NEW BEDFORD — The photograph was passed from one top official to the next. It was passed first to Police Chief Paul Oliveira, then to City Councilor Shane Burgo, then to schools Superintendent Andrew O’Leary and to state Rep. Chris Hendricks.
The 8×11 print showed scabbed, purple boils forming a ring around the wrist of a child who had been burned by chemicals while working an overnight shift at a New Bedford seafood processing plant.
“The chemical went through the glove and burned his hand,” explained Dax Crocker, of labor activist group Centro Comunidad de Trabajadores (CCT), which on Monday hosted a meeting with civic leaders to address the issue of child labor in New Bedford’s fish houses.
The picture was an example of a quiet but pervasive problem in New Bedford — illegal child labor in the city’s seafood processing plants and the risks that the dangerous jobs pose to undocumented, underage workers with little protection or other options for work.
In November, the U.S. Department of Labor launched a sweeping investigation into child labor and other potential labor law violations at multiple New Bedford seafood processing plants. The Labor Department has levied fines at meatpacking and food processing companies across the country for violating child labor laws. But with no action or fines yet imposed here, local officials have stepped up, saying it’s time to end the exploitative and often illegal labor trend.
Rep. Hendricks has begun drafting legislation that would prohibit children from working in seafood processing plants. Superintendent O’Leary speculated about screening work permits for students enrolled in the New Bedford school system and not authorizing permits for those working in seafood processing or staffing agencies. Police Chief Oliveira advocated for stepping up enforcement of potential labor trafficking cases, educating children on the law and their rights as workers.
Hendrick’s bill, he described, is aimed at addressing a gray area in child labor law. Whereas children under 18 are prohibited from working specifically in meat and poultry processing plants, there is no such law for seafood processing plants.
“The fact that this is happening in a civilized industry, in America, in 2023, is a serious problem,” said Hendricks in a December interview with The Light. “It’s high time we take a look at seafood processors and start to prevent young children from working these dangerous jobs.”
Still, officials say, it will be a challenge to address the growing problem of child labor violations in New Bedford seafood processing plants. It is made more complex by lax enforcement of state and federal labor laws, failures of federal immigration policy and the desperation of children, most of whom are undocumented immigrants, who are under tremendous pressure to work and, sometimes intentionally, slip through the cracks of the enforcement agencies.
A record number of unaccompanied minors have immigrated to the U.S. in recent years. Since 2021, more than 300,000 migrant children have entered the United States on their own, according to data from the Labor Department. It is a trend that is reflected in the ballooning number of child labor violations nationwide. The number of children employed in violation of federal law has increased more than five-fold since a low point in 2015, according to the Labor Department. It is a number that increased 44% last year over the previous year.
In Massachusetts, tight guidelines limit hours for workers under age 18. Further restrictions prohibit those under 16 from working in construction, warehouses, freezers or other industrial jobs involving heavy machinery.
But for immigrant children arriving in New Bedford, desperate for work, some are unaware of the laws set in place to protect them. The Light recently interviewed five children working long hours in contact with dangerous machinery and chemicals in New Bedford’s seafood processing plants. Each was between the ages of 15 and 17. Each had recently immigrated to the United States from impoverished villages or small farms in the highlands of Guatemala. Each supported families in both Guatemala and New Bedford. To work more hours, most said, they had forged paperwork to claim they were older than 18.
Many of the underage workers are employed through staffing agencies, which are sometimes contracted by companies to provide workers for low-wage jobs like those in seafood processing.
“It’s an open secret in the fish houses,” Crocker told the city officials on Monday. “If you are a minor, and you don’t have documents, you will work wherever they give you work.”
The New Bedford School District last year documented over 100 students working for staffing agencies, according to Superintendent O’Leary, though it is unclear how many of those students were working specifically in seafood processing.
“We are looking for young people who are being exploited,” O’Leary said.
For the child in the photograph circulated among city officials on Monday, Crocker said he was rushed to the hospital to treat chemical burns on his hand. At the hospital, he presented his real name and age. But it was not the same name and age under which he was employed in the seafood processing plant. That information he had forged to claim he was over 18 years old in order to work longer hours. So, at the hospital, the company’s insurance would not cover the medical bill, Crocker said.
“He was so afraid of getting in trouble, of getting deported, he just wanted to let it go,” Crocker said. “Somebody has to have the authority to go into those fish houses and make sure the kids are being treated right.”
Email Will Sennott at wsennott@newbedfordlight.org.
Great article by Mr. Sinnott and great job by Dax Crocker and the Centro Comunidad de Trabaljadores (CCT) in exposing these abuses be the staffing agencies, which must be regulated and t the Seafood industry. Congratulations also to Representative Chris Hendricks for taking the lead on proposing MA state legislation to address this problem and to the other city officials who attended this meeting, as well as the interested citizens who showed up to this important meeting,
An informative article by Will Sennott of The Bedford Light. These are the kinds of issues that are important to our community. The people of New Bedford have demonstrated compassion for the exploited and oppressed for generations, and it’s essential that they know the facts about a particular situation that impacts our community.
I was heartened to see State Representative, Chris Hendricks, NBPD Chief Oliveira, NBPS Superintendant Andrew O’Leary, City Councilor at Large, Shane Burgo, and other community leaders attending the meeting and expressing their willingness to help tackle this complicated issue.
We all have a role to play, and it will take a concerted effort to accomplish the goal of protecting these children from further exploitation.
Thank you to the Light for covering this compelling story.
Workers getting abused is as old as the city itself. Most people aren’t even aware of the textile strikes that occurred in the early 20th century, but the real history of New Bedford is wrapped up in worker exploitation. Hopefully a new generation of leaders can move the city away from that history.
What was the actual age of the kid with the chemical burns who was treated at the hospital?