The state of Iowa has introduced a bill in the legislature that would rewrite an existing law, dramatically lowering restrictions on the use of child labor.
Though one could point to a labor shortage as part of the reason for the bill, this pro-business law no doubt just wants to take advantage of overall cheaper labor. What is most compelling – and terrifying – about the bill is that it ultimately redefines the types of jobs in which a child can work.
In the current law, children under 18 can’t work in potentially dangerous jobs, such as:
“…slaughterhouses, meatpacking or rendering plants; mining; operating power-driven metal forming, punching or shearing machines; operating band or circular saws, guillotine shears or paper balers; or being involved in roofing operations or demolition work.”
Des Moines Register
With this new bill, a whole new glorious and dangerous world is opened up to children, who can now work these types of jobs provided they are in some sort of work-based learning program or a school or employer-administered program. It’s a nice, vague way of letting a business no doubt get around any and all types of road blocks when it comes to getting cheap child labor for dangerous work.
Teenagers desperate to work in freezers and meat coolers are in luck now, too, as the new law removes that restriction for 14-year-olds and 15-year-olds.
And, of course, the best thing for these businesses is that they are free from civil liability should a kid get sick, injured or flat-out killed on the job. At most, they could be fined up to $10,000 for violations under the bill, but that number can be reduced.
In adding to the madness of it all, this bill also allows teenagers to serve alcohol to people (with written permission by one’s parents), work longer and later hours, and even allows for kids as young as 14 1/2 years old to drive themselves to work through a special driver’s license.
It’s all pretty hellish, and one wonders why a state that has more pigs than humans doesn’t just focus on teaching the animals how to operate paper balers instead.
