The Los Angeles Times has a piece about child labor in the chicken processing business that starts like this:
“When the investigators came, operators of a Southern California poultry processor allegedly hid child workers in bathrooms and closets and hurried them out the back door, according to a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit.
“In two poultry plants in La Puente and City of Industry owned by Tony Bran, federal authorities alleged, kids as young as 14 were illegally working dangerous jobs, deboning chicken and operating heavy machinery. Eventually, the chicken ended up at major supermarkets and distributors like Ralphs, Aldi, Grocery Outlet and Sysco, officials said.
“The workers came primarily from Indigenous communities in Guatemala and spoke Q’eqchi’, K’iche’ and Mam. Instead of going to school, the child laborers worked so many hours they were owed overtime pay. Children worked long hours alongside adults, and Bran was allegedly cheating them all out of wages, the federal lawsuit said.”
The Times writes that “violations of child labor laws are on the rise in the U.S., according to a report earlier this year by the Economic Policy Institute. The number of minors employed in violation of child labor laws increased 37% in the last year, the report found, with a 283% increase since 2015 … Nationally, industry groups are working to roll back child labor protections via state legislation, according to the Economic Policy Institute report. The main proponents are business groups and their state affiliates, particularly the National Federation of Independent Business, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Restaurant Assn., the report found.”
You can read the entire story here.
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