Child Labor Advocacy Director for the Child Labor Coalition, Reid Maki, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to recap the work his organization did in 2023 to prevent bills from being passed to weaken child labor laws in the U.S. and reported on child labor violations found last year.
In 2023, a number of bills were introduced to weaken the country’s child labor laws. The Coalition was proactive in a number of states to raise awareness about the bills. Thanks to their effort, only a few of the bills did become law, and the bills that did pass were watered down after the Coalition educated lawmakers on the dangers of the legislation.
Maki discussed several of the bills introduced in 2023 in more detail, including legislation in Iowa and Florida. In Iowa, there were 23 provisions in one proposed bill, and Maki said 22 of those provisions were bad legislation and would create dangerous work environments for children. In Florida, there were two bills: One would have created an exception for children to work graveyard shifts, and the other bill would allow children to work in roofing, an industry he claimed was responsible for 16 adult deaths in 2023. Maki said these bills go against what he considers to be common sense. After providing the statistics outlining the dangers of the proposed bills to lawmakers, the legislation did not pass.
Finally, Maki discussed a Department of Labor report that found over 100 children were working in 13 meat processing plants across the country. The work being done by the children includes using caustic chemicals to clean the facilities, which could cause permanent damage to the children. Unfortunately, Maki said there are not enough inspectors to ensure companies follow the law. If they are caught, the penalties are not enough to deter them from committing the acts in the future, he explained. Maki said one of the solutions to these problems is to unionize the workforce of these companies. As more unions are organized, child exploitation can be eliminated in these types of facilities, he added.
To hear more from Maki on child labor issues in America, listen to the show above.
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