Dallas City Wire

WASHINGTON – On April 25, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) joined U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Peter Welch (D-Vermont), and Congressman Greg Casar (TX-35) in introducing the bicameral Child Labor Exploitation Accountability Act, legislation aimed at holding corporations accountable for the exploitation of children and workers in the food industry.

The Child Labor Exploitation Accountability Act prohibits the Department of Agriculture (USDA) from engaging in contracts with companies that have committed egregious labor law violations and/or contracted with vendors that have incurred, and failed to rectify, serious worker or labor infractions.

"Most Americans wouldn't buy a roast chicken or a cut of beef if they knew child labor had helped produce it - but thanks to serious loopholes in enforcement of labor law when it comes to migrant children, that's exactly what's happening," said Congresswoman Crockett (TX-30). "In Texas and across agriculture-producing states, migrant children are being exploited and billion-dollar corporations are reaping the profits. Beyond the egregious violation of human rights, migrant child labor also undercuts our small- and medium-sized farmers and ranchers who follow the law and get undercut by powerful corporations that don't. That's why I'm introducing the Child Labor Exploitation Accountability Act to add real, painful consequences for companies that engage in this practice or look the other way when it's happening. America is better than this, and it's time to act like it."

“Today, we’re seeing so many children – especially migrant children – forced to work unsafe, dangerous, and overnight jobs by some of the biggest corporations in our country,” said Congressman Greg Casar (TX-35). “It’s unacceptable. That’s why we’re introducing the Child Labor Exploitation Accountability Act to end child labor by ensuring that if companies want USDA dollars, then they shouldn’t break federal labor law. We can care for all children, and make sure they can get the education, food, housing, and development opportunities they need.”

Specifically, the Child Labor Exploitation Accountability Act would:

•    Require companies competing for contracts with Department of Agriculture to disclose labor and worker safety infractions by the company itself as well as by any of their contractors in the preceding three years

•    Empower the Secretary of Labor to determine corrective measures for a company and/or their contractors to remain eligible for the USDA contracts

•    Require the Secretary of Labor to prepare a list of companies that are ineligible for USDA contracts for that year based on serious, repeated, or pervasive violations of labor laws, and 

•    Establish strong enforcement measures to ensure USDA and DOL compliance. 

Original co-sponsors include Sens. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Peter Welch (D-Vermont), and Reps. Greg Casar (TX-35), Becca Balint (VT-AL), Shontel Brown (OH-11), Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), Cori Bush (MO-01), David Cicilline (RI-01), Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Valerie Foushee (NC-04), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Val Hoyle (OR-04), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Summer Lee (PA-12), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Rob Menendez (NJ-08), Ted Lieu (CA-36), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), and Paul Tonko (NY-20).

The bill is endorsed by: The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), Economic Policy Institute, Oxfam America, National Employment Law Project, Better Balance, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Government Accountability Project’s Food Integrity Campaign, Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, Farm Aid, National Immigration Project, Witness at the Border, Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, ImmSchools, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR), U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT), American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, American Grassfed Association, Food Chain Workers Alliance, GC Resolve, Pesticide Action Network North America, Food & Water Watch, Mercy For Animals, Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA, RuralOrganizing.org, Education Fund, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Friends of the Earth, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, Union of Concerned Scientists, HEAL (Health, Environment, Agriculture, Labor) Food Alliance, New England Farmers Union, Neighboring Food Co-op Association, Common Ground Producers and Growers, Inc., Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, Nebraska State AFL-CIO, Heartland Workers Center, Nebraska Appleseed, The Advocates for Human Rights, The Children’s Partnership, Children at Risk, North Carolina Justice Center, Church Women United in New York State, Farmworker Association of Florida, Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), Michigan Farmers Union, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center, Migrants and Minorities Alliance, Human Rights Initiative, Children of Smithfield, La Semilla Food Center, Mothers and Others, Justice and Mercy for Immigrants, and Centro Hispano Comunitario de Nebraska.

 

Click or tap: Full bill text

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Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett represents portions of Dallas and Tarrant Counties, with the cities of Dallas, Grand Prairie, DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, Duncanville, Glenn Heights, Hutchins, Wilmer, Arlington, Ovilla, and Seagoville.

 

Original source can be found here.