Let kids be kids and leave child labor laws alone | Editorial

Child Labor Bill Threatens the Well-being of Florida’s Youth

Is a 16-year-old a child or an adult?

That’s a debatable question only in the Florida Legislature, where the bottom-line demands of business interests are more important than the health and well-being of our kids. The people who write our state laws claim they are pro-family — until it collides with profit and greed. That’s the bottom line.

Their answer to the question is that a 16-year-old is an adult, period.

That is the tortured pretext for loosening Florida child labor laws so that 16-year-olds can legally work all-night shifts, without breaks, even on school nights. Under current law, 16- and 17-year-olds are prohibited from working after 11 p.m. or before 6:30 a.m., or more than eight hours on school nights, or more than 30 hours a week, and they must have a break of 30 minutes every four hours.

1. All those limits would disappear under a bill awaiting action in Tallahassee.

Who’s behind this?

Chaney is pushing the agenda of Florida’s influential hotel and restaurant industry, whose statewide trade group, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA), is a driving force behind this bad idea. Testifying before a House subcommittee, a lobbyist for FRLA called the new law “desperately needed.”

Hotels and restaurants can’t keep enough employees to adequately staff their operations, a situation made worse by the acute shortage of affordable housing.

• Those businesses will not admit that they refuse to pay their workers a living wage, so their solution is to expand the work force by exploiting teenagers instead. Wages in the hospitality industry have risen, but the industry strongly opposed the 2020 ballot initiative that will increase Florida’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026.

Supporters of changing the law argue that Florida’s child labor laws are too restrictive and that the change aligns with both federal law and laws in 24 other states.

So, all of a sudden, Florida wants to emulate the federal government. That argument would hold more weight if Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies in the Legislature weren’t undermining the feds at every turn — and even refusing to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money, most recently to make homes more energy efficient.

Eleven to 7 at 7-Eleven

Having a strong work ethic builds self-esteem. It is very important that young people learn the value of work and the virtues of showing up on time, following orders and accepting responsibility. But that should not include forcing 16-year-olds to work all-night shifts at gas stations or convenience stores in dangerous neighborhoods.

Weakening child labor protections state by state is part of a national movement, The Washington Post has reported. It is partly funded by ultra-right billionaire Dick Uihlein, whose think tank, the Foundation for Government Accountability, based in Naples, wrote the first draft of Chaney’s bill, according to the investigative news site Seeking Rents. FGA is also a fierce opponent of the expansion of Medicaid.

Uihlein, an election denier and major DeSantis campaign contributor, founded the shipping supply giant Uline.

The weakening of Florida child labor laws cleared a House subcommittee easily on Dec. 19 as all 10 Republicans present voted yes and all five Democrats voted no. The Democrats were Reps. Joe Casello, D-Boynton Beach; Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando; Ashley Gantt, D-Miami; Susan Valdes, D-Tampa; and Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville.

Unable to stop this bad idea, Democrats did the next best thing. They offered a variety of amendments to make it more consumer-friendly, but Republicans voted them down on party lines.

The GOP majority even refused to consider an amendment that would require businesses that employ minors to keep records of sexual harassment

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 8.7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor.
• SDG 10.4: Adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage, and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality.
• SDG 16.5: Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

The article does not explicitly mention specific indicators. However, potential indicators that could be used to measure progress towards the identified targets include:

• Number of cases of forced labor, modern slavery, and human trafficking identified and prosecuted.
• Percentage of workers earning a living wage.
• Number of reported incidents of corruption and bribery in relation to child labor laws.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: sun-sentinel.com

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