Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced legislation to bar meatpacking companies that violate child labor laws from receiving federal contracts for five years.
Under the bill, companies seeking U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) contracts will have to disclose all labor and worker safety infractions that they or their contractors have received in the past three years.
Repeated offenders would become ineligible for USDA contracts. The USDA buys meat and other agricultural products for government programs like the National School Lunch Program.
- Earlier this year, the Labor Department said the number of child labor violations had increased by nearly 70% since 2018.
- Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) will introduce a companion version of the bill in the House of Representatives.
Last November, the Labor Department filed a complaint against Packers Sanitation Services, a company that cleans meatpacking plants, for illegally employing dozens of children.
- Some of the minors, who had to work overnight shifts cleaning meatpacking plants, suffered chemical burns or other injuries while working for Packers.
- A February 2022 Reuters investigation found how chicken plants in Alabama were employing unaccompanied minors from Central America.
