[mobglob-discuss] Fw: [news] In a Brave New B.C., Even Kids Will Work for the Man

[Paul Browning]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gordon Flett" <gflett1 at shaw.ca>
To: "Vancouver Activist News" <news at lists.resist.ca>
Sent: Friday, November 28, 2003 9:19 AM
Subject: [news] In a Brave New B.C., Even Kids Will Work for the Man


>
> Bill Tieleman's Georgia Straight Political Connections column for Nov 27
>
> In a Brave New B.C., Even Kids Will Work for the Man
>
> By Bill Tieleman
>
> In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever
> brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt,
> as injustice.
>
> -- Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
>
> Believe it or not, Premier Gordon Campbell and the B.C. Liberals are
> about to bring child labour back to British Columbia after it had been
> banned by the province since the Depression years of the 1930s.
>
> In early December, the Liberals will put in place regulations filling in
> the details of Bill 37, legislation passed in October that amends the
> Employment Standards Act to allow children as young as 12 years to work
> full-time.
>
> These regulations are, appropriately, being implemented as our thoughts
> turn back to the time of Charles Dickens, who not only penned A
> Christmas Carol but also wrote about the terrible conditions of child
> labour in the time of the Industrial Revolution in England.
>
> The child labour that the B.C. Liberals intend to permit isn't the
> innocent sort, like a paper route or a little help for the family
> business. A child as young as 12 years old will be allowed to work
> full-time at any occupation under provincial jurisdiction, no matter how
> dangerous, with only the consent of one parent. That includes farm
> labour, and working in a paint plant, gas station, restaurant, or
> door-to-door sales.
>
> Graham Bruce, the minister of skills development and labour who
> introduced the legislation, told the legislature on October 6 that Bill
> 37 allows children to work up to seven hours a day and up to 35 hours
> per week when not in school, and up to four hours a day and up to 20
> hours per week when school is in session.
>
> Graeme Moore is deeply concerned about these changes. Moore spent
> 21 years working for the Employment Standards Branch, the last seven as
> a program director, but he is no longer with the government.
>
> "I resigned in disgust," Moore said in an interview with the Georgia
> Straight. "We're not talking about the girl or boy next door
> babysitting; we're talking about children working dawn to dusk,
> full-time. It's extraordinarily long hours for children as young as 12
> years old."
>
> Moore says that unless something changes, B.C. will be the most child
> labour­friendly jurisdiction in all of North America. And he expects
> things to get even worse under the Campbell government.
>
> "We're living in an increasingly regulationless society. This is a
> libertarian government, not a liberal government," Moore said.
>
> The idea that parental consent means children will not be abused in the
> workplace is a nonstarter with Moore. "We know from history that
> parental consent did not keep children out of coal pits, out of cotton
> mills," he said.
>
> But those terrible conditions and their modern equivalents are
> apparently far from the thoughts of Graham Bruce.
>
> "We are changing the rules to better focus on protecting children but
> still ensuring they can take a job when they want. The solution is to
> require only written consent of a parent or guardian to employ a child
> aged 12 to 15 and to back that up with clear standards for those
> workplaces that employ kids," Bruce told the legislature on October 8.
>
> Moore, now a consultant on employment issues, says that in the absence
> of regulations that guard children against exploitation in the
> workplace, British Columbians should take action themselves.
>
> "There has to be a boycott of businesses using child labour. Consumers
> should be aware that some of the places they patronize could be using
> child labour," he said. "I hope B.C. parents who get upset about
> children in Pakistan or Bangladesh who are making soccer balls will get
> equally upset about children the same age working here."
>
> Although the legislation to allow child labour applies to most
> workplaces, Moore says it is particularly designed for one purpose: to
> allow children to work as farm labourers.
>
> "The inside story on farm labour is quite sordid," he said. "Berry crops
> are not viable unless they are subsidized by cheap labour. The B.C.
> Agricultural Council wants to import Mexican labour. Graham Bruce does
> not want that, so he is meeting their need for subsidized labour by
> changing employment standards to provide cheap labour, including child
> labour."
>
> It's likely no coincidence that just 10 days after Bill 37 was
> introduced, Bruce signed a "partnership agreement" with the B.C.
> Agricultural Council to "help protect vulnerable workers".
>
> The May 15 news release concluded with this clunker, which shows how
> much protection farm workers really got from the deal: "Bruce also
> announced changes to the employment standards regulation. Effective
> tomorrow, farm workers are excluded from hours of work, overtime and
> statutory holiday pay."
>
> Break out the champagne, sisters and brothers, we can work as long as we
> like without getting overtime or holiday pay! What a great government
> this is for us farm workers!
>
> But it isn't just the agricultural industry that benefits from child
> labour. The other reason for allowing children to work is cuts to
> welfare. Parents who can no longer collect social assistance will be
> under enormous pressure to have their children work to feed the family
> and pay the bills.
>
> "I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm convinced
> we're living out a social-engineering plan mapped out by the
> [right-wing] Fraser Institute," Moore concludes.
>
> Conspiracy theory? Let me see... The B.C. Liberals do a sleazy deal with
> farmers who need workers on the cheap, cut welfare payments and impose
> time limits on collecting them, and then overturn 70 years of protection
> against the use of child labour. Nah, no connection there.
>
> West Star Communications president Bill Tieleman has clients in labour,
> business, and nonprofits. He is a political commentator Thursdays on CBC
> TV's Canada Now and regularly on CBC Radio One's Early Edition. E-mail
> him at weststar at telus.net.
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