Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer began her job a couple of week in the past, and he or she’s already throwing youngsters below the bus—or, on this case, into the cotton discipline.
Chavez-DeRemer bragged to Breitbart about an alleged $33 million in cuts that she made to the price range. However upon nearer look, these “cuts” embrace rules on baby labor.
“Our main focus at [the Department of Labor] should always be investing in our workforce first. Your hard-earned tax dollars shouldn’t be spent on programs that put America Last,” she wrote on X.
However included within the $33 million she allegedly lower is a $3 million grant to Uzbekistan’s cotton trade.
On the floor, the grant titled “Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Industry” appears probably wasteful for a rustic presently attempting to chop “waste, fraud, and abuse.” However the objective of this system was to struggle pressured and baby labor.
Uzbekistan, which was initially a part of the Soviet Union earlier than declaring independence in 1991, has a file of human rights’ violations, together with pressured and baby labor. Identified for its authoritarian regime, Uzbekistan would pull youngsters out of college to work in cotton fields. Whereas baby labor has enormously decreased through the years, pressured labor remains to be prevalent.
The Solidarity Heart, a U.S.-based nonprofit that acquired funding from the grant, established itself in Uzbekistan to assist mitigate longstanding baby and compelled labor in cotton fields by establishing native cotton companies.
The group initially began receiving funding in 2022, and its contract was set to run via December 2026 earlier than it misplaced funding in Chavez-DeRemer’s cuts.
“Our project in Uzbekistan supported efforts to eliminate risks of forced labor in the cotton sector, improving conditions for Uzbek workers and creating a more ethical global supply chain,” Rudy Porter, Solidarity Heart’s regional program director for Europe and Central Asia, mentioned in a press release to Each day Kos.
Porter added, “Making certain honest labor requirements advantages employees in Uzbekistan and means American employees don’t must compete with cotton made cheaper by exploitation.”
Each day Kos contacted the Division of Labor for remark however didn’t hear again.
The Division of Labor hasn’t been too pleasant towards youngsters in the US as of late, both. As a casualty of Elon Musk’s so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity, the Labor Division will now not supply baby care, subsidies for baby care, on-site well being clinics, or its psychological well being program.
President Donald Trump, who promised to chop authorities spending by an exorbitant quantity, is already making an attempt to dissolve the Division of Schooling and lay off 1000’s of federal employees, and his Cupboard is following go well with.
Lee Zeldin, head of the Environmental Safety Company, is predicted to lay off greater than 1,100 scientists after slashing 31 environmental rules. And Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth is shedding 1000’s of employees—together with veterans—on the Pentagon.
Chavez-DeRemer may be one other Cupboard member who’s making cuts to achieve some brownie factors with Trump and Musk, however her strategy isn’t serving to the GOP’s repute that’s already fraught with assaults towards youngsters.
