Rediscovering Unions

According to the March 10 issue of the Gray Lady, Democrats have come back to reality.  They've realized what my grandparents, my dad, and all my uncles knew instinctively - that unions were among their strongest defenses, politically, socially, and even emotionally.

That last isn't drama. I'm reminded of the story of how my maternal grandfather was mortally injured in the Homestead Works of U S Steel.  A crane was carrying a beam whose weight far exceeded the crane's rating; the beam fell, crushing Grandfather Boytim's hips and causing him so much pain that no amount of morphine gave him relief.

In What Universe

 ... do MAGA apparatchiks like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Republican governor of Arkansas, have any credibility?

Huckabee Sanders signed a bill into law this week that rolls back a number of child labor protections across the state, including a measure that had required employers to obtain work certificates for children under the age of 16.

Previously, minors younger than that needed to verify their age and get the written consent of a parent or guardian before a work certificate could be issued by the state’s Division of Labor.  Sounds like good common sense to Bodhi.  But something known as the Youth Hiring Act of 2023 passed the Arkansas state legislature earlier this month.  This bill no longer requires youth under the age of 16 to have a certificate as a condition of their employment.

This comes after the Biden administration announced plans to crack down on labor exploitation of migrant children.  Ms Sanders' initiative may be an overreaction to that plan.  According to Google Maps, it's about 1000 miles, or 16 hours, from Pine Bluff Arkansas to El Paso Texas.  That suggests that Arkansas's H.B. 1410 intentionally, rather than accidentally, gives a green light to migrant child labor.  Cheaper and easier to keep in line ...