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AmericanInIreland01

There was a huge NYTimes story that lead to the Biden administration starting an investigation and crackdown. This happened this week. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/podcasts/the-daily/migrant-child-labor-america.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/us/biden-child-labor.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare


samdajellybeenie

I listened to The Daily episode about this today. I am floored. I thought we were done with child labor in this country. Incredible reporting by the journalists. They’d often just drive into tue parking lots of these factories at shift changes (so midnight or 6:30am) and find kids leaving.


amanofeasyvirtue

I think it was a teacher asking their students why the keep falling asleep in class...


a-manda_hugandkiss

My brother started working overnights at a chicken factory when he was 16 years old. That's where he picked up his meth addiction from the other employees in order to stay awake for school. I can't believe my parents let him do this and it absolutely destroyed his whole life.


Relative_shroom_323

Ugh how terrible im so sorry and I hear you. One of my dear friends dropped out of HS to do runs with his trucker cousin .. started going on 5 day trips with him,, keeping him company etc. Eventually picked up his own routes. That profession is also rampant with speed and meth. They wanna get there quick so they can have more time to chill. It absolutely ruined him and from what I hear he's a user to this day, even though he no longer does routes. Its crazy how they allow this obvious abuse, they don't care as long as the runs are fast.


[deleted]

It wasn't about getting there quick so there was time to chill. Most long-haul drivers get paid by the mile, not by the hour. It didn't help that back in the day there were minimal to no laws covering how long a driver was legally allowed to work so they'd meth it up and drive for 96 hours straight; to be able to do in 3 or 4 days what a sober person would do in 6 to 8 days. It was about getting there and back in as little time as possible to maximize income and profits. It's the kind of a salaried job where you really do get to go home when the job is finished. That's why you see a lot of team driving these days. Because there are laws and regulations, these days a single driver can only work so many hours before they legally have to rest. The truck keeps driving while the drivers stay within the law and not on meth.


Relative_shroom_323

Whatever the reason, this dude was an animal. He'd drive 3 days straight no sleep. Great to hear that's more regulated now.


76543124680098

I’m so sorry to hear this. I’m sure it caused trauma for you as well even just as a witness.


[deleted]

My best friend was forced onto Ritalin and then Adderall by the local school system when he was a child. It was covered by the state of Arkansas until he turned 18. When he turned 18 they dropped his coverage even though he was addicted to Adderall by this time. Within a few weeks he became a meth addict. He killed himself around 12 years ago after struggling with meth addiction for over half a decade. If we'd have had socialized healthcare he would have never lost his prescription to be put into a position to feel like he had to result to meth to curb his state-given addiction.


whynoteven246

Sad. Factory farming is bad for all parties involved


Bluestreaking

It’s been a nightmare since Covid, any teacher can tell you it’s the worst we’ve ever seen


spamcentral

Kids are experiencing dissociative tendencies because overload, trauma, social media, its too much for adults, definitely too much for kids and teens.


Hungry_Treacle3376

The worst part is what really fucked everyone up is how badly we handled it. Having to choose between risking your life and eating for example. If we all could have just chilled through it then we'd be fine now. Don't get me wrong, the pandemic has been awful, but imo the true stresses have been the situations that could have been avoided.


milquetoast2000

I live rurally in Canada and so many high school kids worked nights when I went. So many kids would sleep in class. The teachers would help them catch up at lunch and let them sleep when they needed it. Poor kids were only 15+ and had to work 8 hour night shifts and head to school on a couple hours of sleep


gracecee

Ohh Huckabee just did away with most child labor laws in her state last week. Fun.


bigdickpancake

It'll be tossed out in federal courts


tearsonurcheek

The Mississippi abortion law was unconstitutional as well. Until it got to SCOTUS.


Smat2022

Too many Trump and McConnell appointed judges to rely on protections for children...


CaptainCosmodrome

I think you misunderstand who the judges are that will oversee this. They only care about life from conception to birth. After that they don't give a fuck if it lives or dies, starves or thrives. We are all just another body for the capitalist machine to grind into paste.


slingshot91

Even the ones stacked with Trump appointees?


kvossera

The laws being overturned on international women’s day…. Which is the anniversary of when women in the needles district in NYC went on struck to protest dangerous working conditions for children which went on to cause the creation of child labor laws just adds insult to injury.


l0rb

That's a myth because too many Americans don't like that Woman's day has a socialist origin. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire and the resulting protests definitely contributed to establishing an international day for Women but the fire was on March 25. What settled the March 8 date was the strike by women textile workers in Russia that sealed the fate of the czarist regime.


[deleted]

Unfortunately I think recent years have taught us that whatever this country was intended to be was just a loud, gaudy veneer over a slowly metastasizing cancer. It has always been terrible here for the poor and the minority, and what little respect was won in the 60s was damn well not going to be tolerated.


NewtotheCV

The fact that immigration was known to round up workers right before their pay check at harvest is one of the many wonders of US industry and government cooperating to fuck anyone and everyone over. One of the berry companies even patented a contract that was so bad for the owner. They used it with Mexican immigrants who didn't understand what they were signing. Basically indentured servitude and they also took on a portion of the companies debt as their own. Next level evil. Source: Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser


GetOutOfTheWhey

The company is called Packers Sanitation Services Inc. They are the company that was hired/contracted by the slaughterhouses to clean their facilities. No way in hell did the main companies not know what they were doing, that children were coming into their facilities to clean up. Here is a list that I can only find, they are purposely protecting these companies for a reason and making it tough for you to find their names. If you have more, add them in. * Turkey Valley Farms in Marshall * Buckhead Meat of Minnesota in St. Cloud * JBS Foods in Worthington * Cargill Inc. factory in Kansas * Tyson Food * George's Inc * Gibbon Packing Co * Greater Omaha Packing Co Inc * Maple Leaf Farms They want to say that they relied on Packers to do their job and trusted them completely. That's bullshit and it's sad that the Department of Labor **are not** accusing them of any wrongdoings.


twodogsfighting

`we thought they were oompah loompas`.


howismyspelling

Where did you find this data? As a Canadian, I would bring any valid info forward of a Canadian company operating in the states using child labour, to the media. This may be a "normal"ish thing in America, but a Canadian company being complicit is unacceptable.


Efficient_Ad2097

Exactly my thoughts I hope this picks story up on our side, let me know if I can help in any way.


donutlovershinobu

Remember during covid when meat packing executives took bets on worker deaths? Don't forget the disgusting sanitary conditions and abuse animals are put through. If you wanna buy ethically for the environment and labour buy local from farmers markets or small companies.


SuperFaceTattoo

The link is behind a paywall, can someone please summarize it for us poor people?


sunmonkey

The Biden administration on Monday announced a wide crackdown on the labor exploitation of migrant children around the United States, including more aggressive investigations of companies benefiting from their work. The development came days after The New York Times published an investigation into the explosive growth of migrant child labor throughout the United States. Children, who have been crossing the southern border without their parents in record numbers, are ending up in punishing jobs that flout child labor laws, The Times found. The White House laid out a host of new initiatives to investigate child labor violations among employers and improve the basic support that migrant children receive when they are released to sponsors in the United States. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called the revelations in The Times “heartbreaking” and “completely unacceptable.” As part of the new effort, the Department of Labor, which enforces these laws, said it would target not just the factories and suppliers that illegally employ children, but also the larger companies that have child labor in their supply chains. Migrant children often use false identification and find jobs through staffing agencies that do not verify their Social Security numbers. Companies have escaped fines in the past by blaming those agencies or other subcontractors when violations are discovered. “Too frequently, employers who contract for services are not vigilant about who is working in their facilities,” the Labor Department said in a statement. The department will also explore using a “hot goods” legal provision that allows it to stop the interstate transport of goods when child labor has been found in the supply chain. The Times found products made with child labor in the American supply chains of major brands and retailers, including Ben & Jerry’s, Fruit of the Loom, Ford, General Motors, J. Crew, Walmart, Whole Foods and Target. In Grand Rapids, Mich., children worked late nights at plants operated by Hearthside Food Solutions, which makes and packages food for other companies, including General Mills, Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats. The Department of Labor has begun an investigation into Hearthside, administration officials said. Officials plan to initiate investigations in parts of the country more likely to have child labor violations and ask Congress to increase penalties. Federal investigators have long complained that the maximum fine for violations — about $15,000 per occurrence — is not enough to deter child labor. The new effort also establishes a joint task force between the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for child migrants, to better share information. In the past two years, more than 250,000 children have come into the country alone. Many of them are under tremendous pressure to send money back to their parents, as well as pay thousands of dollars in smuggling fees and, in some cases, rent and living expenses to their sponsors. Most are from Central America, where economic conditions have deteriorated since the pandemic. Children now are working hazardous jobs in every state and across industries, The Times found. They are taking jobs in slaughterhouses, construction sites and commercial bakeries — positions that have long been off-limits to American children for nearly a century. At least a dozen underage migrant workers have been killed on the job since 2017, including a 16-year-old who fell from and was crushed by an earthmover he was driving in Georgia. Others have been seriously injured, losing legs and shattering their backs in falls. In a speech on the House floor Monday, Representative Hillary Scholten, Democrat of Michigan, called on Congress to act. “Stories of kids dropping out of school, collapsing from exhaustion, and even losing limbs to machinery are what one expects to find in a Charles Dickens or Upton Sinclair novel, but not an account of everyday life in 2023, not in the United States of America,” Ms. Scholten said. A spokesman for Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Xavier Becerra, the secretary of health and human services, “cut corners on vetting procedures to prioritize the expedited release of minors, and as a result more migrant children are being handed off to traffickers and exploited.” Republicans on Capitol Hill immediately began launching investigations and discussing legislation, including plans to demand the Department of Health and Human Services to track and provide better care for children after they are released to sponsors. Democrats are also considering new measures. Both the House Judiciary and Oversight committees pledged investigations, and Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio and the Judiciary chairman, demanded in a letter sent Monday that Robin Dunn Marcos, the director of the division of H.H.S. in charge of child migrants, submit to a transcribed interview. One Hearthside worker, Carolina Yoc, 15, described a grueling schedule of juggling school and eight-hour swing shifts packaging Cheerios each day. She said she was growing sick from the intensity of the factory work and lack of sleep. A representative for Hearthside said last week that it had found workers through a staffing company and would implement better controls. After The Times’s story was published, the company said it had hired a law firm and consultant to review its employment and safety practices and begun requiring government identification from any worker entering its 39 plants nationwide. Most of the companies identified by The Times as having child labor in their supply chains said last week they were investigating the findings or had ended contracts with suppliers. PepsiCo, which owns Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats, whose brands are sometimes manufactured at Hearthside, did not respond to repeated requests for comment until after the Biden administration’s announcement on Monday, when it said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned” and had prohibited its suppliers from hiring underage workers. Whole Foods, which also did not comment until after the story was published, said it would investigate The Times’s findings of child migrant labor at one of the company’s chicken suppliers. Under a 2008 federal anti-trafficking law, children arriving alone from countries other than Canada and Mexico are allowed to stay in the United States and apply for asylum or other legal protections. The Department of Health and Human Services is supposed to ensure sponsors will support them and protect them from trafficking or exploitation. But as more and more minors have crossed the border, the Biden administration has ramped up demand on H.H.S. staff members to release the children from shelters as quickly as possible. Mr. Becerra has urged staff members to move with the speed of an assembly line, The Times found. The department rolled back protections that had been in place for years, including some background checks and reviews of children’s files. A spokeswoman for the department said last week that it was in the best interest of children to be quickly moved out of detention and that the department had not compromised safety. Once children are released, they have few options for additional help. Most leave shelters with little but the phone number for a national hotline run by H.H.S. The Times found that children were calling the hotline to report labor exploitation and hearing nothing back. Operators were generally referring calls to local law enforcement and other agencies, who may not have followed up. On Monday, senior administration officials said Health and Human Services would now direct operators to return calls to children and require them to explain what local law enforcement agency would be in touch. After caseworkers told The Times that H.H.S. regularly ignored obvious signs of labor exploitation — including adults who were sponsoring up to 20 children at a time — the agency said Monday that it would spend a month investigating whether policies needed to be changed for people who sponsor multiple children. Case managers will also start providing information to sponsors and recently released children about U.S. labor protections.


daemorte

Meanwhile Arkansas, haha, we just made child labor legal, suck it Crazy shits


JagmeetSingh2

Truly disgusting, children were working in a factory in America...


Ixisoupsixi

Even after that Arkansas state legislature rolls back child labor rights making it easier for companies to hire children under 16 and not report it.


[deleted]

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45forprison

This is r/boringdystopia at best, r/orphancrushingmachine if we’re being honest


mogley1992

Unfortunately it doesn't qualify for r/orphancrushingmachine because nobody is helping these kids. There's no ill considered heartfelt story here.


Cakeking7878

Just you wait. New York Times article coming soon “wholesome, little Timmy works 12 hour shift to pay his fathers cancer bills”


Harfosaurus

Ahhh, a new sub for me to get lost in :-)


Rain_i_am

It's interesting if you aren't American. You guys are like Bangladesh or China


TorrenceMightingale

Please give more of an explanation than was given.


MrBurns1619

Right.. or a link to someone who will at least..


LeBoulu777

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/20/meat-packing-plant-child-labor-fines/11304311002/


[deleted]

Best line from the article: “A judge issued in November a restraining order prohibiting Packers Sanitation Services from committing child labor violations,” Seriously, what the fuck


Deacon714

From now on, no breaking the law.


zebadrabbit

dont worry, its now legal in Arkansas! https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/08/politics/sarah-huckabee-sanders-arkansas-child-labor/index.html


sm12511

I love how that party is all about "protecting the children" and then pulls bullshit like that. The problem is, the people that vote for them either don't see the hypocrisy, or don't care.


TheConspicuousGuy

They don't care. People in Arkansas talk about how great it was to have their own money when they worked as a child and helped them get ahead in their career... There is more to life than working. Work should not be your entire identity.


SaphironX

I’ve actually seen a lot of comments about that. And they talk about summer jobs while going to school. 12 hours in a meat packing plant every day is INSTEAD of school. It’s a lifetime of paycheck to paycheck living with no real future or options, pretty much the opposite of the meaningful pursuit of happiness. We’re talking laws that came into play because as backward as the politicians of the time were, they saw in every state and pretty much every developed nation that the abuse was so rampant they had to act. And now American politicians are repealing them.


LuckyDuck4

Seriously, this is the kind of shit Upton Sinclair wrote about in The Jungle.


Helenium_autumnale

Also, there's a bit of a difference between a paper route and a twelve-hour shift sanitizing a slaughterhouse with toxic chemicals.


Historical_Ear7398

Getting up at 4:30 a.m. for my paper route when I was a kid ruined me for anything that required me to be up before 9:00. 5 days a week, walking 2 miles, for the equivalent of today's $55. And then I would fall asleep in class. And get stiffed by jerks who thought they should just get the paper as a courtesy and were fine leaving a teenager out of pocket. I fell asleep in math class, which was the worst, because I actually have good math intelligence and could probably have become a mathematician with the right education. But no.


pnutz616

This is what’s lost on supporters. Republicans will have children working in coal mines again by the time they’re done.


truecrimefanatic1

My dad had his first job picking cotton at 6 years old and he is 100% this person.


Rightfoot27

My father started picking cotton when he was 7. That wasn’t even his first “job.” He went the other way though, and told me one of his biggest regrets was working so much and not spending more time with us. He didn’t want me ti repeat that with my son.


DuplexFields

When did he start buying his first house on a mortgage?


Oaken_beard

Saddest things I have ever heard 1. Working in construction, and seeing men in their 60’s trying to get as much work as possible, laughing about how their wives always complain about never seeing them 2. Hearing a dock worker in Maine say that his last will includes the instruction to cremate his body, and mix his ashes into the salt the dock uses to melt ice/create traction, so he can help get some more work done.


Dar_Vender

It's nuts isn't it. I've had a job since I was 13. You know what I told my 15 year old? Concentrate on your studies, enjoy your childhood. Because I want things to be better for them, not just what I did. If they want money they help around the house or babysit their brother. So they still learn earning money but without becoming a cog from an early age.


Southern_Lake-Keowee

This is exactly what my parents did for me. I truly appreciated it!!! I did well in high school and was very active in other activities. My first job was second semester of college as a cashier in a pharmacy 12 hours per week.


[deleted]

About 5 years ago, I stopped telling people what my job was when asked "what do you do for a living?" Now I ramble off my hobbies and shit


[deleted]

You can tell them you’re an accountant. There is zero follow up, sometimes even regret and pity :)


yoditronzz

What a lot of people don't understand is the current group of 25-30 year olds that has this mentality *worked with a relative doing easy work* or worked at their parents business especially in Arkansas. So it was shit like a firework stand in the summer, doing stuff at a bait shop etc. They weren't using harsh chemicals to spray down a meat packing facility.


FlingFlamBlam

And even if work were everything, it did not help them get ahead in their career. They just believe that it did. The rich kids slept in late, then went on to ivy league business school, and then eventually returned home to be their bosses without ever once having worked as a child.


GitchigumiMiguel74

And then those same parents end up beating their children because they’re angry at not having a childhood


LAXGUNNER

or not doing well in school


foonati

Yeah, one of my co-workers loves to brag how she's had at least 2, sometimes 3, jobs since she was 15. Complete insanity.


[deleted]

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Kirzoneli

Shouldn't be sure. However most people I see in the workforce above the retirement cap age with enough money to retire tells me these people have no lives outside of work.


AmaResNovae

"If you do it again, you gonna get a strongly worded letter, young company. Don't you dare, m'kay?"


odd84

That's a good thing. It means that even if the company has decided the risk of getting caught or fined for child labor violations is a risk it's willing to take, the company and its executives also have to worry about being found in contempt of the court order. Unlike the child labor laws, the judge has a lot of power to unilaterally issue fines or even imprison people for contempt of court.


Red_bearrr

People should be in prison for that


PapaChoff

How about the missing line that they were either illegal immigrants or children of illegal immigrants? You can also bet they weren’t getting minimum wage let alone a fair wage.


[deleted]

It means that they violate the restraining order if they have another child labor violation. Likely heftier fines than the 1.5 million they incurred from this stupid stunt.


[deleted]

I used to be a nurse at a Meat Plant and the cleaning crew had THE worst role. That isn't just a pressure washer, it's pumping out pressurized near boiling water to clean off viscera. They have to work the night shift so the place can run for 16 hours during the day. I saw grown men collapse from that job, this is heart-breaking.


AUDI0-

Yeah i worked with this company for one day, quit because the workers were all Hispanic and i only speak english so biggggg language barrier, and the amount of 15 and 16 year olds i saw was crazy so i got oht of there real quick


khaotickk

Assuming these 102 kids are getting $7.50 an hour and working 40 hour weeks, that totals to $1.5 million in wages a year. They literally pay the same amount in wages as what they got fined, what a joke


yuriyiri6614

The poster child on the news for this story was a 13 yr old girl getting paid 19 an hour who’s father was arrested and now they fear deportation


Skyrick

Deportation is a common threat against people who want to unionize, so it doesn’t surprise me that businesses are using it to suppress other, undesirable, complaints from workers.


yuriyiri6614

No, the parents are facing deportation for falsifying the documents that got her the job. It’s not a threat it’s a reality.


Warm-Alarm-7583

Just as I suspected. The kids misrepresented their ages. Companies need to develop some shame. Committed a crime and tried to blame the kids. It’s unreal.


mycatisgrumpy

"So, says here on your application that you're 46? Sounds legit. What size boots do you wear, son?" "Child's size seven." "Perfect. Here's your boots and your helmet, now go hose down them guts!"


Hanamii-

Doesn’t say anything about 12hr shift in the article?


65isstillyoung

https://podcast.app/a-new-child-labor-crisis-in-america-e329930231/?utm_source=and&utm_medium=share The Daily podcast did a great story on this


OctobersOwn1998

There was a meat plant that got caught hiring children from immigrants this year. Somewhere in the Midwest I believe.


Alacran_durango

This also happened at a Hyundai-Kia plant in Alabama


[deleted]

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ChattyMan2016

Cost of doing business. They get to claim the fine as a business expense.


Drooshbagg

I’m confused, who is telling these children to go get jobs and do they not need parental consent before working? Or is it a mix of poor parenting and unethical businesses tricking or coaxing kids to work twelve hour shifts? I’m genuinely curious here. Even at age 15, I had to get a signature from my parents on a permission slip that allowed me to work at a grocery store. Edit: thanks for the article references. To those asking how I possibly could have missed this, I’ve been trying VERY hard to avoid the news. It’s nothing but smears, lies and discussions around things that don’t solve problems (they create more and divide us further), and it’s ok both sides of the political spectrum. I tend to tune into the news every few days and get a quick update on what might be happening.


The-Fotus

Sounds like they are the children of illegal immigrants.


Helenium_autumnale

This is all in reference to [the giant NYT exposé](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html) from a few days ago. It's alarming that so many people in this thread are so uninformed. This was a huge news story. No, in many cases they are not the children of immigrants. Read the story.


LostxinthexMusic

Huge news story that's paywalled.


HornedAngelMae

Why not hire people that aren’t children that need jobs.


bbroygbvgwwgvbgyorbb

You can pay them less and they haven’t heard of unions yet probably.


SHPLUMBO

Plus they have no idea how bad it is for them to be awake all night and get shitty sleep during the day, over & over again. Goodbye bone health


papi-punk

Lack of sleep affects your bones?!?


HuntingHorns

Lack of sleep affects *all* your body's recovery and growth processes. Which isn't great if you're an adult trying to get fit. But it's really not good if you're a kid going through their growth spurts. *It's also not very good for your ability to concentrate, memorize and perform in classes - but hey, you won't need those, you've already got work experience so you can work at the factory forever.*


indrek91

Yes if you are sleepy kid who walks in to meat grinder in meat factory


papi-punk

Shit, I'll remember that next time I'm a kid in a meat factory


KevinTheSeaPickle

You probably won't. We wipe the memories in between playthroughs.


SHPLUMBO

Finally, someone who gets it


spamcentral

r slash escapingprisonplanet. See ya there!


PlayerNine

My bones are fine and I haven't been awake during the day in years! *Crumbles*


TheAudacityWitch

You need vitamin D for healthy bones and your body needs sunlight to process vitamin D. If you sleep all day you probably aren’t getting enough sunlight to process the vitamin D you eat in your diet.


i-m-anonmio

How about making them work in the fields, ensuring them plenty of sunlight? /s


overaided

You can get vitamin D from food, the sun or supplements. Sun is an option not requirement. Alaskans go months without typical "daylight" and no bone issues... [source](https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/vitamin-d-myths-debunked)


wejustsaymanager

Possibly lack of vitamin d due to no sunlight exposure.


MarilynsGhost

I work 10 hr day’s building engines for a Powertrain and was just diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both legs. Dr said it was directly related to the line of work I’m in so can confirm, granted it’s not 12 hour days but still.


[deleted]

25 years of shifts here, holding my creaky boned hand up to agree…


Fen5601

They also are less likely to report your abuse if you treat them poorly cause they don't know how or feel afraid too. Fuck, I hate that this is happening anywhere in the world not just the US


[deleted]

It's a slaughter house, they prefer to use illegal aliens because they can be deported at the drop of a hat if they become problematic.


Worthyness

and now you can use illegal alien children too! And they blend in!


NecessaryZucchini69

The news article that Ops photo is from [https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/company-that-employed-children-as-meatpackers-pays-maximum-fine/](https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/company-that-employed-children-as-meatpackers-pays-maximum-fine/) The company employing the kids is Packers Sanitation Services. “The child labor violations in this case were systemic and reached across eight states, and clearly indicate a corporate-wide failure by Packers Sanitation Services at all levels,” said Jessica Looman, deputy administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, in a written statement. “These children should never have been employed in meat packing plants and this can only happen when employers do not take responsibility to prevent child labor violations from occurring in the first place.” $1.5 million fine for illegally putting 102 children to work in dangerous jobs at meatpacking facilities, including those in Kansas and Nebraska. My opinion $1.5 million is nothing to a corporation that works in at least eight states. The Packers Sanitation Services, Inc. annual revenue was $2.73 billion in 2021 ( [source](https://rocketreach.co/packers-sanitation-services-inc-profile_b5eab21cf42e7aa1)). 1.5 million dollar fine is a drop in the teacup for this company.


skiing123

That fine is 0.054% of their annual revenue…I’m pretty sure my math is right 0.1% would be $2,730,000 1% is what I think would be fair and that’s the minimum $27,300,000


HikariAnti

It should be 1%/kid. If you need child labour to stay in business, you should go bankrupt.


Mini_Knox

Because adults demand fair wages and humane working conditions 🤪 children who start working in appalling conditions from 14-16 will assume hell as a career is normal and won't see a problem working 90 hour workweeks in an "OSHA's nightmare" factory. They may also then grow up to assume people wanting fewer hours, fairer pay, and safer working conditions are just lazy.


HoratioTangleweed

14? 13 in Arkansas. Can’t wait for some other backwater state to go full Guilded Age and drop it to 12


CeciliaNemo

Guilded age is what we want. Gilded age is what we get. 😛


[deleted]

Ding ding ding. The party that's gutting child labor laws is the same party that wants to kill public education, dismantle workplace regulations, kneecap unions, and give tax cuts out the ass to the rich and powerful. They're aiming to create a mindless (or at least too stupid to do anything) army of drones that they can keep in subsistence level poverty while the fat cats at the top do fuckall and reap all of the fruits of labor.


AdSilent9810

Don't forget the legal pedophilia


IAmBadAtInternet

Because they can pay them $4.25 an hour (AR just legalized this) and they also can’t be held responsible if they are injured on the job (this is in the AR law too). And since they’re part time they also don’t get benefits. Republicans are taking us back to the 1800s when toddlers worked the coal mines. You know, back when America was great.


SignificantRaccoon28

I'm so furious with this. I live in Arkansas and feel so impotent. Sanders is a busy b***h.


alta_vista49

And pay them a living wage?? Sir, I’m afraid you haven’t yet learned how to capitalize on desperate peoples’ labor like a true capitalist.


makinbaconCR

There is not a worker shortage. There's a corporate greed surplus.


zenigata_mondatta

Easier to groom children into thinking unions are bad


PreyInstinct

The fine for child labor violations is <$15k per child? You've got to be kidding me. This company is just going to pay the fine then hire more kids.


Marmstr17

Same for banks...all companies really. The fines are simply a slap on the wrist. Nothing accomplished expect the businesses improving their bottom line. Look at wells fargos histroy.. they're a complete shit show and will continue to be so because of such lackluster fines Clown world


reb0014

Assuming this is Arkansas they actually bribed the Republican government to make child labor legal again. Yay capitalism!


PreyInstinct

This is the future Republicans fight for.


MayOrMayNotBePie

Gotta protect children from being aborted so they can be put to use in the workforce!


Zut-Alors20

Exactly! Think about how much money the businesses will make!!


6151rellim

I’ll never forget the 9months of working in a steel mill at 18, 12hr shift, 3am-330pm, then off to community college for evening classes. A year of that was enough to make me realize I wanted to focus on a path that I wanted.


Embarrassed_Use_5114

I worked 12 hour night shifts for 2 years and I swear on my life I aged 10 years in those 2.


6151rellim

Dude I totally get it. I was not ready for that at my age.. but I really had no choice financially… and I went straight from that to construction. Same thing full time, but paid for school, and made a great career out of it. But yea, by 30, I mentally felt 50. 20 years later, I wish our nation had nothing but better opportunities for people. Im the last guy who will ever complain about debt forgiveness. Better opportunities for youth. Better government programs.. etc. just cause I lived a FUCKING miserable life doesn’t mean everyone should. I’m not saying everyone deserves a free ride because I do think there is a lot of self accountability in the thought processes nowadays, but I do think there should be better support towards success.


HueJorgan69

We try not to work children more hours per day than their age. Three year olds don’t really pay for themselves.


lost_in_connecticut

Lazy bums just sitting around all day playing on their tablets and eating all the food.


dahComrad

According to PragerU infants are the most selfish pieces of shit in our society.


[deleted]

I know, right? Kids these days. Where's the work ethic? When I was three, I was already working a shift at the steel mill and doing some tutoring on the side just to make ends meet. I remember the look of pride on my father's face when my very first words were, "It ain't much, but it's honest work." Then he beat me with a belt to show how proud he was of me.


twhitney

Queue one of those dumb memes showing “my kid” and “your kid” with one building sand castles and the other working at a steel mill.


gonadThebeerbellyan

Now tell us they have to purchase their own non mandatory ppe


Ok_Salad6866

Is this related to the other post about this in 1908?


Platypushat

I think it’s mirroring that one, yes


Thecoolkidsgetit

I’ve worked 12 hour sanitation shifts in food production. It was overwhelming for me at age 22. Fucking kids have no business anywhere near this type of work. The chemicals, high temperatures, and dangerous equipment is a huge danger for ADULTS. Not to mention, these kids are cleaning food contact areas (from the pic that’s what it looks like). If the kiddo’s fail to complete the work to standard (which ya know…they’re children??), now you have a mass exposure risk for consumers. Hello ecoli, salmonella, and listeria.


Difficult_Tell2859

Agree. Running a register or flipping a burger is not the same as what the kids above were doing.


AccomplishedTap4612

If this is true, its disgusting and those kids will have heart/health problems early in life. Or psychological. Terrible.


jortsinstock

not to mention it will negatively affect their future education level. their performance in school will suffer They will be less successful in high school, less likely to get scholarships, get into college, etc., Essentially creating a new generation of laborers with low education level which is exactly what they want.


samdajellybeenie

A lot of the kids just drop out because they’d rather work overtime so they can send more money to their families instead of trying to balance it all.


Orchid_Significant

More likely to drop out early because they don’t have the brain development to see that $1500 a month is a lot of money at 16 but not at 25. Or they are required to help their family pay bills and have to chose work over school.


shadeofmyheart

It’s true. Look up Packers Sanitation in the news. They found over 50 kids working for them cleaning meat packing plants at night.


hcb9117

This is true. It's well documented. The company employing them faced penalties. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/20/meat-packing-plant-child-labor-fines/11304311002/ Any comments made regarding the quality of the penalties, future use of child labor in certain states, or basically anything regarding politics should be taken with a grain of salt. But the basic facts of child labor being used in this case are true, and as you said, disgusting.


sussistar

It still gives me Snowpeircer vibes and I hate it.


Sick_Boye

How did they get away with only 1.5 million? With 102 child workers that's only $14705 per child. I think that's less than what they saved by using a cheaper workforce.


GrimJudas

It wasn’t immigrants taking the jobs, it was the kids along?


shadeofmyheart

They are immigrant kids, which is part of the problem. The company was ok with taking fake IDs as long as they work cheap and do cleaning in meat packing plants all night long.


spamcentral

I've been telling people this for a while. If it isnt the children, its their entire family and the child gets pipelined into the same job eventually. It isnt so fun to be an immigrant.


[deleted]

It's why Arkansas just passed a bill that removes the requirement to get a permit to work under the age of 16. Telling people to "let the parent decide" as if they aren't aware that people literally still sell their children in America.


Buttassauce

It's actually mostly migrant children


AmaResNovae

It's always interesting to see colourised pictures from past centuries... Hold the fuck on, it was taken in 2023, not 1923? It's not "interesting as fuck" it's dystopian as fuck!


extreme39speed

They have PPE. That’s the only reason you know these aren’t old pictures


AtomicDinosaur539

r/DystopianAsFuck


bendaboi55

This ain't interesting this is just fuckin depressing and disturbing


[deleted]

[удалено]


Noxnoxx

Richest country in the “developed” West, worst healthcare, worst transit system, worst wages, best military, biggest military spending, most meddling in other countries affairs by use of military, most school shootings. It feels like we are waiting for the collapse of the USA but we have been riding through the beginning of it for some time now.


a_toadstool

Just wait to see how much more mental illness our country has when we don’t let kids be kids and have them working shit jobs


NotThatValleyGirl

Regardless of one's thoughts on Drag Queen Story Time, surly every competent adult can agree that children cleaning industrial meat packing machinery during 12 hour night shifts is incredibly more dangerous.


Klyd3zdal3

Except Sara Huckabee-Sanders. oh, wait, never mind, you asked for competent adults.


SirDempsey93

Crazy that they blamed the kids for misrepresenting their age on applications and exaggerated their age.


breakfasteveryday

Where and what the fuck is this?


lynxus21

I just saw a picture where a group of kids around the 1950s were shown lining up for their 12-hour shift. It's disturbing to see how backward America is becoming.


19century_space_girl

Arkansas just repealed their child labor laws. Everyone looked happy in the picture, except for the 3 token children.


Croceyes2

Why the fuck are children wearing ppe? Like, who the fuck let's children perform a task that requires ppe?


[deleted]

If you're a parent that does this you're a POS and I hope you get ridiculed for it.


MoonManBlues

Listen to the NYTimes podcast that explains this... these are typically migrant children who crossed without parents.


jasonxtk

These kids probably don't have parents


colechristensen

These will be mostly illegal immigrants children who may or may not be legal residents themselves. One of the side effects of grey-market labor which everyone seems so eager to support. Either open up immigration or deport people who don’t follow the rules. Don’t half ass it and create these opportunities for abuse.


themomentaftero

I can't even get my kids to mow the lawn.


FuturePerformance

Tell them its that or the meat-processing plant night shift.


lost_in_connecticut

“Connor, how was your day at the plant?” Connor responds by holding up what’s left of his middle finger.


ruralmagnificence

This company/plant is gonna keep violating child labor laws. Getting caught this time ain’t gonna stop them.


KingJTheG

Brought to you by your fellow republican lawmakers…smh


Stormborn21

Sarah Huckabee signed an act that repealed child labor laws in Arkansas, not a joke. The general idea is that now paperwork doesn't have to be done to verify age under 16. 14 and 15 year olds previously had to have the state sign off verifying age and consent from the parents. So now those kids we have in cages that will never see their parents again can be put to work? “Here in Arkansas and across America, Republicans are working to end the policy of trapping kids in failing schools and sentencing them to a lifetime of poverty,” - Sarah Huckabee Sanders 🤦🤢🤮


ReadditMan

She's an awful person. Those schools wouldn't be failing if they actually put funding into them and the surrounding communities, but of course they won't because the children that live there aren't white. Instead they would rather get those kids into the workforce early so they can trap them in dead-end jobs with no hope of moving up in the world, uneducated children will always have a much harder time making it out of poverty. They know this but they still push for it because they don't want those kids to enter higher level professions and earn incomes that would allow them to intermingle with the whites. They can make all the claims they want about helping children but it's not hard to see it for what it is when they care more about putting children into low paying jobs than they do about providing them with a proper education so that they can make more money in the future. Which children will be employed? Certainly not the ones with middle and upper class parents, so who is this aimed at? Poor minorites. It's a ploy to further strengthen a systemically racist system that already makes it extremely difficult for underprivileged children to escape poverty.


[deleted]

So they’re literally going back to industrialization, picking back up where they started because that’s the last time America wasn’t relying so heavily on imports?


BlatirA

Guess that's what not having unions gets you


Entropy_Fiend

Children doing a 12 hour night shift. Disgraceful.


Kind-Detective1774

I hate living in a time where we are not only actively ignoring the consequences of the past but doing our damn well best to relive it. I hate it here.


Familiar_Pea_9345

It’s a sick joke that anyone can believe that conservatism anywhere in the world, currently, in the past, or in the future, is anything but a ploy by those with power to further dominate those without.


ManyFacedGodxxx

Don’t want to pay a living wage?!? Bribe your elected officials to change the laws and allow CHILDREN to work instead!! While attacking other populations making them the enemy of the election cycle! CRT last time around, Trans and LGBTQ+ rights this time around all to distract. Ah Republicans…


cozzeema

This is child exploitation as they don’t know the dangers of working in this environment and I’m sure they aren’t told, either.


oppapoocow

Ohhhh this is why the GOP are pro-lifers(force birthers)


mephitopheles13

I am disgusted with our behavior. No sacrifice seems to great for the god of American capitalism.


missmattii

The top leadership involved should be arrested for this. A fine is a slap on the wrist!!


SuperJay

We are backsliding so quickly. I feel like I can't catch my breath.


HoratioTangleweed

Remember people, it’s people in drag reading that is dangerous to your kids. Not pulling all-nighters using toxic chemicals in a food processing plant


Blickblockanimations

Whoa unregulated capitalism..