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Bill Tieleman's Georgia Straight Political Connections column for Nov 27

In a Brave New B.C., Even Kids Will Work for the Man

By Bill Tieleman

In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever
brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt,
as injustice.

-- Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Believe it or not, Premier Gordon Campbell and the B.C. Liberals are
about to bring child labour back to British Columbia after it had been
banned by the province since the Depression years of the 1930s.

In early December, the Liberals will put in place regulations filling in
the details of Bill 37, legislation passed in October that amends the
Employment Standards Act to allow children as young as 12 years to work
full-time.

These regulations are, appropriately, being implemented as our thoughts
turn back to the time of Charles Dickens, who not only penned A
Christmas Carol but also wrote about the terrible conditions of child
labour in the time of the Industrial Revolution in England.

The child labour that the B.C. Liberals intend to permit isn't the
innocent sort, like a paper route or a little help for the family
business. A child as young as 12 years old will be allowed to work
full-time at any occupation under provincial jurisdiction, no matter how
dangerous, with only the consent of one parent. That includes farm
labour, and working in a paint plant, gas station, restaurant, or
door-to-door sales.

Graham Bruce, the minister of skills development and labour who
introduced the legislation, told the legislature on October 6 that Bill
37 allows children to work up to seven hours a day and up to 35 hours
per week when not in school, and up to four hours a day and up to 20
hours per week when school is in session.

Graeme Moore is deeply concerned about these changes. Moore spent
21 years working for the Employment Standards Branch, the last seven as
a program director, but he is no longer with the government.

"I resigned in disgust," Moore said in an interview with the Georgia
Straight. "We're not talking about the girl or boy next door
babysitting; we're talking about children working dawn to dusk,
full-time. It's extraordinarily long hours for children as young as 12
years old."

Moore says that unless something changes, B.C. will be the most child
labourfriendly jurisdiction in all of North America. And he expects
things to get even worse under the Campbell government.

"We're living in an increasingly regulationless society. This is a
libertarian government, not a liberal government," Moore said.

The idea that parental consent means children will not be abused in the
workplace is a nonstarter with Moore. "We know from history that
parental consent did not keep children out of coal pits, out of cotton
mills," he said.

But those terrible conditions and their modern equivalents are
apparently far from the thoughts of Graham Bruce.

"We are changing the rules to better focus on protecting children but
still ensuring they can take a job when they want. The solution is to
require only written consent of a parent or guardian to employ a child
aged 12 to 15 and to back that up with clear standards for those
workplaces that employ kids," Bruce told the legislature on October 8.

Moore, now a consultant on employment issues, says that in the absence
of regulations that guard children against exploitation in the
workplace, British Columbians should take action themselves.

"There has to be a boycott of businesses using child labour. Consumers
should be aware that some of the places they patronize could be using
child labour," he said. "I hope B.C. parents who get upset about
children in Pakistan or Bangladesh who are making soccer balls will get
equally upset about children the same age working here."

Although the legislation to allow child labour applies to most
workplaces, Moore says it is particularly designed for one purpose: to
allow children to work as farm labourers.

"The inside story on farm labour is quite sordid," he said. "Berry crops
are not viable unless they are subsidized by cheap labour. The B.C.
Agricultural Council wants to import Mexican labour. Graham Bruce does
not want that, so he is meeting their need for subsidized labour by
changing employment standards to provide cheap labour, including child
labour."

It's likely no coincidence that just 10 days after Bill 37 was
introduced, Bruce signed a "partnership agreement" with the B.C.
Agricultural Council to "help protect vulnerable workers".

The May 15 news release concluded with this clunker, which shows how
much protection farm workers really got from the deal: "Bruce also
announced changes to the employment standards regulation. Effective
tomorrow, farm workers are excluded from hours of work, overtime and
statutory holiday pay."

Break out the champagne, sisters and brothers, we can work as long as we
like without getting overtime or holiday pay! What a great government
this is for us farm workers!

But it isn't just the agricultural industry that benefits from child
labour. The other reason for allowing children to work is cuts to
welfare. Parents who can no longer collect social assistance will be
under enormous pressure to have their children work to feed the family
and pay the bills.

"I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm convinced
we're living out a social-engineering plan mapped out by the
[right-wing] Fraser Institute," Moore concludes.

Conspiracy theory? Let me see... The B.C. Liberals do a sleazy deal with
farmers who need workers on the cheap, cut welfare payments and impose
time limits on collecting them, and then overturn 70 years of protection
against the use of child labour. Nah, no connection there.

West Star Communications president Bill Tieleman has clients in labour,
business, and nonprofits. He is a political commentator Thursdays on CBC
TV's Canada Now and regularly on CBC Radio One's Early Edition. E-mail
him at [email protected]

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