A McDonald's restaurant sign is seen in San Francisco, California. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Rather Than Pass Wage Increases, GOP Legislatures Move to Weaken Child Labor Laws
Lawmakers in Ohio and Wisconsin are pushing to allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work longer hours as exorbitantly wealthy corporations pay their adult employees less than $15 per hour on average.
Nov 02, 2021
Months into the United States' so-called "labor shortage"--which progressives and economists have repeatedly said is actually the result of weak worker protections during the coronavirus pandemic and wages that have remained stagnant for decades--Republican lawmakers and pro-business groups across the country are leading an effort to enable companies to fill out their ranks by hiring young teenagers.
Most recently, the Republican-led Wisconsin state Senate passed S.B. 332, which would expand "the permissible work hours a minor under 16 years of age may work," allowing businesses to hire 14- and 15-year-olds to work starting at 6:00am and until as late as 9:30pm on weeknights or 11:00 p.m. on weekend evenings.
The bill, which would only apply to companies covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act and that earn more than $500,000 annually, headed to the state Assembly on October 20, sparking outrage among child advocates, workers' rights groups, and Democratic lawmakers in the state.
"Kids should be doing their homework, being in school instead of working more hours," state Sen. Bob Wirch (D-Somers) told the Wisconsin Examiner. "So I oppose this bill. And I think it sends us in the wrong direction."
"Why are we calling this a labor shortage? I think it is a dignified job shortage."
The bill was supported by groups including the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, and the owners of a local ice cream store chain testified in favor of the measure, saying that allowing 14- and 15-year-old employees to leave work by 7:00pm as they're currently required to "puts a burden on the remaining teens we employ as they bear the brunt of the work."
Educator Brett Bigham pushed back against the proposal, saying, "Pay a living wage and you won't need to hire 15 year olds."
Stephanie Bloomingdale, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, testified against S.B. 332, saying the state's 14- and 15-year-old children "are owed the same level of protection that our state has provided over the past 100 years."
On social media in recent months, workers's rights advocates have posted photos of multinational corporations including McDonald's and Burger King advertising job openings for teenagers as young as 14--all while paying their adult employees an average of less than $15 per hour.
"This is so absurd," tweeted labor activist Joshua Potash of a McDonald's sign advertising an $8.50-per-hour wage for 14- and 15-year-old workers. The company brought in $4.7 billion in profits in 2020, with shareholders reaping $3.7 billion in dividends and CEO Chris Kempczinski taking home nearly $11 million.
Meanwhile, a 61-year-old longtime employee at a McDonald's location in Tampa, Florida described making $9.40 per hour without paid time off or sick days in the New York Times earlier this year.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took aim at the claims of a "labor shortage" on her Instagram account Monday evening.
"Why are we calling this a labor shortage?" Ocasio-Cortez said. "I think it is a dignified job shortage. This is what happens when we don't have healthcare. This is what happens when we don't have child care."
In Ohio, one Democratic state senator joined three Republicans last month in introducing S.B. 251, which would allow businesses to keep teenagers under the age of 16 at work until 9:00pm.
"The notion that we would be solving some economic turmoil by allowing the expansion of child labor hours, is at best, ridiculous, and at worst, very detrimental to young people," Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, told The Guardian on Tuesday regarding that state's proposal.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Months into the United States' so-called "labor shortage"--which progressives and economists have repeatedly said is actually the result of weak worker protections during the coronavirus pandemic and wages that have remained stagnant for decades--Republican lawmakers and pro-business groups across the country are leading an effort to enable companies to fill out their ranks by hiring young teenagers.
Most recently, the Republican-led Wisconsin state Senate passed S.B. 332, which would expand "the permissible work hours a minor under 16 years of age may work," allowing businesses to hire 14- and 15-year-olds to work starting at 6:00am and until as late as 9:30pm on weeknights or 11:00 p.m. on weekend evenings.
The bill, which would only apply to companies covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act and that earn more than $500,000 annually, headed to the state Assembly on October 20, sparking outrage among child advocates, workers' rights groups, and Democratic lawmakers in the state.
"Kids should be doing their homework, being in school instead of working more hours," state Sen. Bob Wirch (D-Somers) told the Wisconsin Examiner. "So I oppose this bill. And I think it sends us in the wrong direction."
"Why are we calling this a labor shortage? I think it is a dignified job shortage."
The bill was supported by groups including the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, and the owners of a local ice cream store chain testified in favor of the measure, saying that allowing 14- and 15-year-old employees to leave work by 7:00pm as they're currently required to "puts a burden on the remaining teens we employ as they bear the brunt of the work."
Educator Brett Bigham pushed back against the proposal, saying, "Pay a living wage and you won't need to hire 15 year olds."
Stephanie Bloomingdale, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, testified against S.B. 332, saying the state's 14- and 15-year-old children "are owed the same level of protection that our state has provided over the past 100 years."
On social media in recent months, workers's rights advocates have posted photos of multinational corporations including McDonald's and Burger King advertising job openings for teenagers as young as 14--all while paying their adult employees an average of less than $15 per hour.
"This is so absurd," tweeted labor activist Joshua Potash of a McDonald's sign advertising an $8.50-per-hour wage for 14- and 15-year-old workers. The company brought in $4.7 billion in profits in 2020, with shareholders reaping $3.7 billion in dividends and CEO Chris Kempczinski taking home nearly $11 million.
Meanwhile, a 61-year-old longtime employee at a McDonald's location in Tampa, Florida described making $9.40 per hour without paid time off or sick days in the New York Times earlier this year.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took aim at the claims of a "labor shortage" on her Instagram account Monday evening.
"Why are we calling this a labor shortage?" Ocasio-Cortez said. "I think it is a dignified job shortage. This is what happens when we don't have healthcare. This is what happens when we don't have child care."
In Ohio, one Democratic state senator joined three Republicans last month in introducing S.B. 251, which would allow businesses to keep teenagers under the age of 16 at work until 9:00pm.
"The notion that we would be solving some economic turmoil by allowing the expansion of child labor hours, is at best, ridiculous, and at worst, very detrimental to young people," Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, told The Guardian on Tuesday regarding that state's proposal.
From Your Site Articles
- House Dems Urge Biden Administration to Rid Hyundai Supply Chain of Child Labor ›
- Opinion | The GOP's Abhorrent Attack on Child Labor Laws | Common Dreams ›
- Opinion | Tax the Rich to Defeat the Horrors of Child Labor | Common Dreams ›
- McDonald's Fined 0.0002% of 2022 Profits for Child Labor Violations ›
Months into the United States' so-called "labor shortage"--which progressives and economists have repeatedly said is actually the result of weak worker protections during the coronavirus pandemic and wages that have remained stagnant for decades--Republican lawmakers and pro-business groups across the country are leading an effort to enable companies to fill out their ranks by hiring young teenagers.
Most recently, the Republican-led Wisconsin state Senate passed S.B. 332, which would expand "the permissible work hours a minor under 16 years of age may work," allowing businesses to hire 14- and 15-year-olds to work starting at 6:00am and until as late as 9:30pm on weeknights or 11:00 p.m. on weekend evenings.
The bill, which would only apply to companies covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act and that earn more than $500,000 annually, headed to the state Assembly on October 20, sparking outrage among child advocates, workers' rights groups, and Democratic lawmakers in the state.
"Kids should be doing their homework, being in school instead of working more hours," state Sen. Bob Wirch (D-Somers) told the Wisconsin Examiner. "So I oppose this bill. And I think it sends us in the wrong direction."
"Why are we calling this a labor shortage? I think it is a dignified job shortage."
The bill was supported by groups including the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, and the owners of a local ice cream store chain testified in favor of the measure, saying that allowing 14- and 15-year-old employees to leave work by 7:00pm as they're currently required to "puts a burden on the remaining teens we employ as they bear the brunt of the work."
Educator Brett Bigham pushed back against the proposal, saying, "Pay a living wage and you won't need to hire 15 year olds."
Stephanie Bloomingdale, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, testified against S.B. 332, saying the state's 14- and 15-year-old children "are owed the same level of protection that our state has provided over the past 100 years."
On social media in recent months, workers's rights advocates have posted photos of multinational corporations including McDonald's and Burger King advertising job openings for teenagers as young as 14--all while paying their adult employees an average of less than $15 per hour.
"This is so absurd," tweeted labor activist Joshua Potash of a McDonald's sign advertising an $8.50-per-hour wage for 14- and 15-year-old workers. The company brought in $4.7 billion in profits in 2020, with shareholders reaping $3.7 billion in dividends and CEO Chris Kempczinski taking home nearly $11 million.
Meanwhile, a 61-year-old longtime employee at a McDonald's location in Tampa, Florida described making $9.40 per hour without paid time off or sick days in the New York Times earlier this year.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took aim at the claims of a "labor shortage" on her Instagram account Monday evening.
"Why are we calling this a labor shortage?" Ocasio-Cortez said. "I think it is a dignified job shortage. This is what happens when we don't have healthcare. This is what happens when we don't have child care."
In Ohio, one Democratic state senator joined three Republicans last month in introducing S.B. 251, which would allow businesses to keep teenagers under the age of 16 at work until 9:00pm.
"The notion that we would be solving some economic turmoil by allowing the expansion of child labor hours, is at best, ridiculous, and at worst, very detrimental to young people," Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, told The Guardian on Tuesday regarding that state's proposal.
From Your Site Articles
- House Dems Urge Biden Administration to Rid Hyundai Supply Chain of Child Labor ›
- Opinion | The GOP's Abhorrent Attack on Child Labor Laws | Common Dreams ›
- Opinion | Tax the Rich to Defeat the Horrors of Child Labor | Common Dreams ›
- McDonald's Fined 0.0002% of 2022 Profits for Child Labor Violations ›
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.