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During contract negotiations with Tony Downs Foods, unions asked the company to support the town’s youth after state officials last year accused the meatpacking company of employing children as young as 13. They are calling for the creation of a $50,000 “child welfare” fund.
Lena Wong, president of UFCW 663, the union representing workers at the tony factory, said: “We are saddened to hear that children are working in this facility because it is one of the most dangerous industries to work in in the world.” I’m very concerned,” he said. Downs.
Last September, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industries fined Tony Downs $300,000 after an inspection of the meat packing plant found workers under the age of 18 at the Madelia plant. It is illegal for young people to work in workplaces deemed dangerous, such as meat packing plants.
In a statement shared with the Star Tribune, Tony Downs said he was “disappointed” that the union “chose to move contract negotiations into the public forum.” The company said its current contract expired several months ago.
David Ross, Tony Downs’ vice president of human resources, reiterated that the company does not knowingly employ anyone under 18.
“Tony Downs Foods is committed to not allowing anyone, especially minors, to work for us for a single minute without valid proof that they are eligible for employment.”
Tony Downs denied the charges after agreeing to pay a fine ordered by a Watonwan County judge, which the paper called a “grossly disproportionate” fine.
The Mankato-based meat processing plant wasn’t the only factory accused of employing minors.
In Worthington, a cleaning company that employed dozens of minors who worked overnight at the JBS hog slaughter plant was the focus of a federal Department of Labor investigation. Federal authorities conducted similar raids at other sites, arresting minors at a meat snack factory in Chandler and cleaning up a turkey slaughterhouse in Marshall.
PSSI, a Wisconsin-based cleaning company that paid a $1 million fine to the Department of Labor for employing children across the country, including in Minnesota, announced last summer that its employees had formed a union.
Jessica Lee Velasco, an organizer with Minnesota Unidos, said: He said teens’ first jobs should be in fast food or grocery stores rather than operating machines in slaughterhouses.
“Children found packing meat are missing an important step in their formative years,” said Lee Velasco. “We’re robbing them of important moments.”
Wong and Lee Belasco The foundation announced it would pay Tony Downs 10 cents an hour, up to $50,000 a year. — Fund activities such as summer internships and other improvement efforts developed in consultation with the community.
The company said it has not yet heard any proposals from the union.
Wong said the fund could serve as a model for other meat processing companies in the state and across the country to work on redressing areas where child labor is found, which often involves migrant workers.
The man, who identified himself only as “Edgar” at Wednesday’s presentation organized by the union and Minnesota Unidos, said he worked at the High Life Pork Plant in Windham, which closed last year. He said he suffered multiple injuries on the assembly line and is currently unable to pick up his children.
“Meat processing plants are not safe places for children,” Edgar said. “Our children should be studying and preparing for better opportunities.”
Over the past 16 months, a number of child labor allegations have been reported by both federal authorities and media investigations. This coincided with increased attention to children flowing into the United States through the southern border, many seeking asylum.
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