by Tom Conway, Inequality.org
Brad Greve has been a Scout leader for more than 20 years. The Davenport, Iowa retiree leads 50-mile canoe trips on Minnesota’s Boundary Waters that test teens’ mettle while teaching them essential skills.
Greve told a story recently where two boys, despite being warned repeatedly, let their canoe drift perilously close to a section of stream that swept over rapids into a lake below. They just barely recovered and made it to streambank.
That near-accident a few years ago, Greve said, underscores the vulnerability of young teens. And it fuels Greve’s anger at Republicans across the country who want to gut child labor laws and fill dangerous jobs with still-maturing high schoolers.
A GOP bill in Iowa, for example, would allow 14-year-olds to work in industrial freezers, meatpacking plants, and industrial laundry operations. The legislation would also put 15-year-olds to work on certain kinds of assembly lines, allow them to hoist up to 50 pounds, and allow employers to force kids into significantly longer work days.
Recent Posts
The Democratic Party Needs A Soul, Not A Focus Group
Take Action Now Exposing the flawed logic of a centrist pivot for DemocratsBy Sam Rosenthal Nearly exactly a year later, two narratives have taken…
The Money Versus Mamdani in the Final Stretch of NYC Mayoral Race
Take Action Now Unpacking the expensive eleventh-hour efforts by billionaires targeting Zohran Mamdani.By Meghnad Bose and Biplob Kumar Das, Drop…
The World Must Demand the Release of Palestinian Leader Marwan Barghouti
Take Action Now His continued imprisonment is not merely unjust; it silences the one leader most capable of uniting the Palestinian people and…
Trump Is Moving Relentlessly Toward Illegal War In Venezuela
Take Action Now The Trump administration’s murderous strikes on small boats at sea constitute unlawful extrajudicial killings.By Marjorie Cohn,…