Holy Child Labor Law Violations, Batman!
I was scrolling through my Google News feed on my walk to the grocery store when I came across this article about a 14-year-old work the register at a fast food joint. Obviously this piqued my curiosity or I wouldn't been sitting here blogging about it, so I gave it a read.
Now, before I assume my position on my soapbox, I should probably mention that I've been working in some way shape or form since I was about 10-years-old. The first job I ever had was cutting grass. I know some people might not think this is a job, but remind me again what it is that landscapers do? Oh yeah, yardwork, so it was a job. I remember my dad taking me outside and showing me how to use the mower. Back then we didn't have the one with a motor. Oh no, we had the one with two wheels that ran on the power of whoever was pushing it and for anyone in the know, you know that's some hard labor there especially if you have those patches of crab grass and growing in your yard. Did I mention that at the time we lived in Arizona too? Hot days in the yard pushing that mower sucked, but it taught me responsibility and it gave me a good work ethic. Just because something is hard doesn't mean you can't get it done.
Alright, now that I've laid the groundwork for understanding my position, let's get back to the topic at hand: the article. Before I even started reading the article I had mixed feelings about it and based on my life experience, you can see why. My parents had me doing yard work and chores around the house for money from a young age, so seeing a 14-year-old behind the register isn't anything new to me or shocking. I work with a set of twins that are 15-year-olds at the store I work part-time at now. They are really good workers and they have job because they want the extra money to spend on whatever they want. They know there's a good chance their parents will buy them what it is that they want, but they want to be independent and have money they can spend on their own and I respect that.
So, obviously I don't agree with the people who say that 14, 15, and 16-year-olds shouldn't work and should just be kids. I think if they want to work, they should and I would encourage any kid at those ages to get a job. Another thing I didn't agree with was those people saying that it was "dangerous" for a 14-year-old to be working in a kitchen.
Kids have been helping their parents in the kitchen since parents, kids, and cooking became a thing. My mom used to let us have free reign of the kitchen when we got old enough to handle the responsibility of using a knife, the stove, and handling food. Working at a fast food joint, or restaurant, isn't any different. It's a kitchen just like the one at your house with the only difference being that it was designed to mass produce food very quickly.
There are also rules that prohibit people under a certain age from using certain equipment. For instance, at my part-time job, no one under 18 is allowed to use the meat slicer. Do I believe that you could teach someone under 18 to use the meat slicer, of course, would I? No. Legal and safety reasons come into play there, so there are rules in place to keep minors safe in the workplace.
Essentially the only thing I agreed with in this article is the idea that these big chain restaurants and fast food joints are only advertising these jobs to parents for minors and pushing for people under 18 to come to work is because they are trying to take advantage of cheap labor.
Now, I don't think they are taking advantage of these kids because they aren't paying them what they pay a full grown adult with bills because what does a minor in the care of their parents really need that money for? Most of them aren't paying for anything other than luxury items they don't really need or money to hangout with friends, so I don't have any problem with an employer paying a minor anywhere from $4.50/hr. on up. That being said, I don't think any 14-year-old should making the same amount of money as someone who has work experience.
Where I believe they are taking advantage of the cheap labor is in the fact that most of these places don't want to pay adults a livable wage. Ever since the pandemic hit the US, all we've been hiring about is layoffs and worker shortages. How is there a worker shortage and yet people are being laid off? Just last month almost 300k people were laid off from multiple companies and not because the companies were in any financial trouble, far from it. Most of them laid off people, so they could trim the fat and help their company meet their financial obligations to shareholders and investors.
Recently there was an article about a McDonald's that was going to be fully automated and it has people worried that they will lose theirs job and be replaced which is exactly what is happening because these restaurants don't want to pay someone $15-20/hr. because it impacts the amount of money they make, so until these places figure out how to go fully automated, their solution is to hire as many minors and young adults as they can to take these jobs so they can pay them less per hour than they would an adult with bills and mouths to feed.
In summation, I believe that it's fine for 14, 15, and 16-year-olds to get jobs if they want them. Should they be forced to work, no, but there are some kids who have family circumstance that are less than ideal and they want a job to help the family out. Some just want money to play with. Whatever the reason, I think these young people should be allowed and encouraged to take on jobs if they want them within reason. That being said, I do think that these restaurants and fast-food joints are trying to take advantage of cheaper labor, so they can bridge the gap in their self-inflicted "worker shortage" until they can figure out how to go fully automated.
You can read the article by clicking the link below. Thanks for reading!
https://www.yourtango.com/news/photo-14-year-old-working-fast-food-restaurant-stuns-social-media-users-online
Comments
Post a Comment