Terri Gerstein Spotlights Disturbing Trend in Abusive Child Labor

Terri Gerstein (’95), Director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at the Harvard Law School Labor and Worklife Program, contributed an article to Slate pointing to exploitative child labor cases that reveal dangerous violations resulting in serious injuries and deaths of teenagers, as judge grants a preliminary injunction stopping employer from using “oppressive child labor” in Walsh v. Packers Sanitation Services, Inc. (“Child Labor Has Made a Comeback,” Nov. 16). “Dozens of teenagers—including children as young as 13—allegedly worked overnight shifts cleaning dangerous equipment in Minnesota and Nebraska meatpacking plants. . . . The Packers case is a warning, revealing broad trends about how little our country values children and labor. . . . It’s one more example of valuing profits over people, whether they’re children, workers, or children who are workers.”
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