The Department of Labor focused on the issue of child labor in slaughterhouses this week and reached 3 settlement agreements

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Labor Department this week announced a third agreement with an industry company, agreeing to pay fines and reform its practices to help ensure the problem of children working in dangerous slaughterhouses remains Worrying. Underage workers will no longer be employed.

On Thursday, the department said investigators found that another slaughterhouse cleaning company, QSI, employed 54 children on night shifts at 13 meatpacking plants in eight states between 2021 and 2024, adding that the company had Disinfecting industrial carving and slicing machines used in the production of beef and chicken. This is at least the fourth instance in the past two and a half years where one of the cleaning contractors has been caught employing children. QSI will pay a fine of $400,000.

QSI disputes the way the department has framed the problem, noting that investigators have been unable to locate any current juvenile workers and do not need to enter into formal court agreements with ongoing monitoring, as was done with the worst offenders several years ago: PSSI The cleaning company ultimately paid more than $1.5 million and agreed to the changes.

Earlier this week, Perdue Farms agreed to pay $4 million after it was discovered that children were working at a chicken processing plant in Virginia. A day earlier, meat-packing giant JBS Foods also agreed to pay $4 million and make changes to try to prevent children from finding jobs at its plants.

All three announcements were made days before President-elect Donald Trump took office, but they followed a number of other child labor investigations into the meat-packing industry over the past few years. For Debbie Berkowitz, who served as a top OSHA official in the Obama administration, this week’s series of announcements help solidify the Biden administration’s legacy of trying to “eliminate this very dangerous meat and Child Labor in the Poultry Industry,” while keeping the new government’s efforts going. Notice.

“You just have to watch if this administration decides to do a complete U-turn and say it’s OK for children to be exploited and injured and killed and deprived of their future in these dangerous industries,” said Berkowitz, who is now George Washington’s A professor at the university who focuses on labor issues.

Any questions?

It is illegal for anyone under 18 to work in hazardous jobs such as meatpacking plants, but since the fall 2022 PSSI investigation was announced, investigators have continued to uncover more such examples. Last fiscal year, the department found more than 4,000 children in various industries violating federal child labor laws.

The PSSI case began after a 13-year-old child suffered severe chemical burns from caustic chemicals used every night to clean a JBS plant in Grand Island, Nebraska. But then investigators discovered more and more examples of PSSI employing children.

That prompted more investigations and widespread calls for the meatpacking industry to tighten hiring practices to ensure children are not employed. At times, major meat companies such as JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill and Smithfield Foods have pointed to contractors as the source of hiring problems, but officials maintain that it is the responsibility of large companies to have all contractors take appropriate precautions.

“The Department of Labor is determined to prevent our nation’s children from working in jobs where they should not be employed and uses our enforcement efforts to impact industries,” said Seema Nanda, an attorney with the Department of Labor.

Part of the settlement includes a $165,000 fine paid by Mar-Jac Poultry, a Mississippi processing plant, following the death of a 16-year-old boy. In May 2023, Fayette Janitorial Service LLC, a Tennessee sanitation company, agreed to pay a civil penalty of nearly $650,000 after a federal investigation found that the company illegally employed at least two dozen children to clean hazardous meat processing sites in Iowa and Virginia. facility.

In addition to the federal investigation, some states are also involved. Last fall, Smithfield Foods, one of the largest meat processors in the United States, agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations of child labor violations at a Minnesota plant.

what’s new?

The Labor Department said Chattanooga, Tenn.-based QSI, part of the Vincit Group of Companies, employed child laborers on night shifts at 13 meatpacking plants in Collinsville, Ala.; Livingston, Calif.; and Terra Harbson and Georgetown, Washington; Milford, Indiana; Ottumwa, Iowa; Canton and Winesburg, Ohio; Shelbyville and Morristown, Tennessee; and Temperance, Virginia Vail. The department did not name the companies that own the plants.

QSI spokesman Dan Scorpio said he believed the claim was inaccurate because investigators did not provide details of the breach that the company could verify. “QSI has a zero-tolerance policy against the employment of underage workers,” he said. “Over the past two and a half years, we have taken extensive steps to strengthen our recruiting and compliance practices as we continue to serve our clients with integrity and excellence.”

Perdue employed children at a Virginia plant to use dangerous knives and other tools to slaughter chickens.

The JBS agreement did not include findings that children worked directly for the company, but there were instances at the company’s factories.

“The Department of Labor has made it clear that too often, companies turn a blind eye and claim that their staffing agencies, subcontractors or vendors are responsible. But everyone has a responsibility to protect children – our most vulnerable workers – —’s safety,” the department said.

What are you doing?

The Department of Labor has more than 1,000 open child labor investigations ongoing. Each of these settlements contains a set of standards for hiring practices that the Labor Department believes will help prevent children from being hired.

These include steps such as training all managers on how to identify underage applicants and avoid hiring them. False identification documents remain a problem. The company is also expected to require all subcontractors to take precautions.

The company is also expected to set up a hotline where people can report any child labor issues. The Department of Labor expects them to keep accurate records of all employees, including their dates of birth and the jobs they performed.

Companies should discipline anyone who employs children in violation of labor laws.