In just two years, right-wing legislators weakened four states’ child labor laws — and a raft of other protections
Scott Walker (Credit: Reuters/Darren Hauck)
Months after the Tea Party’s 2010 election triumph, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker made international news when activists occupied the Capitol in opposition to his anti-union gambit. But a report being released Thursday suggests Americans dramatically underestimate the scope and ambition of Republicans’ post-2010 push to ratchet workplace laws to the right – involving over a dozen states, a tangled web of under-the-radar coordination, and a broad constellation of weakened protections, from unemployment benefits to child labor laws.
“People in any given place, if they’re dealing with a minimum wage repeal in New Hampshire or something, mostly experience that as if it comes from a particular legislator in their state, and it’s explained as a response to the conditions in their state,” report author Gordon Lafer told Salon. “So when you put all the pieces together over the 50 states, one of the things you see is how concerted an effort it is, and how cookie-cutter the legislation is – and how much it’s not being driven by individual legislators, but by a national corporate lobby.”
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/31/newts_revenge_child_labor_makes_a_comeback/
The Secular Jurist 
I suppose we will all soon be working in factories and the fields from ten years old to death for five dollars an hour under our new corporate oligarchs /sarcasm
I wonder how many of these guys actually have ever had a long term minimum wage job from 9 to 5, 40+ hours a week? These guys have no idea of the concept of hardship, most have never had to truly work a hard day physically in their life. They don’t understand the concept of choosing between food and medicine? Not having enough to pay your utility bills or rent and not having anywhere to turn to but borrowing to get it. I say it is time for these guys to step out of their executive suite offices and meet people living in the real world.
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I’m sure there is a lot of ignorance about poverty amongst conservatives, but not all of them were born with silver spoons in their mouths. Far too many conservatives are just downright hateful.
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Yes this is true. However the ones who were not seem to have forgot what it is like to struggle and having a hard time making ends meet.
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I wonder why it was so easy for them to forget.
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