Worker abuses continue at Postville
People who think government should just get out of capitalism’s way, need to take a hard look at what’s been going on in Postville, Iowa. The Agriprocessors meat packing plant in Postville had 57 children working there, in flagrant violation of state child labor laws. I wish somebody in the “smaller government” crowd would tell me how the free market protected those children from one of the most dangerous work environments in America. I’d like someone who thinks “government is the problem” to lay out the argument against putting Agriprocessors’ managers in prison, alongside everybody else who abuses children.
And Agriprocessors isn’t done abusing working people. The Mexican workers rounded up by the feds have been replaced by Somali refugees who are being packed into substandard housing.
This is why we need strong, active, growing labor unions, and why we need rigorous enforcement of labor laws.