NEWS: Casar Introduced a Farm Bill Amendment to Hold Companies Accountable for Illegal Child Labor in Meat Packing Plants — Republicans Blocked It
As some U.S. children work their graveyard shifts at meat packing plants, House Republicans block an anti-child labor amendment
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas), who serves on the House Agriculture Committee, introduced an amendment to the Farm Bill (H.R.8467) to state that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will not contract with meat packing facilities that engage in “serious, repeated, or pervasive” illegal child labor.
After debate of the amendment ended around 12:10 a.m. EST, when some U.S. children are working their graveyard shifts at meat packing plants, House Republicans blocked the amendment.
VIDEO: Casar’s remarks introducing child labor accountability amendment
“Today, so many children are forced to work unsafe, dangerous, and overnight jobs by some of the biggest corporations in our country,” said Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas). “House Republicans voted to continue to give billion dollar contracts to meat packing corporations, while turning a blind eye to child labor in their plants. House Republicans won’t support common sense legislation to keep kids out of meat packing plants because they’ve chosen to support CEOs and their lobbyists over our kids.
“This Republican Farm Bill will leave more children hungry and exploited, leave workers without protections, and leave the climate crisis unaddressed — all while a handful of corporations rake in record profits.”
Casar’s amendment was blocked by a party-line vote of 29-25. House Republicans voted to instead initiate a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on child labor, although such a study was already conducted and published by the GAO in 2018.
Background:
- USDA: Since 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has seen a 69% increase in children being employed illegally by companies.
- Food & Environment Reporting Network: 75% of recent child labor violations were committed by employers in the food industry.
- NPR: Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods under federal inquiry over reports of illegal child labor.
- The New York Times: Labor Department finds 31 children cleaning meatpacking plants.
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Congressman Greg Casar represents Texas’s 35th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays County to the West Side of San Antonio. A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 118th Congress. He also serves on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Agriculture.