Danielle McMahon
Mrs. Elysee
U.S. History honors
10/18/14
Child Labor
Part I
After hand labor was replaced with power driven machines many factories hired children instead of adults because the new jobs did not require adult strength and the children will work for less money. Most children worked before the factories but on farms. The factory working was long hours and hard work for very little pay. Most children starting working around the age of seven and with all this work in the damp, dirty factories caused many children to get ill and with the lack of education due to long working hours children were not able to get better jobs as adults. Because there was lack of education, in “1836 Massachusetts, which was the first state to make this …show more content…
Some of the children even worked in coals mines which were very dangerous because they were working near explosives and sometimes the roof would collapse so children were often hurt or even killed. Some children also worked in the mills where their hair would get caught in machines or their hands would be smashed and some children who fell asleep while working would fall into the machines and get killed. On top of working in bad conditions with dangerous machines the working children were often mistreated by their supervisors. “Church and labor groups, teachers, and many other people were outraged by such cruelty.” In the late 1800’s “twenty eight states had passed laws regulating child labor.” With many attempts to end child labor with a national child labor law, the United States was unsuccessful because the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. “In 1924, Congress proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting child labor, but the states did not ratify it.” It wasn’t until 1938 that the congress passed the fair labor standards act which set a fixed minimum age for different groups of work. This law also says the all employees must be …show more content…
it was released in 2011 that Victoria’s Secret was buying cotton from a place in Africa called Burkina Faso which uses child labor to produce their cotton. Reporters went sent out the West African country farming fields where Victoria’s Secret’s cotton is produced to see if in fact children are being used. This fabric is “used for Americans' favorite panties and bras.”Child labor for Victoria’s Secret’s cotton is said that it has been used since 2007. Victoria's Secret claims not to have known about the child labor issue, until now.”Even after having the knowledge of child labor being used to produce their cotton Victoria’s Secret continues to buy from them(2011).“Victoria's Secret vows to investigate the claims and Fair-trade International, which certified the Burkina Faso cotton farms in the first place, are revisiting its certifications.” The company stated:"We guarantee that if breaches of our requirements on child labor are found, we take immediate action to protect children, prevent the farms using child labor from selling it." Until 2011, costumers buying Victoria’s Secret products did not know that the cotton used by them is produced by child labor. If the costumers were aware they would probably stop buying their products and even sue, that’s probably why they kept it a secret in the first place. Using children for labor is cheaper then adults and on top of that Victoria secret is very
Mrs. Elysee
U.S. History honors
10/18/14
Child Labor
Part I
After hand labor was replaced with power driven machines many factories hired children instead of adults because the new jobs did not require adult strength and the children will work for less money. Most children worked before the factories but on farms. The factory working was long hours and hard work for very little pay. Most children starting working around the age of seven and with all this work in the damp, dirty factories caused many children to get ill and with the lack of education due to long working hours children were not able to get better jobs as adults. Because there was lack of education, in “1836 Massachusetts, which was the first state to make this …show more content…
Some of the children even worked in coals mines which were very dangerous because they were working near explosives and sometimes the roof would collapse so children were often hurt or even killed. Some children also worked in the mills where their hair would get caught in machines or their hands would be smashed and some children who fell asleep while working would fall into the machines and get killed. On top of working in bad conditions with dangerous machines the working children were often mistreated by their supervisors. “Church and labor groups, teachers, and many other people were outraged by such cruelty.” In the late 1800’s “twenty eight states had passed laws regulating child labor.” With many attempts to end child labor with a national child labor law, the United States was unsuccessful because the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. “In 1924, Congress proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting child labor, but the states did not ratify it.” It wasn’t until 1938 that the congress passed the fair labor standards act which set a fixed minimum age for different groups of work. This law also says the all employees must be …show more content…
it was released in 2011 that Victoria’s Secret was buying cotton from a place in Africa called Burkina Faso which uses child labor to produce their cotton. Reporters went sent out the West African country farming fields where Victoria’s Secret’s cotton is produced to see if in fact children are being used. This fabric is “used for Americans' favorite panties and bras.”Child labor for Victoria’s Secret’s cotton is said that it has been used since 2007. Victoria's Secret claims not to have known about the child labor issue, until now.”Even after having the knowledge of child labor being used to produce their cotton Victoria’s Secret continues to buy from them(2011).“Victoria's Secret vows to investigate the claims and Fair-trade International, which certified the Burkina Faso cotton farms in the first place, are revisiting its certifications.” The company stated:"We guarantee that if breaches of our requirements on child labor are found, we take immediate action to protect children, prevent the farms using child labor from selling it." Until 2011, costumers buying Victoria’s Secret products did not know that the cotton used by them is produced by child labor. If the costumers were aware they would probably stop buying their products and even sue, that’s probably why they kept it a secret in the first place. Using children for labor is cheaper then adults and on top of that Victoria secret is very