"Unity Is Strength"

Crime and Punishment: Why the Poor Stay Poor in America explores how our laws and culture create a cycle of economic, racial and environmental inequality...and what together, we can do to change it. This post goes out to both free and paid subscribers, but if you are not already a paid subscriber and value this effort and our growing community, please consider upgrading to a paid membership. Bread and Roses Strike, 1912 . Photo Credit: New England Historical Society “A movement to weaken American child labor protections at the state level began in 2022. By June 2023, Arkansas, Iowa, New Jersey and New Hampshire had enacted this kind of legislation, and lawmakers in at least another eight states had introduced similar measures. The laws generally make it easier for kids from 14 to 17 years old to work longer and later – and in occupations that were previously off-limits for minors.” U.S. News & World Report, June 26, 2023 The employer-employee relationship is exploitive to some degree and at any age, but with 14 year old children, perhaps working in industries or assigned job duties that are physically dangerous, it’s practically a given. Exploiting the energy, naiveté and eagerness of kids who can’t legally drive, vote or sign a contract is what recent, state legislation is really about. ___________________________________________________________________________ I’d love to hear what you think about the current state of unions and their power to affect change in the United States. Please share your thoughts in the Comment Section below. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe