Child labor is a global problem. These are not children helping out for a few hours a day on a family farm or business. These are children working long hours that interfere with schooling and often place these children at harm.
Child labor in slaughterhouses is shocking, and it’s something we have the power to stop. Join us in demanding JBS, Perdue, Cargill, and Tyson Foods stop child labor.
There are 138 million child laborers globally. nearly half of which are performing hazardous work.
Nearly 40% of child laborers are in hazardous work.
61% of child labor is in the agriculture sector
57% of child laborers are between the ages of 5 – 11
Child labor and poverty are inextricably linked. Children are often pushed into dangerous work due to poverty. And, child laborers often miss out on an education which may have enabled them to get out of poverty. It is a vicious cycle and one we have a responsibility to act on.
From 2015 to 2022, the number of minors employed in violation of child labor laws rose by 283%.
Since 2021, 31 states have introduced laws to weaken child labor protections.
Meatpacking
Major U.S. corporations are putting children as young as 13 to work in dangerous jobs they are too young to perform and that are hazardous to their health. In the meatpacking industry, children are working hazardous conditions on cleaning crews in slaughterhouses – surrounded by dangerous machinery that can easily rip off a person’s arm.
This is exactly the type of work children should never be exposed to – but, the largest meatpackers, JBS, Perdue, Cargill, and Tyson Foods, all have documented cases of child labor in their operations in recent years.
Big fast-food companies are employing children as young as ten years old to work hours so long that it negatively impacts their education or in dangerous conditions, including manually operating deep fryers and loading trash compactors. And, there have been nearly six times as many child labor law violations in the food service industry in the last ten years.
Major fast-food companies, including McDonald’s, Jersey Mike’s, Sonic Drive-In, Baskin-Robbins, and Chick-fil-A, have documented cases of child labor at franchises locations.
Child laborers in cocoa carry heavy loads, work with dangerous tools, and are exposed to hazardous agrichemicals – all of which negatively impact their health.
More than 40% of children interviewed reported feeling very tired or exhausted because of child labor.
34% of children were in very bad pain.
25% felt very sick.
12% had to receive medical treatment.
Of the children surveyed, 50% were only 5-11 years old. 57% of the child laborers were boys and 43% were girls.
Looking for better chocolate options?
While the major chocolate companies still have work to do to address child labor in their supply chains, many smaller brands already offer fair trade chocolate options—which means they have long-term, direct relationships with their farmers and guarantee a minimum price. Check out these brands.
We have had many big breakthroughs recently. Major companies across all industries are changing -- proof of the power of consumer pressure. We are witnessing how our economic power is truly changing the world for good and towards a simpler, more sustainable way of living. We are winning and we are opening doors for more businesses to go green.
Major beer companies, including Anheuser-Busch, are using harmful pesticides like glyphosate and 2,4-D in their barley and hops. These chemicals threaten human health, devastate pollinator populations, and contaminate our water systems.
Green America is pushing Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies to use renewable energy so communities aren’t polluted and climate change isn’t made worse by fossil fuels they plan to use.
The Chemical Industry is promoting a false solution to climate change and this time it is double the trouble: driving climate change and forever chemicals
Green America is building on our climate success of moving the entire telecoms industry to clean energy by taking on one of the largest climate polluters: refrigerator gases.
We and our supporters are getting major supermarket…
Economic Activism is what makes our work powerful. You make our work possible!