Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m CalMatters reporter Wendy Fry.
This week California Divide’s Alejandra Reyes-Velarde wrote about an L.A.-area poultry company that federal labor officials say used child labor for risky jobs and then illegally shipped poultry products that children workers had handled.
At least two minors had been working in “oppressive” conditions, deboning raw poultry with sharp knives at a poultry processing plant in Irwindale, the U.S. Department of Labor alleged in a lawsuit. The labor department identified as defendants L & Y Food Inc. and two other associated companies.
“Instead of being in school, children younger than 18 years old stand on their feet all day in a chilled cutting room surrounded by raw chicken, using knives they must constantly sharpen, to cut and debone chicken,” attorneys for the labor department wrote in court documents.
An attorney for L & Y Food Inc. denied the allegations and accused the labor department of planting an under-aged worker in the facilities. The labor department denies this.
The department is asking a judge to force the companies to forfeit any money they made from selling products processed in facilities where minors worked in dangerous conditions.
The case follows a December settlement with another poultry plant operator, The Exclusive Poultry Inc. in Los Angeles, which agreed to pay $3.8 million in back pay, penalties and damages after the labor department investigated child labor violations.
Thousands of children and youth are enslaved in labor trafficking in California and other states, according to a 2019 report by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking in Los Angeles. Soaring violations and widespread abuse of child labor laws in multiple sectors of the economy have brought the issue to the forefront in some state legislatures in 2024, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
DON’T MISS
- Digital democracy. This week CalMatters launched Digital Democracy, a project using the latest technologies to help Californians understand their state government and create more accountability for politicians. You can use it to look up issues and track bills important to you, such as poverty or reparations.
- Guarding homelessness? As California’s homeless population spiked nearly 40% in the past five years, there has been a boom in the use of private security around them. CalMatters’ Lauren Hepler reports local governments, nonprofits and businesses hiring guards to triage homelessness have opened a new front in the state’s housing crisis that is ripe for violence and civil rights issues, but thin on accountability and state oversight.
- Homeless bans. A bill would make it illegal for homeless residents to camp in certain places in California, such as near schools. Its authors say a similar ban is successful in San Diego, but CalMatters’ Marisa Kendall writes encampments there are still prevalent near freeways and along riverbanks.
- Abortion ban. Planned Parenthood clinics in California are bracing for an uptick in patients crossing the state line for abortions after the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a nearly total prohibition on the procedure, according to CalMatters reporter Deborah Brennan.
- Health equity. Central Valley residents face more acute challenges with health care costs, medical debt, and access to care than other Californians, a survey by the California Health Care Foundation shows. Last year 63% of respondents in the region skipped or delayed care due to cost, and 48% carried medical debt. The trends were most prevalent among Latinos and those living below the poverty line.
- Digital discrimination. Assemblymember Mia Bonta, a Democrat from Oakland, is pushing California to confront digital discrimination, KQED reported. Her Assembly Bill 2239 would make California the first state to codify the Federal Communication Commission’s new definition of digital discrimination.
- Antisemitism plan. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Golden State Plan to Counter Antisemitism” addresses rising anti-Jewish incidents in California, outlining strategies to support and protect Jewish communities, prevent antisemitism, uplift Jewish heritage and advance equity. In 2022 Jewish residents made up 3% of California’s population and 62% of its victims of reported hate crimes involving religious bias, according to the report.
- Missing Medi-Cal. More than 700,000 undocumented Californians recently became eligible for Medi-Cal, but many are hesitant to sign up for fear of deportation, Capital and Main reports. Advocates stress the need for outreach to reassure undocumented people it’s safe to receive Medi-Cal.
- Tax credits. Last year California implemented the Foster Youth Tax Credit to alleviate poverty among young adults connected to the foster care system. The Public Policy Institute of California just reviewed the program, saying more outreach is needed. About 2,600 current or former foster youth have claimed credits of up to $1,117 each, as of early March. The PPIC also examined if eligible undocumented immigrants are claiming the California Earned Income Tax Credit and the Young Child Tax Credit. Low-income Californians who file tax returns with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) — primarily undocumented immigrants — are eligible for both.
- Black and white gaps. It will take more than 248 years for the economic gap to close between Black and white Californians, says a new report by the Black Policy Project, part of UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. From 2000-2020 the state’s Black population fell 6%, from 2.2 million to 2.1 million people. Black residents’ median household incomes remained far below — but poverty rates far above — whites’ in major metro areas, especially the Bay Area.
Thanks for following our work on the California Divide team. While you’re here, please tell us what kinds of stories you’d love to read. Email us at inequalityinsights@calmatters.org.
Thanks for reading,
The California Divide Team