Eastern Iowa laborers slam state amid battle over relaxed child labor regulations

Eastern Iowa laborers are disappointed with the state's lobbying for looser child labor restrictions.

At a roundtable hosted at the IBEW 405 Union Hall in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday night, representatives from the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area labor federations gathered to share the history of child labor restrictions and to recount experience with local child workers. They also called on the state and area businesses to adhere to federal child labor law.

The panelists focused on the recent battle between state leadership − including Gov. Kim Reynolds − local businesses, and the federal government over Iowa's less restrictive child labor law, which the governor signed last May .

Senate File 542 allows 16- and 17-year-olds, with their parent's permission, to serve alcohol in restaurants and to work in a few historically prohibited jobs as part of a work-based learning program. The law allows teens as young as 14 to work up to six hours a day during the school year and to work longer into the evening.

Jennifer Sherer of the Economic Policy Institute shared statistics and a brief history of federal child labor restrictions on Tuesday, July 16, to the room of more than 30 union laborers and elected officials. She directs the Worker Power Project for the institute and is the former head of the University of Iowa Labor Center.

The data indicated that the workforce is continuing to grow , while the number of U.S. Department of Labor agents available to investigate claims − from child labor to unpaid wages − is falling behind.

"We are experiencing and living through a moment in U.S. history where we really can't characterize this as anything other than a crisis," Sherer said.

The number of child labor violations has swelled considerably, Sherer said. The most recent labor data from Fiscal 2023 shows nearly 5,800 minors were employed in violation of federal law, a 50% increase over the previous year and a nearly 260% increase since 2017.

"We are observing a child labor crisis developing," she said.

More: Kim Reynolds: Feds should use common sense. A job is a good thing for a kid.

Child labor not infrequent in eastern Iowa

Some panelists shared personal experiences with child labor cases in eastern Iowa.

Rep. Sami Scheetz, D-Cedar Rapids, also works with Teamsters Local 238. He remembered seeing a worker who "couldn't be more than 12 or 13 years old" during a 2023 construction site tour.

"It was really a stark day for many of us who saw a child doing dangerous, harmful work," Scheetz said.

Gov. Reynolds was scheduled to hold a news conference at an Iowa City area business on June 24 to address the federal child labor law's impact on small businesses. Widespread flooding in northwestern Iowa forced the event to be canceled, which would have been held in front of Sugapeach Chicken and Fish Fry owned by Chad Simmons and his wife, Carol.

Simmons told the Des Moines Register that he had undergone a labor department inspection but declined to comment further.

"Sugapeach, like many small businesses, is a staple of its community and its potential closure, due to severe penalties imposed by the department, will have impacts well beyond its own doors," Reynolds wrote in a July 1 statement.

More: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds calls news conference to target federal child labor law enforcement

Ayman Sharif works as the executive director of the Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa, a non-profit that helps low-wage workers maintain their wages and their rights.

He told a story of a 16-year-old boy who fell from a roof he was working on and injured himself. Current federal law does not permit workers that young to work such jobs, but it does allow for 16-year-olds to work in construction.

The employer, Sharif said, did not help pay for the boy's medical treatment.

"We need much stronger action by the state and federal agencies to defend the safety and basic rights of workers in our state," Sharif said.

Hawkeye Area Labor Council Executive Director Rick Moyle said some children feel they must work as soon as they can to help their family.

"Many of those children are going to come from poorer families, where they may not have a choice (or) they may feel as if this is what they have to do to get by to help the family," Moyle said. "And I think that that's sad, it's sickening and it never should have happened."

More: Restaurant hiring rebounds as result of Iowa loosening child-labor rules

Some panelists slam Gov. Reynolds

Felicia Hilton said long-standing child labor laws protect children in various ways, keeping them from dangerous occupations and being exploited by employers. She also said the labor laws allow children to earn the education they need to foster their own bright future.

"I'm here (and) we're here to push back because Gov. Reynolds really has been attacking children for quite some time and most of her tenure," Hilton said.

Hilton is the political director for the Carpenter's Union and told the Press-Citizen that she went to Des Moines last year to lobby against the child labor bill. She and her colleagues could not believe that the bill passed.

"It's a sad, sad day for Iowa to have the (Department of Labor) be considered the bad guy protecting children in Iowa," she said. "Somebody's got to do it because you can't rely on Kim Reynolds to do something."

More: Federal child labor crackdown in Iowa draws protest from Gov. Kim Reynolds, lawmakers

Reynolds: Iowa 'targeted' by labor department

In June, Gov. Kim Reynolds said the penalties being imposed on state businesses were "excessive." Republican leaders, including Reynolds, have questioned whether other states with similar child labor laws are held to the same level of scrutiny.

Reynolds issued a statement on July 1 that claimed that Iowa had been "targeted" by the Department of Labor. She said that "singling out Iowa was misguided and likely to backfire." The labor department denied these allegations in written statements provided to the Des Moines Register .

Reynolds said most "reasonable people" and "most Iowans," feel that young people should have a job to teach them responsibility and work ethic.

"I fully support enforcing labor laws against businesses that subject employees to harmful and oppressive conditions," Reynolds wrote in the statement. "But we’re not running sweatshops in Iowa. Our kids are working in small town Subways, the local pizza place, or a family-owned restaurant. Small businesses that are the livelihoods of Iowa families and the lifeblood of our state’s economy.

"And in all reality, a couple extra hours of work for kids who choose to have a job are much more likely to help than hurt them."

The Des Moines Register's jobs and economy reporter Kevin Baskins contributed reporting.

Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Eastern Iowa laborers slam state amid battle over relaxed child labor regulations