USA : Despite Fines for Employers, Some Children Continue to Work Illegally in Dangerous Jobs : NBC News
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A 16-year-old says he’s still cleaning a Kansas slaughterhouse months after his employer was fined for employing kids.
When the Labor Department discovered over 100 migrant children cleaning Midwest slaughterhouses in February, their employer, Packers Sanitation Services Inc., paid a $1.5 million fine, agreed to stop employing children, and quickly fired all workers found to be underage.
But a 16-year-old whom NBC News is calling Pedro said he’s still cleaning blood and animal parts off the kill floor of a Kansas slaughterhouse up to seven nights a week, a job illegal for anyone younger than 18 under U.S. labor law. Pedro spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity. Although the job is hard, dangerous and tiring, he fears losing his paycheck would put him and his family in Guatemala in an impossible situation. Pedro said he used a false identity to get the job.
From 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., Pedro is responsible for hauling away animal parts in a cart, scrubbing blood off the floor and cleaning machines with harsh chemicals. He is proud of the job he does and said he works extremely fast to get the job done on time.
Pedro said he left Guatemala alone after his parents struggled to find work and feed their family. Like hundreds of other children who cross the border unaccompanied daily, he paid a smuggler to bring him here to live with a relative. He said he now sends money back to his parents in Guatemala, pays rent to that relative and is still working to pay back $2,500 in remaining debt to a smuggler.
He considers himself lucky to still have the job after so many other minors working were recently fired. Many of the former child employees are left struggling to survive, he said.
“There were some who don’t live with their parents, like me, and it’s very difficult for them the pay the rent and [for] their lunch,” Pedro said.
Now, as a result of the Labor Department investigation, most of those children have lost their jobs at PSSI. Tuchez said they’re now living in fear.
Fear, he said, “that they are not going to be able to pay the money they owe, the things they’re going to have to do to pay that money. They may get sent back.”
After work, Pedro attends high school, where he said he struggles to stay awake in class.
“It takes its toll,” he said. He said his teachers were aware that many of their students have held jobs cleaning the slaughterhouses at night.
Diana Mendoza heads the English as a second language program at a school district in Kansas where some of her students work overnight shifts in dangerous jobs. She said her students struggle to balance their competing interests to work to make ends meet now while also getting an education to secure a brighter future.
“They come in tired and you can see it in their body. For example, they will put their head down, they try to rest a little in school,” Mendoza said. “When people are tired [they] can’t always pay the attention necessary to learn.”
The hardest part of his life in Kansas, Pedro said, is not the dangerous work followed by trying to stay awake in school. It’s the loneliness.
“I miss my parents, my family,” he said. “All the time I am alone. It’s very difficult for me.”
He considers himself lucky to still have the job after so many other minors working were recently fired. Many of the former child employees are left struggling to survive, he said.
“There were some who don’t live with their parents, like me, and it’s very difficult for them the pay the rent and [for] their lunch,” Pedro said.
Now, as a result of the Labor Department investigation, most of those children have lost their jobs at PSSI. Tuchez said they’re now living in fear.
Fear, he said, “that they are not going to be able to pay the money they owe, the things they’re going to have to do to pay that money. They may get sent back.”
After work, Pedro attends high school, where he said he struggles to stay awake in class.
“It takes its toll,” he said. He said his teachers were aware that many of their students have held jobs cleaning the slaughterhouses at night.
Diana Mendoza heads the English as a second language program at a school district in Kansas where some of her students work overnight shifts in dangerous jobs. She said her students struggle to balance their competing interests to work to make ends meet now while also getting an education to secure a brighter future.
“They come in tired and you can see it in their body. For example, they will put their head down, they try to rest a little in school,” Mendoza said. “When people are tired [they] can’t always pay the attention necessary to learn.”
The hardest part of his life in Kansas, Pedro said, is not the dangerous work followed by trying to stay awake in school. It’s the loneliness.
“I miss my parents, my family,” he said. “All the time I am alone. It’s very difficult for me.”
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