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Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

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Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#81

There are millions of undocumented workers in the US using fake identities to get jobs. Both major parties support this system. Some Republican interests enjoy the access to dirt-cheap labor. Some Democratic interests want immigrants to be able to find jobs despite it being illegal to employ them. So we end up with a system where employers have no easy way to verify that an employee is who they say they are and has a…

> Both major parties support this system.

Can this also be more simply stated: Americans support this.

Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#82
post #48

Did the company make more than $1.5M in additional revenue due to employing those 100+ kids (plus the others that are likely to have never been identified)?

The fines for doing this should not depend on company revenue or profit. It should be that every single exec in charge of that company is never allowed to have any decision making power again in any industry. After a substantial jail time. Every exec involved here should be personally liable too, and be forced to have their assets sold to cover a huge pay out to these kids. These kids should never have to work again…

Tons of teens would happily lie about their age if it meant they never had to work again. Heck, many parents would encourage that behavior.

Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#83

There are millions of undocumented workers in the US using fake identities to get jobs. Both major parties support this system. Some Republican interests enjoy the access to dirt-cheap labor. Some Democratic interests want immigrants to be able to find jobs despite it being illegal to employ them. So we end up with a system where employers have no easy way to verify that an employee is who they say they are and has a…

Democrats want the cheap labor as well, as illustrated famously: "Who's going to clean your toilets Donald Trump?"[0] [0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a8INEYLFWwc

I mean, Trump has knowingly employed undocumented workers for decades while making deportation of said workers part of his campaign. I think that can pointed out as hypocritical.

Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#84

There are millions of undocumented workers in the US using fake identities to get jobs. Both major parties support this system. Some Republican interests enjoy the access to dirt-cheap labor. Some Democratic interests want immigrants to be able to find jobs despite it being illegal to employ them. So we end up with a system where employers have no easy way to verify that an employee is who they say they are and has a…

A few years ago in the South, coordinated ICE raids of a bunch of chicken "factories" owned by Tyson netted 800-900 arrests of undocumented employees. Many of them testified that Tyson encouraged and coached them, even provided written instructions on how to deal with various employment/taxation things as someone undocumented. Asked about this at a press conference, and whether there were "any plans to issue fines, o…

I live in the area where Tyson has most of its poultry operations, and I know a few people who work for them fairly well - including a couple who are working there under false identities due to immigration status.

Tyson knows. They couldn't _not_ know. They seem to maintain an acceptable level of "plausible deniability" at least, and I've not seen any evidence that they're explicitly allowing it to happen, or even that it's their preference. It seems more like they _have_ to tolerate it. If they tried to aggressively stamp out their workers using false documentation, they'd lose a big part of their experienced workforce and would incur significant additional labor costs as the market adjusted to the change.

More to the point, those people aren't just going to shrug their shoulders and head back to their home countries. Many of them would just go through more complicated steps to get false documents that passed the increased scrutiny. Tyson would have to pay more to get workers. Much of that money would be spent by the very same employees obtaining and maintaining false identities, and the people they're getting them from aren't exactly upstanding citizens.

If anything, I'd expect a crackdown on illegal labor practices here to result in funneling more money to criminal organizations (i.e., "the cartels") and tying the immigrant community more deeply with them. It really looks like a lose/lose proposition from where I sit.

NOTE: None of the above is a comment on US immigration policy, or indicative of my personal position on how that should be handled.

Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#85

There are millions of undocumented workers in the US using fake identities to get jobs. Both major parties support this system. Some Republican interests enjoy the access to dirt-cheap labor. Some Democratic interests want immigrants to be able to find jobs despite it being illegal to employ them. So we end up with a system where employers have no easy way to verify that an employee is who they say they are and has a…

A few years ago in the South, coordinated ICE raids of a bunch of chicken "factories" owned by Tyson netted 800-900 arrests of undocumented employees. Many of them testified that Tyson encouraged and coached them, even provided written instructions on how to deal with various employment/taxation things as someone undocumented. Asked about this at a press conference, and whether there were "any plans to issue fines, o…

The whole conversation about rural meat packing plants always drives me crazy. They moved them to rural locations, where by definition very few people live, and then suddenly a hundreds of dudes from rural Mexico showed up to work there.

So naturally we talk about Americans being lazy and racist when they complain.

Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#86

There are millions of undocumented workers in the US using fake identities to get jobs. Both major parties support this system. Some Republican interests enjoy the access to dirt-cheap labor. Some Democratic interests want immigrants to be able to find jobs despite it being illegal to employ them. So we end up with a system where employers have no easy way to verify that an employee is who they say they are and has a…

> Both major parties support this system. Can this also be more simply stated: Americans support this.

Nah I love for undocumented kids to simply starve when their family hasn't enough money and no safety net since they are "illegal."

Put these kids out of work, I'm sure they'll be better off with no money for necessities!

In seriousness, the way to reduce child labor is to give all children better options. Outlawing child labor has the effect of cutting off support for those who apparently might have had little other choice.

Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#87

There are millions of undocumented workers in the US using fake identities to get jobs. Both major parties support this system. Some Republican interests enjoy the access to dirt-cheap labor. Some Democratic interests want immigrants to be able to find jobs despite it being illegal to employ them. So we end up with a system where employers have no easy way to verify that an employee is who they say they are and has a…

> Both major parties support this system. Can this also be more simply stated: Americans support this.

I would disagree - American citizens have no control over what the Democrats or Republicans say or do. You only have two parties to choose from, and you only choose locally.

Indeed there are folks who support it like how they support Team Red or Team Blue, but if you go out on the street Billy The Kid style, I doubt many of them would want kids working in such terrible conditions.

Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#88

There are millions of undocumented workers in the US using fake identities to get jobs. Both major parties support this system. Some Republican interests enjoy the access to dirt-cheap labor. Some Democratic interests want immigrants to be able to find jobs despite it being illegal to employ them. So we end up with a system where employers have no easy way to verify that an employee is who they say they are and has a…

> Both major parties support this system. Can this also be more simply stated: Americans support this.

[deleted]

Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#89
post #30
post #19

"Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the department assessed PSSI $15,138 for each minor-aged employee who was employed in violation of the law. The amount is the maximum civil money penalty allowed by federal law." Wow, I knew that labor laws in the US were toothless but to have it spelled out like this is so depressing. A max penalty of ~15k per violation, just bravo team, bravo.

Is it $15k because the total penalty doesn't depend on the number of people and it's just $1.5M/100 kids so it happens to be $15k?

In the article:

> Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the department assessed PSSI $15,138 for each minor-aged employee who was employed in violation of the law. The amount is the maximum civil money penalty allowed by federal law.

Re: Over 100 kids illegally employed in hazardous jobs, contractor pays $1.5M fine

#90
post #48

Did the company make more than $1.5M in additional revenue due to employing those 100+ kids (plus the others that are likely to have never been identified)?

The fines for doing this should not depend on company revenue or profit. It should be that every single exec in charge of that company is never allowed to have any decision making power again in any industry. After a substantial jail time. Every exec involved here should be personally liable too, and be forced to have their assets sold to cover a huge pay out to these kids. These kids should never have to work again…

Would there be any negative consequences to a law that said 'the CEO and chairman of the board of any company that violates child labour law should be imprisoned for 1 year'?
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