You should never say “Fountain, I will not drink your water”. The USA singled out China for the economic exploitation of children, in manufactories whose goods very often end up on the American market. Well, that’s the ending of hypocrisy. Uncle’s country is beginning to take on the work of minors and even 14-year-olds. The law “simply makes it legal for anyone aged 14 and over (…) to work without government permission,” stated Alexa Henning, spokesperson for the Republican governor of the state of Arkansas, who made the jump since last August 1st…
“All protections against child labour still apply”, the governor [Sarah Huckabee Sanders – a former spokesperson for Donald Trump] even “signed [a] bill (…) to toughen sanctions”, she indicated, reports 20 Minutes this Friday, September 22.
“This may not seem extremely serious, but in reality, the effect of this law is very significant,” condemns Reid Maki, coordinator of the organization Child Labor Coalition. Seeing little ones “in jobs they shouldn’t be doing” will slowly become the norm. For two years “at least 14 states” have introduced legislative reforms to “erode protections for young workers,” confided Nina Mast, of the progressive think tank Economic Policy Institute, who co-wrote a report to this effect…
“By expanding hours, extending the sectors in which young people can work, permitting them to serve alcohol,…” she added. Iowa, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Michigan and Arkansas have already reached the milestone, this report says.
Note that in the United States, a law has the work of minors since 1938. But each state can draft its own legislation, the condition being that it protects children more than the federal arsenal. Will we stay with this reasoning? Nothing is less sure. In Iowa, the Republican governor – Republicans are the world champions of deregulation – hailed at the end of last May “adapted and common-sense work arrangements which permit young adults to develop their skills in the job market”. However, according to the study by Nina Mast and Jennifer Sherer, it is “one of the most perilous setbacks in child labour laws in the country.”
Democratic elected officials, against reform, complained to the Ministry of Labor. His response: specific reforms “seem incompatible with federal law,” says the memo sent at the end of August by two department officials. So clearly employers who depend on these new provisions are infringing the law. But since there are not enough inspectors to catch the delinquent bosses, they are at peace.
Iowa legislation puts children in jeopardy, those under 16 can work up to 21 hours during school hours while federal law permits 14-16-year-olds 19 hours of work during school hours, 3 hours per day and for a maximum of 18 hours per week. And what about the explosion in illegal work of minors, +69% in the United States since 2018, according to the Department of Labor? France by the coast is a paradise for children: 14-16-year-olds can only work during half of the school holidays and still in risk-free positions.
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