“For too long this industry has been given carte blanche to disregard laws,” an advocate told Truthout.
Gerber’s Poultry, a poultry plant in Kidron, Ohio, which produces Amish Farm Chicken, is under investigation after federal agents found more than two dozen minors illegally employed in meat processing and sanitation.
“The discovery of yet another meat processing facility in the U.S. relying on child labor is the latest reminder of the harms that industrial animal agriculture inflicts at every turn, with the most vulnerable — children, people of color, immigrants, and nonhuman animals — paying the highest price,” Delcianna J. Winders, associate professor of Law at Vermont Law and Graduate School told Truthout.
The plant was raided on the evening of October 4 by Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents following reports about the plant illegally employing children. A local resident told NBC News that the children, mainly from Guatemala, work the plant’s second shift after attending school during the day.
“For too long this industry has been given carte blanche to disregard laws,” Winders said. “Let’s hope this federal investigation is an indication that the government will begin to demand greater accountability across the industry.”
It is illegal under the Federal Code of Regulations and the Fair Labor Standards Act for anyone under the age of 18 to work in hazardous occupations, such as in meatpacking plants. Despite these labor protections for children, there has been a 69 percent rise in child labor in the United States since 2018 and recent data released by the Department of Labor (DOL) has found that child labor violations have risen to their highest level in nearly two decades. In fact, the DOL currently has more than 800 child labor investigations underway and has uncovered 5,792 minors working in violation of child labor laws in the past year.
“Finding just one child in harm’s way is one too many,” the DOL said in a statement. “This is an issue that affects all of us and as parents, caregivers, teachers, employers and community members, we cannot tolerate the exploitation of children.”
archive link: https://archive.ph/ObQdO
Sounds like a good reason to stop eating chickens (and all animals).
Is this an argument we should be having? Sure all right. Is this where we should be having it? Probably not. It’s a huge non sequitur to bring that up within the context of child labor, and at best, makes you look “out of touch”
Child labor pales in comparison to the importance of their moral superiority. /s
Swing and a miss. Like its a noble goal but you probably should shoot for a different reason. Its no secret that a portion of migrants workers in the agricultural sector are also children. While the exact number is unknown, an estimated 30,000 to 79,325 children between the ages of ten and seventeen are exploited for their work on U.S. farms each year.
Are they exploited on farms that grow feed for chickens and cattle? Because if so, I could imagine someone making an argument for “lessening” child labor with their economic choices by simply eating the grains directly.
Grains can be farmed very effectively with big machines. You need most humans for vegetables.
Excellent response. Thank you.
So the most ethical diet choice is then “buy your meat local and make sure you know your butcher is not 13” ?
Except you are just offloading the child labor for native born citizens but still not caring about the migrant workers since they will still just be working those grain farms.
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no, you don’t.
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first, how do you quantify suffering? it’s a subjective experience.
second, if we assume that a certain amount of suffering results from every animal killed, reducing the amount of animals you eat doesn’t actually reduce the number of animals killed.
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And leaving those workers to starve. But at least you’ve got your moral superiority to comfort you.
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Only if they harvest the grains themselves (and not including their own kids in the process).
why?