The Florida GOP solution to the problem the GOP created: Children doing what immigrants did.

With the Trump administration planning to deport millions of hardworking immigrants, the nation faces the question: “Who will fill the jobs that immigrants used to do, jobs that American citizens don’t want?”

The Florida Republicans have the answer: Put school children to work for long hours and short pay.

Florida may loosen child labor regulations
By Romy Ellenbogen and Ana Ceballos, Tampa Bay Times

TALLAHASSEE — Teenagers as young as 14 could soon be allowed to work overnight shifts as part of an effort in the Republican-led Legislature to roll back major aspects of the state’s child labor laws.

The proposal — passed 5-4 by the Florida Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee Tuesday — comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis says a younger workforce could be part of the solution to replacing “dirt cheap” labor from migrants in the country illegally.

The labor is “dirt cheap.” American adult citizens don’t want those “dirt cheap” crap jobs, but wait. The Republicans have found a replacement: Our children.   

“Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when you know, teenagers used to work at these resorts, college students should be able to do this stuff,” Governor Ron DeSantis said last week during a panel discussion with President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan.

Yes, Ron, those “millions of 14-year-old college students” would be the perfect solution for doing “this stuff.” We’re not sure what “this stuff” is, and we are sure DeSantis has no idea. Here’s a clue.

“This stuff” is the job that pays “dirt cheap” wages only undocumented aliens take because no one else will hire them — you know, the stoop labor in 100-degree heat, with no healthcare insurance, no school lunch, and few bathroom breaks. 

Those would be great jobs for our 14-year-old children. Right?

The governor said the state has taken several steps to crack down on the hiring of workers living in the country illegally, including enacting a state law that requires large companies to screen workers through E-Verify, a federal database that confirms an employee’s citizenship status.

And why, Ron, do you want to “crack down” on those workers? You acknowledge that they aren’t taking jobs away from documented workers. That’s why there is a labor shortage. And statistics show that they are less likely to commit crimes than citizens. 

So, other than pure bigotry, what’s your excuse for your mean-spirited cruelty? Got it. Pure bigotry it is.

“Yes, we had people that left because of those rules, but you’ve also been able to hire other people. And what’s wrong with expecting our young people to be working part-time now? I mean, that’s how it used to be when I was growing up,” DeSantis said.

Yes, Ron, when you were growing up, kids did all sorts of lousy jobs rather than go to school. That is why today, even states that come in 42nd among 50, have child labor laws. 

Will someone please explain to DeSantis why we have child labor laws in the first place?

In Tallahassee state lawmakers may remove all limitations on how late and how much 16- and 17-year-olds can work and end those teenage workers’ guarantee of a meal break.

And isn’t it nice that those kids never will join a union, much less form one?

 This year’s bill is sponsored by Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa.

He did not return multiple calls for comment about the bill and why he thought it was necessary.

Pols love all the media exposure they can get, so when they refuse to return calls, you can be sure they are hiding something — like making children into low-paid slaves.

As it stands now in Florida, teenagers aged 16 and 17 can’t work before 6:30 a.m. or after 11 p.m. on a school day and can’t work during school hours unless they are in a career education program.

They also are limited to up to 30 hours a week of work when school is in session, unless their parent or a school superintendent waives that restriction.

The risk is that young workers will have fewer protections and will have a harder time saying no to employers, said Nina Mast, an analyst with the Economic Policy Institute.

“The teens who will be most harmed by this bill are low-income young people or those without documented status who are compelled by their situation to work,” Mast said.

Companies across the United States, regardless of existing labor laws, have employed migrant children in dangerous jobs, reports have shown.

In January, meatpackers Perdue Farms and JBS agreed to pay a combined $8 million after the Department of Labor found the companies relied on the labor of migrant children in their slaughterhouses.

Mast said bills like the one Florida is considering are “essentially trying to legalize violations that employers are already committing.” 

In typical Republican fashion, business is considered far more important than the lives of children.

The pseudo-exception is what the GOP considers “woke” and porn. With anti-“woke” laws, the children are protected from learning history, and with anti-porn laws, the children are protected from seeing what is widely available on the web.

The book-banning is right-wing showmanship, as are the deportations. Those, along with anti-abortion laws, comprise the right-wing “reward-the-rich, punish-the-rest” system of governing.

The number of child labor violations in Florida tripled from 95 in 2019 to 281 three years later, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics cited by the Florida Policy Institute.

In 2023, violations dropped to 209 but were still high compared to previous years.

Should we expect that under Trump, Musk, and DeSantis, those statistics will be hidden and never gathered again?

Florida’s child labor law provides additional protections beyond what the federal Fair Labor Standards Act imposed in 1938. But Collins’ bill would move Florida closer to the baseline federal standard.

Under this year’s proposal, 14- and 15-year-olds would be able to work longer hours if they have graduated high school or have a GED, if they have an exemption from the school superintendent or if they are home-schooled or virtually schooled.

Does this satisfy any moral human being: 14- and 15-year olds, who should be in school, instead will work longer hours for “dirt cheap” low pay? Is that what a 1st world nation strives for? Is that how we “make America great, again”?

Alexis Tsoukalas, a labor expert with the left-leaning Florida Policy Institute, said the bill’s proposals are “being shortsighted versus thinking long term.”

Tsoukalas said research shows that when adolescents work more than 20 hours a week, they’re at a greater risk of dropping out of high school or having a poorer performance in school.

Does that come as a surprise to anyone? Is it acceptable?

“In the short term, yeah they might make some extra money, but in the long term it hurts them more in the labor market because they don’t have the education,” Tsoukalas said.

Tsoukalas said even if a teenager isn’t working in a hazardous job, working longer hours puts them more at risk of accident or injury.

Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, said that while he supports students working part-time jobs, he believes the bill being proposed this year “exploits students and potentially affects their well-being in school.”

Far be it from a conservative to exploit students, and Trump University demonstrated.

Beyond that, Jones worries that Republicans are looking to young workers to address potential shortfalls in the workforce as Trump promises to deport millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally.

“Let’s not look to our students to fix the problem that President Donald Trump and the Republicans have caused,” Jones said.

“Lowering the working age is not the key to filling the gap in our workforce — the key is fixing our broken immigration system, and that does not include Florida or the United States using inhumane tactics for political gain.”

Collins’ bill closely mirrors the proposal that failed to pass the Legislature last year after facing public backlash from critics who worried that letting teenagers work longer hours during the school year would impact their health and education.

Last year’s bill was sponsored by Rep. Linda Chaney, R-St. Pete Beach.

Last year, Chaney’s bill was filed after the conservative advocacy group Foundation for Government Accountability passed the draft to her office.

The group has pushed for rollbacks of child labor laws in other states, as well.

Records show that Chaney’s office asked the foundation for talking points on the bill. The group responded by saying the changes would help teenagers learn skills and the value of the dollar.

There you have it. Keep ’em poor to teach them the value of a dollar because poor people understand the value of a dollar. And teach them skills like picking lettuce, mopping floors, and asking, “Will you have fries with that?”

“Make America Great Again”?? More like, “Make America Dark Ages Again By Making the Rich Richer and the Poor Poorer.”

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty

Twitter: @rodgermitchell

Search #monetarysovereignty

Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell;

MUCK RACK: https://muckrack.com/rodger-malcolm-mitchell;

https://www.academia.edu/

……………………………………………………………………..

A Government’s Sole Purpose is to Improve and Protect The People’s Lives.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY