Maine: "An Act To Enhance Access to the Workplace for Minors" cuts pay from $7.50 to $5.25

[Shallah Kali]

Found on Dirigo Blue:

Bill would roll back years of protections of children in the workplace
http://www.dirigoblue.com/diary/2850/bill-would-roll-back-years-of-protections-of-children-in-the-workplace

This bill amends the laws governing employment practices in the following ways:

1. It establishes a training wage for trainees or secondary students under 20 years of age at $5.25 per hour for their first 180 days of employment;

2. It eliminates the maximum number of hours a minor 16 years of age or older can work during school days;

3. It allows a minor under 16 years of age to work up to 4 hours on a school day during hours when school is not in session;

Link to bill:
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_125th/billtexts/HP098701.asp

then I found this article:

More 'exploitation' of young workers by the Legislature
http://www.kjonline.com/news/more-exploitation-of-young-workers-by-the-legislature_2011-03-29.html



btw the GOP wants to modify Maine's safe kids act because it is too onerous to expect businesses to not poison kids - even precious fetsuses - so they let them write the bill:

Chemical Industry Drafted Bill to Modify Maine's Kids Safe Act
http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/15792/Default.aspx

But Plowman's bill, it turns out, was just the beginning. Rep. Burns, who did not respond to an interview request Tuesday, apparently thinks Maine's kids are not only underworked, but also overpaid.

And how would Burns correct this, ahem, problem?

Well, he'd remove any limit whatsoever on the number of hours kids over 16 can work on a school day -- the current limit is four on most days and eight on the last school day of the week.

He'd raise from three to four the maximum hours kids under 16 can work on a school day.

& it would cut the pay from the state minimum of $7.50 per hour to $5.25 for 180 days. The GOP = building a bridge to the 19th century! What next, bring back work houses, indentured servitude? :wtf:

local cbs take: http://www.wgme.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wgme_vid_7279.shtml

[lonestarnot]

1. Child labor laws done away with as fast as private prisons can be built.

[Scuba]

18. +1

[RegieRocker]

25. Guessed this would be next. Sweat shops here they come.

[lonestarnot]

27. Sweat shops and debtors prisons and weren't they trying to revive orphanages?

[RegieRocker]

28. That would be correct.

[hifiguy]

40. Indeed. That's the plan. n/t

[Newest Reality]

2. Ah,

"What next, bring back work houses, indentured servitude?"

Sure, debtor's prison is getting a good start already. We must be made to pay our debts now!

[Quantess]

3. That's really bad news...

K & R

[anneboleyn]

11. I agree, this is unbelievable. Can this be legal to lower the wages based on age?

[Donnachaidh]

39. bet this is so summer residents (IE elites) can hire these kids in the summer

And get away with paying them less than minimum wage...

[AKDavy]

4. Add Dickensian to Orwellian

[eowyn_of_rohan]

31. perfect. -nt

[msongs]

5. another gift from repubs to dems. so what will the dems do with this gift? a way to lock

up the 18-19 year old vote. are there any dems alive in Maine?

[katnapped]

19. "What will Dems do" ?

They'll clap and get right in line with the Republicans

[davidthegnome]

22. Yes...

Though I think of myself as moderate liberal first - democrat second. I vote for progress, or at least for what I believe is progress. I vote based on principle whenever I feel that I can (I try to maintain a level of practicality and vote for the closest thing to good that I think it's possible I can get.). It's why I voted for the one candidate who ran a clean election campaign - Mitchell, though I liked Cutler. I hope to see more campaigns like Mitchell's, her courage and her honesty were an inspiration to me. Most of all, her willingness to go at it without large corporate backing.

There are plenty of dems alive in Maine, but we are not particularly well organized or unified. A good number of us voted for Cutler, some because they liked him best - others because as Mitchell's popularity fell in the polls, they felt only Cutler could save us from LePage. Turns out we probably should have convinced one of them to give way to the other and combine our votes for that candidate. Well, hindsight, as they say....

We're a bit odd when election time comes around. I think we're the only state that voted for Ross Perot. I am still though, shocked that Lepage is now our Governor. I am still shocked at what the Republicans in this State are getting away with.

[wtmusic]

6. I'm waxing nostalgic for the golden years of the robber barons.

Can we make one more exception for orphans working in shipyards? All in the name of progress...

[Shallah Kali]

7. Maine Bills to Restrict Medical Care of Minors Generate Controversy

http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemId/15703/Default.aspx

Doctors, counselors and civil liberties advocates also turned up at the State House today. They had come to speak out against proposed legislation that they say will violate the rights of minors to privacy when it comes to important health issues. The two bills up for public discussion will, between them, require children to obtain parental consent for contraception, drug and alcohol treatment, mental health counseling and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

snip

The bill's opponents, though, argue that the law as it stands is working fine, pointing out that Maine has gone from having one of the country's highest teenage pregancies rates 30 years ago to one of the lowest today.

"We think they're in search of a solution to a problem that doesn't exist," says Gordon Smith of the Maine Medical Association, one of a number of medical organizations speaking out against the two bills. Smith says that Maine's current law recognizes the fact that not all children are lucky enough to live in homes with supportive families behind them.

"We always wish that parents could be involved in the care of their children, but it's a tough time being a kid out there," Smith says. "And the most important thing is to encourage them to talk to a nurse, a doctor, somebody in medicine, to get that condition treated."

exemptions allowed if kid can prove to medical professional they are at risk from parents/guardians

[Hannah Bell]

8. kr

[Shallah Kali]

9. Chemical Industry Drafted Bill to Modify Maine's Kids Safe Act

hemical Industry Drafted Bill to Modify Maine's Kids Safe Act

http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/15792/Default.aspx

The sponsor of a bill that environmentalists say would dramatically weaken Maine's Kid Safe Products Act acknowledged today that the chemical industry drafted the language. Republican Rep. Jim Hamper says the proposed reforms are necessary to improve the act, which he thinks is overly broad and creates uncertainty in the business community. The LePage administration supports the bill, but is also supporting another measure that's being billed as a "compromise.

snip

Belliveau says the chemical industry has resisted efforts to adopt safeguards at the federal level. And even Rep. Hamper now admits that the industry wrote his bill to relax Maine law. "Industry people, obviously, well, I'll say--wrote it--yes."

Hamper says he wanted committee members have it in a format they could understand. That comes as little comfort to environmentalists who think many of the efforts to roll back Maine's environmental regulations are coming from out-of-state interest groups that don't have Mainers' best interest at heart.

Hamper's bill is also supported by the Maine Chamber of Commerce and by individual business owners that won't come forward out of fear they will be labeled as unfriendly to children.

[Angry Dragon]

10. The Regressive Party hates everyone except ........ Fetuses

and old rich white men

edit: added sentence

[freshwest]

12. You beat me to it. I was going to ask if there was anyone in the state they didn't hate.

I know some people who live in Maine and say this is the result of the inroads of the Dominionist movement, ala Sarah Palin's kind.

[Historic NY]

13. Isn't that special 180 days or summer vacation.......cheap pricks.

[aquart]

14. Maine. A state Americans used to respect.

[davidthegnome]

23. Keep in mind...

The vast majority of us did not vote for Lepage. It was a vote that was too divided because Mainers tend to look at more than party affiliation. Cutler was a good choice, though I still think Mitchell was a better one. Lepage won because we were too stubborn (and Cutler and Mitchell were too stubborn) to unite behind one choice.

Disrespect our government - our politics, despise them if you will, hell, I do. Please though, keep in mind that the majority of Mainers are decent, hard working people. We don't all deserve that disrespect, most of us didn't vote for Lepage, a lot of us right now are feeling like we're in a dream we just can't wake up from. Even a number of Republicans are beginning to realize how duped we've been (though most won't admit it).

A lot of us did all that we could with the best of intentions, but it was not enough. For that, I am deeply sorry. I vow to double my efforts in the next gubernatorial election - even if it means not sleeping.

[aquart]

33. Sorry, but from here it sounds like Florida.

Of course, in New York we have Koch-happy dino Andrew Cuomo. Who walked away with the nomination because he had so very much money.

[eShirl]

15. I am so thankful we have the VETO REFERENDUM !

With the current group in the Capitol, we may be using it more than ever.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process_in_Maine


In Maine, citizens have access to the statewide ballot through two mechanisms:

Indirect initiated state statutes, which are new state laws. Maine citizens are not allowed to initiate constitutional amendments.
The veto referendum. In this process, citizens of Maine can collect signatures to place on the statewide ballot a law recently passed by the Maine State Legislature, thus forcing that new law to a statewide vote of the citizens--if it is rejected by the citizenry, it doesn't take effect.

-snip-

Maine is one of just three states (the others being Ohio and Washington) that allow statewide ballot initiative elections in both odd- and even-numbered years.

[corpseratemedia]

16. what training wages do:

because it happened to me as a teen - the closer you get to the end of your "training," the fewer and fewer hours you work, until they can replace you with another "trainee," and then they are replaced, and so on.

this is just a way to getting around paying PEOPLE a minimum wage


and idiots still vote for republicans.....

[Johonny]

43. +1

[Little Star]

17. Sounds like the need to move Maine down to fundie land.....

This New Englander is amazed, Maine sits right next to Vermont and sometimes you'd think they were on separate planets!

[KamaAina]

36. Actually, New Hampshire is in between

so for the time being, things get saner as you move west.

[Little Star]

55. Duh!!! Sorry. You are correct. Thanks for the correction.

[PA Democrat]

20. Senator Debra Plowman, sponsor of the bill, says it will give kids the chance "to save for college"

How much education can you buy for $5.25 and hour? The University of Maine reports total cost for a Maine resident of $18,908 per year. At $5.25 an hour, a young person would have to work more than 70 hours per week, 52 weeks a year to pay for college.

http://www.maine.edu/prospective/tuition-rates.php

I think Plowman is a lying piece of crap. She doesn't give a damn about kids. Her bill is all about more cheap labor for her corporate masters.

Edited to add link for tuition costs.

[Vinca]

21. New license plate slogan: Sweat Shop Land.

(Begs a photoshop, but I don't know how to do it.)

[MaeScott]

24. ALEC at work. Another state wants to cut wages and

Implement laws impacting the young as well.

All part of the grand master plan to destroy the middle class


Treasonous anti-America traitors, the lot of them.

[highplainsdem]

32. ALEC has been behind legislation to repeal minimum wage laws,

as this Mother Jones article says:

http://motherjones.com/politics/2002/09/ghostwriting-law

I've been checking but still haven't found anything specifically linking this Maine bill to ALEC, but it's probably part of their campaign. I'll keep checking.

[Patiod]

35. Thanks for this valuable info, hpd. DU should follow link!

Just jaw-dropping.

[Shallah Kali]

44. thank you so much for tracking all the ALEC connections

it is probably involved here as it is in most bills that screw the working people and enrich the wealthy further.

[WinkyDink]

26. "MORE?!"

[Omaha Steve]

29. K&R!

[barbtries]

30. republicans

have gone insane. i understand this isn't news but just had to write it down anyway.

[Zorra]

34. It's war. nt

[Lifelong Protester]

37. So I'm guessing by their definition, slavery would be termed a

"Lifetime Job Security" plan?

These people, as I have said repeatedly, want to repeal the ENTIRE 20th century. Maybe even parts of the 19th...

[Donnachaidh]

38. the idiot who proposed this should be publicly horsewhipped

And that *180 days* pretty much covers ANY summer vacation time for those kids -- so the Bushes and the other elites with summer homes get slave labor on the cheap.

[hifiguy]

41. Self delete o' dupe - nt

[hifiguy]

42. Is there any part of the 20th Century these evil fucks

will not try to repeal?

I wish they would just have the cojones to admit what is obvious to anyone with an IQ over room temperature: that their ideal mode of social organization is a cross between the antebellum South and Dickens' London.

These creeps need to meet what the French Revolutionaries referred to as "the National razor." And soon.

[Shandris]

45. The whole 'training wage' thing isn't that far in our past.

When I was 14, there was at least one employer in my area who still used it, but by the time I was 16 it was gone (I think; I never heard of it afterward, at any rate). Of course, there has still always been the 'pay servers half of minimum' rule that kept me working at $2.13/hr for quite a few years. I thought it was grossly unfair at the time, and 20 years later my thoughts on the topic haven't changed.

As for the Safe Kids act...despicable. But, we knew that already. After all, this bastard is a Republican.

[Shallah Kali]

46. time to get the little free loaders back on the job

they will work for partial wages and be grateful for it





it's all for their own good after all. hard labor is good for the soul cuz they must be sinful little buggers to have been poor like that. being born to money proves they were born to rule and all that.




:puke:

[Canuckistanian]

47. A Sub-minimum wage?

Fucking cheap-labor conservatives.

They'll only be happy when people are back living in company-owned shacks and farm families have to return to sharecropping.

[Shallah Kali]

48. I think some would love a return ot serfdom

workers tied to a land or company unable ot leave no matter what as they are legally part of the property so the best workers can never escape the yoke to go work for someone decent w/better pay and treatment.

[Canuckistanian]

52. "Cheap Labor Conservatives Issues Guide", a great blog post

http://www.conceptualguerilla.com/?q=node/16

A bit dated (2007), but I haven't found anything that contradicts his of view of conservatives.

[Here4DaLinks]

49. Race ya to the bottom! nt

[jmowreader]

50. Welcome to the crappening of customer service in Maine

I don't think there should be ANY illusions about what this bill, if it's signed (and it probably will be) will do: It will cause employers all across Maine to fire the majority of their adult workforce (especially in the retail sector), hire teens who can be paid $5.25 per hour, work them to death for 179 days then terminate them on day 180.

The fact that this bill is absolutely contrary to the Fair Labor Standards Act (which only allows "training wages" to be paid for 90 days!) is beside the point.

[onethatcares]

51. every 180 days there will be a turnover of employees

then 5.25 an hour will become the new normal then after 5 years of that, 5.25 a day will be introduced and accepted by all.

these interesting times we live in suck the big one. We're the first generation to end up less well off than our parents and the

shitstorm we leave our kids is nothing but immoral.

[Snoutport]

53. 180 days means NO summer job will ever pay more than $5.25

And every year they start over at 1 so no HS student, even ones who are helping pay their families bills, would have to be paid more than $5.25.

I worked from jr high school on and made more than that in 1984!

[Sirveri]

54. I'm pretty sure FLSA rate of 7.25 will trump this law. Federal > State

And the Federal law basically says that they can't do this. Unless they're talking about paper boys and babysitters.

http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/minwage.htm
The following are examples of employees exempt from both the minimum wage and overtime pay requirements:

Executive, administrative, and professional employees (including teachers and academic administrative personnel in elementary and secondary schools), outside sales employees, and certain skilled computer professionals (as defined in the Department of Labor's regulations) 1

Employees of certain seasonal amusement or recreational establishments

Employees of certain small newspapers and switchboard operators of small telephone companies

Seamen employed on foreign vessels

Employees engaged in fishing operations

Employees engaged in newspaper delivery

Farm workers employed on small farms (i.e., those that used less than 500 "man‑days" of farm labor in any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year)

Casual babysitters and persons employed as companions to the elderly or infirm