What are we
doing?
We believe that no child should perform any work which interferes with their education, puts their safety and health at risk, or sees them attempt to combine school with long working hours. We oppose all forms of child labor, and we are committed to combating child labor anywhere in the world, including the United States, and the US agricultural sector.
At the Federal level
We are one of the coordinators of the national Campaign to End US Child Labor, alongside Global March Against Child Labour and the Child Labor Coalition. The campaign has more than 50 organizational and individual members, and together we are coordinating our advocacy efforts around a Shared Agenda of recommendations to legislators.
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Independently, we focus our organizational advocacy efforts on:​
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Justice for all survivors and victims of child labor: we are advocating for survivors of child labor in the United States to receive financial compensation from employers, in addition to substantially increased monetary penalties for child labor violations. These proposals would act as strong deterrents, but importantly, they should also be a means to ensure justice for survivors and victims, wherever they were born.
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Ensuring increased budget for the Department of Labor enforcement teams to increase both their staffing and the number of investigations that can be conducted into potential violations of child labor laws. We believe that this should be accompanied by easily accessible means for teachers, social workers, and other support staff to report violations which have come to their notice through their day-to-day work with children who are in child labor.
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At the State level​
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We are tracking states for any newly proposed legislation which aims to reduce child labor protections, either from the standards set by the FLSA or the standards already set within those states. We are also tracking the progress of the existing state bills and are taking part in advocacy efforts to prevent the reduction of child labor protections, including initiating or supporting joint letters and meetings with legislators.
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We are also creating opportunities for campaign supporters to participate in actions targeting legislators, such as letter-writing campaigns. You can find these on our Take Action page.
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We are also updating this site regularly with news from across the United States, including Department of Labor investigations and prosecutions, and national and local coverage on child labor issues.
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