Missouri senator calls for US Department of Labor to investigate Tyson Foods for alleged child labor
SPRINGDALE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A Missouri senator calls on the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate Tyson Foods after a whistleblower accused the company of illegal child labor practices.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer asking her to investigate the Springdale-based company, saying he was contacted by a whistleblower who alleges that Tyson Foods used child workers at one of its processing plants.
'The whistleblower, a former Tyson Foods employee who oversaw plant safety, alleges that they personally witnessed underage workers and also received multiple reports from hourly Tyson employees about child workers in the plant,' Hawley said in the letter. 'According to the allegations, these child workers were employed by a third-party entity contracted by Tyson for work in the plant.'
Report says 2023 Arkansas law could lead to fewer child labor violation investigations
The whistleblower claimed Tyson retaliated against them after raising concerns to company superiors about child workers employed at the plant.
Hawley concluded the letter, saying, 'In your confirmation hearing, you testified: 'Child labor should not be accepted by anybody in America. The Department of Labor has the enforcement capability to double down if [companies] are knowingly breaking the law and exploiting children in their factories.' I agree. We cannot allow children to continue to be exploited in the name of corporate profits. I therefore urge you to investigate all allegations regarding Tyson's illicit child labor practices, including these new whistleblower allegations.'
KNWA/FOX24 reached out to Tyson Foods for a statement regarding Hawley's letter, but has not heard back.
In October, a pair of Tyson Foods plants in Northwest Arkansas were searched by the Department of Labor after court documents revealed child labor accusations.
Tyson Foods released the following statement in response to those allegations:
To be clear, we do not allow the employment of anyone under the age of 18 in any of our facilities, and we do not facilitate, excuse or in any other way participate in the use of child labor. We take the enforcement of all labor laws very seriously, and we have procedures in place to verify the age of all team members, and fully participate with the federal government's E-Verify and IMAGE programs. We have fully cooperated with the Department of Labor, and they have not provided us with any information that would suggest that any of our policies or practices were violated.
Tyson Foods
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