No rollbacks on child labor

  

(This column by Lida Shepherd was published today in the Charleston Gazette-Mail)

Welch, WV, September 1908 

A quick peak into the National Archives you can find photographs by Lewis Hine when he was hired by the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) in the early 1900s to take photos of children working.  Hine’s photos were a part of a national campaign at the time to advance laws regulating child labor, which eventually paved the way for labor laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act.  

Prior to FLSA, injuries and deaths of children were common.  Many of the children photographed by Hine were working to help support their families living in extreme poverty.  Some of these young kids in the photos worked in places like coal mines in Welch and the glass factory in Grafton.

A 1920 NCLC poster features Hine’s photos and reads: “Work that Deadens: These Children Are Working so that Their Employer May Make Money.” 

The famed labor rights attorney Clarence Darrow said, “History repeats itself. That's one of the things wrong with history.”  To his point, the West Virginia legislature has been advancing House Bill 4005 which would weaken child labor laws that many fought so hard over a century ago to enact.   

HB 4005 would eliminate state rules that enumerate which jobs are too dangerous for minors.  Under current state law industries cannot employ children under 18 in jobs like ore reduction works, logging and saw milling occupations, occupations involving exposure to radioactive substances, power-driven hoisting apparatus occupations, and mining, to name a few.   The bill would also remove requirements for direct supervision when children work with hazardous machinery.

Proponents for legislation to roll back longstanding state-level child labor protections say that this is to better align with federal standards.   As the word “standards” implies, federal law under the Fair Labor Standards Act is the floor not the ceiling.  For example, federal child labor standards do not include time and hour restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds, establish rest or meal break requirements, or require work permits for youth to be employed.

Proponents also try to paint this bill as expanding apprenticeship programs, however our state’s Youth Apprenticeship Programs already allow 16 and 17-year-olds to safely obtain on-the-job experience.  And while we are on the subject of apprenticeship programs, I have to say that using the apprenticeship program argument for HB 4005 is pretty rich.  

Many of those supporting this bill also pushed to repeal our state’s prevailing wage law in 2016.  Since then, according to a report by the Midwest Economic Policy Institute, the number of active registered apprentices has fallen by 28 percent in West Virginia, relative to neighboring states with prevailing wage laws. 

So who are the proponents of HB 4005?  I’m really glad you asked.  HB 4005 and other bills like it are a part of a coordinated national effort led by billionaire-backed groups like the Foundation for Government Accountability, to undermine worker rights and weaken government's role of protecting public safety and the most vulnerable. 

Bills like HB 4005 are straight from the authoritarian playbook of Project 2025 where one of their policy objectives is to “amend its hazard-order regulations to permit teenage workers access to work in regulated jobs with proper training and parental consent.”  In simple terms, changing “hazard-order regulations” means letting kids as young as 16 to work in hazardous jobs.  

Project 2025 cynically suggests, “Some young adults show an interest in inherently dangerous jobs. Current rules forbid many young people from working in such jobs. This results in worker shortages in dangerous fields and often discourages otherwise interested young workers from trying the more dangerous job.”

The narrative suggesting that young people everywhere will now have the “opportunity” to gain important job experience could not be farther from the truth when you consider who is impacted by the deregulation of child labor.   Since rollbacks around the country, more and more kids are being mangled or killed.  A 16-year-old boy in Wisconsin died working in a sawmill after he became entangled in a machine, a teenage boy in Pennsylvania died after getting pulled into a woodchipper, and another teenage boy was maimed at a Perdue slaughterhouse in rural Virginia.   

These are a few tragic examples among many, and each one of them underscores the fact that the children most subject to dangerous conditions are not looking for “opportunity” but they are looking to merely survive.  Deregulating child labor laws allows industries unfettered access to a more exploitable workforce. 

According to the Economic Policy Institute, at least sixteen states have now introduced cookie cutter legislation nearly identical to HB 4005.  But take heart.  West Virginia lawmakers have the power to stand up to these efforts to allow corporations to profit on the backs of our kids, even in the most dangerous jobs.   They don’t have to put West Virginia on the race to the bottom where the laws privilege profit over protections for our kids and their families.   

They can be clear-eyed enough to see that HB 4005 is as the Economic Policy Institute says is part of “a massive and generational project to remake the economy into one that gives corporations license to extract exorbitant profits from increasingly unregulated and dangerous child labor.”

Lewis Hine wrote in 1908 about his experience taking photos of children working, "There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers.”

If our legislators truly prioritize the safety and well-being of our kids, they’ll find the political will to leave our child labor laws alone, and prevent history from repeating itself.

In loving memory of Jane

Rick and I were really sad and stunned earlier this week when we heard the news that a long time friend Jane Hearne died unexpectedly.  Over the years we got to enjoy time with Jane and her husband Gene at WV Friends gatherings.  Jane had a quiet strength I always admired.  She reminds me of the sun in Aesops fable, when the sun and the wind compete to see who is stronger, and the sun with its steady warmth wins.  Jane made you want to hear what she had to say, but it was always an invitation. She delighted in sharing about her prolific garden, and time around the dining table with her grandkids. She struck a graceful balance between delighting in the joys of life and a strong stance against what keeps so many from doing so too.   I will miss Jane a lot.  I love imagining her spirit eternally around her garden, and shining through the lives of her kids and grandkids.  You can read her obituary here.

Jane’s daughter Carrie Ella reached out to Rick and me and said she was a long-time reader of the Goat Rope.  So with that I’ll be writing the next installment soon, and inspired by Jane, I’ll try to find that balance between joy and outrage.  The legislature is in town so it might tip the scale a wee bit towards outrage, but I think Jane would understand.

Looking for light

 This piece was written by AFSC colleagues Lewis Webb, Amy Gottlieb, and myself about looking for light in dark times on the occasion of the observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In 1968, during his “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared: 

 “The nation is sick; trouble is in the land, confusion all around. ...But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century. Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee, the cry is always the same: 'We want to be free.’” 

Today, it is dark enough to see the stars. The Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, working people, and democracy itself have brought us to this dark moment. But in that darkness, there are stars that shine with love, flicker with hope, and guide us toward freedom. 

In communities standing up for immigrants nationwide, that light is unmistakable. Thousands of people are on the front lines every day—documenting ICE abuses and violence; accompanying immigrants to school, medical appointments, court hearings, and immigration check-ins, and speaking up to demand humane immigration policies. Even in cities that have been directly targeted by militarized government forces, people have shown that they are willing to confront armed, masked officers to protect their neighbors and communities. They are proving what we know to be sure: our communities are stronger with immigrants.  

As Dr. King wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: 

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”  

In the struggle for economic justice, communities are building power through both advocacy and direct action. Trump’s budget bill made drastic cuts to health care and food assistance while giving more tax breaks to the wealthy. But a majority of people in the U.S. support a different path that ensures all people can thrive. According to recent polls, most people support labor unions and increasing the minimum wage. There’s also strong support for  affordable child care and housing, debt-free education, and Medicare for All. But people aren’t just advocating for change—they’re creating it. They’re forming mutual aid networks to share resources and meet each other’s immediate needs when the government won’t.   

As Dr. King demanded in 1967:  

“Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice.”  

In working for peace and justice, communities are resisting authoritarianism and violence in all its forms.  

People of faith are holding vigils to bear witness to oppression and affirm the power of love when put into action. Young people are protesting attacks on their rights and civil liberties on campuses and in the streets across the country. With our voices and votes, we are demanding our elected officials defend the rule of law and democratic principles. Together, we are building nonviolent movements that prove real security comes from caring for one another, not through violence or force.   

This is the “garment of destiny” Dr. King described. We are all tied together, and what affects one affects us all. The way forward requires us to keep building these connections, to understand our struggles are shared, and to protect and care for each other in all we do. 

In 1965, Dr. King said: “We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.”   

We are building that society now—through every act of accompaniment, every demand for justice, every refusal to give in to authoritarianism. The stars are visible. Our path is clear.  

Hope in dark times?

by Lida Shepherd, director AFSC WV Economic Justice Project

I was listening recently to an interview with Rebecca Solnit, purveyor of “Hope in the Darkness” and she was talking about how hope doesn’t come from ignoring reality, it comes from honesty.  With that in mind I will refrain from any “happy new year” greetings, because it has been a gut-punching and despair-inducing new year thus far.   

ICE agents killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, our country dropped bombs on Venezuela, ICE agents are disappearing people from our communities in West Virginia and around the country --- meanwhile billionaires are looking to rake in more even more profit as stocks are up for weapons manufacturers and oil companies like Chevron.   

Feeling like we are in the inescapable grip of the merchants of misery is enough to make you weep.  While there is a lot about which to feel really really uncertain, here is Solnit again: “Uncertainty leads to possibility: Despair often assumes the future is fixed. But history is full of surprises and turning points.”  

I’ve been re-reading these days about nonviolence resistance and strategy in the face of authoritarianism (for obvious reasons), how the overreach of tyrannical regimes can actually provide those turning points, and how people always have more power than we might feel.  

Solnit has instructive advice for tamping down the anguish that we might feel right now: “Connect with others: Hope grows when it’s shared. Joining movements, communities, or simply leaning on friends creates a sense of belonging and power.” 

To that end here are ways to connect with others around West Virginia who care as much as you do: 

Follow ICE watch activity in WV here.  

Tonight (1/9) in Charleston

Tonight in Keyser

Sunday (1/11) in Clarksburg

Monday (1/12) at the WV Capitol

Wednesday (1/14) in Charleston

If all that weren’t enough, the WV State Legislature kicks off next Wednesday, January 14th.  Here are some Advocacy Days to note (full list here): 

1/19: Fairness WV Day 

2/17: Local Food and Farm Day 

2/23: WV Environmental Day 

2/24: Black Policy Day 

3/2: Leading for Justice Day 

3/4: WV Library Day 

3/6: Reproductive Rights Day 

Kenny and I hope to see some of you around “the well” at the Capitol, where commiseration is had and gossip is shared.  In the meantime, I’ll try to remember what Solnit says about practicing hope daily: “Some days hope comes easily; other days it doesn’t. That’s normal. Journaling, noticing progress, limiting bad news, and showing up in community are all ways to keep practicing.” 

 

No to another war

When the world learned of the Trump administration's aggression this weekend, the American Friends Service Committee released this statement. 

  Early this morning, the Trump administration bombed several locations in and around Caracas and forcibly captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. This unjustified, illegal, and unprovoked act of war against a sovereign nation comes after months of U.S. escalation – including the extrajudicial assassinations of civilians on boats and the U.S. seizure of oil tankers near the Venezuelan coast. President Trump announced that the U.S. will “run the country” until some undefined transition—a path to indefinite occupation or a return to corporate control and colonial extraction.

The U.S. attack on Venezuela comes as the Trump administration revitalizes a long history of U.S. violence and imperialism against nations and people in Latin America. Like other wars before it, this is about control over oil and resources—Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Congress and the international community must take immediate action.

Venezuela posed no threat to the U.S. But the U.S. wants Venezuela’s oil. This attack was an act of war that is illegal under both U.S. and international law. While information is limited about the impacts, it is extremely likely that civilians were killed when the U.S. dropped bombs on the highly populated capital city. Congress should immediately act to condemn this aggression and should block further military actions.

The administration first said this violence was about drugs and democracy. Now the administration is expanding its justifications, openly claiming the U.S. has the right to overthrow Venezuela’s government and take the country’s nationalized oil. These shifting justifications expose the imperialist nature of the attack. They’re also absurd coming from an administration that has systematically undermined democracy at home, cut drug treatment programs, and dismantled systems to hold drug traffickers accountable.

The Trump administration doesn’t care about human rights and democracy. President Trump has actively intervened in recent elections in Argentina and Honduras, attempted to interfere in the Brazilian judicial system, and rewarded the blatant human rights violations of allies with lucrative contracts. There is no doubt that Nicolás Maduro is responsible for serious human rights violations against the Venezuelan people, and he should be held accountable for those violations. Being unilaterally kidnapped by the U.S. military will prevent that accountability rather than facilitating it.

This isn’t about drugs. Bombing Venezuela and arresting its leader will do nothing to stop drug trafficking, addiction, and overdose deaths. And the Trump administration only talks about ending the drug trade when it fits their political goals. Just two months ago, Trump pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had been convicted in a U.S. court for smuggling 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S.

We have decades of evidence that the bipartisan “war on drugs” is a failure that has led to the mass incarceration of millions of poor people and people of color in the U.S., escalated violence and repression in Latin America, all while overdose deaths have soared. If the Trump administration wanted to address addiction, it would invest in community-based treatment and prevention. Instead, they are cutting these programs. 

U.S. bombs and guns never bring peace and justice. As a Quaker organization that has worked to end war and violence for more than a century, AFSC has worked ceaselessly to stop U.S. militarism in Latin America and around the world. In the 1980s, AFSC witnessed firsthand the impact of U.S. military intervention in Latin America. We documented the violence in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala and offered support and solidarity to those facing repression. Instead of bringing stability, the U.S. fueled conflict that killed and disappeared hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. It perpetuated cycles of violence, forced migration, and deep poverty that persist today. 

It is time to break this cycle. It is long past time to end the U.S. government’s imperial ambitions in Latin America and across the globe. People do not want endless wars, which lead only to mass death, forced migration, and impoverishment. We must work in solidarity with the Venezuelan people, upholding their self-determination and human rights. And we must honor those rights whether people stay in the country of their birth or migrate to the U.S. 

We call on Congress and world leaders to stop U.S. regime change in Venezuela. We need investments in our communities and a safe and sustainable world where everyone can thrive. 

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine Light within each person, we nurture the seeds of change and the respect for human life to fundamentally transform our societies and institutions. We work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge injustice, and build peace.