Republicans want to bring back child labor. If Trump wins, they will
Whenever people nowadays see photos of kids working in the mines and factories in the early 20th century, the response is usually disgust. Child labor was a serious issue at that time—but one our nation largely resolved with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which prevented companies from employing children in dangerous jobs. This is one of those laws that I just assumed everyone supported. In fact, most people do support its provisions—except, apparently, Republican lawmakers. Apparently, when confronted with old photos of child laborers, they see only a solution to our current labor shortage.
Over the past few years, child labor has skyrocketed. Since 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor has seen a 69% increase in children being employed illegally by companies. (These figures likely represent only a fraction of the actual violations.) And elected Republicans’ response to this crisis has been to introduce bills and pass legislation—to help out those companies. Since 2021, Republican lawmakers have pushed over 60 bills to dismantle critical protections for child workers. These bills would allow employers to have children work longer hours, to take away child workers’ lunch breaks, and to even permit kids to work jobs previously deemed too dangerous.
Thankfully, in some instances, federal law would still provide some of these protections. But federal law can always be changed. In the leadup to the 2018 midterms, then-President Donald Trump’s administration sought to roll back child protections on roofing work and the operation of industrial equipment. It did not matter if the equipment was power-driven woodworking machines, factory-grade meat grinders, or complex patient lifts in nursing homes. In fact, the nursing home industry's high injury rates were directly due to those lifts, yet Trump proposed eliminating the safety rules barring children from operating them.
The child labor influx is particularly alarming for child farm laborers, many of whom are immigrants, who face even harsher conditions than in other areas because it is so dependent on immigrant labor. These kids are not going to school, and they don’t have to. Even the Fair Labor Standards Act exempted agriculture, which corporate farms have taken advantage of for decades. In agriculture, it’s possible for children as young as 12 to work unlimited hours as long as the employer has parental consent and the child doesn’t miss school for work.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/20/2254501/-Republicans-want-to-bring-back-child-labor-If-Trump-wins-they-will