Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale released the following statement on Governor Evers’ veto of Senate Bill 332, a Republican bill to expand permissible work hours for children as young as 14:
“Thank you to Governor Evers for using his veto pen today to preserve an important part of Wisconsin's century-old child labor protections. A part-time job can be an important part of a young person’s development. Young workers learn job skills and a work ethic that serves them well in later years. But the priority for young teens must remain their education. Wisconsin kids deserve adequate time to study, to sleep and to imagine the road ahead of them. Using young workers to irresponsibly fill gaps in the workforce is in neither our kids’ nor society’s interest.”
As Wisconsin businesses deal with thousands of unfilled jobs, Bloomingdale offered an alternative for employers seeking workers: "The solution to filling open positions in Wisconsin and beyond shouldn’t involve 14- and 15-year-olds working longer into the night, as Republicans proposed. Employers need to pay living wages worth working for and address the imbalance between worker productivity and compensation that for decades has kept too many families from earning a living wage."