Originally Posted By skinnerbox Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse: <a href="http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/30/news/lawmaker%E2%80%99s-bill-would-create-5-25-%E2%80%9Ctraining-wage%E2%80%9D-for-teens/?ref=latest" target="_blank">http://new.bangordailynews.com...f=latest</a> <> AUGUSTA, Maine — The sponsor of a new child labor bill says employers should have the flexibility to pay workers under age 20 a “training wage.” Opponents countered that the proposal devalues young workers and takes money out of the hands of laborers and gives it to business. LD 1346 suggests several significant changes to Maine’s child labor law, most notably a 180-day period during which workers under age 20 would earn $5.25 an hour. The state’s current minimum wage is $7.50 an hour. Rep. David Burns, R-Whiting, is sponsoring the bill, which also would eliminate the maximum number of hours a minor over 16 can work during school days. Burns said the bill empowers both employers and employees and that employers would have more opportunities to hire minors. “An employer’s got to have employees, so they can decide what they want to pay,” Burns said. “The student wants to have a job, and they can decide what they’re willing to work for.” But Democrats and labor advocates have blasted the proposal. The bill also has caught the attention of the Maine Democratic Party, which was quick to link the bill to Gov. Paul LePage’s decision to remove a mural depicting child millworkers and other moments in Maine history from the Department of Labor. “It’s just too perfect after the flap with the mural,” party chairman Ben Grant said. “First, the governor tries to whitewash history and now this bill is trying to erase the progress of child labor laws itself.” Burns’ bill effectively would revive the teenage wage that was repealed by the Legislature more than 20 years ago. It’s unclear how the administration will view Burns’ bill. Dan Demeritt, a spokesman for LePage, said the administration had yet to review the proposal. However, the governor is backing a bill sponsored by Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, that loosens work restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds during the school year. That bill is headed for a vote in the Senate. It originally proposed allowing the youths to work up to 32 hours a week during the school year, a provision the governor supported. Plowman’s bill eventually was amended after significant push-back from labor groups. The amended version increases the current workweek to 24 hours, an additional four hours from current law. It also allows students to work until 11 p.m. Similar resistance to Burns’ bill already has begun. Laura Harper of the Maine Women’s Lobby said the proposal undermines efforts to “teach teens the value of hard work.” “This instead sends them the message that they aren’t valued,” Harper said. “That doesn’t fit with Maine values. At a time when business leaders recognize that student achievement is critical to Maine’s economic growth, this bill will shortchange students and impair Maine’s economic success.” Burns disagreed. “I’m sure some will support this and some won’t,” he said. “Some will see this as a step back toward child labor. It’s not.” Burns said he had heard from a lot of parents who are supportive of his bill. He hoped to receive the backing of trade groups such as the Maine Restaurant Association, which has supported Plowman’s bill. Democrats and labor advocates disagree. They say Plowman and Burns are putting too much emphasis on work and not enough on education. Harper cited a 2000 U.S. Department of Labor study that suggested “working a limited number of hours in the junior and senior years of high school has a positive effect on educational attainment.” Democrats on the Legislature’s Labor Committee were highly skeptical of Burns’ bill. Rep. Timothy Driscoll, D-Westbrook, said the two child labor bills under consideration would result in “kids working more hours during the school week and making less money.” A public hearing has not been scheduled for Burns’ bill. <> <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/31/gop-loves-child-labor/" target="_blank">http://thinkprogress.org/2011/...d-labor/</a> <> Maine State Rep. David Burns is the latest of many Republican lawmakers concerned that employers aren’t allowed to do enough to exploit child workers: LD 1346 suggests several significant changes to Maine’s child labor law, most notably a 180-day period during which workers under age 20 would earn $5.25 an hour. The state’s current minimum wage is $7.50 an hour. Rep. David Burns, R-Whiting, is sponsoring the bill, which also would eliminate the maximum number of hours a minor over 16 can work during school days. Burns’ bill is particularly insidious, because it directly encourages employers to hire children or teenagers instead of adult workers. Because workers under 20 could be paid less than adults under this GOP proposal, minimum wage workers throughout Maine would likely receive a pink slip as their twentieth birthday present so that their boss could replace them with someone younger and cheaper. And Burns is just one of many prominent Republicans who believe that America’s robust protections against the exploitation of children are wrongheaded: * Maine State Sen. Debra Plowman (R) introduced a separate bill that would extend the number of hours employers can require a minor to work. Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) backs this proposal. * Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) delivered a lengthy lecture where he claimed that federal child labor laws violate the Constitution. His Republican colleagues in the Senate rewarded him with a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee — the committee with jurisdiction over constitutional questions. * Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) introduced a bill which would “eliminate[] the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen. Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed.” * Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s (R) most recent brief attacking the Affordable Care Act relies heavily on a discredited Supreme Court decision striking down a federal child labor law that was overruled decades ago. * Judges Roger Vinson and Henry Hudson, the two outlier judges who struck down the ACA, also relied heavily on this discredited anti-child labor decision in their decisions. Republicans’ contempt for workers is hardly news. GOP governors throughout the country have declared war on collective bargaining, and the national minimum wage remained stagnant for nearly a decade the last time Republicans controlled Congress. Nevertheless, the GOP’s increasingly widespread assaults on child labor laws is a significant escalation from their longstanding war on adult workers. <> As some of the articles' commenters have pointed out, by increasing the number of hours that teens can work during school weeks, combined with raising the curfew from 10 PM to 11 PM, businesses such as restaurants will be more incentivized to pink slip their adult workers and hire high schoolers for 180 days at $5.25/hour. Gone will be the adult dishwashers, busboys, waitresses, and hostesses. The only adults working will be the manager, cooks, bartenders, and cocktail waitresses. No wonder the Maine Restaurant Association supports this crap.
Originally Posted By Tony C <<<Puts Maine on the list of states he will never visit. The Republicans just don't get it. They're never embarrassed by their actions but then again not having a conscious does that to a person.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 It's getting more and more clear that when it comes to labor, Rrpublicans want to party lime it's 1899.
Originally Posted By John3K Nasty as they are, the regulations STILL wouldn't be relaxed enough for Wal-mart's liking, I'm sure!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo And I am sure this will all come under the auspices of liberty and financial opportunity for our young. Isn't that very nice.....grrrrr.
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Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Now I understand why they're so against abortion -- it reduces their workforce. I really think that this country, or a large chunk of the population, is absolutely losing its mind with this kind of dopey legislation.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 As bad as the proposals in Maine are, this is the one that really struck me: <<* Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) introduced a bill which would “eliminate[] the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen. Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed.”>> Yes, lets have a bunch of children under the age of 14 working all hours of the day, including when they are supposed to be in school. This is the exact sort of thing that people worked so hard to abolish in the last century. Are they really trying to go back to the days when poor, uneducated children are forced to work in factories for next to no money? These people disgust me.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Are they really trying to go back to the days when poor, uneducated children are forced to work in factories for next to no money?<< These are free market extremists -- Reptilian Libertarians. They don't want no stinkin' government tellin' them what they can do with their business no way no how. From environmental protection to basic worker safety issues, they're in the mood to bring it all down, man.
Originally Posted By Tony C It would be funny if this wasn't so sad. But it seems like the GOP really wants to go back to the days of slavery.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo This would be in contravention of the UN Convention on Children's Rights. Unbelievable. China would have a better human rights track record about this issue then???!!!!
Originally Posted By hopemax > Now I understand why they're so against abortion -- it reduces their workforce. I really think that this country, or a large chunk of the population, is absolutely losing its mind with this kind of dopey legislation. < Do you know how close you are to someone's truth? A couple of days ago, Rick Santorum said: "The reason Social Security is in trouble is that we don’t have enough workers to support the retirees. “Well, a third of of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion — because one-in-three pregnancies end in abortion.”
Originally Posted By fkurucz Again, yet another reason I have abandoned the GOP. Poor Walt, his bright, beautiful tomorrow isn't going to happen.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Poor Walt, his bright, beautiful tomorrow isn't going to happen.<< Oh, it still might. But not today.
