(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . This is nuts: Iowa Republican wants to remove pesky rules against children doing dangerous jobs [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-07 To be clear, Schultz’s bill is based on long-standing ideas in the Republican Party. All of these labor laws are tied to work done outside of a “family farm or business.” Iowa Starting Line has a nice list of the new labor the bill frees up for your kids: For 14-year-olds: work in industrial freezers and meat coolers. Get some blood on your hands and therefore, blood in the game! load and unload “light” tools from vehicles. So … no unloading heavy tools, though the bill also says you can move 30 pounds. if you’re a kid laborer … which is pretty heavy for a “tool.” work in an industrial laundry. If you want to know about the industrial laundry industry, you can read about it here. It includes quotes from industrial laundry workers saying things like, “We would get blood and stuff on our hands. Some people got poked by needles.” detassling. This means corn farming. For 15-year-olds: load and unload and stock shelves with items weighing up to 30 pounds (and up to 50 pounds with a waiver from the labor commissioner). What about the “tools”? perform light assembly work (with a waiver). Learn all about Henry Ford’s assembly line! Only the smallest hands can get into the smallest cogs (H/T Hunter). In addition, the curfew time on work for children would be moved from 7 PM to 9 PM on school nights and from 9 PM up to 11 PM during the summer; 17-year-olds would no longer need work permits and would be allowed to work the same hours as adults. In even cooler news, 16- and 17-year olds would be able to serve alcohol to people who are drinking on work premises. Awesome! You would only need to get a letter from a parent in order to let you teen get their hands on some free booze! Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO’s Charlie Wishman told Iowa Starting Line of the Schultz bill: “Not only is this ripping up at least 100 years of child labor law that this labor movement has worked for, it seriously puts children at risk on job sites without having any form of legal liability protection.” If Republican Jason Schultz’s name rings a bell, that’s because he’s made some news over the years by saying and doing all of the things we have come to expect from the Republican Party. He’s the same Iowan who made his bones in the conservative movement when all you had to be was Islamophobic and willing to attack refugees.* In 2018, state Sen. Schultz tried to get legislation passed in the Hawkeye State that would require welfare recipients to both work and take drug tests. That’s some real meat-and-potatoes, conservative dirtbaggery. *Still true RELATED STORIES: Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day: Jason Schultz- 2020 Update We're chatting with one of our favorite fellow election analysts on this week's episode of The Downballot, Kyle Kondik of Sabato's Crystal Ball. Kyle helped call races last year for CBS and gives us a rare window inside a TV network's election night decision desk, which literally has a big button to call control of the House—that no one got to press. Kyle also dives into his new race ratings for the 2024 Senate map, including why he thinks Joe Manchin's unlikely tight-rope act might finally come to an end. In their Weekly Hits, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard recap big developments in two Senate contests: Rep. Adam Schiff's entry into the race to succeed Dianne Feinstein, and the GOP's unexpected show of unity in the open-seat election in Indiana. They also dissect the first poll of this year's hotly contested race for governor in Kentucky and highlight another 2023 battle that shouldn't get overlooked: the race for a vacant seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/7/2151605/-Republican-bill-aims-to-expand-child-labor-and-lessen-protections-on-kids-getting-hurt Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/