THURSDAY 12th JUNE
WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR
4.30pm at Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapelyard
Heys Lane, HX2 7TR England
Wreath laying for 7 worked to death orphans buried in the cemetery
Speakers to include 17-year-old Charlie Metcalf and Dan Whittall (NEU).
There are 160 million children working worldwide of which 112 million are working on small farms on plantations, often in hazardous conditions. Few of the youngsters have access to trade union protection and in recent years, progress on eliminating child labour has slowed and at the heart of which is the poverty wages being earned by parent’s such that they cannot afford to cover the basic needs of their children, including food and education.
However, in every continent, and in businesses of every size, trafficked children working in cocoa plantations have gone to court to hold big companies to account – Cargill, Mondelez, Barry Callebaut, Mars plus Nestle, whose cocoa supply chain leads from West Africa to their headquarters at the other end of Lake Geneva.
The youngest a child can work part time in the UK is aged 13. That has not always been the case (1) and buried in a mass grave at Luddenden Dean Wesleyan Methodist Chapelyard are seven female children and young women from a Liverpool workhouse who worked for Calverts, a local mill, in the nineteenth century. They were amongst 250 young girls forced to move across the Pennines in the late 19th century to settle outside Halifax in Luddenden Valley, which is beautiful on its relatively few sunny days but bleak in the autumn and winter when the winds get up and snow falls. (2)
Thanks to the efforts of trade unions and child welfare campaigners we have labour laws that now, on paper, protect children. Nevertheless in 2023-24, 2 young children were killed whilst engaging in work activities on farms whilst Cameron Minshull, aged 16, was killed in 2015 in a horrific lathe accident on a Government-funded apprenticeship where he was being paid £3 an hour. His factory boss was jailed.
It is vital to keep up the pressure to protect children and to this end CTUC is organising a wreath lay ceremony at the Chapelyard at 4.30pm on Thursday June 12th, which is the WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR. This is organised by the International Labour Organisation with the backing of UNICEF.
Everyone is welcome to attend this important event. Bring flowers to lay at the graveside.
1. Watch ‘Not So Happy Valley’ by Mark Metcalf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdcrdIlxs60&t=107s
For more details contact Nigel on 07709 684473 or Mark on 07392 852561
Calderdale TU Council, c/o Calderdale NEU, Elsie Whitley Innovation Centre, Halifax HX1 5ER
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