Sorry, but I guess the insult will continue.
They may seem far removed, but they are connected on the continuum of labor treatment and all that separates one from other are laws. Not possible?
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP 2008) - The owner and managers of the largest kosher meatpacking plant in the U.S. were charged Tuesday with more than 9,000 misdemeanors alleging they hired minors and had children younger than 16 handle dangerous equipment such as circular saws and meat grinders.
and
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimates that 50,000 people are trafficked into or transited through the U.S.A. annually as sex slaves, domestics, garment, and agricultural slaves. The United States is a destination country for thousands of men, women, and children trafficked largely from Mexico and East Asia, as well as countries in South Asia, Central America, Africa, and Europe, for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. Three-quarters of all foreign adult victims identified during the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 were victims of trafficking for forced labor.
To a person this is a moral issue, to the labor market it's just business.
If you think your employer wants to pay you fairly you're dreaming. They will pay as little as the law and our ability to collective bargain will allow. If they could take their outsourcing international you would see a third world carrier doing domestic flying in a heartbeat, with the crew "paid" simply for the privilege of operating a plane, meals, and a hotel.
All it takes is change in the law.
Child labor was not new to business in the early 20th century. It was an historical practice all over the world. The US and other nations determined at the time that a child working under the direction of his family to support his family was immoral, and I'm glad they did. India and other nations have not made that determination yet. It was NOT a labor movement. It was a moral argument, much like prohibition. Rhetorical question: If unions or public outcry had negotiated a safer workplace, would child labor laws have changed? I'm not so sure. Unions and guilds were more than happy to have more members regardless of age.
Having recently returned from "The Worker's Paradise" of Communist China, there is a market for labor. China has some slightly more restrictive rest requirements than the US. Mostly, the requirement of 36 hrs. in 7 days. But they ignore them, and government knows this. Secondly, expat pilots are drawn to work in China for pay twice what they pay Chinese pilots. Labor unions are illegal in China. There is a market for labor.
Last fall while working under contract in Colombia, I was paid more than twice what the privately held airline paid their own pilots. There is a market for labor.
I'm furloughed again. The expat market is about to heat up. The Asian, Africans, and ME's are losing pilots back to there home countries and retirements. I'm looking everywhere.
What YOU think is fair and what your EMPLOYER thinks is fair are two different things. You're worth what you negotiate, which is effected by the market.
If you think anyone in the US is a slave, you're intellectually dishonest, ignorant, or just pandering. Just like unions that promise "fairness" and flight schools that market pilot shortages and promote the romantic good life of the airline pilots.
Are you willing to give up income, so that more pilots can be hired to cover the same amount of flights under new rest rules? I'm sure you're not. Are you willing to sacrifice the income and careers of other pilots whose airlines cannot afford the increase costs? I know what you're going to say, "Well that evil management could just increase ticket prices." I've been hearing that for 20 years. Pilots are not management. We're pilots, labor. The successful airlines' management were never pilots for any airline.
As far as safety, I fired my first weapon when I was 6. I taught my 14 y.o. daughter how to shoot last weekend with that very same 22 rifle. I mowed my families lawn with gas-powered, foot-propelled lawnmower at that same age. I never wore a helmet riding a bicycle while growing up. My first job was at 14 at a driving range, driving an uncaged golf cart to shag balls. I find your argument blown out of proportion, and most likely biased. I'd like to see your reference to that CIA study, preferably a direct reference not a meta-reference.
