By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Labor said it entered an agreement with JBS USA in which the meatpacker will provide $4 million to assist individuals and communities affected by unlawful child labor practices nationwide.
JBS USA is the North American unit of Brazil’s JBS SA.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Since 2022, the U.S. Labor Department has investigated various third-party contractors that provide sanitation services at meat packing establishments and service providers of poultry catching operations across the United States.
These investigations discovered that JBS’ third-party service providers employed children in dangerous jobs and during overnight shifts at the company’s facilities in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska, according to the Labor Department.
KEY QUOTE
“JBS has taken responsibility for children performing dangerous work at its facilities by proposing concrete and enforceable solutions to address those issues, setting the standard as a market leader in preventing illegal youth employment,” Labor Department official Jessica Looman said.
CONTEXT
In addition to the establishment of the $4 million fund for victims of child labor, JBS will also hire a child labor compliance specialist to review policies and maintain an ethics hotline for anonymous reporting of compliance concerns, among other steps.
JBS says it does not tolerate child labor and previously ended contracts with a U.S. company fined for hiring kids.
The company had no immediate comment on Monday.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese and Aurora Ellis)
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