Child Labor, The States Pushing for 14 Year Olds to Serve Alcohol, Hard Drinks 🍸
- 'I can’t believe we’re having this conversation’: the states pushing for 14-year-olds to serve alcohol,' The Guardian, July 31, 2023. Ed. - As GOP-led states roll back the alcohol service age so teens can serve hard drinks, they also put them in danger.
In the small town of Freedom, Wisc., Buzz’s Pub and Grill – a local sports bar whose logo features frothing beer mugs in the colors of the American flag – has been short-staffed since the pandemic. Jeff Baker, the owner, says he “could use one more bartender, & probably 2 more cooks”. He hasn’t found takers in over a year of running “help wanted” ads, so he’s made do by working extra shifts in the kitchen & paring back the menu. Baker could soon get more job applicants thanks to a new proposal that would lower Wisconsin’s minimum age for alcohol service to just 14 years old.
It would “absolutely” be a welcome change if children applied, he says. “Not as many kids work as much as they used to. Back in our day, more kids were needed, & more parents made their kids work.” Wisc. is just one of a growing number of states where predominantly Republican lawmakers are making quiet moves to roll back the alcohol service age, so that kids who can’t legally buy alcohol – or in Wisconsin’s case, even drive a car – would be allowed to serve hard drinks to customers at bars & restaurants. In addition to alleviating the labor shortage, lawmakers behind the bills argue letting kids serve alcohol would give them valuable work experience. That’s left some opponents of the bills at a loss for words.
“It’s bizarre. I can’t believe that we’re even having this conversation,” says Ryan Clancy, a Democratic state legislator who represents parts of Milwaukee, where he also owns an entertainment center that serves alcohol. He’s seen how drunk customers can harass workers, & “the idea that we would expose Wisconsin’s children to harassment through this is just unconscionable. It’s not only an erosion of labor, but our willingness to protect our kids.” Until recently, every US state required a worker serving alcohol in a bar or restaurant to be at least 18 to 21. These minimums in part reflect the legacy of the movement to end child labor in the 20th cent., says Betsy Wood, a historian of child labor at Bard Early College.
But according to a report published last week by the Economic Policy Institute, at least 7 states have enacted laws to lower their alcohol service age since 2021, including WV & Iowa, which lowered the minimum age to 16, & Michigan, which lowered it to 17. The bills are backed by restaurant lobbying groups as part of a broader effort to loosen child labor laws “to cut labor costs & deregulate employment”, the report writes – at a time when child labor violations are on the rise across the US. In recent years, investigations have found hundreds of children working in jobs that are officially classified as hazardous under federal labor law, from auto parts factories in Ala. to meatpacking plants in NE & MN. But there are no explicit federal prohibitions on children working in bars, despite the dangers there...
- Read More, https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/jul/31/republicans-child-labor-bars-alcohol-service-age-wisconsin
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- 'American children are working hazardous jobs – & it’s about to get worse,' Robt. Reich, The Guardian, 3.31.23,
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/31/child-labor-laws-republicans
- 'These Early 20th Century Photos Ended Child Labor in the US,' Vox, (2019).
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- 'These Appalling Images Exposed Child Labor in America,' Lewis Hine. *In 1900, 18% of all American workers were under the age of 16. (History.com, 2021)...https://www.history.com/news/child-labor-lewis-hine-photos
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