Nearly a dozen children were working shifts cleaning meat processing equipment used at an Iowa pork plant’s so-called kill floor over a four-year period, the US Department of Labor announced.
Eleven children were using corrosive chemicals to clean as well as perilous “head splitters, jaw pullers, bandsaws, neck clippers and other equipment” at a Seaboard Triumph Foods pork processing plant in Sioux City, according to officials. This is the second time federal investigators have found children working at that particular Sioux City meat processing plant.
The most recent settlement comes with Qvest LLC, an Oklahoma-based cleaning company hired by Seaboard from 2019 to 2023. The company was fined $171,919 for violating federal law.
In September 2023, Seaboard hired a new cleaning contractor: Fayette Janitorial Services, headquartered in Tennessee. Investigators found Fayette hired 24 children to work overnight shifts – some as young as 13 and carrying glittery school backpacks – including some of the same minors who were employed by Qvest, the previous cleaning company. In May, Fayette was fined $649,304.
“These findings illustrate Seaboard Triumph Foods’ history of children working illegally in their Sioux City facility since at least September 2019,” said wage and hour midwest regional administrator Michael Lazzeri. “Despite changing sanitation contractors, children continued to work in dangerous occupations at this facility.”
The federal investigation comes after a 2023 New York Times report on migrant child exploitation, in which the paper documented children working dangerous jobs and overnight hours.
Children who arrive at the US’s southern border alone often stay in the country for years before their cases are adjudicated. While they wait, they live with sponsors. As of 2023, only one-third of migrant children went to live with their parents, a sea change from a decade ago. That can leave children vulnerable to exploitation or trafficking.
Similarly, the Guardian has documented children as young as 14 working in US tobacco fields, although legally. Donald Trump’s second presidential administration has pledged to conduct mass deportations of illegal immigrants using the US military.
The settlements require Qvest to hire a third-party compliance officer who will direct a review of company policies, conduct training on child labor, establish a hotline for violations and submit compliance reports for three years to the department. Fayette was required to implement many of the same provisions – and to discipline managers responsible for child labor violations.
Labor investigators uncovered violations affecting 4,030 children in 736 investigations this year, and assessed $15.1m in fines, an 89% increase since 2023.
• This article was amended on 3 December 2024. An earlier version said the plant was in Sioux Falls rather than Sioux City.
