We have seen repeated stories of very young workers manning assembly lines, harvesting crops, even working in construction all over the developing world. Companies, notably clothing manufacturers and meatpackers, have faced serious US blowback when proof of these anomalies become incontrovertible. After initially showing that their legal documentation with the various vendors that clearly bans such activities, the companies are frequently forced to admit that a contract is just a piece of paper easily ignored in search of low production costs. It is the standard excuse wherever these abuses appear. “We maintain rigorous standards to ensure that child labor is not used in the production stream for our manufactured goods offered to US consumers.”
But it is. Frequently. And there is a huge reality behind any effort to ban child labor. To those in dire poverty who depend on that horrific source of income, what happens when that income disappears because child labor enforcement is banned? Starvation? Illegal sex trafficking? Criminal activity? What? That does seem to be a common but harsh reality in the third world. The same patterns appear here in the United States, particularly with the children of undocumented immigrants. The paperwork from the contractor supplying the child labor says all the right stuff… but it is painfully obvious that when you see the children filing into, say, a slaughterhouse as the nightshift cleaning crew, these are children, many so small as to defy any statement to the contrary. Blood, feces, guts and heavy machinery with sharp edges. See above photo.
We live in a nation where over half of the wealth is owned by 1% of the population. We float the clearly disproven “a rising tide floats all boats” theory to justify a still-rising income inequality. Two thirds of the increase in asset value since the waning of the pandemic has flowed into the hands of that megarich tiny minority. Still, we lumber under a deficit in the trillions that is the direct result of the Trump-era cut, from 35% to 21%, in corporate tax rates. No, America, it did not pay for itself. And no, it did not produce millions of well-paying jobs. It produced dividends, stock buybacks plus mergers and acquisitions.
As hard as we try to sidestep the underlying reality, so many of the megarich are quite willing to accept the world of the MAGA GOP and their anti-science and medical expertise culture war as the price to pay for low taxes and relief from government regulation. They make hefty campaign contributions to the vast cadre of politicians with their hands out and their morality either impaired or placed on hold. Many economists argue that we have what the GOP calls an unsustainable federal deficit because we do not tax the wealthy at the same levels as the rest of the developed world taxes their comparable richest citizens.
I have covered the culture war, the red state railing against medical and traditional science, the repression and censorship of teachers and books that has become the law in our red states, but as much as I am truly mortified as this intrusion into personal lives using words like “freedom” and “patriotism” when meaning precisely the opposite or that the proliferation of assault weapons is supposed to make us feel safe as firearm deaths have become the leading cause of childhood fatalities. But if my words have lacked persuasiveness, maybe the notion of legalizing hazardous work for young teens might wake up those still sitting on the fence.
“Lawmakers proposed loosening child labor laws in at least 10 states over the past two years, according to a report published last month by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Some bills became law, while others were withdrawn or vetoed.
“Legislators in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa are actively considering relaxing child labor laws to address worker shortages. Employers have struggled to fill open positions after a spike in retirements, deaths and illnesses from COVID-19, decreases in legal immigration and other factors… Wisconsin lawmakers back a proposal to allow 14-year-olds to serve alcohol in bars and restaurants. If passed, Wisconsin would have the lowest such limit nationwide, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
“The Ohio Legislature is on track to pass a bill allowing students ages 14 and 15 to work until 9 p.m. during the school year with their parents’ permission. That's later than federal law allows, so a companion measure asks the U.S. Congress to amend its own laws.
“Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, students that age can only work until 7 p.m. during the school year. Congress passed the law in 1938 to stop children from being exposed to dangerous conditions and abusive practices in mines, factories, farms and street trades.
“Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law in March eliminating permits that required employers to verify a child’s age and their parent's consent. Without work permit requirements, companies caught violating child labor laws can more easily claim ignorance. Other measures to loosen child labor laws have been passed into law in New Jersey, New Hampshire and Iowa.
“Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law last year allowing teens aged 16 and 17 to work unsupervised in child care centers. The state Legislature approved a bill this month to allow teens of that age to serve alcohol in restaurants. It would also expand the hours minors can work. Reynolds, who said in April she supports more youth employment, has until June 3 to sign or veto the measure.
“Republicans dropped provisions from a version of the bill allowing children aged 14 and 15 to work in dangerous fields including mining, logging and meatpacking. But it kept some provisions that the Labor Department say violate federal law, including allowing children as young as 14 to briefly work in freezers and meat coolers, and extending work hours in industrial laundries and assembly lines.” Harm Venhuizen, a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative, May 25th. And yes, America, notwithstanding the verbiage to the contrary, children still work in American meatpacking factories.
I’m Peter Dekom, and as hard as I try, this just doesn’t seem to be same United States that I used to live in… where we protect our children and foster individual freedom.
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