A hundred years ago in the early part of the 20th century, there were a number of strong movements for social reform. Women were calling for the right to vote, workers were struggling for the legal right to join unions, efforts were made to equalize the educational output of the public schools, etc., etc. A dramatic battle going on at that time was a determined effort to eliminate child labor. Children as young as six and eight years old were working in factories for as much as 12 hours a day, receiving pay that was a mere pittance at best.

With the New Deal, Congress enacted the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishing a federal minimum wage, guaranteeing overtime pay and prohibition of child labor for children under 16 years of age. This law was to apply to all industries except one – AGRICULTURE. Today, eighty years later, the agony, injustice and cruelty of brutal child labor continues to go on in America’s industrial farms.

Thanks be to God for Public Citizen, an organization founded in 1971 by Ralph Nader. This fine group continues to lead a difficult struggle to eliminate the evil and shame of child labor in American life. Testifying before Congressional committees, Public Citizen has stated unequivocally that, “Child labor should be abolished but if it is to remain legal, it should be restricted to only the safest jobs and tasks. Permitting children under the age of 16 to work for below minimum wage pay, often for 12 or more continuous hours, in dangerous conditions, harks back to the early days of the Industrial Revolution when children worked in perilous factory jobs for slave wages, a chapter in American history most thought was long gone, but which is alive and well on industrial farms across the country.”

When you are eating your strawberries or holding a beautiful tomato in your hand, you may wonder if it had been picked by an 11-year-old boy who had already been working nine hours when he picked yours.

Share on Facebook

Last month, on Valentine’s Day did you either give or receive a box of chocolates? If you did, there was a regrettable chance that the box of wonderful candy was tainted by the labor of enslaved children.

Few Americans knew anything about the problem of child labor on cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast until after 2001 when the media exposed the scandalous conditions under which most U.S. chocolate is made. Children, as young as 11 and 12 year’s old are forced into slave labor and must work 12 or 13 hours a day under truly brutal conditions. After the exposé, Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat of Iowa) introduced a bill to require U.S. chocolate companies by force of law to certify that their products are slave free. Fearing regulation, the chocolate industry quickly announced a four year plan to clean up its supply chain without legislation.

I am happy to report that many of the companies supplying the American market did clean their work up and now produce their chocolate clearly indicating that they are fair trade certified. One major company that continues to benefit from a very clear form of child labor is the Hershey company. They argue that they do not own the plantations. They simply buy the material from the growers. However, the fact is they, like the other companies that made the switch to fair trade, could easily pressure the growers to stop child slavery.

We all love chocolate but is it worth the agony and suffering of 12 year old kids?

Share on Facebook