn't justify anything.
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The Minnesota proposal is SF375 which would allow 16 and 17 year olds to work in the construction industry. The proponents cite Wisconsin use ... but what they are not highlighting is that unions are involved as teenagers participate in apprenticeship programs which can take a year of more to complete. Unless the bill requires a teenage to participate in an apprenticeship program, I would be concerned that some construction company would just hire teens without providing the necessary training and safety ... just looking for teens that will work for lower wages.
ReplyDeleteI wish the article would have cited some of the recent criminal filings against corporations for hiring children as young as 13 to work in meat packing facilities working overnight shifts and engaging in hazardous work including operating large machinery such as meat grinders, ovens and forklifts. One such company is Tony Downs Foods in Madelia MN ... since late 2022, more than a dozen meatpacking companies have been investigated for child labor violations.