'They were little': photos show children illegally working in US slaughterhouse

[jgo]

Source: The Guardian

Harrowing photos released by the US labor department taken at a slaughterhouse plant in Nebraska show the conditions more than 100 children faced while illegally working for Packers Sanitation Services Incorporated (PSSI) before the department cracked down on the company for violating child labor laws.

The pictures show employees covered in protective gear, using chemicals to spray down and sanitize equipment. In some of the pictures, made public on Sunday by the television news show 60 Minutes, some of the employees appear to be young children, wearing protective face glasses and holding buckets.

In February, the labor department fined PSSI $1.5m for employing at least 102 children ages 13 to 17 across 13 meat-packing plants in eight states. The fine amounts to $15,138 for each child, the maximum penalty under federal law. The Wisconsin-based company is one of the largest food sanitation companies in the US and is contracted by meat plants to sanitize facilities. The company says it works with more than 725 partner plants.

The department started its investigation into PSSI in August 2022 after a middle school in Grand Island, Nebraska, notified police that a 14-year-old student came to school with acid burns on her hands and knees. The girl told staff that she was working night shifts at a local slaughterhouse plant. Teachers also noticed that other students were falling asleep in class after reportedly working at the plant at night.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/09/nebraska-slaughterhouse-children-working-photos-labor-department

[moniss]

1. The abuse of child labor and of

migrant labor is a huge problem. It was few years ago that a Wisconsin grower was busted for using migrant workers who were literally being held captive by their "contractor" who was supplying the laborers to the grower. Turns out the "contractor" was doing this in multiple states. They all point the fingers and shirk responsibility by claiming the "contractor" is responsible for the people. Nobody ever pushes the growers further by asking who is responsible for the "contractor". So there is literally no vetting going on.

The workers were brought to the fields and taken back to where they were under guard. Not allowed to go to a doctor or leave for any other needs. Their money was also controlled and they had to kick in a good chunk of it for "room and board".

[diverdownjt]

3. We also need to go after the equipment company that made thier helmet's and gear...

that those kids are wearing. Some company profited from that as well.

Shut them down!!!

Lock them up!!!

We'll have no more of that shit!!!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. That would be like invading Iraq in retaliation for the events of 9-11.

Last edited Wed May 10, 2023, 09:00 AM - Edit history (1)

We also need to go after the equipment company that made thier helmet's and gear...

that those kids are wearing. Some company profited from that as well.

Shut them down!!!

Lock them up!!!

We'll have no more of that shit!!!

Poe's law?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

[diverdownjt]

8. Did you see how small those kids were...

And you don't think they knew who they were making adult working clothes for?

[flying_wahini]

9. No way those kids are 12-14. They are way too small. More like 9 or 10.

[moniss]

11. Great point

because if they try to deny they knew it wouldn't pass the laugh test.

[Kablooie]

2. They jumped the gun too soon.

Republicans are devising bills to make employing children legal again.
If the company could have waited just a little bit longer...

[Quiet man]

4. Little meatpackers for china

Kim Jong reynolds ruler of Iowa and her bootlicking legislature is going to sign on to allowing children to work in meatpacking plants and longer hours for other jobs,

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

14. They're both underaged workers AND meat!

"Opps, we lost another one. Find their life insurance paperwork and file." --Meatpacker VIPs

[IronLionZion]

6. Children are stealing our jobs!

GOP don't want kids to learn anything in schools. MAGA just want to take us back 100 years to the robber baron times, permanent servant class, people desperate and subservient without any good options in life.

Get em while they're young is a tactic used by all sorts of nefarious organizations. Like cigarette companies and child soldiers.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

7. American Capitalism has no morals or ethics, Republicans share this trait with corporations.

Hopefully all these revelations in plain sight will make Americans think twice before going off of problems in foreign lands…the criticism does not come with clean hands.

And think twice about American capitalism needing a little more gentle regulation.

[flying_wahini]

10. Wish someone would ask Gov Sarah Huckabee if her children have jobs.

ESP since they just passed laws for underage children to work there in Ark.

[moniss]

12. The GQP has

always been excited about helping companies exploit child labor and any laborers generally. It calls to mind the shameful history of companies in our US Territories etc. in the Pacific. I won't post the pictures of child workers in the textile industries from here and overseas because it is triggering but if you can stand it you can just search. It's not just from the early years of the Industrial Revolution either. There are current pictures.

If you are really of a strong stomach you can search for images of injuries to child laborers. It is horrific but the companies that do this try to keep things always in the shadows and claim deniability or lack of knowledge. They blame some "bad managers" and then try to move on.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

13. Mr. Sinclair, white courtesy phone

Mr. Upton Sinclair, white courtesy phone.

[jaxexpat]

15. This is more about promoting an anti-union tradition than child labor.

If the sanitation company was unionized this would never happen. If the processing plant was unionized it would never happen.

There is a straight, direct and inseparable line from Reagan and his war with PATCO to the girl with work related acid burns discovered by staff at her school.

[LoisB]

16. How many of them are children ripped from their families at the border?