• youngalfred@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Wow did not realise that three of our states don’t have a minimum working age - NSW, Tasmania and South Australia.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Not as fucked up as it sounds. Federally, the minimum working age is 16 and parents are legally required to keep their kids in school until they’re 16. Most Aussies believe you need to be 14 and 9 months to get a job (beyond the family business), as that was an older minimum schooling requirement (decades ago).

        Combined with the high quality of living, low poverty rate, high immigration (suppressing wages), and high minimum wage, this functionally meant that there was never any reason for the states to mandate a minimum working age — businesses didn’t seek to employ them.

        Obviously now that capitalism has corrupted most governments and abandoned the social contract, we need to rethink all norms of modern society.

        • Baku@aussie.zone
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          10 months ago

          Eh, I agree with you on most of that except the high minimum wage bit.

          The minimum wage for anybody 15 or under is 40% of the wage for anybody over 21. I believe that not all industries do have that provision in their award, but all entry level jobs do. I guess it’s a bit of a miracle that it doesn’t keep going down further than 15, because if it did, maccas would probably be run by 11 year olds making 10% of the 21+ wage.

          But even besides that, our minimum wage isn’t really high compared to the cost of living, which is the metric that really matters. Our minimum wage compared to elsewheres cost of living is not a good comparison

      • Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
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        10 months ago

        Same. On second glance, though, the site in the tweet is a .net.au.

        Not a guarantee, but certainly ups the odds.

      • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        If it weren’t for the comment, I would haven’t just not noticed. I assumed the same. That’s fucked.

      • Baku@aussie.zone
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        10 months ago

        Nope, this is indeed from Australia. I assumed it would’ve been the US too tbh. But you can tell because our ABC (capitalised) has a different logo to your abc (lower case), and the domain ends in .au (the internet country code for Australia)

    • Gerbler@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      As someone who grew up in NSW it’s 14 and 9 months. Exceptions might exist for family businesses etc. but your 8-year-old can’t apply for a job at Woolies.

    • lugal@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      You can take the children out of the jam factory but you can’t take the jam factory out of the children

      • Souroak@lemmy.sdf.org
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        10 months ago

        Unless they fall into the industrial equipment, then you absolutely cannot take the children out of the jam factory.

        • Chuckleberry_Finn@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          “Local child jammed into jam factory jam jams jam jammer.”

          Edit: J’s are starting to look weird to me after staring at this too long.

  • lugal@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    Child poverty is a big issue but people seem to forget that work is the best thing again poverty /s

    • thefartographer@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Really? I’m over here in Texas and we seem to have found a completely different solution to childhood poverty. And childhood…

      • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Some people would rather be poor in a house than poor on the streets. This ain’t getting fixed in our lifetime make the best of your life you’re able to

      • lugal@lemmy.ml
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        10 months ago

        In that case, it’s your fault. Source: it’s always your fault, never blame the system. Only lazy people blame the system.

  • leires@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Some facts to consider:

    • This happened in New South Wales, in a very rural area. People are not going to commute out to this remote location for minimum wage.
    • Kids volunteer on the weekends and parents sign off on it.
    • Some of the kids like it because they don’t have anything else to do, they learn a job skill, and they make a little money.

    That said, I don’t agree with it. Hire adults and do what everyone else does by having a “bring your child to work day/week” if you want to teach kids. Or make a field trip. Let’s not go backwards in society to benefit companies.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldM
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      10 months ago

      Kids volunteer on the weekends and parents sign off on it.

      I grew up in a poor rural area, and we had a bunch of child labor due to agriculture exceptions.

      Most of it wasn’t kids earning a “life skill” or pocket money. It was poor kids who had to work. And usually their parents worked there too.

      And they only need to be 12 for it to be legal.

      The families need the kids to work, but the kids working inflates the labor pool and keeps wages low.

      If a kids like 16 and wants to pick up a part time job, cool.

      But little kids shouldn’t be holding down jobs.

      • PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I made this exact argument yesterday on the shit hole formerly known as Reddit, and of course got nothing but backlash from angry neck beards who think everyone should be allowed to pull themselves up by their bootstraps at the age of 11.

      • cheese_greater@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Having partially grown up with this shit, I would say these asshole can absolutely get fucked and do the work themselves. They good enough to count beans, they good enough to clear the land, plant em, take care of them, harvest them, and sell 'em all before they get to do beancounting duties. You count the beans you bring to market by the sweat of your own brows, no exceptions

        Might help them realize why Protestant work ethic shit is garbage exploiter nonsense

      • Kiosade@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        “Well if we pay much more than that, it will dip into OUR profit! What are we supposed to do, just make less money?!”

    • Peddlephile@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      They might commute if it was easy and cheaper than what they’re paid. You want workers, make it worth their while.

  • Annoyed_🦀 @monyet.cc
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    10 months ago

    Wow, i swear they’re about to write “jam factory help solve poverty by hiring child.”

  • corymbia@reddthat.com
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    10 months ago

    Jam factory solves lack of red-coloured blobby ingredients being forced through high-speed machinery by hiring children.

      • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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        10 months ago

        Extra Update, they pulled it for not being “uplisfting” enough.

        “admin Removed Post Great news for jam lovers! reason: Not uplisfting”

        I do find it odd since they still have a lot of the same posts as here and orphan crushing machine.

    • Allero@lemmy.today
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      10 months ago

      Can we not bomb and raid other communities, pretty please?

      I know the community is not perfect, but let’s not turn Lemmy into a warzone. We’re not on Reddit.

      • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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        10 months ago

        Just out of curiosity what do you define as raiding? I don’t know much about the term as I never posted on reddit.

        • Allero@lemmy.today
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          10 months ago

          Essentially making posts and comments with an intent malicious in relation to the goals of the community with a clear intent of mocking or bullying, as well as coordinating such actions at scale.

          Raiding is very bad because it doesn’t actually serve to rectify the wrongs of the community or provoke deep thinking, but increases intolerance and hostility.

          If you want Uplifting News to be actually uplifting, make your voice heard in the comment section on how short-sighted such approach is, and if somebody asks, direct them to the orphan crushing machine phenomenon. Also, post actually uplifting news - ones that would be seen as positive by absolute majority of the audience.

          • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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            10 months ago

            Essentially making posts and comments with an intent malicious in relation to the goals of the community with a clear intent of mocking or bullying

            Thanks for the definition, however I never did the above and certainly nothing with malicious intent.

            • Allero@lemmy.today
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              10 months ago

              You went into a community meant for uplifting news in order to post news that are clearly not uplifting in order to mock the selection of uplifting news in the community.

              This is not productive - and clearly malicious.

              • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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                10 months ago

                order to mock the selection of uplifting news in the community and clearly malicious.

                It seems must live in my head to know what my intentions are, and I guess my malice? I have uploaded a few things to that community and this one is the first to get such push back. I guess the child jam workers was too much, but I assure you that your assumptions of my intentions on this are misplaced.

  • summerof69@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    If a school kid wants to work and earn money, let it be. There is nothing wrong with that.

  • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    This sucks and should be illegal. This should fucking onion article not for real. But goddammit our government just shurgs tells us how great the economy is. Biden and Democrats should be ashamed that under their watch they sold out to billionaire class allowing this to happen.

    Hell they don’t even call it out.

    • MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      God forbid their parents be paid well enough that these children are allowed to have a childhood before having to work 40+ years until they die chasing retirement. Kids are already in school for like 35 hours per week plus they have homework and chores. When are they supposed to play with toys, see friends, go outside, or participate in clubs or team sports or whatever they might be interested in?

      Only a few decades ago it was normal for a single income to provide for a family, including owning a home and taking vacations. Then both parents started having to work. Now it’s rare for a couple even without kids to be able to buy a house. And you’re seriously defending the normalization of working parents sending their kids to work?! Fuck that. This is third world country shit that we used to adopt refugee children from, and now we’re doing it to our own kids.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Extracurriculars are for rich kids only. The poor kids can’t even afford the equipment, and it’s not like they’re gonna be going to an Ivy League anyway.

        /s (this shouldn’t be necessary)

        • gapbetweenus@feddit.de
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          10 months ago

          My family is well into the top 5% globally

          Makes sense that you don’t understand the difference between have to work and be able to work and why we need to protect children who have to work.

        • LeadersAtWork@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Kids don’t want more, they are taught to desire things. All kids want really is the freedom and time to have fun, learn about the world, and maybe catch a toad or two if they’re more the outside, exploratory type. So perhaps this wasn’t at “gunpoint”. The question then is “why are they working at some factory?” Who convinced them? Why are they there?

          What you are attempting to speak on is called “responsibility”. This is fine. However, no child should ever be coerced, tricked, guilted, or otherwise forced in any fashion to work in a society that has enough. Do the dishes at home? Sure. Mow the lawn? Okay. Vacuum the house? That’s alright. Never as a stand-in at any institution when there are capable, older individuals to do that work, if that institution meets their needs, which the overwhelmingly vast majority of the time when you hear about these situations: They 100% do not.

          Besides, since you’re clearly one of those bootstraps folk: Don’t you believe it is the responsibility of the older generations to responsibly teach and support future generations by making the world better than it was for us growing up?

          Or did you buy that gaming rig and decide you’re better than that?

          Just saying.

        • MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Lol you fucking dipshit. This isn’t about teenagers getting summer jobs. This clearly said primary school students. Maybe Merriam-Webster can help you to understand what that means.

          • kokopelli@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            From the article:

            ““I was just so bored on the weekends like, you know, it can get really boring there’s not much to do in Harden,” Poppy said.”

            So we can assume it’s not full-time and they are going to school

            • BestBouclettes@jlai.lu
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              10 months ago

              Thank god it’s not a full time job. But still, children should have better to do on the weekend than work in a Jam factory.

        • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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          10 months ago

          Working an ice cream stand, being a camp counselor, or a life guard as a 14 year old is one thing. And working at your family restaurant or shop helping dad fill orders or take phone calls is one thing. Working a day job at a factory as an 11 year old is ridiculous. The factory has a labor shortage because theu wont pay living wages. I 100% guarantee that the people who support putting literal children to work are also rabidly against immigration.

    • Alteon@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      We should all want and hope for better for our kids.

      Giving them the ability to go to work at younger and younger ages is not making life better for kids. You can argue that it allows them to make good money and enable them to become good consumers, and sure, you’re not wrong. But you have to realize that you’re willingly siding with the capitalist machine here. When you start justifying things like child labor because labor shortages, you can easily start justifying things like 6 day work weeks, relaxed safety laws, longer working hours, etc. In 5-10 years, odds are they will push kids to work in other jobs than just “hospitality…or washing dishes” due to the “success” of it using the same argument of “labor shortage”.

      You have to understand that there are very good reasons why there are labor shortage at these places, and almost every single one of them is because companies do not want to pay their employees a living wage or offer any sort of benefits. It’s the same reason there are lobbyists in Washington pushing to not increase the minimum wage.

      Don’t support laws like this

        • Alteon@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Okay, well disregard the lobbyists in Washington part, however the rest of it still applies.

          Politicians understand that they can change ANYTHING as long as it’s changed slowly enough. As innocent as this seems, I promise you that it is anything but. It’s just the first step of many in the wrong direction.

        • Pickle_Jr@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          10 months ago

          Doesn’t necessarily invalidate anything other than the few American specific sentences. The main point still is there. America might be king of stupid, but does not have a monopoly of stupid.

    • cyberfae@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Even if the jobs are safe, those kids need to be focusing on school. Kids also need unstructured play time to help their development. Kids this young who are in extra curricular activities every day often have decreased mental health and academic performance. And I highly doubt employers are going to appreciate an employee who only works for an hour or two on weekends.

    • gmtom@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Hey man, serious question, what went wrong in your life that caused you to end up wasting your time trolling on a niche Internet forum?

    • Uncle Roach@lemmy.worldOP
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      10 months ago

      “child labor bad” eeeerm aksually we should let children work in the mines to teach them how to mine when they are older

    • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Hey, is it true you want children in the workforce so you can sexually harass them to help prepare them for the real world? I’m not accusing you, I’m just asking the question.

    • Breve@pawb.social
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      10 months ago

      Or they could raise wages to attract more workers… Or they could bring in more foreign workers to fill the labour gap… But no, clearly taking children out of their actual education to be labourers in unskilled jobs is better than either of those options.