Child Labor
Why Safety & Labor Laws…
By NellaDet Stettler
The Face of Child Labor: PAST
Cutting fish in a
sardine cannery.
Large sharp knives
are used with a
cutting and
sometimes chopping
motion. The slippery
floors and benches
and careless
bumping into each
other increase the
liability of accidents.
"The salt water gets
into the cuts and
they ache," said one
Sardine Cannery, Eastport,
Maine, c.1908.
boy.
Shrimp Cannery
Biloxi, Miss.,
c.1908.
Shrimp pickers,
including an 8
year old boy on
the right.
9:00 p.m. at an Indiana glass works,
c.1908.
One of the young workers in a glass factory in Alexandria, Va., c.1908.
Cutting fish in a
sardine cannery.
Large sharp knives
are used with a
cutting and
sometimes chopping
motion. The slippery
floors and benches
and careless
bumping into each
other increase the
liability of accidents.
"The salt water gets
into the cuts and
they ache," said one
boy.
Sardine Cannery, Eastport,
Maine, c.1908.
Young boys working for
Hickok Lumber Co.
Burlington, Vt., c.1908.
A general view of spinning room, Cornell Mill, Fall River, Mass., c.1908.
Rhodes Manufacturing
Company
Lincolnton, N.C.,
c.1908.
A moment’s glimpse of
the outer world. Said
she was 11 years old.
Been working over a
year.
Bibb Mill No. 1.
Macon, Ga.,
c. 1908.
Some boys and girls were so small they had to climb up on to
the spinning frame to mend broken threads and to put back
the empty bobbins.
The overseer said apologetically, "She just
happened in." She was working steadily. The mills
seem full of youngsters who "just happened in" or
"are helping sister.” Newberry, S.C., c.1908.
Coal Mine
S. Pittston,
Pa., c.1908.
At the close of day. Waiting for the cage to go up. The
cage is entirely open on two sides and not very well
protected on the other two, and is usually crowded
like this. A small boy is in front.
Three young boys with shovels standing in
doorway of a Fort Worth & Denver train car,
c. 1908.
Rochester,
Mass., c.1908.
Two girls, ages
7 and 9, pick
berries. The
older girl picks
about 4 pails a
day.
The Dirty Children
View of the Ewen
Breaker of the
Pennsylvania Coal
Company. The dust
was so dense at
times as to obscure
the view. This dust
penetrated the utmost
recesses of the boys'
lungs. A kind of slavedriver sometimes
stands over the boys,
prodding or kicking
them into obedience.
S. Pittston, Pa.,
c.1908.
Why would employers hire
children to do these jobs?
• Pay children less.
• Children less likely to disobey the boss
than adults.
• Children more nimble, able to get into
small spaces, etc.
• All these things allow the boss to make
more money by spending less on the
workforce.
What is the goal of the boss
in these pictures? Is it to
mine coal? Make clothes?
Grow crops?
• NO! The boss is in business to make
money! That's the bottom line
Has the boss spent a lot of money on a
clean, healthy and safe environment for
the workers?
No, it is clear that the goal is to spend as
little as possible on the workers and the
workplace.
The most important question is why
aren't these pictures of YOU? Why are
you in school rather than working 10 to
12 hours a day like these kids?
History: Industrial Revolution
• Began in England in the mid-1700’s
• Why?
– Switched from making goods at home and on
the farm to machines which allowed mass
production of goods.
• Agricultural—machines took place of worker.
Many left the country to find jobs in the city.
• Commercial—mercantilism (controlling colonies)
created a huge market for European good.
• New Technology—new machine; new inventions
improved and created new products.
Why Did It Begin in England?
– Vast colonial empire to sell goods to
– Method to deliver goods
– Efficient government which encouraged
private individuals to invest and become
entrepreneurs.
– Developing economic systems
– Natural resources
– Agricultural Revolution
Social Effects
• Urbanization—overpopulation of people,
pollution
• Rise of poor working class & rich capitalist
class
• Children—worked in dangerous factories
• Women—a dual responsibility
A Beginning to Reforms
• 1802: British Parliament
– Prohibited employment of
pauper children
– Under age 9 from working in
cotton mills
– Pauper children 14 years &
younger not work at night
– Limited to 12 hour days
– Not until 1833 did
enforcement begin
Social Reformer
• Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist (1837-1839)
1836-1890’s
• 15 year old couldn’t work unless attended
school for 3 months during preceding year
• 10-12 year old working only outlawed in a
few states
• 1890—20% of U.S. children employed
fulltime
The Fair Labor Standards Act
• Promoted child reform
• Set up basic
standards for
employment of minors
• Today requires
minimum wage
• Today 50 states have
child labor laws
Past and Present: JUST TWO OF THE
MANY TRAGEDIES
Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire, 1911; 125 girls dead. Some burned to death;
some jumped to their deaths. They were locked in to prevent theft.
In 1993, a fire at Kadar Industrial Toy Company in Thailand, killed 188 workers;
they were also locked in with no fire protection or equipment.
The face of child labor: PRESENT
© UNICEF/ HQ98-0464/ Balaguer
© UNICEF/ HQ98-0464/ Balaguer
•
•
•
An estimated 246
million children are
engaged in child labor.
Of those, almost
three-quarters (171
million) work in
hazardous situations
or conditions, such as
working in mines,
working with
chemicals and
pesticides in
agriculture or working
with dangerous
machinery.
They are everywhere
but invisible, toiling as
domestic servants in
homes, laboring
behind the walls of
workshops, hidden
from view in
plantations.
© UNICEF/ HQ98-0464/ Balaguer
A girl working in the reconstruction
effort carries a tile on her head in
the city of Choluteca, Honduras.
Those pictures were of children in foreign countries and child labor
is common overseas. But many of those children work to make goods sold
by US companies, goods that you purchase everyday such as soccer
balls, sneakers, clothing, and toys.
It is a myth that child labor has been eliminated in America; in
three days in 1990, 500 inspectors found 7000 illegally employed children
in the US. They work in garment factories, fast food chains, on our
farms,and elsewhere.
More Statistics:
1924: a constitutional amendment on child labor was proposed; only
28 of the necessary 36 states ratified it.
1970’s: researchers reported 1000’s of under age farm workers, some
as young as 4 years old.
1980: United Farm Workers Union estimates 800,000
underage children work harvesting crops.
1991: Schumer & Lantos introduced a bill to Congress to mandate
change in the laws. It was not acted upon.
1996: more than 250,000 kids work illegally according to AP series.
1997: study by US General shows 250% increase in violations
between ’83 & ’90.
1999: Interstate Labor Standards Ass. Finds children as young as 8
are transported around the country to peddle goods door-todoor. These children are often sexually assaulted, and/or
deserted.
Six year old harvesting
spinach in Texas.
(May, 1998)
Photo: © L. Diane Mull
Recent photo
of child
harvesting
cucumbers in
Maryland,
USA.
Photo: © Phillip Decker
Children
processing
cherries in
Montana, USA
(August 1997).
Photo: © L. Diane Mull
Recent photo
of youth
harvesting
apples in North
Carolina, USA.
Photo: © David Peele
Discussion
• What have you discovered?
• List abuses & conditions under which
children work.
• What is the worst child labor situation you
have ever seen?
• Are we different today than in the past?
Activities to go along with Lesson Plan
• Teen Team Activity: Question/answer Web
• Safety & Labor Law Bingo (game instructions)
– link to folder
• Design a Safety & Labor Law Brochure for
Teens
• Safety and Labor Law I-Search
• Global Awareness Activity
Activity: Question & Answer Web Activity
See attachment
• Divide the class into 2 teams: Each team divides the questions into
sets. The team finds the answers to the questions using the internet
sites listed below. After each person answers their questions, their
answers are shared with other team members.
http://laborcommission.utah.gov
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/teenworkers
http://www.uosh.utah.gov/
http://www.osha.gov
http://www.dol.gov
http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/main.htm
http://www.stopchildlabor.org
http://www.youthrules.dol.gov/youth2work/index.htm#
Activity: Safety & Labor Law Bingo
• Work in teams of two (or one depending on how may bingo cards you have)
• Use, Are You A Working Teen to help you find
the answers.
• Instructor reads questions.
• Place candy on square of answer.
• First team with all in a row (H, V or D) wins.
• Get a prize.
This activity has been adapted from Youth@Work: Talking Safety,” a curriculum for youth employment programs
developed by the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley. http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~safejobs/
Project: Safety Brochure
•
•
•
•
Design a Safety & Labor Law Brochure
Your audience for the brochure is teens
Needs to be tri-fold—use all six sides
Brochure must contain:
– Cover page, teen rights, teen responsibilities,
hazards, jobs can/cannot do, school logo,
credit designer. Student Assignment
Global Awareness Activity: Jigsaw
• Open internet explorer
• Type in web address: pioneer.uen.org
• Log in under: student user
– Username: student
– Password: utah
Global Awareness Activity: Jigsaw, cont.
• Choose: Ebsco Data base for High
School Students
• Check: MAS Ultra and TOPICsearch
• Click: Continue
• In the find category type: child labor
• Press: search
Select an article, read and share w/class
Sources
http://www.pioneer.uen.org
http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/progress.html
http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Child_labor
http://www.ll774.org/aug_23_27_archive.htm
http://www.worldbookonline.com
http://www.un.org/av/photo/subjects/childwork.htm
www.msha.gov/ KIDS/DIRTY/DIRTY.HTM
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/triangle/trianglefire.html
http://www.uaw.org/edu/student/edu03.cfm
http://www.charles-dickens.org/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/olivertwist/index.html