Midwest Voices

Barb Shelly

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Missouri Sen. Jane Cunningham’s motives for her bizarre bill undercutting the state’s child labor laws become more clear in this interview with the St. Louis Beacon.

The current restrictions, Cunningham says, imply “that government can make a better decision than a parent.” Also, Cunningham, who is no fan of public schools, dislikes the provision in state law that says students younger than 16 must obtain signed permission from their school before taking a job.

Cunningham views Missouri’s laws, which limit the number of hours young people can work and ban them from working past 9 p.m., as an intrusion on parent’s rights.

Actually, they are a help to parents. Without those restrictions, you have a scenario in which Susie, 13, is working at a sub shop. She has homework and she’s supposed to get off at 8 p.m., but the shift manager needs her to stay and close up because Fred didn’t show up for work. Susie calls her mom, who protests, but the boss is adamant and Susie really wants to keep her job so mom agrees, just this once. And pretty soon “just this once” becomes the routine.

I have watched this happen with a 16-year-old, and only the labor laws keep employers from demanding unreasonable service from the under-16 workforce.

Cunningham has a profound dislike of government, and thinks it does almost nothing right. But child labor laws are a good thing, and Cunningham isn’t likely to find many allies in her strange quest to change them.

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