The company, Tuff Torq, was fined nearly $300,000 for hiring 10 children. It must also set aside $1.5 million to help the immigrant minors who were illegally employed.

Immigrant children as young as 14 were found working illegally amid dangerous heavy equipment at a Tennessee firm that makes parts for lawn mowers sold by John Deere and other companies, according to Labor Department officials.

The company, Tuff Torq, was fined nearly $300,000 for hiring 10 children. As part of a consent agreement with the federal government, the company is also required to set aside $1.5 million to help the children who were illegally employed. Ryan Pott, general counsel for Tuff Torq’s majority owner, the Japanese firm Yanmar, acknowledged the violations to NBC News.

  • @Leviathan
    link
    1510 months ago

    You ever seen a kid get killed in heavy machinery? Have you ever seen a kid get permanently maimed on heavy machinery? That shit changes you. As a society we’re all supposed to learn from those horrors but instead we stay real myopic and say I’ve never been hurt, I’ve never seen anything bad happen and ignore that all regulations were written in blood and lifelong trauma. Then there’s the myriad situations where migrant children can be abused because they’re low risk victims.

    • @LucidNightmare
      link
      610 months ago

      Right! This seems to be the prevailing missing puzzle piece to most of these people’s thought process. They’re skipping over the fact that CHILDREN are WORKING instead of, oh I don’t fucking know, BEING CHILDREN?

      • @Leviathan
        link
        410 months ago

        Precisely. They should have a childhood.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          -110 months ago

          Right now 14 year olds just look at phones and go on social media which is a direct harm. Working would be more healthy for their body and their mind.

          • ᗪᗩᗰᑎ
            link
            fedilink
            210 months ago

            we’re exploited enough as is and corporate greed is only getting worse, there’s absolutely zero need to put children in a position to be exploited.

              • Flying Squid
                link
                110 months ago

                What the fuck? You think employees should be exploited because they need money to survive? Force them to work 80-hour weeks for minimum wage? Scream racist epithets at them if they aren’t productive enough? How about beat them with a metal rod if they step out of line?

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  -110 months ago

                  I disagree with the “exploited” phrasing. And if someone is willing to work 80 hrs per week then they can make money doing other things.

                  I actually think they should be beaten with a wood broom handle. Quicker swings.

                  • Flying Squid
                    link
                    310 months ago

                    Ah, you’re one of those “just get another job” people who think jobs grow on trees.

          • Flying Squid
            link
            110 months ago

            Yes, getting caught in a large factory machine and being ground up and spat out into a puddle of mush would be much more healthy for their body and their mind.