LONDON, May 10 (Xinhua) — Photos released by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) exposed that more than 100 children have illegally been working for a large food sanitation company, The Guardian has reported.
The Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Incorporated (PSSI) is one of the largest food sanitation companies in the United States and is contracted by meat plants to sanitize facilities. The photos were taken before the DOL cracked down on PSSI for violating child labor laws, the British newspaper said on Tuesday.
According to the pictures made public by the U.S. television news show 60 Minutes on Sunday, some of the employees at a slaughterhouse plant of PSSI appear to be young children, wearing protective face glasses and holding buckets.
The DOL started its investigation into PSSI in August 2022 after a middle school in Grand Island, Nebraska, notified police that a 14-year-old student came to school with acid burns on her hands and knees. The girl told staff that she was working night shifts at a local slaughterhouse plant. Teachers also noticed that other students were falling asleep in class after reportedly working at the plant at night.
\”It seemed to be known within the community that minors either are or were working overnight shifts. They told us about children that were falling asleep in class, that they had burns, chemical burns,\” DOL investigator Shannon Rebolledo was quoted as saying by the British news outlet.
An audit of PSSI found more children were working at other plants, leading the DOL to sue the company for violating federal labor laws. The company settled with the department later, agreeing to strengthen its child labor policies.
In February, the DOL fined PSSI 1.5 million U.S. dollars for employing at least 102 children ages 13 to 17 across 13 meat-packing plants in eight states.
Rebolledo told 60 Minutes that she believes the hiring of children \”was the standard operating procedure\”, adding that \”the number (of children who were working) is likely much higher\” than what the department ultimately found.
The DOL reported a 69 percent rise in illegal child labor since 2018, according to The Guardian.