New York (CNN) — A 14-year-old boy who cleaned meat cutting machines was “falling asleep in class and missing class as a result and suffering injuries from chemical burns” in Nebraska from 2021 to 2022, according to the Labor Department. Another 13-year-old suffered severe burns from cleaning agents.
Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), one of the largest providers of food safety sanitation in the US, had employed 31 children between the ages of 13 and 17 to work for meat industry monoliths like Cargill and JBS USA across Minnesota and Nebraska, the Department of Labor said last November.
These weren’t isolated cases.
US child labor violations have jumped in recent years. Some well-known companies, consumer-facing name brands, have been caught employing children for grueling work in dangerous conditions. A tight labor market has prompted many employers to search for the cheapest available labor; state legislators are even pushing bills that would limit legal protections for underage workers.
Now, the Department of Labor has announced actions it’s taken so far this year through a new interagency task force on child labor.
“Child labor is an issue that gets to the heart of who we are as a country and who we want to be,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su in a news release Thursday. “Like the President, we believe that any child working in a dangerous or hazardous environment is one child too many.”
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