Images of child laborers — elementary-aged children covered in soot and grease stains, suffering the constant threat of injury and death — have long served as a reminder of our nation’s progress.
For much of the United States’ early history, especially during the industrial revolution, robber baron-esque employers relied on child labor to boost their profits, with child workers taking on long factory shifts and operating heavy machinery. The labor movement played a major role in outlawing such practices: fighting for minimum age laws and hour restrictions and eventually winning the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which eliminated the practice of hiring minors in most industries (and implemented regulation in others).
Now, unscrupulous employers and state governments across the country are trying to take us back to the dark ages – and it is crucial for union members to stand our ground. Pro-labor elected officials are playing their part: On October 26, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey and Washington Senator Patty Murray introduced the Children Harmed in Life-Threatening or Dangerous Labor (CHILD Labor) Act, which would greatly strengthen the penalties for employers found guilty of child labor law violations.
“These attacks on our children — and on the progress that past generations fought for tooth and nail — demonstrate just how low anti-labor forces will go in this country, and it is our duty as workers and members of the labor movement to fight against them,” said SMART...
Chief Douglas Otaru, the former publicity secretary who was recently removed from his position following the APC state congress, was quoted as making several allegations against Dr. Aliyu Bello, t...