A recent settlement between two of the nation’s largest meatpackers is renewing questions about child labor and how to protect kids from working in the meatpacking industry — with one researcher finding that Wisconsin could be a model for protecting children from labor abuses.
Perdue Farms and JBS will pay a combined $8 million dollars after the U.S. Department of Labor found they employed children through third-party staffing agencies. JBS has a beef plant in Green Bay that was not named in the department’s violations from the settlement in January.
U.S. law prohibits companies from employing youth younger than 18 in meatpacking plants due to the hazardous conditions. But this hasn’t stopped meatpackers from employing children in these environments.
Stay informed on the latest news
Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that Kieler-based sanitation company Packers Sanitation Services had paid more than 100 children from ages 13 to 17 years old to work overnight shifts in slaughterhouses spanning eight states. The company paid $1.5 million in penalties, according to a release from the department…