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Are contracts obscuring U.S. child labor in your supply chain?
Kelly Barner : June 22, 2023
Human rights concerns are at the top of the priority list for supply chain and procurement professionals. Among the most horrifying human rights abuses is child labor, sending children into dangerous settings to work.
FDR signed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, restricting the conditions and hours children under the age of 16 can work, and making it illegal for anyone under 18 to work in hazardous conditions.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t prevent it from happening… in the United States… today.
In this week’s episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner shares real examples of modern child labor to illustrate:
- How large, systemic, and local the problem of illegal child labor is today, even in the United States
- Why we must be careful not to simply blame employers and staffing firms
- The direct role that procurement can play in the effort to protect the most vulnerable members of our society