San Mateo Daily Journal – March 21, 2023
Eight years old, I lived in the “projects” where, when one mother poked her head out the window and yelled “get upstairs for dinner,” dozens of kids would stop our games of skully caps and jump rope and go eat whatever our moms had cooked. We were poor and the lower rent meant we didn’t have to choose between food and other bills. Then. we suddenly no longer qualified for subsidized housing and were kicked out. We found a new place that we could barely afford near Mom’s job.
On the first morning Dad left for work at 7am, taking the A-Train, Mom left at 8am to walk to her job at the Medical Center, and I went out on the street and walked, back and forth… no other kids. There was a “Candy Store” (now a bodega shown in the photo above) at the corner and after walking by twice, three times, the owner, Phil, asked my name and where I lived. I pointed and he said “Here! Take this broom and clean up out here.” I did. From that day on I was an employee. On Saturday afternoons I’d sort the early sections of the NY Times and Daily News into piles so that on Sunday, when the main sections arrived at 6am, I could quickly create complete Sunday papers, ready for customers to take along with cups of coffee and crullers. By 8am I was completely black with ink and had earned a few dollars from “Ellie’s” AKA the Cove Luncheonette. I rarely had to ask my parents for money and I liked it that way.
Phil and his wife Ellie were like parents to me and soon had me working a lot, mostly age-appropriate and benign stuff. But I also had to scrub a screaming hot grill, pull heavy cases of soda up a rickety dumb waiter, and drag bread deliveries out of a crawl space in the alley where one morning they found the bodies of four robbers who had run afoul of the mob. Not so benign. This should have been and was illegal. I worked there cooking, cleaning, serving, schlepping, until I was 14 when I got a legitimate work permit and worked in other restaurants and supermarkets until I joined the Air Force at 19.
Why do I bring any of this up in 2023? Well…..
Documented violations of child labor laws and injuries are up 69% since 2018. The Labor Department just took action against meat packing plants where 13 year olds were cleaning razor-sharp equipment using toxic chemicals during overnight shifts, some falling gravely ill. Despite this, many Republicans think our child labor laws are too strict, decrying the “nanny state.” In Iowa legislators want to rescind laws protecting 14 and 15 year olds, classifying work in factories as “learning programs.” Wisconsin Republicans want to repeal laws that protect children from working more than 18 hours a week. Minnesota legislators want to make it easier for 14 year olds to work on construction sites and let children work from 6am to 11pm on weekends. An Ohio business development organization says their biggest impediment to growth is child labor laws “holding children back” from…. Ummmmm……. development? Congressman David Joyce (R Ohio) agrees, moving to increase the number of hours children can work DURING school days. Daniel Marshall (R – VA) wants the state to slash the minimum wage for children. Shockingly, Republican Senator Mike Lee’s argument against abortion is that it “reduces the labor force.” Ah, family values! Arkansas Governor Sanders just signed a law eliminating work permits, proof of age, and parental consent requirements for child labor.
Irony Alert: In “red” states children will need signed parental permission slips to read Slaughterhouse Five but not to work in an actual slaughterhouse. And, which little tots will be recruited to work in these factories? Think: “BUILD tiny holes in THAT WALL!” (Thanks to Stephen Colbert for inspiring these quips.)
Young people, ages 14 and up, should be able to work, under strict rules for hours, safety, impact on education, with documented parental consent, work permits, and fair pay. Young me, folding newspapers on Saturday and Sunday was OK. Scrubbing the grill was not. Teens stocking shelves, working a register, bussing tables, being camp counselors, babysitting? Cool. The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and today’s slaughterhouses? Not.
Work provides valuable life experiences and can help families financially. But child labor is NOT a fix for systemic labor shortages. And, children deserve absolute protection from trafficking, unfair labor practices, dangerous tasks, negative impacts on learning, and kids should not be short-changed on pay. More than a nanny state, we should be watching over every child like fierce mama and papa bears and tell food producers like JBS, Cargill and Tyson to stop putting 13 year olds in danger.