SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
department of labor
Report Warns Trump Would Likely Worsen GOP's Assault on Child Labor Laws
"It's really urgent that we address our federal standards and raise them for children across the country," a co-author said.
Oct 16, 2024
A number of mostly Republican-controlled states have weakened child labor protections in recent years and a second Trump administration would likely escalate the deregulatory push, as per plans laid out in Project 2025, according to a report released Wednesday.
The 55-page report, Protecting Children From Dangerous Work, was prepared by Governing for Impact, the Economic Policy Institute, and Child Labor Coalition. It includes harrowing stories of teenagers killed on the job, documents right-wing plans for increased minor involvement in dangerous work, and calls for action by the U.S. Labor Department to strengthen and codify legal protections for workers under age 18.
Child labor violations in the U.S. nearly quadrupled between 2015 and 2022, according to Labor Department data.
The new report documents right-wing efforts to loosen child labor protections, particularly in the past four years, during which time lawmakers in 30 states have moved to do so. At least eight states—Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, and West Virginia—have tried to roll back protections on child labor hours or hazardous work just since the start of 2023, the report says.
"At the time when we're seeing violations on the rise, and we're simultaneously seeing states go back on their commitment to raising standards to be above federal minimums, I think it's really urgent that we address our federal standards and raise them for children across the country who may be working in hazardous environments or in an environment that is not appropriate for someone of their age," Nina Mast, an analyst at the Economic Policy Institute and a co-author of the report, toldThe Guardian.
The policy agenda of Project 2025, a 920-page manifesto which many observers consider a blueprint for a second Trump administration, includes explicit mention of child labor issues. Many of the authors worked for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during his first administration.
The chapter on the Labor Department, written by Jonathan Berry, who himself worked in the department under Trump, says that "some young adults show an interest in inherently dangerous jobs" and that "with parental consent and proper training, certain young adults should be allowed to learn and work in more dangerous occupations."
The right-wing push to deregulate child labor has led several states to adopt laws that are below federal standards established by the Fair Labor Standards Act, leading to confusion for employers and employees, the new report says.
Agriculture is a sector where child labor is particularly common and is subject to its own regulations. The Obama administration tried to push through legal protections for minors in the sector in 2012 but met with major resistance from industry groups.
Still, even without further action from Congress, the Labor Department has the authority to strengthen protections for minors in agriculture and other sectors, the report authors argue. In the 2000s, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health issued a series of recommendations on child labor, some of which the department didn't implement—but still could, they wrote.
A detailed investigation by The New York Times last year showed that much of the exploitation of child labor, both in farms and factories, is targeted at migrants.
The new report cites a particularly awful example of the dangers of such exploitation. In July 2023, Duvan Thomas Pérez, a 16-year-old, was working as a cleaner at a chicken processing plant in Mississippi—as he did on nights after school—when a moving component of a machine drew him in and killed him. He was employed in violation of current law, the report says, pointing to the need for better enforcement of the rules already on the books.
Keep ReadingShow Less
In Speech on Extreme Heat, Biden Makes No Mention of What's Driving It: Fossil Fuels
"Real relief won't come until Biden confronts the culprit of deadly oil and gas," said one campaigner.
Jul 27, 2023
"My fellow Americans, we are facing a climate emergency. This summer, we have seen record-shattering heat waves sweep across our nation... If we do not act urgently to curb fossil fuel pollution, these deadly heat waves will only grow worse in frequency and severity."
That was how Fossil Free Media director Jamie Henn suggested U.S. President Joe Biden address the public on Thursday as he announced new measures to address the record-breaking heat that spread across the country from the Southwest to the Midwest and Northeast, placing more than half the U.S. population under heat advisories.
The climate campaigner was among those urging the president to make a clear connection between the extreme heat—which was expected to push temperatures to 105°F in Minneapolis and 107° in New York as Phoenix saw its 27th consecutive day with a heat index of at least 110°—and the climate crisis.
Instead, Biden did not utter the words "fossil fuels," "oil," or "gas" throughout his remarks, despite the fact that World Weather Attribution reported this week that the extreme heat seen in the U.S. and other countries would have been "virtually impossible" without the climate crisis and continued fossil fuel extraction.
The president spoke two days after Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) led a vigil and thirst strike on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, calling for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to establish a new federal standard to prevent heat-related work injuries, illnesses, and deaths.
In his remarks, Biden said the Department of Labor will issue its first-ever hazard alert for extreme heat and strengthen enforcement to protect workers, increasing safety inspections in industries such as construction and agriculture.
The hazard alert "clarifies that workers have federal heat-related protections," said Biden. "We should be protecting workers from hazardous conditions, and we will. And those states where they do not, I'm going to be calling them out, where they refuse to protect these workers in this awful heat."
The speech also highlighted investments made under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand water storage in drought-affected states and improve the nation's weather forecasts.
Juley Fulcher, worker health and safety advocate for Public Citizen, noted that Biden made his speech on the same day that the World Meteorological Organization announced that this month is likely to be the hottest month ever recorded on Earth and said the hazard alert falls short of the demand for a federal workplace heat safety standard.
"While OSHA is able to educate employers and inspect workplaces for heat hazards, it is a Band-Aid for a problem that won't be solved until employers are required to protect workers," said Fulcher. "OSHA has limited options to hold employers accountable for failing to implement basic safety protocols to protect workers from extreme heat. Only a workplace heat standard will give OSHA the tools to fully protect workers."
Jean Su, energy justice director for the Center for Biological Diversity, called the steps Biden announced "embarrassing" and lamented his refusal to declare a climate emergency.
As climate scientist Peter Kalmus wrote in The Guardian on Thursday:
Declaring a climate emergency would unleash additional powers such as banning oil exports and further accelerating renewable energy buildout on a scale not seen since the mobilization for the Second World War. It would send an unmistakable signal to investors still living in the past, to universities that have been shamefully slow to divest [from fossil fuels], to media outlets that have failed to connect the dots, to all the dangerously lagging institutions of our society.
"The planet is desperate for visionary leadership," he added. "The planet is desperate for policy that creates an equitable transition away from fossil fuels, and into climate emergency mode as a society."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Egregious': DOL Finds US Meatpacking Plants Illegally Employed 100+ Children
The federal probe revealed that Packers Sanitation Services had children as young as 13 "working with hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat processing equipment including back saws, brisket saws, and head splitters."
Feb 17, 2023
Federal investigators revealed Friday that one of the nation's largest food sanitation companies illegally employed at least 102 children in dangerous jobs at 13 meatpacking facilities across eight states, leading to $1.5 million in fines.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) said its Wage and Hour Division "found that children were working with hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat processing equipment including back saws, brisket saws, and head splitters."
The probe determined that children ages 13 to 17 unlawfully worked for Kieler, Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc. at plants in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Texas.
Jessica Looman, principal deputy administrator of the DOL's Wage and Hour Division, said the child labor violations "were systemic" and "clearly indicate a corporate-wide failure by Packers Sanitation Services at all levels."
"These children should never have been employed in meatpacking plants and this can only happen when employers do not take responsibility to prevent child labor violations from occurring in the first place," Looman charged.
\u201cThe food sanitation company was employing children in the plants of well known companies like Tyson Food, Cargill, Turkey Valley Farms, and more. \nhttps://t.co/bpfX0BqfJ5\u201d— More Perfect Union (@More Perfect Union) 1676656915
Michael Lazzeri, the division's regional administrator in Chicago, said that "our investigation found Packers Sanitation Services' systems flagged some young workers as minors, but the company ignored the flags."
"When the Wage and Hour Division arrived with warrants, the adults—who had recruited, hired, and supervised these children—tried to derail our efforts to investigate their employment practices," Lazzeri noted.
The DOL—which found at least three cases where illegally employed children were injured on the job—fined the company $15,138 for each child who was not legally employed, the highest possible penalty under federal law.
As The New York Times reported:
Some researchers have criticized the civil monetary penalties, which are set by Congress, as "woefully insufficient" to protect workers and to deter employers from violating labor laws.
"It's really shameful that the level of fine is so low," said Celine McNicholas, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a research group that seeks to improve conditions for workers. "It's not sufficiently toothy enough to prevent the use of child labor in the meatpacking industry."
Despite such criticism, Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda framed the case as an example of accountability, delcaring Friday, "The Department of Labor has made it absolutely clear that violations of child labor laws will not be tolerated."
"No child should ever be subject to the conditions found in this investigation," Nanda said. "The courts have upheld the department's rightful authority to execute federal court-approved search warrants and compelled this employer to change their hiring practices to ensure compliance with the law. Let this case be a powerful reminder that all workers in the United States are entitled to the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act and that an employer who violates wage laws will be held accountable."
In a lengthy statement Friday, Packers Sanitation Services said that it was "pleased to have finalized this settlement figure."
"We have been crystal clear from the start: Our company has a zero-tolerance policy against employing anyone under the age of 18 and fully shares the DOL's objective of ensuring full compliance at all locations," the statement continued, noting internal audits and the hiring of "a third-party law firm to review and help further strengthen our policies."
The statement highlighted that none of the illegally employed children still work for Packers Sanitation Services, and "the DOL has also not identified any managers aware of improper conduct that are currently employed" by the company.
\u201cRepublicans in Iowa are pushing a bill to roll back child labor protections.\n\nIt would allow kids as young as 14 to work certain jobs in meatpacking plants.\n\nWhat if\u2026and hear me out\u2026we paid adult workers a living wage and gave them benefits instead of hiring children to work?\u201d— Robert Reich (@Robert Reich) 1676661732
The revelations come amid a renewed national debate about child labor laws sparked by Republican legislators in Iowa pushing rollbacks to allow children as young as 14 to work in jobs including animal slaughtering, logging, and mining.
The proposal in Iowa is part of a trend of GOP state lawmakers across the country advocating relaxed child labor laws in recent years.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular