Beneath the smugness of Ron DeSantis, at Florida leading the nation in immigration enforcement lies something of a conundrum: how to fill the essential jobs of the scores of immigrant workers targeted for deportation.
The answer, according to Florida lawmakers, is the state’s schoolchildren, who as young as 14 could soon be allowed to work overnight shifts without a break – even on school nights.
A bill that progressed this week through the Republican-dominated state senate seeks to remove numerous existing protections for teenage workers, and allow them, in the Florida governor’s words, to step into the shoes of immigrants who supply Florida’s tourism and agriculture industries with “dirt cheap labor”.
“What’s wrong with expecting our young people to be working part-time now? That’s how it used to be when I was growing up,” DeSantis said at an immigration forum with Donald Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, in Sarasota last week.
I’m fairly certain I was working at 14 or 15 in NJ. We needed what they called working papers. There were rules too. But if they removed the rules, no one was going to make me work all night without breaks. I just wouldn’t do it.
They love that cheap labor. Apparently without breaks as well. Maybe they’re just going to have to go back to paying adult Americans.
For many high school kids junior and senior year is a complete waste of time. Give them the opportunity to work and make money instead of being bored and sleeping in their classes or causing trouble.
Do you have a quote from the actual legislation or just parroting the Guardian??
I carried papers 7 days a week when I was 14-16, one was afternoons and another was morning, getting up @4am to meet a 6:30 deadline.
Worked fast food 30-35 hrs a week 16 till I joined the Marine Corps, and I was not the only one to do it. We all survived and actually have something called work ethic.
This legislation loosens regulations on hourly limits, and allows kids to work overnight shifts on school nights.
In a move that may reignite debates over child labor laws, Florida lawmakers are advancing a bill, SB 918, that would loosen restrictions on teen work hours in the state. Last year, the state passed a law allowing parents, guardians or school superintendents to waive the 30-hour work week limit for 16- and 17-year-olds during the school year. This new proposal would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work more than eight hours on school nights and over 30 hours a week during the school year, without mandated breaks. For 14- and 15-year-olds who are homeschooled, attend virtual school or have graduated high school, the bill would also remove restrictions on overnight work.
Golly, if only there were people in children’s lives that has more authority and influence over them than the government. But who could that be . Nope, nothing comes to mind. Guess children that belong to the state can just be forced to obey. Sorry kids, but remember YOU’RE GOVERNMENT LOVES YOU, so be good little citizens!!
