Ik that’s right my ass worked since I was 10 first paying job was cleaning metal off a creek bank made 25$ for 8 hours of flipping old washing machines and fridges up the bank basically continued that work for a week till I got smart and started cutting grass at least I made reasonable money then at 7$ an hour till I got a real job at 16 making 5,15 an hour did yard work on days off by then I’d make 100-150$ a day doing yard work circa 2002 so not to bad for a 16 year old, I’m just glad my dad didn’t coddle me and allowed me have an understanding of what it takes to get what you want
My ex worked in HR at a plant and those temp agencies are used to skirt the law. For one, you can only be a temp from one agency for 18 months because it’s supposed to lead to full time work. What they did is use two shady agencies that basically swapped who they were employing every 18 months because they couldn’t hire illegal workers. I guarantee every manager at that plant knew what was going on and was using the temp agency as plausible deniability.
Intel does that, the temp worker shift. You work at one company until they let you go, then go to another one, I think they use three, but I haven't done the temp thing myself. A few friends and roommates did tho.. unemployment insurance too.
Hotels do this too. They are supposed to go back across the border for so many months. The idea is they rotate them at out of country resorts. But if you change hotels.... there they be.
I worked as a metal stamper for 25 years and I have seen a thing or two. I got a few minor scratched, to four stitches on my finger webbing, to a fingertip amputation. It is a dangerous job. One of our guys smashed three fingers. Now, I was supervising a new coworker when he was about to cut the straps on a 1/4 inch thick by 5 inch wide metal coil on the mandrel and not using the coil hold down arm. I yelled loudly and ran towards the new guy and pulled him away to stop him from cutting the straps. I might have been a little violent on pulling him away while yelling him to stop, but, he figured I did save his life from being beheaded.
Im a CNC machinist but My company also does some stampings and such, the machines are really quite safe if operated properly but even a small mistake when working with hydraulics can take fingers off or worse.
I've seen those coils come unwound when the straps are cut or they break. It's like a giant spring releasing all of its stored energy. Things can definitely get ugly real quick!
@@addhoardingprocrastinator Sure they could. Not like they have to pay taxes, can't throw kids in jail you know. They could RAPE their fellow employees, and you can't touch them.
I worked at a metal stamping / injection molding plant when I was in my 20s. The majority of the workforce were from Bosnia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. I ran an injection molding machine and had experience with maybe 5 different parts. I never had a part or lot or anything come back as defective. We had a new manager come in and he had new work tables with magnifying lights made, very nice, problem was they were made for shorter people, I am 6' 2" and I would use a bucket to sit on while inspecting parts so I could get a good view of the areas that were problematic but management did not want anyone to sit. I should have filed a complaint with the labor dept. but instead I quit. Cool experience but the no sitting rule was dumb, I could clear the parts 10x faster.
In Industry it is *normal* to work standing. Period. Specially in a metal stamping plant. Speaker manufacturer here, 50 years experience, 90% of the speaker is made out of stamped parts (frames, etc.) or lathe turned ones (pole pieces, etc.) ; doing those seated is stupid/impossible.
@@fahey5719 hey, I just saw your reply. With regards to the tables, this was an inspection table for looking through bins of parts coming off of the automated machines which do not stop and you need to be fast. You need to look though a bin, then swap it out for the other bin. Yes I agree when running a press (insert stamped widget and press button), stand up only. What they were asking me to do was killing my back as it was awkward working with this table made for short people and they didn't feel the need to accommodate me. Other than that it was an experience none the less.
This is wilful blindness. It was reasonably feasible for an on-site manager to verify the age of the agency workers. I worked for a temp agency in my teens. Whenever I would show up at a new work location, the agency's client would always ID me.
@@deconteesawyer5758 that's what they SHOULD do, but the point is they willingly look the other way to build up a labor force that effectively has no legal protections. Most of the people getting taken advantage of are either too poor or too scared to ever complain and risk losing their job/home.
Why not call it fraud, money laundering(they obviously don't pay the kids real money, but the IRS is told otherwise), and human right violation? Oh wait, why not just call it capitalism?
The minute the management at the plant allowed a child onto the assembly floor to work then the entire management staff became complicit to the crime. Period.
The entire management becomes suspect, not complicit. Every person deserves their day in court. I'm sure that the entire management didn't meet one day and ask, 'what about hiring kids'? There is someone guilty, and maybe a few.
I learned to drive a tractor at five, learned how to bale hay, herd cattle, saddle up, my first job at 14 years old. I don't remember the name but the product was called "Drop a Daisy in Your Tank ... Everything you touched turn blue, including your clothes, face, arms... Starting at nine years old I was raising my newborn sister.... I have worked my whole life and I have never regretted it .... Had lots of fun, hard times and sad times.... I look at people today kids today .... Personally, I'd rather see kids doing some kind of work than doing nothing but playing on their phones, computers, becoming criminals, etc.
Once upon a time, a job at a auto manufacturing plant was a ticket to the middle class. Now, manufacturers for everything made in the US hire permanent temps who will never be allowed to get a full-time job with benefits. The pay is better than the service industry, but there will never be security in manufacturing again.
Now since the government has basically bankrupted the big industries and given them to the employees no one will ever get in and everyone already in will die there.
Not until we stop exporting our jobs to China, South korea, Vietnam, India etc. American jobs for legal American workers or those here legally. We should not be exporting these jobs overseas to our competitors
There is still security in manufacturing, just not in some facilities. I think maybe there are more problems in union shops, people trying to work around the system with temp agencies and other tactics. In the factory where I work, and all the factories around my town, HR departments have difficulty finding workers. They are paying $20/hr and excellent benefits for unskilled labor and some local shops are even paying $3000 signing bonuses. It isn't particularly more expensive to live around here. But there is definitely competition for workers. I wonder how many more years this will go on. Interesting, I almost took a job in Michigan in the automotive industry. I declined the offer because I was afraid I would get sucked into nights and weekends.
@@microdesigns2000 There's a GM truck plant here, and most employees are temps. There are many automotive parts companies, and my husband was employed by one for a very short time in 2020. He's found an very unglamorous but recession proof job as a custodial engineer.
In Finland you could employ 12 years old for four hours a day in day shift for light work. But I do not know if they could do it in metal stamping factory because of site not being suitable for minors due dangerous machines in plant. And naturally it should not interfere school days.
I have had several temp jobs in my life. In all but one of the temp jobs, I had to interview with someone at the place where I would be working. That one company where I didn't have to interview was Norwest, which bought Wells Fargo, then changed its whole brand to Wells Fargo, a company not really known for its thoughtfulness, precision, or ethics.
i have worked in the Automotive industry for 30 Years. Mostly in Stamping plants. I have worked at suppliers and major automotive companies. The companies cannot find employees now it has a lot to do with wages and benefits being stagnant for the last 2 decades. while the companies are posting record profits. management will tell you all about their "safety and workplace regulations then they will look the other way as you break every one of them to get the job done and meet your numbers or risk getting fired" they do not care about the employees. and before anyone of you brings it up I have worked for union and no union shops. there all the same. safety is allowed as long as it doesn't effect output
I agree about non union jobs in general but I worked for and have plenty of union friends and all those union guys will report you for anything they can that violates their rules including violating safety protocols to out working them. Of course there's always a boss who's that ahole but again I saw myself what happens when you piss the union laborers off and they all complain against the boss well he didn't have a good outcome.
@@jerrykinnin7941 as someone who grew up on a farm working neighbors farms all while being a child I disagree. A poor kid doesn't deserve to have to live like that I know it's not that easy but no kid deserves to have to work and have there childhood taken away I mean besides the having home responsibilities and chores.
Worked at my Uncles metal stamping plant back in 1975 in Ohio when i was 12-13 years old, with my 10 year old sister. We worked on Saturdays for 10 hours, was paid 1 dollar per hour. We bent by hand a part that went inside Mr. Coffee makers that covered the wiring harness inside,. We also swept/cleaned up the shop, as my mother told him we were not allowed to operate any machines as all my older cousins were missing fingers/tips !!!
@@jlawrence0181 Ahh yes the 70s. My confusion was he said: "My uncle's metal stamping plant back in 1975" , a time when Jane Fonda had convinced the American public that their benevolent "Uncle" was uncle Ho Chi Minh , close associate of Chairman Mao.
@@deconteesawyer5758 Mr. Coffee was founded in the early 1970's in Cleveland, Ohio. Also the location of my Uncles metal stamping company, and where i grew up...
There’s no way the managers at the plant didn’t know exactly what was going on. Those managers need to be prosecuted and they need to face a judge and a jury.
@@Bulliegh Federal Law is explicit on the use of child labor and also on the requirement for children under the legal age of employment to attend full time education, there is every reason to suspect that the senior management at the plant knew what was going on, but turned a blind eye to it so that their corporate owners did not lean on them for shutting down car production lines due to a lack of assembly parts.
Song of the Punch Press Operator by Pete Seeger (1963) "I got a job in a factory Feeding a beast that don't like me It don't give a darn about how I feel As long as I feed it its ration of steel And pity the man who knows the grief That comes with the bite of that monster's teeth Pity the man who knows the grief That comes with the bite of that monster's teeth" There are several more verses.
The state has a stake in Hyundai being there. There’s going to be a fine and that is it. They will make that fine as low as they possibly can to make it appear as if it was some kind of punishment, just enough to appease the masses.
@@drago1149 Except that this is Acting President Biden's DoJ, and everyone of these child-workers and their parents are illegal immigrants, and Biden cannot discourage the American Dreams of those millions crossing the Southern border! Look at Hunter Biden, the United States Secret Service _watched him_ illegally buy a gun, get stoned and drunk, wave it around for weeks, and then _dump it in a trashcan outside an elementary school_ -- and _didn't even recover the gun themselves, to keep a child from finding it-- and _*_no charges have been filed. Four _years_** of "investigation," and no charges filed!* Equal Protection Under the Law, my ass!
@@drago1149 So they stopped epstein from supplying them underage hookers? Hell the feds were the customers. Now if they find Trump has some stock in Hyundai, that will be different.
It will cost Hyundai a lot of money to move it's factories to another state. It is also a right to work state meaning the entire reason Hyundai is there is to avoid union entanglements. Limiting the places they can relocate to.
In the 70's it was common for 12 year olds to have a summer job on a farm. I learned to drive a farm truck at 7. Mostly on farms with field pickers. The "Berry Bus" would pick up students at 6am and return them about 3pm. We worked our backs off - few shade breaks, sack lunch, water bottle. The pay? By the flat picked. If one got $5/day, you were a dedicated hard-worker! Now pickers lay on a mobile trolley with shade but the pay is still low.
Obviously this works for Mitch McConnell what did he say he wants people to be poor enough they'll take whatever's out there he has no trouble with your kids working just to pay rent THE GOOD OLD DAYS !
The problem with our criminal justice system is evident in this video. The factory is fined for breaking the law, but the actual people who are breaking the laws aren’t being held personally accountable. Someone should be going to jail for this! The company shouldn’t be paying fines, the people involved should be going to jail!!!
I started a mowing business at age 12, worked in a computer store at 15, delivered pizza as a second job at 17. No one made me do any of these jobs. I was restoring a 68 impala and enjoyed going to concerts and having fun, all which required money. Also, I really enjoyed the jobs I had.
These are CHILDREN working with extremely dangerous machinery. Because you had a few relatively safe jobs when young, you can't compare the two. Furthermore, why are you even trying to justify it?
i knew a kid that quit school at 13 & started working construction. he was a big kid so he looked older than he was. he just said he was 18 & they put him to work.
Could this be what happened to those thousands of missing children that cannot be found to re-unite with their parents, from the (kids in cages) program under President Trump? We know they've gone missing. We know their paperwork is 'lost'. We know that some were bussed away from the holding facilities, never to be heard from again, and the government can't find them. Could it be that these 'Temp agencies' have them, and put them to work?
@@robertsmith2956 what in the world are you talking about? You should care about working conditions as a decent human being. If that doesn't sway you, you should at least care about the quality of products. Overworked and rushed workers make mistakes, lowering the quality and potentially risking safety of the end consumer.
@@robertsmith2956 Yeah we should just let large corporations exploit everyone and everything so they can make a profit. Bring back indentured servitude, debtors prison, f it and slavery. Let the corporations pollute the planet and destroy the environment. As long as they provide someone to hate, and some stupid slogan to chant it is all worth it.
@@robertsmith2956 Actually the factory is in Luverne, Alabama which is very much Republican as is Crenshaw County as is the state of Alabama. Try again, Cooter.
Laws differ by state, but in Alabama for anyone under 18 to work, the employer must obtain a certificate which indicates what kinds of jobs they are allowed to do and also that they are not working so many hours or working hours that would prevent them from going to school. There’s also an issue with Worker’s Compensation and, OSHA as you mentioned. The problem with OSHA is it the agency has limited access to some employers, but the state requirement of certificates would be something that should be able to control this. Of course, there’s always the possibility of corruption. Hopefully this will get sorted out.
@@trevelynbrown4444 OSHA is administered by the federal government in Alabama. There are three ways OSHA may come in to inspect a company. One is if there’s a reported accident that is sufficiently severe. The second is if someone who works at the company files a referral. The third is if the company is selected randomly. Some industries are investigated more frequently than others. For example, in New Mexico agricultural operations and new construction are the most frequently targeted because these have been the ones with the greatest number of problems. OSHA is not the only agency that inspects facilities. There are inspections fire fire marshals, local codes, and often by the people who write their businesses and workers compensation. Oh she also runs a consultant operation in which businesses can ask them to come in to give them advice. Any infractions found during these visits receive minimum penalties, and sometimes none at all, because the company invited OSHA in. The name of this program is SafeSite.
So, Steve. I work in a "METAL STAMPING PLANT"! Really. I see this often. Mostly young females, occasionally a young male. They are always, at our plant anyway, Latin American. They are also always employed and verified by the staffing agency that provides them. I think the couple points that you struggled with can be explained mostly by the way they are surrounded and protected by the older more established agency employees. Many who seem to take them under their wing and kind of keep them from having difficult conversations with others. The other part, at least where I work, is that they usually don't speak English at all and they are very shy and another is usually speaking for them. I have more than once wondered and even questioned the age of some of these Temps, but no straight answer is available. Often we have what appears to be a complete family and they support each other in keeping their situation private. I think ultimately the agencies, who are desperate for help, are the most responsible for vetting the workers eligibility since very often they have a very fluent Spanish speaking staff who should be able to spot the nuances of a child who is clearly not ready to work in a metal stamping plant! P.S. we do, at least, have an excellent safety record.
It’s actually illegal to ask for someone’s age, that is discriminatory. You must instead ask is the are eligible to work or similar. Easy to deny especially given the language barrier and coaching by parents. And if you were to take action based of what you thought you could still end up on the wrong side of a discrimination charge... but of course management knew and understood all this and went along with it.
I've talked with many people between the ages of 20 - 40 that act and talk like 13 year olds. I do think that drug use is to blame with most of these individuals. Some of these other people I've talked to are usually Karen's and Darren's that work as a government employees and usually have no customer service skills who are working in customer service.
@@spacemanmat this is in place so cover up the illegals the democrats want to flood the country with. They all get handed 20k and vanish as soon as they’re here.
No... the hiring company is to blame... the benefit of using a temp agency is that you can end an assignment immediately without much explanation... if they see that the kid is too young and it's usually obvious then they could just call the temp agency and ask for another body... if they are only sending those that don't speak English or potential undocumented immigrants usually the company using the temp agency is fully aware and it's all part of the plan... so the responsibility should fall on the company using the agency.
This is exactly how the labor unions got started. A long time ago, the coal companies figured out that children would work cheaper than their parent, so they filled the coal mines with minors. The parents all got together and put a stop to it.
My granddad was one of those child minors in Pennsylvania. He left, eventually, to NYC to work as a butcher because the company run town made opportunities scarce, but his brother opened a bar and did quite well. Thanks for the reminder of the reality of the past for those who mistakenly think corporations are bound by ethics rather than the pursuit of profit at any cost.
The issues here can be quite different from the labor abuses of the 1900s, if indeed the children are being paid the same as adults, as rather than cutting cost they have a shortage of workers. This is one of the unintended consequences of government covet policies paying unemployment compensation that is more than minimum wages. One of the biggest issues facing the US today is a shortage of workers. There has always been an argument regarding liberal immigration and the catering to illegal immigrants is backed heavily by the US Chamber of Commerce. The end result is an influx of unskilled and cheap labor, that can be taken advantage of by what is often foreign industry doing business on us soil to bypass American tariffs.
I worked a Walmart distribution center, through a temp service. I was legal (40's US Citizen born and bred), but many there were sketchy in my opinion. Some very young looking individuals, as well as some that spoke 0 English and got sketchy when the uniformed security (Looked like local police) were walking by. The age surprises me, but our temp service (Snelling a branch of Career Development INC), were doing seminars on how to hide and fake citizenship. No joke they posted it on the front bulletin board for everyone to see. If I weren't desperate for a job, I'd have reported it, I had no choice but to look the other way
One wonders whether the contractor's true function is "supplier" or liability shield. Isn't there some country where it's actually legal to hire someone to do your prison time? Where did I see that?
I've worked at factories as a temp before. I can see how this happens. Where I worked, the company had a lead who was bilingual and it was her job to work with all the temp workers who spoke her native language. They all worked together in a separate area and the only time I ever saw them was when I had to go work in that area. Most of them kept to themselves or only spoke in their language so I couldn't understand what they were saying. I can see how someone who was underage can get lost in the shuffle, that doesn't mean its alright though.
Especially because only a very few of the production jobs are skilled positions - press operators, maintenance mechanics, electricians, etc. The temp agencies provide general laborers, who sweep the floors, package product for shipping, and other unskilled / low-skilled work that is necessary, but not likely to draw attention from management so long as it gets done.
My son worked at a food processing plant through a temporary agency when he was 18, they bussed worker to the plant on an "as needed" basis when the plant called them. The article did not address several issues. Were the parents being investigated for not sending the kids to school and letting the temporary agency ship them off to work? Were some of the parents working at the factory also? How many illegally employed children were sent off to other business and factories?
Illegally-employed illegal aliens have children that need jobs, too! The temp agency sent these people to work for SMART, in violation of the IRS regulations pursuant of the US ID Act. Will we see an investigation?
I drove a tractor in an Apple orchard when I was 13 and when I was 14 I started working at a large chicken farm where we worked around a lot of moving machinery. This was allowed not many years ago.
I once bought a car that looked almost showroom-new. It was five years old and had a nice re-paint job. I was seventeen. I was far too young and the car was far too old. Reading the papers would have saved me a lot of money, but the salesman had a great personality!
Not many people have enough of a conscience than to question things at work and possibly lose their job. I have a feeling there was a lot of willful head turning going on in this process by all parties involved.
In their "defense", they have a hard enough time paying their own bills to care about some illegal immigrants...Would expect more, and more of this as the economy declines...
@@brentfarvors192 The rich using the 50% of the global wealth they have to control the actions of the "peasants," It's an age old story and I agree, it will just get worse, People tend to turn on each other before they figure out a way to actually change things.
Wow - - I remember when I was a teen w/ a paper route, having to read up about labor laws (my first SSN & tax filing, etc.): NY specifically outlaws children working with metal casting, cutting, or forming machines.
Heck I helped my Dad build car engines after school since I was 12. I loved it and splitting wood for winter. Bucking hay or digging potatoes. Whatever Dad needed help with. Plus becoming a really good cook
I was 15yrs old and working as an orderly in a VA hospital taking care of resident veterans. I did my job as well as anyone and better than most. This served me well as I learned how to care for my future quadriplegic wife for 30 years. It wasn't forced labor and was the lowest wage, but I was happy to get the job, in both cases.
This is what happens when you let business do what it wants and don't hold them accountable in a measureable way. If they fine them 100k the company made 90 Billion that 100k is just the cost of business for them.
Start by investigating how many people knew about it. If they're an adult, in a position of power, and didn't take steps to end the practice(like reporting the company to the police), send them to jail, a day for each illegal shift per worker under them. As for the company, fine them at least 10x the money they saved or made by breaking the law. Also at minimum the money they made divided by the chance of getting caught(need to make the expected value negative.)
@Dr. Obligated you probably also advocate for the phase children should be seen not heard, and for resuming beating and other things that happen in your good old days.
how dare factories indoctrinate young workers. they need proper indoctrination in schools. -sarcasm I was waiting for the report kids worked the regulated hours AND went to school. not the case.
@Dr. Obligated The child labor laws have been on the books since the early part of the 1900s and rightfully so. See the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938. There are opportunities for young people to work but their health and safety need to be protected until they are mature enough to do certain kinds of work. I don't think children should be operating metal stamping machinery in a factory. That is insane. Also these kids should be concentrating on school and should have a limited number of hours so it doesn't interfere with their schooling. Are you a Cro Magnon or something? Jeez.
Lemme get this straight, just because they outsourced jobs to a hiring agency that the company can say its not their fault yet it is their property.......🤦♂️
A certain cell phone service provider contracted out the installation of their cellular towers, due to the inherent dangers. Needless to say, people died. Iirc, the court would not let them skirt their responsibilities to make sure the contractors were providing adequate safety training and safety equipment.
During the great Depression my mom lost her job for lying about her age, she told them she was eleven which was acceptable, some one needed a job for their sister so they could the my mom real age was only ten.xshe cried for a week
@@knightofthelivingdrones2646 I did this kind of work for 7 years, there is never any reason to get injured on the job. Of course people tried anyway. We only had one injury, and that is a story all by itself.
Young kids working in the summer for money and staying out of trouble, as opposed to kids not working but stealing from stores, breaking in cars, and doing drugs. I wonder which one is better?
when you work a high turnover rate into your business plan the recruiting/hiring firms become your bread and butter. its not surprising to me that they didnt say anything about being sent children from the recruiting firm. that would throw a wrench into the revolving door that is factory work. they start you at a low hourly wage and give you an ever narrowing path to promotions and raises filled with pitfalls they can use as excuses to reset you back to the bottom.
Child labor laws exist for a reason. They represent progress against hundreds of years of exploitation and death. Nevermind that expanding the labor pool to include children and paying people sub-standard wages does NOT help regular working people.
I worked as a kid, started when I was 10, enough that I had made enough income, that I had to file a Federal income tax return. It's not illegal, I still went to school, worked weekends, Holidays, and Summers. I'm 62 now, I have literally been working for 52 years of my life. It's not cruel, not unreasonable, and not a bad experience for a kid to learn how to work ... but it can be. Don't worry, there were child labor laws back then too, and this didn't violate them. It was all above board and done legally, so adjust your thinking people.
@@piperp9535 pretty big difference between throwing a newspaper or hitting buttons on a cashier computer, and something like using manufacturing/heavy equipment sounds like the labor subcontractor is taking advantage of children, specifically, for maximum profit margin
@@krismckasson I'd feel better if education was more than college prep and college grads weren't going 100ks in debt just to end up at a metal stamping factory anyway. the truth is the American promise is a scam and it doesn't matter what you do. Real work isn't rewarded anymore.
Starting at the age of about 4 years old, my brother (who was a couple years older than me) were responsible for all inside housework other than cooking and all outside work which included a 3/4 acre garden. We had to build a rock wall 4 ft wide x 3 ft tall by about 100 yards long, completed by the time I entered kindergarten. My Mother worked full time as a grocery store clerk while my Step-father (who later became my adoptive Father) did... well nothing. He was retired from 22 years as a supply clerk in the Air force when he married my Mother, and considered himself retired at the age of 40. By then time I was 10 years old, he had me mowing lawns in the neighborhood, and kept the money based on me 'earning my keep'. There was a lot more work that we were forced to do, and I won't go into the details of physical and mental abuse. The worst part is it was all legal. Family, friends, and the community were all aware of everything, but even supported this due to his military service and 'teaching me a good work ethic'. My Mother finally divorced him when I was 15 after my brother died from the thousands of blows to the head he had received, but by that time my body was already showing signs of breaking down with issues like back and knee problems. He remarried, and less than a year later died of a heart attack due to being morbidly obese at age 59, which left me with no inheritance... I just grew up as his servant. I'm age 51 now, with the body of an 85-year-old, and a strong hatred of parents that force their own children into labor that only benefits themselves. But, I have always had a strong work ethic, and I guess that's the only thing that matters to most people.
Oh man I'm so sorry for what you went through as a child and for your brother. I 100% agree. A childs first and only occupation should be to develop his body and mind and be healthy while doing it
It is a shitty break when you get a parent who believes that tough love and showing a child that hard labor helps build a strong mentality and work ethic uses it to commit abuse, my heart goes out to you for all of your suffering at the hands of an evil man
My mom worked on her family farm when she was 5. I started working when I was 10. People don't know how to work these days because they aren't allowed to work when they are young and their parents coddle them and get them everything they want and so by the time comes for them to work, they don't even know how to show up on time or stay off their dang phones and do their jobs.
@@justicedemocrat9357 I'm not sorry at all. I didn't ask you to feel sorry for me. Plus, I retired at age 37 and can now go out and have a lot more fun traveling the world than I could have ever had when I was a kid.
I was a contractor at a transmission housing casting plant in northern Alabama. Unbelievable how shoddy the rules and people were. They moved from Wisconsin and we were moving and installing the equipment. That’s not too hard to imagine that dollars and cents were behind the move and Alabama’s lax law enforcement are the reason they moved there.
That is how we do business. Externalize the costs and responsibility and privatizes the the profits. Not having a drivers license stops 0 people from driving. You wold be surprised how many people drive for years with no license.
In the old textile industry, kids were paid 60%, adults 100%, and midgets were paid 150%. The midgets were to retrieve the bodies of children caught in the giant loom presses.
@@witebatman They were 3 Guatemalan children and there are millions crossing the border this year alone. Some of those millions will be finding jobs. Some of those crossing mistate their ages so they can be classified as minors. I don't know if that is the case here but it came to my mind. Sorry I confused you with potatoes.
If they were going to school and depending on the area of the plant and what they were doing I'd have no problem with this. I worked part time from the time I was 12. It was at a shirt factory and a furniture plant. After school, weekends and summer. I wasn't exploited in any way. In fact I learned the value of a dollar, money and time management skills, and had a pretty nice car paid for before I was 16. That was during the 90's. If anything it created the work ethic that's still driving me today. It also reinforced for me the need for a college education because I knew what awaited me without one. I've been in many manufacturing plants. Many car parts are very small and have duties sorting and packing that a 12 year old could safely handle. They definitely should not be working full time or long hours during school but a teen is probably much safer working there than spending hours daily on social media. That is the true danger to our youth today.
My first job I was 13 pushing a broom for a mechanic shop. Same thing though, I had enough saved by the time I got my license I could buy any (reasonable) car I wanted. I opted for an older car with a blown head gasket from a family member for $100 and 6 months later I had her all fixed up and put probably 1,500 into it Including mandatory new everything 4 wheel breaks because my dad wasn't having me cheap out on brakes lmao
As long as they are getting a fair wage, not being forced to work & are working in a safe work environment then I have no issue either. Unfortunately it looks like this is not the case. Children are expected to work on family owned ranches all the time once they are old enough to do the task safely. It helps them get acquainted with how to run it and could potentially get passed down to them when their parents pass.
"This was during the 90's" The "90's" were a time period of the late 1900's. Kids then could focus long enough to read and comprehend a simple short story even after walking to school in the snow barefoot and uphill both ways.
As a teacher of 12 and 13 year old students I can believe they might have found one or two kids who look older but this sounds like a longstanding problem with many kids cycling in and out over a period of months or years. Nope, not plausible.
That's violating Federal regulations established long ago. As it is summer I see less harm harm in it as there is a labor shortage but the kids better be getting proper wages.
No one noticed a 12 year old? And don’t tell me there are some very adult 12 year olds because I have never met a 12 year old I couldn’t tell was not an adult with a 30 second conversation.
I worked at the zoo when I was 13, I was a ward of the state, very limited in what I could do and limited to a certain number of hours I think it was like 200 hours. It was during summer break. 15 years later I drove forkift at a farm equipped manufacturer I wasn't allowed in the vicinity of the stamps. On or off the Forklift. The stamp operators had their own palet jack they moved stuff out of the zone before a forklift moved it to the warehouse. The only way kids should have even been in that building would be a class field trip. I own a Hyundai and am disappointed.
@@0756rocketman the company, over this, I've been happy with the car and was thinking my next would be a Hyundai also. Please let this be it. I'm already done with ford for their continued support of insurrectionists.
Steve, worked for Federal OSHA for over 30 years. The controlling employer, in this case Smart. is totally responsible for all employees in their facility. Period. No nonsense about agencies supplying them etc. Controlling employer is responsible for everything!
Having worked at an auto parts assembly line just after college, I'm inclined to believe Hundai/Smart here. The temp agency handles all your paperwork, you just show up to the plant on your first day ready to work, and all of your pay is handled through the Temp agency (since they take a cut off the top). You are very much loaned labor to the plant from the Temp agency. Not saying someone on the Plant floor shouldn't have been able to look at the children and raise a red flag somewhere.
Not excusing the managers entirely, but Guatemalan immigrants apparently average 5'2" in height. It might not have been readily apparent at first blush.
My factory did this same thing . We had a southerner working all evening on second shift going home to sleep then going to high school where she was in the 9th grade . Underage Guatemalan children. The factory just said it was the temporary service companies job to vet the workers and make sure they are all legal .
@@happygardener28 Paperwork aside, the supervisor should have known something was wrong the minute CHILDREN walked on to the floor. No way they could pass as adults at that age.
I saw it first hand for years working at poultry plant. Guatemalan people are usually very short and facial features make them look young. You will have one legal one in a family that will share paperwork and an ID with brothers so will have the same person working at 4-5 different plants. They claim exempt on taxes so not pay federal or state taxes and then never file income taxes at end of year. They would always know ahead of time when immigration was going to be at the plant and only about 1/4 of all workers would show up that day.
This is the SAME EXACT Thing that Walmart did at one time for their Janitorial Service. They do this in order to get the CHEAPEST and in some cases FREE Labor by targeting the MOST Vulnerable. And with a certain degree of separation through the “Temp” Company, they can’t (or THINK they can’t) be held Directly Responsible when caught. What these Greedy Companies try to pull is DISGUSTING! 🤬
True story, my father worked in a factory (not legally, mind you) during WW2 making jeep axles. He had a hilarious story where he was holding a crowbar over his shoulder (early teens, IIRC), and was asked to stand back, and walked the end of that crowbar right into a circuit box. Blew our half the lights in the factors, and blew him right back into the work the actual workers were trying to look at. His words? "That curled the hair on my toes!" Now his actual job (for which he was paid) was just to gopher around and bring tools and parts to the actual workers. Not exactly dangerous, but this was in the 40's. The definition of dangerous was different back then.
I wonder how they got around the social security and taxation system? In order to work in the US one must have a valid social security number, proof of identification, and several other things as one must have a W2 forum to be able to work. So again how did they get around all of these checks and balances? Who did these children's taxes or were they paid completely under the table? There has to be some sort of a paper trail for all of this and all parties need to be held accountable.
They didn’t exist. Paid no taxes, brought in on white vans. Had no insurance. Been going on for years! Everybody knew and did nothing. CEO is the Mayor’s son. That is how he got the job. Elites of Lucerne. Nothing happens!
Additionally, some temp agencies deny that some people are employed by them, and outsourced. These companies have filled out 1099 forms (self-employed) for workers and claim immunity. I ran into this at several jobs.
I'm 68 years old and I grew up on a farm. I was hiring out for day work to other farmers by the time I was 12 - if my dad didn't need me working at home. I'm not trying to justify what happened at this plant, but the plain fact is that there are a lot of Americans out there that started their economic careers at that kind of tender age, and in other countries it is still commonplace. I considered it a privilege at the time to be earning some money on my own. I was baling hay, walking soybeans for weeds, detasseling corn, and shelling corn out of corn cribs. It was all hot dirty work and sometimes it was dangerous, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It has served me all my life. Nowadays a kid won't even take a paper route.
I worked at the age of 8 with my families home improvement company. Got paid half minimum wage in cash and mostly clean up and sweep floors for 10 hours a day. All clients we worked for thought it was cute. That's kind of normal in middle America. Factory work does go another step towards the old child labor era though. A lot of things need to change in mid American culture for this to be a surprise to me.
After reading through some comments..it amazes me how people try to justify working in a manufacturing plant with all its hazards, regardless of what they do. Running newspapers or phone books isn't even on the same page as is this. I hope no one has a child that young working in a dangerous environment as such. Poor America...it's going downhill.
@@robertsmith2956 There is a world of difference between delivering newspapers or phone books and working in the automotive manufacturing plant. Running a sheet metal stamping or break press requires a persons full undivided attention both sight and hearing skills that are acquired after years of study. Which an adolescent teenager does not possess. To answer your inquiry of running a newspaper press... No I haven't. I do on the other hand have a vast knowledge and hands on experience of every aspect of the printing industry. This includes and not limited to, Copy, layout with paste up of ads and type set in the confines of the nominal size as well as full page layout of the printed newspaper. I also possess a wide range and variety of skills and experience in the offset printing industry. This again includes and no limited to pre-press set up to camera set up and final burning of the plate. Setting type by hand or by the line-o-type machine. Setting up the paper, knowing how to cut the grain, and press to run the job as efficiently, cleanly while using the correct style ink. All of these procedures for a press from sheet fed to 4 by 4 color web press. I hope this will clear the air when it comes to the experience I have when I can confidently state that children don't possess the knowledge to be working in such a hazardous enviroment.
I suspect that language plays a part here, and would not be surprised that the children are translating for their older family members. Interesting that I started work at late 14 years of age, after leaving school, working as a trainee for the government Lands and Survey Department. Then a cleaner also for the government, at 15, learned how to use a floor polisher maintaining 1 mile long corridor strips of linoleum in government warehouses. At 16 worked in a plant making biscuits and candy, being 'the man', was in charge of 20-30 women on the biscuit line, and solo on the candy line. Hours there were 7am to 3pm, then 4pm to 11pm, with 1 hour break for meal supplied, and 2 10minute breaks during each shift. That was a wonderful job always learning new things. Then at 17 and 6months, joined the Military.
I'm a machinist, I work for a machine builder that builds stuff for automotive suppliers, so I know a little about how they operate, here is my guess on why no one realized they were 12-13. The leads, supervisors, and whoever else was a permanent employee never talked to them. They were foreign, English was not their first language, they likely only spoke Spanish at the plant, so they went with the other Temps on breaks. These places the Temps and regular employees don't tend to mix. Temps are hired by the dozen on Monday and by Friday there are a couple left, stick around 3 months you might be hired permanent, but unlikely, because if you actually show up for 3 months the temp agency will likely move you. The other Temps either, didn't speak Spanish, or if they did they either didn't care, or were told a sob story that caused them to feel bad enough to keep their mouth shut, regardless the others that were Spanish speaking were probably of dubious legality and they wouldn't report anyone.
*and for those wondering... foreign workers can tend to be smaller than people that were fed 3 squares a day all their lives. So, picking out a kid "because of size", isn't really a thing.
@@briangallagher787 lot of these placing are working 6-7 12s a week, Micky Mouse and Bugs Bunny could walk through the door and no one would question them.
I started working at 12 ...family friends' shops and business'...Tough work at times but never "exploited"...it is great to learn how to earn a living and give back to one's house hold and family, even when it is not necessary... Work is good, better to learn how to work than to learn how to use drugs and all that crap...Exploitation of minors a big no no...that is flat out criminal.
Sounds like a nice excuse for child endangerment. Your parents should have known better. These children were used for dangerous jobs. That is exploiting them. This Nation has child labor laws for a reason. You need to stop kissing employers butts.
@@briangallagher787 My duties, while working for my parents company, were to organize files and file cabinets...nothing too strenuous. At the office help out the architects, draftsman etc...I was the little gofer, like a 12 yo intern. When I was "sent out" to job sites, the engineers would send me to the foreman, the foreman to the journeymen and they would just give me menial jobs. Working at the friends shops had more to do with organizing shelves, electric products mainly, hardware, wires, cables, lightbulbs, lamps...everything that was powered by electricity...and the gofer duties (lunch, coffee, snacks etc)...Definitely not exploitation...there is risk everywhere, learning how to work, be self sufficient, financially "independent" (not having to ask my parents for $$$ to buy movie tickets, clothes, toys, shoes, etc. when I wanted them feels good) should not be demonized or criminalized...like I said, exploitation of minors is criminal, teaching your children the ins and outs of family business at a young age is just part of growing up the right way I think, to not be afraid to work...to improve the things that need to be improved etc.
@@oskarvomhimmel6936 So basically you gave a false impression, by making it seem that you worked like these children. All to intimate that those people were doing those Children a favor. Way to go Simon Legree.
@@briangallagher787 🤦 The point is that there is a big difference between "working under age" (I did receive payment for my work on the same day all employees did, and was half the entry level pay because I worked half the time) under certain circumstances and Being EXPLOITED as a child because of need, inexperience and the willingness to earn anything... I think in Europe they call that an apprenticeship, at a later age, and not sure if they receive any pay...but Learning to work, younger than most, is beneficial I'd say...the "need" to work is different as well, it is not financial need, it is the need to teach "responsibility" at an early age...and GET PAID for your work accordingly. I was not in a workshop/sweatshop or whatever those underage exploitation-shops are called...and yes, I do agree...that is abuse of minors, it opens up the door to justifiable exploitation, which is the abuse that should always be prevented.
I have a 12 year old. There is no way he or any of his friends could be confused with someone eligible to work. Throw the book at this plant and the temp service that sent these kids to them.
I see this from a different point of view. Having been a Child who worked after school in many different jobs from 11 years old and up. You see sometimes the family are so poor that everyone need to do there part. Given this was in the mid 1960s i see why these kids and their families are doing this.
In the UK it is down to the company using agencies to fill positions to do all the necessary checks, they wouldn't be able to say that the agency should have checked
Steve, the question of either the parent company or Smart paying these minors is only a partial issue. Yes, they seem to be in trouble for their possibly allowing minors to work in their plants. The employment contractor that provided the laborers needs to be saddled with the question of if these underage workers were adequately compensated as if they were of legal age to have entered into a contract. One thing that popped into my mind is that if people under 16 years of age working in a pizzeria. When I was working there, it was my understanding that a parents written consent was needed for that youth to have been employed at that pizzeria. And that the youth had shorter hours available to be working. Now, my other question would be this. Is there a difference in legality, in common and current laws to include this past decade, between a set of parents who are US Citizens in allowing their underage children to work (hopefully not in middle or heavy industry) when compared to families who are fresh off the boat, either legally or illegally residing in the U.S.?
Rhetorical, right? Please tell me you're not trying to have an inane conversation with Mr. Leto in the comments of TH-cam videos. Anyone in the U.S. is protected by U.S. laws like anyone else. What are you even asking? Seems like a vaguely disguised immigration question/statement. STFU
In many places the illegals are preferred because the employers can rip off the workers and threaten to report them for being in the country illegally.
On the issue of pay: If the labour hire companies mentioned in the article function the same way they do here (not in the US) then Smart would pay the labour hire company who then pay the staff they supply. This leads into another round of corruption, kickbacks and graft. What are the minors being paid Vs what Smart is paying the labour hire company? I'd be willing to bet there is a BIG difference.
The temp-agencies need to be shut down and their operating staff arrested. The factory supervisors need to be arrested and the factory shut down for the duration of the investigation.
Not that I would want to work in a Factory, but it's pretty amazing that you can walk into somewhere like a flagship manufacturing facility and just say you work with a temp agency. There will be no checks or research done to ensure you're actually supposed to be there. There needs to be repercussions for this, carelessness isn't an excuse for child labor.
I did day labor work when I was 13. They knew I was lying about my age and didn't care. The places we were sent to work also didn't care. There is no way anybody thought I was really 18.
A lot of state governments do a modern version of this, in that they'll hire temp/durational employees for certain positions. The carrot they dangle in front of them is that after 6 months, they become permanent and thus are eligible for benefits (e.g. medical, full time employment, etc etc). However, to avoid the (in their rationale) unnecessary salary expenses, they'll terminate those employees roughly one to two weeks prior to the completion of that six month period, then wait a week or so, and rehire them. Wash. Rinse and Repeat.
My thoughts on this when I was 12-13 I was forced to work summers with my dad installing carpet, every day off from school, including snow days. He was allegedly paying me, but putting the money in a savings account until I was 18 (complete BS). The last summer was the worst, we got into a huge argument, I moved back in with my mom, basically had to black mail him to get the $1/hr he was paying me. Certain types of work 12 and 13 year olds should not be doing no matter how old they look. If anyone believes those kids were keeping the pay checks is delusional, I am sure there is a lot of fear and guilt motivating the kids, they may have liked the idea at first but after 2 weeks I will bet they wanted to be back in school. If any of those kids got hurt while working, I bet they got them out of the factory and came up with a good story. If I got cut while working and duct tape didn't stop the bleeding, we were home and I was playing with his tools. Even if, on the off chance, the kids are all in and keeping the money, it is just a lawsuit waiting to happen, undocumented a scare tactic maybe, but to the labor department and courts, that would be secondary. The sad part, people are happy to look the other way, do you really think people saw me working everyday, doing what I was doing and thought I was 16? He is learning a trade, working with his dad, he is so lucky! One of my sisters tried that on me, I said I was working 10-12 hours a day 6 days a week, starting when summer vacation did and ending when it did.
So the millions of kids that worked on the farm so they could EAT should have been paid? Get over yourself if a parent has you working, anything they pay is an allowance lol.
If ? When the kid(s) got hurt (if serious) and being they are an illegal alien doing the job "Americans won't do," they would be murdered. Who would know? Americans have you figured out the type of job(s) Americans are said they won't do yet? It is slavery,
I have lived in central Alabama for over 70 years. This is an outrage and a disgrace. Someone in that plant damned well knew what was going on at the beginning of every shift. And no, they didn’t pay these kids an adult wage. That’s the idea! And, you’re right. No 12 year old of any description can pass as an adult. This is a bare faced lie.
Temporary Employees Service is another way to keep out Unions and not have to pay any benefits to Employees. Also Companies can hire Illegal Aliens with no consequences!! Meanwhile supervisors and Managers for the Company are aware of these young and Illegal Workers!!
if there's a way to screw someone to save a dollar business will do it. the fact there are kids working for them bothers the temp agencies and the companies not at all. anyone who thinks otherwise understands nothing. business is business: get the money. nothing and no one else matters - just get the money.
Although Hyundai "does not tolerate" abuses of child labor laws one would think that they would check the ID of the person showing up to work just in case the person hired by the temp agency (who may be an adult) is the person showing up at the plant on Monday. What if there were an accident at the plant? Shouldn't the plant bosses have an ID to provide the paramedics or hospital? I worked in an industry where the established, assimilated, friendly person would apply for a job, audition for the job, interview for the job, and get the job. They pretended to be and used the ID of a friend or family member who looked very similar to them. Those bosses would send the file to the next group who would finish the paperwork. The person who showed up for the job was not the person who processed in. They barely spoke English and could do the basics of the job. It was a fantastic scam.
It's called minimum wage with no benefits besides paycheck. Temp agency gets paid per person and to increase their profit, they hire on for minimum wage (federal minimum in AL so $7.25). By doing this they will overlook issues just to have a person to fill the position. Starting to see them pay $8/hr now so they can advertise you will make more than minimum wage.
The fact that Hyundai did not say that they were appalled and were cooperating with police investigations into these allegations shows that they knew something fishy was going on and turned a blind eye because the numbers looked good. This is why e-verify should be required by law for every US worker. The system would not have allowed them to hire the children in the first place and would have flagged them for trying to hire them so that an investigation could be started. The managers knew and they need to go to jail. The agency needs to be shut down and most of them need to go to jail. The fact that there were disappearances that the family noticed sounds like she was kidnapped and forced to do this. The FBI, AG, and local cops need to crawl right up the butts of this whole thing.
Gotta get the 5 years experience for an entry level job somehow.
*internship experience only counts for a third. Part time and jobs held less than a decade count for half.
😂😂😂😂😤
Naw, they're just cruising for husbands. Roll Tide!
😂
Ik that’s right my ass worked since I was 10 first paying job was cleaning metal off a creek bank made 25$ for 8 hours of flipping old washing machines and fridges up the bank basically continued that work for a week till I got smart and started cutting grass at least I made reasonable money then at 7$ an hour till I got a real job at 16 making 5,15 an hour did yard work on days off by then I’d make 100-150$ a day doing yard work circa 2002 so not to bad for a 16 year old, I’m just glad my dad didn’t coddle me and allowed me have an understanding of what it takes to get what you want
Brings a whole new meaning to “take your kid to work day”.
IT'S TAKE YOUR PARENT'S TO WORK DAY HERE
A whole new career path for the family! Lol 🤔❤🇺🇸
More like let's bring the old meaning back.
What's the new meaning?
My ex worked in HR at a plant and those temp agencies are used to skirt the law.
For one, you can only be a temp from one agency for 18 months because it’s supposed to lead to full time work. What they did is use two shady agencies that basically swapped who they were employing every 18 months because they couldn’t hire illegal workers.
I guarantee every manager at that plant knew what was going on and was using the temp agency as plausible deniability.
Intel does that, the temp worker shift. You work at one company until they let you go, then go to another one, I think they use three, but I haven't done the temp thing myself. A few friends and roommates did tho.. unemployment insurance too.
Temp agency hiring is "you over 18 yes", and that is what they write down, ignoring the diapers and the bottle.
Yep. Complete lack of ethics in businesses is commonplace.
Hotels do this too. They are supposed to go back across the border for so many months. The idea is they rotate them at out of country resorts. But if you change hotels.... there they be.
Amazing. You must be clairvoyant.
I worked as a metal stamper for 25 years and I have seen a thing or two. I got a few minor scratched, to four stitches on my finger webbing, to a fingertip amputation. It is a dangerous job. One of our guys smashed three fingers.
Now, I was supervising a new coworker when he was about to cut the straps on a 1/4 inch thick by 5 inch wide metal coil on the mandrel and not using the coil hold down arm. I yelled loudly and ran towards the new guy and pulled him away to stop him from cutting the straps. I might have been a little violent on pulling him away while yelling him to stop, but, he figured I did save his life from being beheaded.
Im a CNC machinist but My company also does some stampings and such, the machines are really quite safe if operated properly but even a small mistake when working with hydraulics can take fingers off or worse.
Hopefully the kids have quicker reflexes than you did 🤣
Tbh beheading sounds like one of the better ways to go - there are a lot of more painful or more gruesome ways that same mistake could kill someone.
I bet he still works there.
I've seen those coils come unwound when the straps are cut or they break. It's like a giant spring releasing all of its stored energy. Things can definitely get ugly real quick!
In a related story: 16yo buys new '23 Hyundai for first car. Stupified Salesman struggles to apply 'Employee Discount' teen qualified for...
This got a snerk from me. That's like a giggle that was changed into a guffaw but was blocked by a sneeze.
hehehe understand your just trying to make a joke, but pretty sure nobody at today's supplier plants are making enough money to buy a new car.
🤔🤣😂😃😅😆
I hope he held out till they threw in the child safety seats.
@@addhoardingprocrastinator Sure they could. Not like they have to pay taxes, can't throw kids in jail you know. They could RAPE their fellow employees, and you can't touch them.
I worked at a metal stamping / injection molding plant when I was in my 20s. The majority of the workforce were from Bosnia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. I ran an injection molding machine and had experience with maybe 5 different parts. I never had a part or lot or anything come back as defective. We had a new manager come in and he had new work tables with magnifying lights made, very nice, problem was they were made for shorter people, I am 6' 2" and I would use a bucket to sit on while inspecting parts so I could get a good view of the areas that were problematic but management did not want anyone to sit. I should have filed a complaint with the labor dept. but instead I quit. Cool experience but the no sitting rule was dumb, I could clear the parts 10x faster.
Constructive dismissal
In Industry it is *normal* to work standing. Period. Specially in a metal stamping plant. Speaker manufacturer here, 50 years experience, 90% of the speaker is made out of stamped parts (frames, etc.) or lathe turned ones (pole pieces, etc.) ; doing those seated is stupid/impossible.
@@fahey5719 he said he was inspecting parts at a table, not running a machine.
@@fahey5719 hey, I just saw your reply. With regards to the tables, this was an inspection table for looking through bins of parts coming off of the automated machines which do not stop and you need to be fast. You need to look though a bin, then swap it out for the other bin. Yes I agree when running a press (insert stamped widget and press button), stand up only. What they were asking me to do was killing my back as it was awkward working with this table made for short people and they didn't feel the need to accommodate me. Other than that it was an experience none the less.
This is wilful blindness. It was reasonably feasible for an on-site manager to verify the age of the agency workers. I worked for a temp agency in my teens. Whenever I would show up at a new work location, the agency's client would always ID me.
hard to ID migrant workers that may lack ID.
Mind you I do not excuse them for this. throw the book at them.
@@TWX1138 No ID ? No work.
All big companies love their cheap labor. That has been the plan for decades. That is why they love our open border.
@@deconteesawyer5758 that's what they SHOULD do, but the point is they willingly look the other way to build up a labor force that effectively has no legal protections.
Most of the people getting taken advantage of are either too poor or too scared to ever complain and risk losing their job/home.
Why not call it fraud, money laundering(they obviously don't pay the kids real money, but the IRS is told otherwise), and human right violation? Oh wait, why not just call it capitalism?
But, Steve! The tiny hands of children can reach so much deeper into the machines. Think of the machines!
You laugh, but ONLY as child's hands can get at the bolts on these new cars. They practically pour the car body around the engine like a latex glove.
Shades of Schindler?
The minute the management at the plant allowed a child onto the assembly floor to work then the entire management staff became complicit to the crime. Period.
And it is most certainly criminal
The entire management becomes suspect, not complicit. Every person deserves their day in court. I'm sure that the entire management didn't meet one day and ask, 'what about hiring kids'? There is someone guilty, and maybe a few.
@@microdesigns2000 You're not shown mercy for ignorance of the law...unless you work in the Executive Branch, apparently.
I learned to drive a tractor at five, learned how to bale hay, herd cattle, saddle up, my first job at 14 years old. I don't remember the name but the product was called "Drop a Daisy in Your Tank ... Everything you touched turn blue, including your clothes, face, arms... Starting at nine years old I was raising my newborn sister.... I have worked my whole life and I have never regretted it .... Had lots of fun, hard times and sad times.... I look at people today kids today .... Personally, I'd rather see kids doing some kind of work than doing nothing but playing on their phones, computers, becoming criminals, etc.
The minute OSHA failed to stop it they ALSO became complicit.
Once upon a time, a job at a auto manufacturing plant was a ticket to the middle class. Now, manufacturers for everything made in the US hire permanent temps who will never be allowed to get a full-time job with benefits. The pay is better than the service industry, but there will never be security in manufacturing again.
Now since the government has basically bankrupted the big industries and given them to the employees no one will ever get in and everyone already in will die there.
Not until we stop exporting our jobs to China, South korea, Vietnam, India etc. American jobs for legal American workers or those here legally. We should not be exporting these jobs overseas to our competitors
There is still security in manufacturing, just not in some facilities. I think maybe there are more problems in union shops, people trying to work around the system with temp agencies and other tactics. In the factory where I work, and all the factories around my town, HR departments have difficulty finding workers. They are paying $20/hr and excellent benefits for unskilled labor and some local shops are even paying $3000 signing bonuses. It isn't particularly more expensive to live around here. But there is definitely competition for workers. I wonder how many more years this will go on.
Interesting, I almost took a job in Michigan in the automotive industry. I declined the offer because I was afraid I would get sucked into nights and weekends.
@@microdesigns2000 There's a GM truck plant here, and most employees are temps. There are many automotive parts companies, and my husband was employed by one for a very short time in 2020.
He's found an very unglamorous but recession proof job as a custodial engineer.
@@freethebirds3578 I highly respect your husband's work.
In Finland you could employ 12 years old for four hours a day in day shift for light work. But I do not know if they could do it in metal stamping factory because of site not being suitable for minors due dangerous machines in plant. And naturally it should not interfere school days.
Good to know that Nordic commies only work their 12 year olds half days in the factories.
I have had several temp jobs in my life. In all but one of the temp jobs, I had to interview with someone at the place where I would be working. That one company where I didn't have to interview was Norwest, which bought Wells Fargo, then changed its whole brand to Wells Fargo, a company not really known for its thoughtfulness, precision, or ethics.
i have worked in the Automotive industry for 30 Years. Mostly in Stamping plants. I have worked at suppliers and major automotive companies. The companies cannot find employees now it has a lot to do with wages and benefits being stagnant for the last 2 decades. while the companies are posting record profits. management will tell you all about their "safety and workplace regulations then they will look the other way as you break every one of them to get the job done and meet your numbers or risk getting fired" they do not care about the employees. and before anyone of you brings it up I have worked for union and no union shops. there all the same. safety is allowed as long as it doesn't effect output
practically every factory/ warehouse in America has safety policies but ignores them for the sake of profit.
I see nothing wrong here. But I was a poor kid in Kentucky at 12. So I see nothing wrong here.
@@jerrykinnin7941 are you still 12?
I agree about non union jobs in general but I worked for and have plenty of union friends and all those union guys will report you for anything they can that violates their rules including violating safety protocols to out working them. Of course there's always a boss who's that ahole but again I saw myself what happens when you piss the union laborers off and they all complain against the boss well he didn't have a good outcome.
@@jerrykinnin7941 as someone who grew up on a farm working neighbors farms all while being a child I disagree. A poor kid doesn't deserve to have to live like that I know it's not that easy but no kid deserves to have to work and have there childhood taken away I mean besides the having home responsibilities and chores.
Worked at my Uncles metal stamping plant back in 1975 in Ohio when i was 12-13 years old, with
my 10 year old sister. We worked on Saturdays for 10 hours, was paid 1 dollar per hour. We bent
by hand a part that went inside Mr. Coffee makers that covered the wiring harness inside,. We also
swept/cleaned up the shop, as my mother told him we were not allowed to operate any machines
as all my older cousins were missing fingers/tips !!!
Doubt it was Mr Coffee as he speaks Chinese.
@@deconteesawyer5758 Mr. Coffee was produced in the US in the 1970s. I think that I know the plant that the poster is referring to ...
@@jlawrence0181 Ahh yes the 70s. My confusion was he said: "My uncle's metal stamping plant back in 1975" , a time when Jane Fonda had convinced the American public that their benevolent "Uncle" was uncle Ho Chi Minh , close associate of Chairman Mao.
@@deconteesawyer5758 Mr. Coffee was founded in the early 1970's in Cleveland, Ohio. Also
the location of my Uncles metal stamping company, and where i grew up...
@@davidjames5727 How is your uncle's metal stamping company doing ?
Edit: We are hoping your uncle fared better than Cleveland.
There’s no way the managers at the plant didn’t know exactly what was going on. Those managers need to be prosecuted and they need to face a judge and a jury.
@@Bulliegh
Yes, it is in most jurisdictions. You clearly didn’t watch the video.
@@Bulliegh Federal Law is explicit on the use of child labor and also on the requirement for children under the legal age of employment to attend full time education, there is every reason to suspect that the senior management at the plant knew what was going on, but turned a blind eye to it so that their corporate owners did not lean on them for shutting down car production lines due to a lack of assembly parts.
@@Bulliegh bullshit, for obviously employing underage workers in a dangerous job!! most definitely a crime!! pull your head out!!
@@Bulliegh Yes it is, that plant has LAWS that state you have to be 18 to work there.
How are those kids gonna learn about gender identity if they are working and not going to government school?
Song of the Punch Press Operator by Pete Seeger (1963)
"I got a job in a factory
Feeding a beast that don't like me
It don't give a darn about how I feel
As long as I feed it its ration of steel
And pity the man who knows the grief
That comes with the bite of that monster's teeth
Pity the man who knows the grief
That comes with the bite of that monster's teeth"
There are several more verses.
Wonder if he made his kid Bob Seeger write that for him?
Thanks going check this out
The state has a stake in Hyundai being there. There’s going to be a fine and that is it. They will make that fine as low as they possibly can to make it appear as if it was some kind of punishment, just enough to appease the masses.
This is a Fed thing now. They don't mess around once something like is publicly brought to them.
@@drago1149 Except that this is Acting President Biden's DoJ, and everyone of these child-workers and their parents are illegal immigrants, and Biden cannot discourage the American Dreams of those millions crossing the Southern border!
Look at Hunter Biden, the United States Secret Service _watched him_ illegally buy a gun, get stoned and drunk, wave it around for weeks, and then _dump it in a trashcan outside an elementary school_ -- and _didn't even recover the gun themselves, to keep a child from finding it-- and _*_no charges have been filed. Four _years_** of "investigation," and no charges filed!*
Equal Protection Under the Law, my ass!
@@drago1149 They didn't before, but now days the Feds are built for large corps instead of the little guys.
@@drago1149 So they stopped epstein from supplying them underage hookers?
Hell the feds were the customers.
Now if they find Trump has some stock in Hyundai, that will be different.
It will cost Hyundai a lot of money to move it's factories to another state. It is also a right to work state meaning the entire reason Hyundai is there is to avoid union entanglements. Limiting the places they can relocate to.
In the 70's it was common for 12 year olds to have a summer job on a farm. I learned to drive a farm truck at 7. Mostly on farms with field pickers. The "Berry Bus" would pick up students at 6am and return them about 3pm. We worked our backs off - few shade breaks, sack lunch, water bottle. The pay? By the flat picked. If one got $5/day, you were a dedicated hard-worker! Now pickers lay on a mobile trolley with shade but the pay is still low.
SLAVERY !
I had many jobs in the 70's in Los Angeles. Learned a lot more then school!
Big difference in summer farm work and manufacturing, forgoing schooling. I worked on family farm entire life but never missed school.
HR is always happy with the plant manager on “ Bring your brother to work day “
I'm sure the SS# will show she is 57, not 13.
That’s “little” brother to work day.😒
Obviously this works for Mitch McConnell what did he say he wants people to be poor enough they'll take whatever's out there he has no trouble with your kids working just to pay rent
THE GOOD OLD DAYS !
The problem with our criminal justice system is evident in this video. The factory is fined for breaking the law, but the actual people who are breaking the laws aren’t being held personally accountable. Someone should be going to jail for this! The company shouldn’t be paying fines, the people involved should be going to jail!!!
Or fines AND jail.
This is a consequence of car companies looking to cut costs without improving efficiency and/or getting rid of bloated management.
That's the path to bankruptcy.
I started a mowing business at age 12, worked in a computer store at 15, delivered pizza as a second job at 17.
No one made me do any of these jobs. I was restoring a 68 impala and enjoyed going to concerts and having fun, all which required money. Also, I really enjoyed the jobs I had.
These are CHILDREN working with extremely dangerous machinery. Because you had a few relatively safe jobs when young, you can't compare the two. Furthermore, why are you even trying to justify it?
Kids can’t work around dangerous machinery and chemicals…….unless it’s under an agricultural exemption of course.
i knew a kid that quit school at 13 & started working construction. he was a big kid so he looked older than he was. he just said he was 18 & they put him to work.
We should also be upset about how inhumane the adult labor is at these types of suppliers.
Could this be what happened to those thousands of missing children that cannot be found to re-unite with their parents, from the (kids in cages) program under President Trump? We know they've gone missing. We know their paperwork is 'lost'. We know that some were bussed away from the holding facilities, never to be heard from again, and the government can't find them. Could it be that these 'Temp agencies' have them, and put them to work?
Why? You prefer they be sex workers ran around from blue city to blue city. Oh wait. bham IS blue isn't it.
@@robertsmith2956 what in the world are you talking about? You should care about working conditions as a decent human being. If that doesn't sway you, you should at least care about the quality of products. Overworked and rushed workers make mistakes, lowering the quality and potentially risking safety of the end consumer.
@@robertsmith2956 Yeah we should just let large corporations exploit everyone and everything so they can make a profit. Bring back indentured servitude, debtors prison, f it and slavery. Let the corporations pollute the planet and destroy the environment. As long as they provide someone to hate, and some stupid slogan to chant it is all worth it.
@@robertsmith2956 Actually the factory is in Luverne, Alabama which is very much Republican as is Crenshaw County as is the state of Alabama. Try again, Cooter.
Laws differ by state, but in Alabama for anyone under 18 to work, the employer must obtain a certificate which indicates what kinds of jobs they are allowed to do and also that they are not working so many hours or working hours that would prevent them from going to school. There’s also an issue with Worker’s Compensation and, OSHA as you mentioned.
The problem with OSHA is it the agency has limited access to some employers, but the state requirement of certificates would be something that should be able to control this.
Of course, there’s always the possibility of corruption.
Hopefully this will get sorted out.
Just pass another law, that will stop them.
@@tedmoss Just hire some inspectors to replace the ones that Donald Trump decided we didn’t need.
@@SeanPat1001 OH yea, Orange Man bad. Him all fault. Him invite this invasion. Duhh.
@@trevelynbrown4444 OSHA is administered by the federal government in Alabama. There are three ways OSHA may come in to inspect a company. One is if there’s a reported accident that is sufficiently severe. The second is if someone who works at the company files a referral. The third is if the company is selected randomly.
Some industries are investigated more frequently than others. For example, in New Mexico agricultural operations and new construction are the most frequently targeted because these have been the ones with the greatest number of problems.
OSHA is not the only agency that inspects facilities. There are inspections fire fire marshals, local codes, and often by the people who write their businesses and workers compensation.
Oh she also runs a consultant operation in which businesses can ask them to come in to give them advice. Any infractions found during these visits receive minimum penalties, and sometimes none at all, because the company invited OSHA in. The name of this program is SafeSite.
@@trevelynbrown4444 I've been through 2 OSHA audits with 2 separate companies, they do indeed conduct field audits.
So, Steve.
I work in a "METAL STAMPING PLANT"!
Really. I see this often. Mostly young females, occasionally a young male. They are always, at our plant anyway, Latin American. They are also always employed and verified by the staffing agency that provides them. I think the couple points that you struggled with can be explained mostly by the way they are surrounded and protected by the older more established agency employees. Many who seem to take them under their wing and kind of keep them from having difficult conversations with others. The other part, at least where I work, is that they usually don't speak English at all and they are very shy and another is usually speaking for them. I have more than once wondered and even questioned the age of some of these Temps, but no straight answer is available. Often we have what appears to be a complete family and they support each other in keeping their situation private.
I think ultimately the agencies, who are desperate for help, are the most responsible for vetting the workers eligibility since very often they have a very fluent Spanish speaking staff who should be able to spot the nuances of a child who is clearly not ready to work in a metal stamping plant!
P.S. we do, at least, have an excellent safety record.
It’s actually illegal to ask for someone’s age, that is discriminatory. You must instead ask is the are eligible to work or similar. Easy to deny especially given the language barrier and coaching by parents. And if you were to take action based of what you thought you could still end up on the wrong side of a discrimination charge... but of course management knew and understood all this and went along with it.
I've talked with many people between the ages of 20 - 40 that act and talk like 13 year olds. I do think that drug use is to blame with most of these individuals. Some of these other people I've talked to are usually Karen's and Darren's that work as a government employees and usually have no customer service skills who are working in customer service.
@@spacemanmat this is in place so cover up the illegals the democrats want to flood the country with. They all get handed 20k and vanish as soon as they’re here.
No... the hiring company is to blame... the benefit of using a temp agency is that you can end an assignment immediately without much explanation... if they see that the kid is too young and it's usually obvious then they could just call the temp agency and ask for another body... if they are only sending those that don't speak English or potential undocumented immigrants usually the company using the temp agency is fully aware and it's all part of the plan... so the responsibility should fall on the company using the agency.
@@spacemanmat what?! Hahaha only in America!
This is exactly how the labor unions got started. A long time ago, the coal companies figured out that children would work cheaper than their parent, so they filled the coal mines with minors. The parents all got together and put a stop to it.
My granddad was one of those child minors in Pennsylvania. He left, eventually, to NYC to work as a butcher because the company run town made opportunities scarce, but his brother opened a bar and did quite well.
Thanks for the reminder of the reality of the past for those who mistakenly think corporations are bound by ethics rather than the pursuit of profit at any cost.
A long time ago 1938?
Except today the labor unions bizarrely support open borders. They no longer advocate for workers, which is why workers reject them.
Young people worked on farms and in mines all throughout human history until the tractor was invented.
The issues here can be quite different from the labor abuses of the 1900s, if indeed the children are being paid the same as adults, as rather than cutting cost they have a shortage of workers. This is one of the unintended consequences of government covet policies paying unemployment compensation that is more than minimum wages. One of the biggest issues facing the US today is a shortage of workers. There has always been an argument regarding liberal immigration and the catering to illegal immigrants is backed heavily by the US Chamber of Commerce. The end result is an influx of unskilled and cheap labor, that can be taken advantage of by what is often foreign industry doing business on us soil to bypass American tariffs.
I worked a Walmart distribution center, through a temp service. I was legal (40's US Citizen born and bred), but many there were sketchy in my opinion. Some very young looking individuals, as well as some that spoke 0 English and got sketchy when the uniformed security (Looked like local police) were walking by. The age surprises me, but our temp service (Snelling a branch of Career Development INC), were doing seminars on how to hide and fake citizenship. No joke they posted it on the front bulletin board for everyone to see. If I weren't desperate for a job, I'd have reported it, I had no choice but to look the other way
Ah yes, the good ol' "we're not responsible for our illegal practices, our outsourced contractor is"
They can just stamp "Fair Trade Certified" on all their products and the problem simply goes away!
Typical 'rules for the but not for me' mentality.
One wonders whether the contractor's true function is "supplier" or liability shield.
Isn't there some country where it's actually legal to hire someone to do your prison time? Where did I see that?
@@JimCoder 18th century England?
I've worked at factories as a temp before. I can see how this happens. Where I worked, the company had a lead who was bilingual and it was her job to work with all the temp workers who spoke her native language. They all worked together in a separate area and the only time I ever saw them was when I had to go work in that area. Most of them kept to themselves or only spoke in their language so I couldn't understand what they were saying. I can see how someone who was underage can get lost in the shuffle, that doesn't mean its alright though.
Especially because only a very few of the production jobs are skilled positions - press operators, maintenance mechanics, electricians, etc.
The temp agencies provide general laborers, who sweep the floors, package product for shipping, and other unskilled / low-skilled work that is necessary, but not likely to draw attention from management so long as it gets done.
My son worked at a food processing plant through a temporary agency when he was 18, they bussed worker to the plant on an "as needed" basis when the plant called them. The article did not address several issues. Were the parents being investigated for not sending the kids to school and letting the temporary agency ship them off to work? Were some of the parents working at the factory also? How many illegally employed children were sent off to other business and factories?
They're illegals 🤣 Nothing will happen.
Illegally-employed illegal aliens have children that need jobs, too!
The temp agency sent these people to work for SMART, in violation of the IRS regulations pursuant of the US ID Act. Will we see an investigation?
I drove a tractor in an Apple orchard when I was 13 and when I was 14 I started working at a large chicken farm where we worked around a lot of moving machinery. This was allowed not many years ago.
@@Chris_at_Home I started work at six, got my OSHA Forklift Certification at twelve, but those were family businesses; different rules.
It is a good thing to start work early in life, for many reasons.
I once bought a car that looked almost showroom-new.
It was five years old and had a nice re-paint job.
I was seventeen. I was far too young and the car was far too old.
Reading the papers would have saved me a lot of money, but the salesman had a great personality!
Not many people have enough of a conscience than to question things at work and possibly lose their job. I have a feeling there was a lot of willful head turning going on in this process by all parties involved.
In their "defense", they have a hard enough time paying their own bills to care about some illegal immigrants...Would expect more, and more of this as the economy declines...
@@brentfarvors192 The rich using the 50% of the global wealth they have to control the actions of the "peasants," It's an age old story and I agree, it will just get worse, People tend to turn on each other before they figure out a way to actually change things.
Wow - - I remember when I was a teen w/ a paper route, having to read up about labor laws (my first SSN & tax filing, etc.): NY specifically outlaws children working with metal casting, cutting, or forming machines.
And now a days paper routes require one to drive and own their own car.
Heck I helped my Dad build car engines after school since I was 12. I loved it and splitting wood for winter. Bucking hay or digging potatoes. Whatever Dad needed help with. Plus becoming a really good cook
I was 15yrs old and working as an orderly in a VA hospital taking care of resident veterans. I did my job as well as anyone and better than most. This served me well as I learned how to care for my future quadriplegic wife for 30 years. It wasn't forced labor and was the lowest wage, but I was happy to get the job, in both cases.
This is what happens when you let business do what it wants and don't hold them accountable in a measureable way. If they fine them 100k the company made 90 Billion that 100k is just the cost of business for them.
Start by investigating how many people knew about it. If they're an adult, in a position of power, and didn't take steps to end the practice(like reporting the company to the police), send them to jail, a day for each illegal shift per worker under them.
As for the company, fine them at least 10x the money they saved or made by breaking the law. Also at minimum the money they made divided by the chance of getting caught(need to make the expected value negative.)
The fine should be two or three fingers cut off of every one who let it happen.
@Dr. Obligated you probably also advocate for the phase children should be seen not heard, and for resuming beating and other things that happen in your good old days.
how dare factories indoctrinate young workers. they need proper indoctrination in schools. -sarcasm
I was waiting for the report kids worked the regulated hours AND went to school. not the case.
@Dr. Obligated The child labor laws have been on the books since the early part of the 1900s and rightfully so. See the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938.
There are opportunities for young people to work but their health and safety need to be protected until they are mature enough to do certain kinds of work. I don't think children should be operating metal stamping machinery in a factory. That is insane.
Also these kids should be concentrating on school and should have a limited number of hours so it doesn't interfere with their schooling.
Are you a Cro Magnon or something?
Jeez.
I grew up in Alabama in the 80s and 90s. I wish they let me work at 12, I coulda bought so many more baseball cards.
I don't know much about investing in baseball cards, but I guess you could sell some of those for big bucks today if you had them.
It seems to me that the most important question that needs to be asked is why those children were seeking employment in the first place.
Lemme get this straight, just because they outsourced jobs to a hiring agency that the company can say its not their fault yet it is their property.......🤦♂️
A certain cell phone service provider contracted out the installation of their cellular towers, due to the inherent dangers. Needless to say, people died. Iirc, the court would not let them skirt their responsibilities to make sure the contractors were providing adequate safety training and safety equipment.
During the great Depression my mom lost her job for lying about her age, she told them she was eleven which was acceptable, some one needed a job for their sister so they could the my mom real age was only ten.xshe cried for a week
@@knightofthelivingdrones2646 I did this kind of work for 7 years, there is never any reason to get injured on the job. Of course people tried anyway. We only had one injury, and that is a story all by itself.
Young kids working in the summer for money and staying out of trouble, as opposed to kids not working but stealing from stores, breaking in cars, and doing drugs. I wonder which one is better?
That's not what was described here at all.
when you work a high turnover rate into your business plan the recruiting/hiring firms become your bread and butter. its not surprising to me that they didnt say anything about being sent children from the recruiting firm. that would throw a wrench into the revolving door that is factory work. they start you at a low hourly wage and give you an ever narrowing path to promotions and raises filled with pitfalls they can use as excuses to reset you back to the bottom.
Yes, they have very effective "policies and procedures in place that require compliance..."
Hell, I'm impressed to learn Hyundai is using metal in their cars . (although I can't imagine where)
Child labor laws exist for a reason. They represent progress against hundreds of years of exploitation and death. Nevermind that expanding the labor pool to include children and paying people sub-standard wages does NOT help regular working people.
Not really. They represent that more schooling allows workers to make more money for the rich
@@BastiatC pro-child labor and anti-education? That's a hot take, I guess.
I worked as a kid, started when I was 10, enough that I had made enough income, that I had to file a Federal income tax return. It's not illegal, I still went to school, worked weekends, Holidays, and Summers. I'm 62 now, I have literally been working for 52 years of my life. It's not cruel, not unreasonable, and not a bad experience for a kid to learn how to work ... but it can be. Don't worry, there were child labor laws back then too, and this didn't violate them. It was all above board and done legally, so adjust your thinking people.
@@piperp9535 pretty big difference between throwing a newspaper or hitting buttons on a cashier computer, and something like using manufacturing/heavy equipment
sounds like the labor subcontractor is taking advantage of children, specifically, for maximum profit margin
@@krismckasson I'd feel better if education was more than college prep and college grads weren't going 100ks in debt just to end up at a metal stamping factory anyway.
the truth is the American promise is a scam and it doesn't matter what you do. Real work isn't rewarded anymore.
Starting at the age of about 4 years old, my brother (who was a couple years older than me) were responsible for all inside housework other than cooking and all outside work which included a 3/4 acre garden. We had to build a rock wall 4 ft wide x 3 ft tall by about 100 yards long, completed by the time I entered kindergarten. My Mother worked full time as a grocery store clerk while my Step-father (who later became my adoptive Father) did... well nothing. He was retired from 22 years as a supply clerk in the Air force when he married my Mother, and considered himself retired at the age of 40. By then time I was 10 years old, he had me mowing lawns in the neighborhood, and kept the money based on me 'earning my keep'. There was a lot more work that we were forced to do, and I won't go into the details of physical and mental abuse.
The worst part is it was all legal. Family, friends, and the community were all aware of everything, but even supported this due to his military service and 'teaching me a good work ethic'. My Mother finally divorced him when I was 15 after my brother died from the thousands of blows to the head he had received, but by that time my body was already showing signs of breaking down with issues like back and knee problems. He remarried, and less than a year later died of a heart attack due to being morbidly obese at age 59, which left me with no inheritance... I just grew up as his servant. I'm age 51 now, with the body of an 85-year-old, and a strong hatred of parents that force their own children into labor that only benefits themselves. But, I have always had a strong work ethic, and I guess that's the only thing that matters to most people.
Oh man I'm so sorry for what you went through as a child and for your brother. I 100% agree. A childs first and only occupation should be to develop his body and mind and be healthy while doing it
It is a shitty break when you get a parent who believes that tough love and showing a child that hard labor helps build a strong mentality and work ethic uses it to commit abuse, my heart goes out to you for all of your suffering at the hands of an evil man
You seem bitter.
"he left me with no inheritance..." and you were expecting ? OH well, you have you have your bitterness to savor.
If the minors worked on a farm it would have been legal. In NC the minimum age to work on a farm is 8 years old.
Farming is very dangerous
My mom worked on her family farm when she was 5. I started working when I was 10. People don't know how to work these days because they aren't allowed to work when they are young and their parents coddle them and get them everything they want and so by the time comes for them to work, they don't even know how to show up on time or stay off their dang phones and do their jobs.
@@keinlieb3818 I feel sorry that you missed out on your childhood.
@@justicedemocrat9357 I'm not sorry at all. I didn't ask you to feel sorry for me. Plus, I retired at age 37 and can now go out and have a lot more fun traveling the world than I could have ever had when I was a kid.
"Her name is not mentioned because she's a miner.".
She works in a mine too! This is an outrage!
😂😂😂😂
I was a contractor at a transmission housing casting plant in northern Alabama. Unbelievable how shoddy the rules and people were. They moved from Wisconsin and we were moving and installing the equipment.
That’s not too hard to imagine that dollars and cents were behind the move and Alabama’s lax law enforcement are the reason they moved there.
Yup, high taxes drive businesses out.
I started working at a machine shop when I was 10. It was a great experience an a great summer job.
That is how we do business. Externalize the costs and responsibility and privatizes the the profits.
Not having a drivers license stops 0 people from driving. You wold be surprised how many people drive for years with no license.
I've got a pretty good idea. But I've already seen the data.
In the old textile industry, kids were paid 60%, adults 100%, and midgets were paid 150%. The midgets were to retrieve the bodies of children caught in the giant loom presses.
A child selling newspapers is one thing but this goes to far. this company needs to be fined the maximum.
Yeah right. They'll be given a fine that sounds huge to people {like 5 million dollars) and is a drop in the bucket to them.
There are millions flooding across the border.
This is small potatoes.
@@witebatman
You made a logical fallacy thinking I was debating something.
@@witebatman
What do you believe is false?
@@witebatman
They were 3 Guatemalan children and there are millions crossing the border this year alone.
Some of those millions will be finding jobs.
Some of those crossing mistate their ages so they can be classified as minors.
I don't know if that is the case here but it came to my mind.
Sorry I confused you with potatoes.
If they were going to school and depending on the area of the plant and what they were doing I'd have no problem with this. I worked part time from the time I was 12. It was at a shirt factory and a furniture plant. After school, weekends and summer. I wasn't exploited in any way. In fact I learned the value of a dollar, money and time management skills, and had a pretty nice car paid for before I was 16. That was during the 90's. If anything it created the work ethic that's still driving me today. It also reinforced for me the need for a college education because I knew what awaited me without one. I've been in many manufacturing plants. Many car parts are very small and have duties sorting and packing that a 12 year old could safely handle. They definitely should not be working full time or long hours during school but a teen is probably much safer working there than spending hours daily on social media. That is the true danger to our youth today.
When was that 1940??????
My first job I was 13 pushing a broom for a mechanic shop.
Same thing though, I had enough saved by the time I got my license I could buy any (reasonable) car I wanted.
I opted for an older car with a blown head gasket from a family member for $100 and 6 months later I had her all fixed up and put probably 1,500 into it
Including mandatory new everything 4 wheel breaks because my dad wasn't having me cheap out on brakes lmao
As long as they are getting a fair wage, not being forced to work & are working in a safe work environment then I have no issue either. Unfortunately it looks like this is not the case. Children are expected to work on family owned ranches all the time once they are old enough to do the task safely. It helps them get acquainted with how to run it and could potentially get passed down to them when their parents pass.
I could not have said it better.
"This was during the 90's"
The "90's" were a time period of the late 1900's. Kids then could focus long enough to read and comprehend a simple short story even after walking to school in the snow barefoot and uphill both ways.
What is this, 1910???
As a teacher of 12 and 13 year old students I can believe they might have found one or two kids who look older but this sounds like a longstanding problem with many kids cycling in and out over a period of months or years. Nope, not plausible.
That's violating Federal regulations established long ago. As it is summer I see less harm harm in it as there is a labor shortage but the kids better be getting proper wages.
I met a 13-year-old who looked 19. That's my story and I'm sticking with it, your Honor. 😳
You might blame a contractor, but it's still your responsibility. HR is the problem.
ANYONE ELSE.NOTICE ITS ALWAYS COMPANIES THAT.GIVE HEAVILY TO DEMONRATS ...
No one noticed a 12 year old? And don’t tell me there are some very adult 12 year olds because I have never met a 12 year old I couldn’t tell was not an adult with a 30 second conversation.
I worked at the zoo when I was 13, I was a ward of the state, very limited in what I could do and limited to a certain number of hours I think it was like 200 hours. It was during summer break. 15 years later I drove forkift at a farm equipped manufacturer I wasn't allowed in the vicinity of the stamps. On or off the Forklift. The stamp operators had their own palet jack they moved stuff out of the zone before a forklift moved it to the warehouse. The only way kids should have even been in that building would be a class field trip. I own a Hyundai and am disappointed.
So do I. Mine is straight outta Korea. I'm sure they obey all the rules there too ... :\ /s
I'm disappointed you own a Hyundai too
Disappointed in the car, the company or both?
Way to say without saying "I haven't learned a thing."
@@0756rocketman the company, over this, I've been happy with the car and was thinking my next would be a Hyundai also. Please let this be it. I'm already done with ford for their continued support of insurrectionists.
Who needs secure borders?
Steve, worked for Federal OSHA for over 30 years. The controlling employer, in this case Smart. is totally responsible for all employees in their facility. Period. No nonsense about agencies supplying them etc. Controlling employer is responsible for everything!
Having worked at an auto parts assembly line just after college, I'm inclined to believe Hundai/Smart here.
The temp agency handles all your paperwork, you just show up to the plant on your first day ready to work, and all of your pay is handled through the Temp agency (since they take a cut off the top).
You are very much loaned labor to the plant from the Temp agency.
Not saying someone on the Plant floor shouldn't have been able to look at the children and raise a red flag somewhere.
Not excusing the managers entirely, but Guatemalan immigrants apparently average 5'2" in height. It might not have been readily apparent at first blush.
the only red flag raised would be on the plant if they so much as question which bathroom they go in.
It's not a coincidence that Hyundai set it up that way.
My factory did this same thing . We had a southerner working all evening on second shift going home to sleep then going to high school where she was in the 9th grade . Underage Guatemalan children. The factory just said it was the temporary service companies job to vet the workers and make sure they are all legal .
Aren't employers supposed to check papers to make sure they are legal to work - which would also show the date of birth?
The "paper check" is simply seeing if the Social Security number checks out. They just use stolen SS numbers and voila! They pass the check!
The stamping plant claims that was the responsibility of the temporary labor agency. In reality paperwork should be verified at every level.
They're not legal citizens, so of course they wouldn't have paper work. This is a huge problem in the country right now.
@@happygardener28 Paperwork aside, the supervisor should have known something was wrong the minute CHILDREN walked on to the floor. No way they could pass as adults at that age.
I saw it first hand for years working at poultry plant. Guatemalan people are usually very short and facial features make them look young. You will have one legal one in a family that will share paperwork and an ID with brothers so will have the same person working at 4-5 different plants. They claim exempt on taxes so not pay federal or state taxes and then never file income taxes at end of year. They would always know ahead of time when immigration was going to be at the plant and only about 1/4 of all workers would show up that day.
This is the SAME EXACT Thing that Walmart did at one time for their Janitorial Service. They do this in order to get the CHEAPEST and in some cases FREE Labor by targeting the MOST Vulnerable. And with a certain degree of separation through the “Temp” Company, they can’t (or THINK they can’t) be held Directly Responsible when caught.
What these Greedy Companies try to pull is DISGUSTING! 🤬
I really like my Elantra, so good job kids!
True story, my father worked in a factory (not legally, mind you) during WW2 making jeep axles. He had a hilarious story where he was holding a crowbar over his shoulder (early teens, IIRC), and was asked to stand back, and walked the end of that crowbar right into a circuit box. Blew our half the lights in the factors, and blew him right back into the work the actual workers were trying to look at.
His words? "That curled the hair on my toes!"
Now his actual job (for which he was paid) was just to gopher around and bring tools and parts to the actual workers. Not exactly dangerous, but this was in the 40's. The definition of dangerous was different back then.
I wonder how they got around the social security and taxation system? In order to work in the US one must have a valid social security number, proof of identification, and several other things as one must have a W2 forum to be able to work. So again how did they get around all of these checks and balances? Who did these children's taxes or were they paid completely under the table? There has to be some sort of a paper trail for all of this and all parties need to be held accountable.
They are children. IRS can't even take them to court for not paying their taxes.
12yo , no bank account to garnish either.
They just provide a fake SSI number. I had someone in California use mine for almost a year.
@@robertsmith2956 I had a bank account at 16 and paid SSI.
@@tedmoss Yep. I was about 16 when I learned about FICA first hand. Farm work before that was always cash.
They didn’t exist. Paid no taxes, brought in on white vans. Had no insurance. Been going on for years! Everybody knew and did nothing. CEO is the Mayor’s son. That is how he got the job. Elites of Lucerne. Nothing happens!
Additionally, some temp agencies deny that some people are employed by them, and outsourced. These companies have filled out 1099 forms (self-employed) for workers and claim immunity. I ran into this at several jobs.
I'm 68 years old and I grew up on a farm. I was hiring out for day work to other farmers by the time I was 12 - if my dad didn't need me working at home. I'm not trying to justify what happened at this plant, but the plain fact is that there are a lot of Americans out there that started their economic careers at that kind of tender age, and in other countries it is still commonplace. I considered it a privilege at the time to be earning some money on my own. I was baling hay, walking soybeans for weeds, detasseling corn, and shelling corn out of corn cribs. It was all hot dirty work and sometimes it was dangerous, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It has served me all my life. Nowadays a kid won't even take a paper route.
I worked at the age of 8 with my families home improvement company. Got paid half minimum wage in cash and mostly clean up and sweep floors for 10 hours a day. All clients we worked for thought it was cute.
That's kind of normal in middle America.
Factory work does go another step towards the old child labor era though. A lot of things need to change in mid American culture for this to be a surprise to me.
After reading through some comments..it amazes me how people try to justify working in a manufacturing plant with all its hazards, regardless of what they do.
Running newspapers or phone books isn't even on the same page as is this.
I hope no one has a child that young working in a dangerous environment as such.
Poor America...it's going downhill.
I guess you never ran a newspaper press. A metal stamping machine is nothing compared to that.
Robert Smith, YOU are not the issue here.
@@robertsmith2956 There is a world of difference between delivering newspapers or phone books and working in the automotive manufacturing plant.
Running a sheet metal stamping or break press requires a persons full undivided attention both sight and hearing skills that are acquired after years of study.
Which an adolescent teenager does not possess.
To answer your inquiry of running a newspaper press...
No I haven't.
I do on the other hand have a vast knowledge and hands on experience of every aspect of the printing industry.
This includes and not limited to,
Copy, layout with paste up of ads and type set in the confines of the nominal size as well as full page layout of the printed newspaper.
I also possess a wide range and variety of skills and experience in the offset printing industry.
This again includes and no limited to pre-press set up to camera set up and final burning of the plate.
Setting type by hand or by the line-o-type machine.
Setting up the paper, knowing how to cut the grain, and press to run the job as efficiently, cleanly while using the correct style ink.
All of these procedures for a press from sheet fed to 4 by 4 color web press.
I hope this will clear the air when it comes to the experience I have when I can confidently state that children don't possess the knowledge to be working in such a hazardous enviroment.
@@joen2418 Maybe, but if you write the owners manual that sits in the glove box, you get the discount.
I suspect that language plays a part here, and would not be surprised that the children are translating for their older family members. Interesting that I started work at late 14 years of age, after leaving school, working as a trainee for the government Lands and Survey Department. Then a cleaner also for the government, at 15, learned how to use a floor polisher maintaining 1 mile long corridor strips of linoleum in government warehouses. At 16 worked in a plant making biscuits and candy, being 'the man', was in charge of 20-30 women on the biscuit line, and solo on the candy line. Hours there were 7am to 3pm, then 4pm to 11pm, with 1 hour break for meal supplied, and 2 10minute breaks during each shift. That was a wonderful job always learning new things. Then at 17 and 6months, joined the Military.
Companies never allow child labor, when they get caught. 😂🤣😅
I'm a machinist, I work for a machine builder that builds stuff for automotive suppliers, so I know a little about how they operate, here is my guess on why no one realized they were 12-13. The leads, supervisors, and whoever else was a permanent employee never talked to them. They were foreign, English was not their first language, they likely only spoke Spanish at the plant, so they went with the other Temps on breaks. These places the Temps and regular employees don't tend to mix. Temps are hired by the dozen on Monday and by Friday there are a couple left, stick around 3 months you might be hired permanent, but unlikely, because if you actually show up for 3 months the temp agency will likely move you. The other Temps either, didn't speak Spanish, or if they did they either didn't care, or were told a sob story that caused them to feel bad enough to keep their mouth shut, regardless the others that were Spanish speaking were probably of dubious legality and they wouldn't report anyone.
*and for those wondering... foreign workers can tend to be smaller than people that were fed 3 squares a day all their lives. So, picking out a kid "because of size", isn't really a thing.
Really? You couldn’t tell a twelve or thirteen year old, from an adult on sight?
LMFAO that's the weakest excuse I've ever heard.
@@briangallagher787 lot of these placing are working 6-7 12s a week, Micky Mouse and Bugs Bunny could walk through the door and no one would question them.
I started working at 12 ...family friends' shops and business'...Tough work at times but never "exploited"...it is great to learn how to earn a living and give back to one's house hold and family, even when it is not necessary...
Work is good, better to learn how to work than to learn how to use drugs and all that crap...Exploitation of minors a big no no...that is flat out criminal.
Those kids learned more at that job, than they will at school.
Sounds like a nice excuse for child endangerment. Your parents should have known better. These children were used for dangerous jobs. That is exploiting them. This Nation has child labor laws for a reason. You need to stop kissing employers butts.
@@briangallagher787 My duties, while working for my parents company, were to organize files and file cabinets...nothing too strenuous. At the office help out the architects, draftsman etc...I was the little gofer, like a 12 yo intern. When I was "sent out" to job sites, the engineers would send me to the foreman, the foreman to the journeymen and they would just give me menial jobs.
Working at the friends shops had more to do with organizing shelves, electric products mainly, hardware, wires, cables, lightbulbs, lamps...everything that was powered by electricity...and the gofer duties (lunch, coffee, snacks etc)...Definitely not exploitation...there is risk everywhere, learning how to work, be self sufficient, financially "independent" (not having to ask my parents for $$$ to buy movie tickets, clothes, toys, shoes, etc. when I wanted them feels good) should not be demonized or criminalized...like I said, exploitation of minors is criminal, teaching your children the ins and outs of family business at a young age is just part of growing up the right way I think, to not be afraid to work...to improve the things that need to be improved etc.
@@oskarvomhimmel6936 So basically you gave a false impression, by making it seem that you worked like these children. All to intimate that those people were doing those Children a favor. Way to go Simon Legree.
@@briangallagher787 🤦
The point is that there is a big difference between "working under age" (I did receive payment for my work on the same day all employees did, and was half the entry level pay because I worked half the time) under certain circumstances and Being EXPLOITED as a child because of need, inexperience and the willingness to earn anything...
I think in Europe they call that an apprenticeship, at a later age, and not sure if they receive any pay...but Learning to work, younger than most, is beneficial I'd say...the "need" to work is different as well, it is not financial need, it is the need to teach "responsibility" at an early age...and GET PAID for your work accordingly.
I was not in a workshop/sweatshop or whatever those underage exploitation-shops are called...and yes, I do agree...that is abuse of minors, it opens up the door to justifiable exploitation, which is the abuse that should always be prevented.
how pissed would someone be if they realized someone 4 times younger than them is getting paid the same ammount as them.
I have a 12 year old. There is no way he or any of his friends could be confused with someone eligible to work. Throw the book at this plant and the temp service that sent these kids to them.
You probably think you can tell what gender they are as well I bet.
So many people in these comments saying "I was exploited as a kid, today's kids should be exploited too!"
I see this from a different point of view. Having been a Child who worked after school in many different jobs from 11 years old and up. You see sometimes the family are so poor that everyone need to do there part. Given this was in the mid 1960s i see why these kids and their families are doing this.
That same logic is used by other apologists for criminals, like drug dealing, and armed robbery. Just doin their part.
In the UK it is down to the company using agencies to fill positions to do all the necessary checks, they wouldn't be able to say that the agency should have checked
Steve, the question of either the parent company or Smart paying these minors is only a partial issue. Yes, they seem to be in trouble for their possibly allowing minors to work in their plants. The employment contractor that provided the laborers needs to be saddled with the question of if these underage workers were adequately compensated as if they were of legal age to have entered into a contract.
One thing that popped into my mind is that if people under 16 years of age working in a pizzeria. When I was working there, it was my understanding that a parents written consent was needed for that youth to have been employed at that pizzeria. And that the youth had shorter hours available to be working.
Now, my other question would be this. Is there a difference in legality, in common and current laws to include this past decade, between a set of parents who are US Citizens in allowing their underage children to work (hopefully not in middle or heavy industry) when compared to families who are fresh off the boat, either legally or illegally residing in the U.S.?
Rhetorical, right? Please tell me you're not trying to have an inane conversation with Mr. Leto in the comments of TH-cam videos.
Anyone in the U.S. is protected by U.S. laws like anyone else. What are you even asking? Seems like a vaguely disguised immigration question/statement. STFU
Not being a lawyer, I can say that the law would apply to all people. The parents are responsible as well as others involved. Ignorance is no excuse.
In many places the illegals are preferred because the employers can rip off the workers and threaten to report them for being in the country illegally.
On the issue of pay: If the labour hire companies mentioned in the article function the same way they do here (not in the US) then Smart would pay the labour hire company who then pay the staff they supply. This leads into another round of corruption, kickbacks and graft. What are the minors being paid Vs what Smart is paying the labour hire company? I'd be willing to bet there is a BIG difference.
The temp-agencies need to be shut down and their operating staff arrested. The factory supervisors need to be arrested and the factory shut down for the duration of the investigation.
Not that I would want to work in a Factory, but it's pretty amazing that you can walk into somewhere like a flagship manufacturing facility and just say you work with a temp agency. There will be no checks or research done to ensure you're actually supposed to be there. There needs to be repercussions for this, carelessness isn't an excuse for child labor.
I did day labor work when I was 13. They knew I was lying about my age and didn't care. The places we were sent to work also didn't care. There is no way anybody thought I was really 18.
A lot of state governments do a modern version of this, in that they'll hire temp/durational employees for certain positions. The carrot they dangle in front of them is that after 6 months, they become permanent and thus are eligible for benefits (e.g. medical, full time employment, etc etc). However, to avoid the (in their rationale) unnecessary salary expenses, they'll terminate those employees roughly one to two weeks prior to the completion of that six month period, then wait a week or so, and rehire them. Wash. Rinse and Repeat.
My thoughts on this when I was 12-13 I was forced to work summers with my dad installing carpet, every day off from school, including snow days. He was allegedly paying me, but putting the money in a savings account until I was 18 (complete BS). The last summer was the worst, we got into a huge argument, I moved back in with my mom, basically had to black mail him to get the $1/hr he was paying me. Certain types of work 12 and 13 year olds should not be doing no matter how old they look. If anyone believes those kids were keeping the pay checks is delusional, I am sure there is a lot of fear and guilt motivating the kids, they may have liked the idea at first but after 2 weeks I will bet they wanted to be back in school.
If any of those kids got hurt while working, I bet they got them out of the factory and came up with a good story. If I got cut while working and duct tape didn't stop the bleeding, we were home and I was playing with his tools. Even if, on the off chance, the kids are all in and keeping the money, it is just a lawsuit waiting to happen, undocumented a scare tactic maybe, but to the labor department and courts, that would be secondary.
The sad part, people are happy to look the other way, do you really think people saw me working everyday, doing what I was doing and thought I was 16? He is learning a trade, working with his dad, he is so lucky! One of my sisters tried that on me, I said I was working 10-12 hours a day 6 days a week, starting when summer vacation did and ending when it did.
Historically, relatives were the worst abusers.
Family is exempt from the law. He should still have paid you though.
@@DVankeuren Indeed he should have been paid, so he could fork it over for room and board.
So the millions of kids that worked on the farm so they could EAT should have been paid? Get over yourself if a parent has you working, anything they pay is an allowance lol.
If ? When the kid(s) got hurt (if serious) and being they are an illegal alien doing the job "Americans won't do," they would be murdered. Who would know? Americans have you figured out the type of job(s) Americans are said they won't do yet? It is slavery,
I don’t think any reasonable person would believe a 12 year old looked old enough, unless that was a big kid who looked well beyond their age.
Sounds like what Apple and Nike do overseas
@@jckdnls9292 Not our country, that country has to make it's own laws.
I had a father and his 13 year old in the shop a couple days ago, the boy looked to be 24.
child and adult exploitation has been going on for decades as a matter of business in certain southern states. That would include convicts
Try centuries.
Hardly unknown in other parts of the country, but, as in just about anything, the South sucks.
I have lived in central Alabama for over 70 years. This is an outrage and a disgrace.
Someone in that plant damned well knew what was going on at the beginning of every shift.
And no, they didn’t pay these kids an adult wage. That’s the idea!
And, you’re right. No 12 year old of any description can pass as an adult. This is a bare faced lie.
Smart knew. They are not telling the truth. I live in Luverne Reported it. No one would do anything about it. County officials did nothing.
Temporary Employees Service is another way to keep out Unions and not have to pay any benefits to Employees. Also Companies can hire Illegal Aliens with no consequences!!
Meanwhile supervisors and Managers for the Company are aware of these young and Illegal Workers!!
Precisely.
if there's a way to screw someone to save a dollar business will do it. the fact there are kids working for them bothers the temp agencies and the companies not at all. anyone who thinks otherwise understands nothing. business is business: get the money. nothing and no one else matters - just get the money.
Crush and amputation hazards ARE NOT injuries. Nor is $48k in fines since 2013 is minuscule in manufacturing
Ben under Viper's front bumper.
If the kids wanted the work and were being paid fairly and were not injured then I have no moral qualms with it.
Although Hyundai "does not tolerate" abuses of child labor laws one would think that they would check the ID of the person showing up to work just in case the person hired by the temp agency (who may be an adult) is the person showing up at the plant on Monday. What if there were an accident at the plant? Shouldn't the plant bosses have an ID to provide the paramedics or hospital?
I worked in an industry where the established, assimilated, friendly person would apply for a job, audition for the job, interview for the job, and get the job. They pretended to be and used the ID of a friend or family member who looked very similar to them. Those bosses would send the file to the next group who would finish the paperwork. The person who showed up for the job was not the person who processed in. They barely spoke English and could do the basics of the job. It was a fantastic scam.
companies need to learn that "words" don't really matter. It's "actions" that matter and what they should be judged against.
I started working when I was 9 and it did me good. Keep me out of trouble and I always had money.
How bad of a job interview did you have if you got beat out by a 12 year old?
It's called minimum wage with no benefits besides paycheck. Temp agency gets paid per person and to increase their profit, they hire on for minimum wage (federal minimum in AL so $7.25). By doing this they will overlook issues just to have a person to fill the position. Starting to see them pay $8/hr now so they can advertise you will make more than minimum wage.
The fact that Hyundai did not say that they were appalled and were cooperating with police investigations into these allegations shows that they knew something fishy was going on and turned a blind eye because the numbers looked good. This is why e-verify should be required by law for every US worker. The system would not have allowed them to hire the children in the first place and would have flagged them for trying to hire them so that an investigation could be started.
The managers knew and they need to go to jail. The agency needs to be shut down and most of them need to go to jail. The fact that there were disappearances that the family noticed sounds like she was kidnapped and forced to do this. The FBI, AG, and local cops need to crawl right up the butts of this whole thing.