LINCOLN, Neb (KMTV) — Almost every industry, in every state, is facing some kind of staffing shortage.
In Iowa, the legislature is looking to use children to fill the gaps; a frustrating proposition for federal officials.
“The answer is not child labor, we have labor laws in this country and one of the big reasons organized labor formed in the 20th Century is because of child labor laws,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh.
The bill in question, Senate File 167, greatly expands the use of child labor.
If it passed, 14-year-olds in Iowa could be sent to meat packing plants, construction and demolition sites, or even deep into mines underground. This is as long as they are in an “approved” apprenticeship program.
Kids can work longer and later hours. During the school year, 16-year-olds could work six hours a day and up to 28 hours a week. That expands into a standard 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week after Labor Day.
Employers also get extra protections. Under the bill, they would not be liable for any injuries unless in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct. Instead, it would be schools and apprenticeship administrators that would be liable.
Walsh said there are solutions for Iowa’s workforce that don’t involve sending kids into dangerous jobs.
“Any business, whatever their political philosophy is, Democrat or Republican, Conservative or Progressive, they all say we need an immigration reform bill in the United States of America. We have always, always in this country depended on immigration to help our economy and help our workforce moving forward,” said Walsh.
Walsh said the pipeline of workers willing to immigrate to work in the US is already established.
“We have a university here in this city that is educating students from overseas. When they graduate with their four-year degree, if they don’t get lucky and get a visa we send them back home. We are the only industrialized country in the world that educates people ... then sends them back home. We really need to think about that,” said Walsh.
Walsh said expanding job training programs for adults, like the newly opened American Job Center in Lincoln, is what progress looks like and not trying to fill shortages with workers who haven’t even made it out of the classroom.
“We are not going to back there. We shouldn’t go back to there as a country. We shouldn’t go back to it as a legislature it's a huge mistake if they do that,” said Walsh.
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