What would Mother Jones think or say about the states, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and Arkansas, that have changed the labor laws regarding children?
Many other states are working to roll back child labor laws so children can work in meatpacking plants, auto factories, logging, construction sites and bars, which would leave children to open to be exploited or injured like in the days that Mother Jones fought most of her life to get children out of these dangerous jobs and into school.
At this time, sixteen year olds can serve alcoholic drinks, fourteen year olds can work in meat packing factories and it’s all being pushed by corporations.
The U.S. Department of Labor says there has been a 69 percent increase in companies illegally employing children since 2018. Some blame the child labor trend on the 3.5 percent unemployment rate and the lack of workers so naturally children should forego their futures for the sake of corporate greed and claim children can get valuable work experience and help support their families.
But it’s actually the corporations way of polluting the labor pool, which will lower wages, kill unions and lessen safety laws. This can happen now because the corporations own the majority on the U.S. Supreme Court and the politicians who pass the laws.
Labor and the 99 percent must learn that there are consequences that come with their vote or not voting, which will affect every aspect of their lives.
All of our comforts and amenities we rely on, like healthcare, wages, voting rights, labor laws and pensions, will be on the table. If corporations have their way we will be right back to the conditions Mother Jones fought against.
Imagine the courage of one old lady taking on the establishment to abolish child labor in 1903, seventeen years before women had the right to vote. She fearlessly took on President Theodore Roosevelt and even marched a group of children to his Long Island home to decry the inhuman treatment of forcing children to work in dangerous jobs that regularly resulted in physical harm because they’re cheaper to employ than adults.
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
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