“For too long this industry has been given carte blanche to disregard laws,” an advocate told Truthout.
Gerber’s Poultry, a poultry plant in Kidron, Ohio, which produces Amish Farm Chicken, is under investigation after federal agents found more than two dozen minors illegally employed in meat processing and sanitation.
“The discovery of yet another meat processing facility in the U.S. relying on child labor is the latest reminder of the harms that industrial animal agriculture inflicts at every turn, with the most vulnerable — children, people of color, immigrants, and nonhuman animals — paying the highest price,” Delcianna J. Winders, associate professor of Law at Vermont Law and Graduate School told Truthout.
The plant was raided on the evening of October 4 by Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents following reports about the plant illegally employing children. A local resident told NBC News that the children, mainly from Guatemala, work the plant’s second shift after attending school during the day.
“For too long this industry has been given carte blanche to disregard laws,” Winders said. “Let’s hope this federal investigation is an indication that the government will begin to demand greater accountability across the industry.”
It is illegal under the Federal Code of Regulations and the Fair Labor Standards Act for anyone under the age of 18 to work in hazardous occupations, such as in meatpacking plants. Despite these labor protections for children, there has been a 69 percent rise in child labor in the United States since 2018 and recent data released by the Department of Labor (DOL) has found that child labor violations have risen to their highest level in nearly two decades. In fact, the DOL currently has more than 800 child labor investigations underway and has uncovered 5,792 minors working in violation of child labor laws in the past year.
“Finding just one child in harm’s way is one too many,” the DOL said in a statement. “This is an issue that affects all of us and as parents, caregivers, teachers, employers and community members, we cannot tolerate the exploitation of children.”
archive link: https://archive.ph/ObQdO
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The kids work in the fields (and only get Sunday school), the wife slaves away in the kitchen, and the husband owns them all, as well as owning guns and pickups. A flyover country idyllic family.
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The problem is: They are happy with that concept, and they want to make everyone happy. Even those who don’t “appreciate” it.
Is this the onion? Children working at the Gerber’s chicken plant in Kidron, OH? Goddamn.
The only way this shit will stop is if the people in charge at Gerber’s Poultry are thrown in jail. Hold them accountable.
Absolutely. Child labor should not be accepted as a society.
Ohio = Lovers, child labour
And especially lovers OF child labor. Just check our their state government!
I read this as “lovers only fans child labor” and thought “man, that’s dark.” Time to detox myself from the internet it seems
Yikes! 😬😂
Dont worry, I read “Off Future”, the English language needs a new 15-20 letters.
Sounds like a good reason to stop eating chickens (and all animals).
Is this an argument we should be having? Sure all right. Is this where we should be having it? Probably not. It’s a huge non sequitur to bring that up within the context of child labor, and at best, makes you look “out of touch”
Child labor pales in comparison to the importance of their moral superiority. /s
Swing and a miss. Like its a noble goal but you probably should shoot for a different reason. Its no secret that a portion of migrants workers in the agricultural sector are also children. While the exact number is unknown, an estimated 30,000 to 79,325 children between the ages of ten and seventeen are exploited for their work on U.S. farms each year.
Are they exploited on farms that grow feed for chickens and cattle? Because if so, I could imagine someone making an argument for “lessening” child labor with their economic choices by simply eating the grains directly.
Grains can be farmed very effectively with big machines. You need most humans for vegetables.
Excellent response. Thank you.
So the most ethical diet choice is then “buy your meat local and make sure you know your butcher is not 13” ?
Only if they harvest the grains themselves (and not including their own kids in the process).
Except you are just offloading the child labor for native born citizens but still not caring about the migrant workers since they will still just be working those grain farms.
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you still vastly reduce the suffering of humans by reducing the amount of animals you eat.
no, you don’t.
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first, how do you quantify suffering? it’s a subjective experience.
second, if we assume that a certain amount of suffering results from every animal killed, reducing the amount of animals you eat doesn’t actually reduce the number of animals killed.
And leaving those workers to starve. But at least you’ve got your moral superiority to comfort you.
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why?
I start to perceive the USA as a third world country, on the social and cultural level.
Oh don’t perceive it. The Republicans made it into one already.
The children yearn for the poultry mines!
I was the IT manager for a small payroll company, but I was really tight with the payroll processors and got all the scoop on how things work.
These kind of stories always stun me. We had 250 small clients, of various levels of weaselly, and none of them would fuck around with the rules. And the majority of them were places you would expect fuckery from; Churches, restaurants and the like.
Underage workers? Hell no. You’re not setting foot onsite without a verified ID.
Unpaid overtime? LOL no.
Worker’s comp? You bet it was covered.
How exactly were they getting away with this? One person making one call to the state labor board would/should ignite a shitstorm.
Probably some bribing going on.
Well, small clients like that can’t exactly hire an army of lawyers…
No lawyers! Just make a call to the state labor board and the shit is on!
I see young people on social media getting fucked all the time. Often the law is on their side, and they haven’t a clue. No fight, just a phone call.
Two dozen Guatamalan high school kids working in an Ohio chicken factory after school.
Yeah, that doesn’t seem right to me.
I bet I can guess which way their parents voted.
What makes you think these children’s parents are able to vote? Most of these are immigrant children. These people did not ask to be abused
