Kids belong in school, not work. TAKE ACTION

Dear Friend,

For 100 years Mickey Mouse has been an image of childhood, innocence, and laughter. But now it's in danger of being associated with rolling back child labor protections...YIKES?!

*Tell Mickey to use his squeaky, but mighty voice to tell the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) to stop advocating for rolling back child labor protections and publicly remove FRLA’s support from HB 49. 

Yes, you read that right. Rolling BACK child labor laws meant to protect children’s health, workplace welfare, and education.

Here’s the cheese: The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (of which Disney is a prominent member) is lobbying hard to pass HB 49, a bill that rolls back labor protections for children because they want more kids working in the service industry without protections from working more than 8 hours a day - DURING SCHOOL HOURS. It gets worse - more on that below. [1,2] 

As parents who spend our money on Disney movies, games, toys, and theme parks we need to SIGN ON to urge Mickey Mouse to take a stand with us and protect our kids from bad laws!

Wondering what this bill does? It’s definitely got some evil villain vibes. 

According to an analysis from the Florida Policy Institute, this legislation (as of January 9th 2024) would allow employers to schedule our teenage kiddos (16 and 17 year olds) for unlimited hours, without breaks, overnight, and for more than six days in a row — whether during school months or not. [3] HB 49 also preempts (or blocks) local governments from passing curfews for teen workers that are stricter than state law. And now there is a Senate counterpart, so the Legislature is serious about these proposals. Specifically, the HB 49 rollbacks for 16 and 17 year old teens would:

• Allow employers to schedule them for more than 8 hours a day DURING the school week, 
• Allow employers to schedule these teens (who would typically be in school) for more than 30 hours per week when school is in session, 
• To put them on the schedule to work DURING SCHOOL hours and more than 6 days in a row, regardless of if school is in session,
• Allow employers to schedule these students before 6:30am or after 11pm - even if there is school the next day, and
• Schedule these teens for more than four hours with a 30 minute break. 

I mean the numbers just don’t add up? When are these kids supposed to go to school! 

They can’t. That’s the point. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think Mickey Mouse or Winnie the Pooh would want our teens to miss school or drop out of school entirely to work full-time before their time. No one’s going to be whistling while they work then that’s for sure. 

SIGN ON to tell Mickey Mouse and Disney to help keep our kids in school learning, growing, and safe by opposing HB49 child labor protection rollbacks! 

Even if you don’t live in Florida, trust me, this is still your fight. This bill won’t necessarily just stay in Florida. 

Florida’s bad laws have a way of spreading to other states – like our book banning laws that are now in other states across the nation. [4] In fact, other states are already looking into it. [5] This is just the next in a long line of attacks on our kids. First they took our kids diverse books, then they passed laws to defund our kids' public schools, and now they are putting corporate profits over our kids' education and well-being by trying to encourage our teens to work full-time jobs before their time. 

Moms are TIRED. Tired of these attacks on kids. Our kids (from the youngest to the teens) have the right to learn and grow without being asked to be adults before their time. 

Tell Mickey Mouse to be the hero of our story and help keep our kids in school. 

**And then please forward this to other parents, friends, and neighbors so Mickey Mouse can hear us loud and clear! 

Together, we will protect our kids’ right to grow and thrive, 

Nina, Ruth, Donna, Kristin, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team

References:

[1] Florida lawmakers advance bill that would weaken child labor protections for 16- and 17-year-olds, December 2023, Orlando Weekly 

[2] Regulatory Reform & Economic Development Subcommittee, December 2023, Florida House of Representatives

[3] Fast Facts: HB 49 Would Undo Decades of Child Labor Protections in Florida, October 2023, Florida Policy Institute 

[4] DeSantis’ book banning in schools spreads across nation, critics say, May 2023, Orlando Sentinel  

[5]  Some lawmakers propose loosening child labor laws to fill worker shortage, May 2023, PBS Newshour

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