291 Comments
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Lights Seiferlein's avatar

This is just sickening. Those children need to be getting sleep, not working overnight around dangerous equipment. I'm more than happy to pay more for adults to do this work.

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Fifth Dentist's avatar

How do y'all expect to get those chimneys cleaned? Adults won't fit down there; they're too big.

When my mother died I was very young,

And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"

So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head

That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said,

"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,

You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

And so he was quiet, & that very night,

As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!

That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,

Were all of them locked up in coffins of black;

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins & set them all free;

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,

And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.

And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,

He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark

And got with our bags & our brushes to work.

Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;

So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

-- William Blake

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BECKY's avatar

and how sad is it that these kids have to work? Where are the parents?

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jltympanum's avatar

Nothing will change until those who manage these companies suffer real, personal consequences. Kid loses a hand working at STF? We cut off the CEO's hand. Kid loses an eye working at STF? We poke out the CEO's eye. And so on.

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kasteel1's avatar

How much do you want to bet that this little problem goes away in the new year?

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OG Blockhead's avatar

Me: So you're going to stop using child labor?

Improbably named Seaboard Triumph Foods: Absolutely!

Me: Really?

INSTF: Scout's honor! *holds up two finger salute*

Me: Ok. What's going to happen to those kids now?

INSTF: *smiles creepily* Well, I have a Modest Proposal...

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Kirsty Gnome-Poledance Himmler's avatar

But what's the bratwurst content?

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Always Be Ithacating's avatar

"Paul DeCamp, a former head of the Labor Department’s wage and hour division who is now a lawyer for Seaboard..."

Fast-food places can require noncompete agreements to work at a minimum wage job, but there's no deterrence for a career path like DeCamp's?

I vaguely remember when the public sentiment was that such arrangements reeked of corruption.

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Gern Blansten's avatar

Lessee:

Eliminate Dept of Edumacation ✅

Eliminate debt relief for secondary edumacation ✅

Eliminate child labor laws ✅

Deport deport deport ✅

PROFIT!💰💰💰💰💰

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Chuck Dickens's avatar

In the meantime people should stop eating shit like this forever.

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Zyxomma's avatar

Ta, Robyn. At first I wondered why C-bored's janitorial serviced didn't just hire prison labor. Then I realized how many of the items you listed would make deadly weapons.

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beb's avatar

This is going to keep happening until the Labor Department starts seizing these plants and prosecuting the managers responsible. And as always, remember that the buck stops with the CEO. Throw them in prison for not overseeing the company well enough.

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Vincent's avatar

Wait a minute...so, Qvests "defense" is to blame children for committing crimes against them?!?

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Bupkus231's avatar

How much was Qvest fined? I didn't see that in your rundown of their consent agreement.

Whatever - not only should incarceration be an option for the janitorial service owners, but the slaughterhouse also needs to face some punishment. This is surely a case where the companies shouldn't be able to hide behind legalisms

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Gavinicus's avatar

Huzzah for the Oliver! reference!

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Peter MacMonagle's avatar

Some kids will get killed and everyone will act surprised but do nothing to stop the practice. Children are as expendable as pregnant women in distress. American Capitalism.

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