Seven states have already rolled back child labor laws and common sense in order to allow minors to serve alcohol. Most of these states lowered the age to 16 or 17 years old. But the Wisconsin GOP said hold our beer and introduced a bill that would allow children as young as 14 years old to serve alcohol. What could possibly go wrong?
Wisconsin Republicans are trying to pass this off as a chance for children to learn more responsibility and that work gives people a sense of pride. It has a really creepy "Arbeit Macht Frei" ring to it. They also try to tell us that it will make the economy soar because so many bars and restaurants are struggling to find help.
In reality, it just shows that the Republicans are in thrall to the Tavern League and restaurant lobby almost as much as they are to the NRA and education profiteers.
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently issued a report that shows that this type of work is already rife with abuse and violations of child labor laws. Workers are often grossly underpaid and exploited every chance the employers get, and not always just financially. Minors working in the hospitality field are more often subject to racial and gender discrimination and to sexual harassment.
Outside of the violations of child labor laws and financial exploitations, other potential problems abound.
Do these people really expect that if you give an underage teen a chance to sample the wares, so to speak, they're not going to have an occasional drink? This opens the door to a Pandora's box of problems, from the kids driving drunk on their way home to making them even more susceptible to sexual harassment.
The GOP and restaurant owners try to assure us by pointing out that the owners and bartenders are still going to be responsible to supervise the kids, but their words ring hollow. Remember, these are the same people who are exploiting the kids already:
One Wisconsin legislator trying to lower the alcohol service age to 14 is Chanz Green, a Republican who owns a tavern himself and denies that his bill is rolling back child labor laws. In Wisconsin’s proposal, “the drinks are still being made by a licensed bartender. And there is still the responsibility of the bartender and the employer to supervise their employees,” he told the Guardian in an email. “[The bill] would just allow servers, who are already working in a restaurant capacity, to bring alcoholic beverages to the table they are serving.”
Baker, the Buzz’s Pub and Grill owner, says “it’s up to me as a business owner to make sure I’m enforcing the rules,” and believes the bill wouldn’t expose kids to any situations they wouldn’t otherwise be in. “I’m a firm believer that if kids want to drink alcohol, they’re going to get a hold of it,” he says.
Democratic State Representative echoes my first thoughts when I learned of this bill:
That’s left some opponents of the bills at a loss for words. “It’s bizarre. I can’t believe that we’re even having this conversation,” says Ryan Clancy, a Democratic state legislator who represents parts of Milwaukee, where he also owns an entertainment center that serves alcohol. He’s seen how drunk customers can harass workers, and “the idea that we would expose Wisconsin’s children to harassment through this is just unconscionable. It’s not only an erosion of labor, but our willingness to protect our kids.”
Actually, Clancy was more charitable than I was. My first thought was how this would affect a teenage girl, who is trying to deal with drunken men harassing and groping at them, and possibly under the effect of alcohol themselves. No one should have to be exposed to those kind of working conditions, much less a teen who might not have the skills or the ability to cope with such conditions.
It's almost like the GOP is trying to make these kids ripe for the real groomers out there.
