In honor of World Day Against Child Labor, Reid Maki, the director of child labor issues and coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to talk about his organization's work to end abusive child labor practices. He discussed some of the major violations over the past 18 months in America and how the CLC is educating legislators on proposed legislation that could improve the regulation of child labor.
The CLC, a part of the National Consumers League, has been in operation for the last 35 years and has worked closely with unions since its inception to help prevent child labor abuse in the workforce. Maki discussed some of the organizations that regularly work with the CLC to prevent child labor violations. He also discussed what the Fair Labor Standards Act did to prevent many, but not all, of the child labor issues in America.
Despite the efforts from the labor movement and the CLC, there are far too many child labor violations in the U.S. Maki talked about the recent incident where a 13-year-old was found that working overnight shifts at a Hyundai production plant in Alabama and how something like could happen. He also talked about similar events over the past 18 months in Tennessee, Iowa and Virginia and how the U.S. Department of Labor is finding new ways to enforce child labor penalties on companies and make them impactful. Maki that many of the violations are found after an investigation into a report from teachers and individuals concerned for the children's well-being. However, he believes this problem can be fixed with better monitoring practices.
Finally, Maki talked about what the CLC is doing to raise awareness of the issue as part of the plans for World Day Against Child Labor. The CLC will be holding a briefing on the Hill in Washington, D.C., to educate members of Congress about the legislative options that could help resolve the child labor issues. Among the pieces of legislation that Maki discussed was a bill that would regulate child workers on farms. He explained more about the proposal and why there are currently gaps in policy related to child workers on farms.
To hear more about the efforts to eliminate child labor violations, listen to the show above.