US senator investigates claims of child labor at Tyson Foods plant

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By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Josh Hawley said on Tuesday he launched an investigation into Tyson Foods after a former employee of the meat company alleged that children worked at one of its processing plants.

The meat industry has come under increased pressure from federal regulators and activists to adopt safer labor policies since kids hired by contractors were found doing dangerous jobs cleaning slaughterhouses in 2023.

Hawley, in a letter to the U.S. Department of Labor, said Tyson’s former employee claimed to have witnessed underage workers at the plant, which the senator did not identify.

The former employee, whom Hawley described as someone who oversaw plant safety but did not name, also received reports from hourly Tyson workers about children working in the plant, the letter said. It did not indicate when this allegedly occurred. 

Tyson, which runs chicken, beef and pork plants across the country, said it prohibits anyone under 18 years old from working in its facilities. The company does not facilitate or excuse the use of child labor by third-party contractors, according to a statement.

Hawley said he opened an investigation in a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee he chairs and urged the Labor Department to do the same. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2023, the Biden administration announced measures to crack down on child labor amid a steep rise in violations and investigative reports by Reuters and other news outlets on illegal employment of migrant minors in dangerous U.S. industries.

That year, the Labor Department found that more than 100 children had been illegally employed by Packers Sanitation Services Inc, a company that contracted with meatpackers to clean slaughterhouses. Some worked at Tyson plants, according to the department.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Stephen Coates)