IA: House lawmakers change child-labor bill, restricting younger workers from dangerous fields

[RandySF]

House lawmakers sent back to the Senate a child-labor bill on Tuesday after changing language to limit the employment of 14- and 15-year-olds in some restricted fields.

Senate File 542 passed the Iowa House on a 60-34 vote, with members voting along party lines. The bill allowing minors to work longer hours and in restricted fields has received national attention for allowing children to work in dangerous fields if given a waiver by Iowa Workforce Development and the state Department of Education.

While the original bill allowed the state to grant waivers so that 14- to 17-year-olds could work in those restricted fields, the amended version would allows such waivers only for 16- and 17-year-olds. The bill’s floor manager, Rep. Dave Deyoe, R-Nevada, and House Republican leaders worked with Democrats to craft the amendment, which was approved unanimously.

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst said the House’s bipartisan compromise eliminates some of the most “egregious” elements in the original bill. Democrats still voted against the amended legislation, which they said would still put youth workers in dangerous environments.

“It’s better than the Senate’s because we came together to make it better,” Konfrst said. “And I am so grateful, but also so proud that the amendment here makes this bill better — doesn’t make it great, but it makes it better — and it makes it better for Iowans.




https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/05/02/house-lawmakers-change-child-labor-bill-restricting-younger-workers-from-certain-fields/

[moniss]

1. When I was 11 years old

my "family" started working me hard on the farm. A lot of heavy physical labor starting with morning milking at 4:00 a.m. carrying milkers and full milk pails to be lifted up to strainers to dump into the bulk milk tank. Carrying full size hay bales around. That would end around 6:30 a.m. and I could quick clean up and go to school. Then repeat the whole process when I came home. On weekends it was work for 8 to 12 hours a day with breaks for meals. During haying season I carried and stacked bales all day along with the milking. All kinds of other work too.

By the time I was 14 I would typically put in about 40+ hours a week along with school. When school was out I would go to almost double that. By the age of 14 I had developed severe back pain and trying to sit and drive tractors was a matter of having to grit my teeth and stop every few minutes and get off and try to bend and flex my back to make the pain go away. After another year I began to develop problems with my knees. By the time I was in my late 20's I had to have major reconstruction because my kneecap cartilage was destroyed. This was before knee replacements were a thing. I also suffered some major injuries from machinery, silage forks etc. by the time I was 15. Thankful I didn't die. Many kids on farms do every year and also suffer major injuries.

It is not right to do this to children. Some can handle the labor at that age but to many it can cause later life to be filled with problems and pain and to many it is the reason for a childhood funeral. People do this with kids because it is free labor or relatively low cost wages. But now they want the kids in the meat processing plants, fertilizer plants, pesticide plants etc. They want them to work with harsh cleaning solutions. We all know that they will promise to safeguard the children and then fail to do so. I can't begin to tell you how many times I hurt so bad that I wanted to run away from home. It's not right to make children feel that way by working them like that.

[madaboutharry]

2. They only changed the bill because they were shamed

on the national stage. The bill was outrageous and posed a real threat to the well-being of children.

The Iowa legislature and the governor are right-wing libertarian anti-government and anti-regulation zealots. Oh, and the don’t give a damn about children. They only care about fetuses.