Child Labor Law Violations Hit Highest Point In Decades

A manufacturing company in Tennessee has become the latest in a long line of companies to be fined for violating child labor laws. The number of child labor violations in this country has now hit the highest point we’ve seen in over two decades. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.

Link - https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/25/tuff-torq-child-labor-fine/

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

A manufacturing company in Tennessee has become the latest in a long line of companies to be fined for violating child labor laws. The number of child labor violations in this country has hit the highest point we've ever seen in two decades. I've got Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins to join me to talk about it. It seems like every week we're doing another story. Either the story is about the big scam, and that's bring in unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, put 'em to work, pay 'em slave wages, put 'em in situations where they're losing arms or they're being killed. Right? I mean, this is a weekly story now.
It really is. And that's why it's so important to keep talking about these. The Labor Department, all the way back in September said, we've got over 5,000 incidents here where we've got children, sometimes as young as 14, that are operating heavy machinery, heavy machinery that you typically need a special license to handle. But we've got 14-year-old kids out here, which is what just happened in Tennessee, operating this equipment. They don't know how to use it. They have not been fully trained on it. But these companies are doing it and basically getting away with it because a small fine to pay for violating these laws is absolutely nothing. It's the cost of doing business for these folks.
6,000 minors working in violation of child labor laws. That's where we are right now. And so, I don't know how to say this any clearer. I say it all the time. Why the hell can't we be realistic about what's happening with immigration? Why is it that we can't see that as all this was taking place, the US Chamber of Commerce was pushing this administration, we need more immigrants. We need more immigrants. The associated industries where every major corporation in the country was quietly saying, we gotta get more immigrants in here. And at the same time, you had the talking heads making it look like it was some kind of big compassionate move. We're trying to save these people from awful places. Well, we've taken them and now they're just a tool. They're a disposable tool. That's really what we have. And it's gonna get worse before it gets better, don't you think?
Yeah. And I think people need to understand that these migrants that are coming in, even the ones on these temporary work visas, are taken advantage of by these companies. Like you said, typically they will pay them under the table, which means we can pay them less than minimum wage. And that's another benefit they have, by the way, with hiring these 14 and 15 and 16 year olds because even if they're regular US citizens, you can still pay somebody under the age of 16 below minimum wage for I think about six months.
Is it six? Yeah, I think you're right. I think it is six.
So you save so much money.
And then move them out after six months.
Exactly.
Or they're injured after six months. They're so plentiful. But it used to be corporations, we had to export the work, right? We had to go to India or China or Mexico. And so, the industry was, corporations were saving tons of money putting American workers outta work. But that wasn't even enough. You see, that wasn't even enough because in India, they started wising, they started getting smart. They said, no, you know what? You want to come here, we're gonna start raising what you gotta pay. So industry now says, well, we'll figure out another way. We'll open the borders, let everybody in and in there we got a whole new workforce. Right?
Yeah. And this actually goes all the way back.