As expected, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed legislation Monday that would have eliminated the requirement for work permits for 14- and 15-year-old teens who take a job.
“Asking more kids to work is not a serious plan or solution to address our statewide workforce issues,” Evers said in his veto message for SB-436.
Evers took the action at a statewide union meeting in Madison. The bill “isn’t a serious proposal to address generational statewide issues,” Evers said in his remarks at the spring conference of the Wisconsin State Council of Machinists. “This bill is wrong for our kids and wrong for our state.”
Some people want a return to a feudal state of uneducated peasants laboring for pennies from puberty to death. The US already has forced prison labor (aka slave labor) earning 450 million/year in Alabama that mirrors indentured servitude from the Middle Ages. It’s good this got vetoed, but the folks who are trying to eliminate protections for young workers should have to answer some hard questions. Society is supposed to move forward to happier, healthier people.
They’re happy to compromise on starting at puberty….
But, they really want ‘em younger.