When one thinks of child labor in the context of the Labor Day Holiday in the United States or the International Day of Labor, otherwise known as May Day, the mind drifts back to images of the Industrial Revolution and to children toiling in factories and mines in the UK and US. Labor Day was established on September 5, 1882 in New York City, following the deaths of a number of workers by the U.S. military and US Marshals during the 1894 Pullman Strike. Then President Grover Cleveland ensured that Labor Day was a high priority, so much so that Congress unanimously and signed the Holiday on into law only a mere six days after the strike ended.
Labor Day may have been founded for the sacrifices of many men, women and children in the United States, in many ways gives us the need for a moment to look and see that in reality the face of child labor has not changed as much as one would think. Nonetheless the U.S. has not been left untainted by child labor in our modern society, as we wield our dollars to demand cheap products, we often fail to see that while the price to pay for such consumer products is not ours, their is a high price to pay and it often comes at the hands of children. These products tainted with child and slave labor flood our market place and our homes. However one does not have to look beyond out borders to see grave violations, as children are also engaged in child labor right here at home. Child peddling rings are active in most states, such as many who go door to door selling s of chocolate or magazines. Other children, especially immigrant and illegal residents, are held in sweatshops in our large cities. Domestic and foreign national children are forced to work in the commercial sex industry, children are held to work as domestic servants, and much more, including our fields.
Therefore take a moment this Labor Day to remember the children across the globe who continue to toil in chains of child labor across the globe, including the U.S.
