Child Labor Exploitation: What Adults Need to Know

The Albert Shanker Institute and AFT partnered to host a back-to-school season event for educators, health care professionals, and other caring adults on child labor laws and possible warning signs of child labor infractions. We will be joined by the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

Educators and health care professionals see young people often in their professional settings. When are student/patient behaviors like, sleepiness or absenteeism, signs of a child being exploited in the workplace and what should educators and health care professionals do about it?

Additionally, state legislatures have been enacting changes to loosen child labor laws at the same time they are introducing vouchers, which contributes to an environment where children are more vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace.

With evidence of child labor violations on the rise and many states loosening state child labor laws and expanding vouchers, more children than ever are vulnerable to child labor exploitation. Following the widely read New York Times investigative story, Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S., more adults are learning about the perils of child labor and want to do something about it.

This webinar provided participants with background information on child labor laws, where to find additional resources and support for children and their families, and examples of union-community partnerships to end child labor exploitation.

Featured Speakers:

Randi Weingarten, President AFT and Albert Shanker Institute
Jessica Looman, Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor 
Bridget Dutton,  Program Analyst and National CORPS Liaison, Office of Performance and Communications, U.S. Department of Labor
David Weil, Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University 
Kent Wong, Project Director for Labor and Community Partnerships, UCLA Labor Center
Jack Kearns, UCLA Labor Center

Moderator: 
Mary Cathryn Ricker, Executive Director, Albert Shanker Institute

See full bios of presenters here.