Child labor is heinous in its own right, but something about a company that makes stuff for kids abusing kids makes for particularly vile subject matter.
And isn't there something ironic about Build-a-Bear, the company that lines our kids up in little factory worker queues to "build" massively expensive toys which we then have to shell out to outfit, getting in trouble for child labor law violations?
The company has been fined by the U.S. Department of Labor for allowing fourteen minors to perform tasks that violate federal laws at sites in four states. A closer look at the charges reveals the company wasn't working kids to the bone for five cents an hour (the kind of sweatshop, third world country images that come to mind when I think of child labor issues). Teens ages sixteen and seventeen were being allowed to operate trash compactors and similar duties. The company has been fined by the Department of Labor, and it has adapted its rules so no one under age eighteen will be hired to work in the factories.
The latter seems unfair, as though the kids are being punished here rather than the company. And I can't say the company's statement, "Importantly, no one suffered any injuries from performing these tasks" sounds like much of a mea culpa.
As a mom who has so far avoided the big Build-a-Bear birthday celebrations, this was just another nail in that coffin. What about you, will you be humping it to build a bear anytime soon?
Image: Build-a-Bear
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