Child Labor Is Still Increasing in the 21st Century
One would never have thought that a “Year in Review” — almost a quarter of the way through the 21st century — would be discussing the growing scourge of child labor. The 19th century, maybe. But 2023? Really?
Yes, really.
Not only that, but some of the discussion around child labor is not focused on how to eliminate it, but how to increase it.
Yes, really.
The stories actually began late last year when the Labor Department filed an injunction in federal court against Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) for illegally employing 31 children between the ages of 13 and 17 in at least three meatpacking plants where the PSSI is contracted to clean and sanitize. The school children worked on overnight shifts and several suffered chemical burns from the corrosive cleaners they were required to use. Most were Latino and did not speak English.
But it turned out that was only the tip of the iceberg.
In February, the the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division found that PSSI had employed at least 102 children — from 13 to 17 years of age — in hazardous occupations and had them working overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states. As a result, PSSI has paid $1.5 million in civil money penalties. The children were working with hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat processing equipment including back saws, brisket saws and head splitters. At least three minors suffered injuries while working for PSSI, one of the country’s largest food safety sanitation service providers.
But there was still a lot of iceberg below that. The combination of a tight labor market, an abundant supply of kids — especially immigrant kids — needing jobs, low penalties and lack of enforcement resources are fueling the rise of child labor.
As of last July, The Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department is currently pursuing more than 700 open child labor cases. At 16 McDonald’s franchise locations in Louisiana and Texas, children as young as 14 operated dangerous equipment and worked long and late hours, the DOL said this week. Two months earlier in a Louisville, Kentucky, McDonald’s, the department found two 10-year-olds working without pay until as late as 2 a.m., preparing and serving meals, working the drive-thru and cash register and cleaning the restaurants, according to a DOL release.
In February, The New York Times’ Hannah Dreier published the first of what was to be a tragic series of articles chronicling the widespread exploitation of immigrant children, here without parents, working for some of the biggest companies in the country.
And the abject failure of government oversight. Children were performing highly dangerous work making products for America’s biggest companies. And although many companies are fighting this public relations disaster by hiring private auditors to root out child labor, those auditors have largely failed to find the children.
To make matters worse, the federal government, in an effort to get the kids off the border as quickly as possible, was sending the children to relatives and around the country, losing track of them as they got jobs with labor traffickers and shady contractors in order to make enough money to stay in the country and possibly send funds to relatives back home. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division is understaffed without the resources to follow up on the massive problem. It would take the Division more than 100 years to visit every worksite under their jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, many states, instead of taking strong action to eliminate the problem, are actually passing laws to make it easier for employers to hire child workers to do highly hazardous jobs.
And the problem shows no sign of abating. In July, 16-year-old Duvan Tomas Perez was killed at the Mar-Jac Poultry plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He was conducting “sanitizing operations,” highly dangerous work cleaning blood and remains out of hazardous machinery that often has not been turned off or locked out. An investigation later found that Perez was originally hired with fake identification, using the identity of a 32-year-old man to obtain the job at the company.
In the company’s defense, who could possibly have figured out that a 16-year-old was not actually 32?
One would think that the growing scourge of child labor would result in a strong response from Congress. Instead, the House of Representative’s draft Department of Labor FY 2024 Appropriations bill calls for a 30% cut in the Wage and Hour Division’s budget.
One would think that the growing scourge of child labor and the severe underfunding of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division would result in a strong response from Congress. Instead, the House of Representative’s draft Department of Labor FY 2024 Appropriations bill calls for a 30% cut in the Wage and Hour Division’s budget.
Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) has introduced the Child Labor Protection Act that would increase penalties for violating child labor laws. The current maximum penalty is only $15,138 per child. Schatz’s bill would increase penalties for violating child labor laws to a maximum fine of $132,270 for routine violations and a maximum fine of $601,150 for each violation connected with the death or serious injury of a minor. No Republicans have signed on.
DCReport has consistently reported the facts on child labor that mainstream media often misses. Click here and here to read about it.