Labor in America

There was a recent expose on children working in the tobacco fields of the New South in the New York Times yesterday.

Numerous examples of children as young as 10 years old working 10 to 12 hours a day for less than minimum wages have been documented, many of them getting poisoned by the exposure to nicotine. It evokes the images of the antebellum South, but in reality they are a sign of the future to come. They are not an isolated instance of abuse. In fact, they are the new face of labor in America.

All across the Country, including the “Right to Work” Michigan, right wing legislatures are systematically reversing over 100 years of hard-earned labor rights. Right wing politicians, elected through the financial largesse of billionaires such as the Koch brothers are not only attempting to destroy labor unions, they are even attacking basic labor rights such as child labor laws.

So this fall, when you vote, remember the face of those child workers getting those jobs created by your Republican governor and Republican legislators. Snyder and Lynn-Land will put your children to work …