John,

Across the country, workers are rising up demanding fair pay with benefits. But instead of paying workers fair wages, greedy corporations are instead weakening child labor laws.

Why? Because corporations can pay children less than average workers, thus exploiting young people in the workplace and driving down wages for all workers.

Iowa’s Republican governor recently signed into law one of the most exploitative roll backs of child labor laws we’ve seen in decades. When journalists asked one Iowa lobbyist who was behind this bill, he responded, “The bill was really spearheaded by the Restaurant Association.”¹

Restaurants are particularly eager to hire kids because they will work for lower wages and are less likely to question unsafe working conditions. But they’re not alone. There are more.

27 major corporations including PepsiCo, General Mills, Frito Lay, and Cargill, which have all been accused of exploiting children workers, are also lobbying to weaken the very rules they are already breaking.²

The U.S. Department of Labor has already found multiple instances where the Iowa law conflicts with federal law, such as expanding hours that children can work both during the school year and during their summer vacations. But these corporations also want to allow kids into ultra-dangerous meatpacking facilities, high-volume Pepsi bottling plants, and building demolition and construction sites where more than 5,000 workers died last year.

We demand action to protect our kids from greedy, exploitative corporations.

Both the Labor and Justice Departments can and must sue the state of Iowa and other states that are rolling back laws meant to protect our children from unsafe work conditions. Add your name and demand the Biden administration act.

Thank you for fighting for the rights or our kids and for working people across the country.

In solidarity,

Rashida

¹ We Uncovered the Corporations Bringing Back Child Labor in America
² Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.