DAVENPORT, IOWA (March 27, 2023) — On March 25, 12PM, parents and union members rallied together at the UFCW Local 431 hall in Davenport to speak out about the recent Iowa Child Labor Law’s proposed changes to current legislation. This rally was an opportunity for speakers to bring awareness to the community regarding the negative effects these changes could have on working teenagers in our community.
Some Iowa representatives and senators are proposing unrealistic changes to the child labor laws in Bills
SF542 and HF647, which include several amendments that put our teens at risk of serious injuries, or even loss of life, in compromising positions. Listed below are just a few of those changes to be passed through:
• Allowing teens as young as fourteen to work six-hour nightly shifts, and even longer hours during summer months.
• Allowing fifteen-year-olds to work on assembly production lines or loading/unloading shipments of items up to 50 pounds.
• Allowing sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds to serve alcohol.
• Allowing employers to recruit teens for “work-based learning” programs in jobs formerly off-limits as hazardous but now open to fourteen- through seventeen-year-olds under waivers provided by Iowa Workforce Development.
Scheduled speakers included:
Kay Pence, Vice President of Alliance for Retired Americans;
Michael Guster, President of the Davenport NAACP N° 4019;
Lee Shaffer, Guide at USW N° 105;
Evan Schenck, Governmental Relations Chair, Davenport Education Association; and
Ashley Danner, Secretary/Treasurer at UFCW 431 and an Iowa Parent.
President Dan Gosa, Quad City Federation of Labor, encouraged attendees to educate themselves on the hazards that teenage workers face and to contact their legislators on the importance of keeping our teenagers protected from these hazards in the workplace.
