DoL Photos Show Children Illegally Working in U.S. Slaughterhouse

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This photo, included in DoL court filings in November, 2022, shows a Packers Sanitation Services Inc. employee at the JBS Beef Plant in Grand Island, Nebraska. Photo: U.S. Department of Labor, taken by WHI Lopez

Harrowing photos released by the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) taken at a slaughterhouse plant in Nebraska show the conditions more than 100 children faced while illegally working for Packers Sanitation Services Incorporated (PSSI) before the department cracked down on the company for violating child labor laws, reports The Guardian.

The pictures show employees covered in protective gear, using chemicals to spray down and sanitize equipment. In some of the pictures, made public on May 7 by 60 Minutes, some of the employees appear to be young children, wearing protective face glasses and holding buckets.

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Photo: U.S. Department of Labor

In February, the labor department fined PSSI $1.5m for employing at least 102 children ages 13 to 17 across 13 meat-packing plants in eight states. The fine amounts to $15,138 for each child, the maximum penalty under federal law. The Wisconsin-based company is one of the largest food sanitation companies in the U.S. and is contracted by meat plants to sanitize facilities. The company says it works with more than 725 partner plants.

Photo: U.S. Department of Labor

The department started its investigation into PSSI in August 2022 after a middle school in Grand Island, Nebraska, notified police that a 14-year-old student came to school with acid burns on her hands and knees. The girl told staff that she was working night shifts at a local slaughterhouse plant. Teachers also noticed that other students were falling asleep in class after reportedly working at the plant at night.

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO OF CHILDREN IN DUNGAREES AND CAPS USING WOODEN PANELS TO LOAD AN OVEN

Spot the difference? Children loading an annealing oven in a bottle factory at 1am, August, 1908, Indianapolis, Indiana. Photo: Lewis Hine, National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Children's Bureau.
In March 2022, the labor department announced an agreement made with the Department of Health and Human Services where the two agencies will collaborate to “identify geographies and employers where children are being exploited”. The labor department reports a 69% rise in illegal child labor since 2018.