The last time significant amendments were made to B.C.’s employment laws, “gig economy” wasn’t part of our lexicon. Outsourcing, job insecurity, low wages and unpredictable scheduling have become the norm for many.

The NDP is set to update two core pieces of legislation for the first time since 2002, fulfilling a key promise for the party’s most important supporters. The changes could drastically shift the power balance between employers and employees. In this series, Star Vancouver will break down the issues most likely to be addressed. Today’s story: Kids at work. Find previous instalments here.

VANCOUVER—When Helesia Luke meets new people, and the conversation inevitably turns to children at work in B.C., what she has to say is often met with disbelief. People tell Luke she must be mistaken: 12-year-olds can’t be allowed to work on construction sites, in restaurants and in mines in this province.

But they are, Luke tells them, and they’re getting injured, sick, and distracted from school. She knows because she’s been trying to get the law changed ever since work for children aged 12-14 became allowed with parental permission 16 years ago.

The rules were brought in by the BC Liberals in 2003, along with a number of reforms aimed at cutting red tape for employers. Prior to 2003, employers were able to hire kids under the age of 14 if they applied for a special permit and were approved. B.C. and Yukon are the only two Canadian jurisdictions that don’t set an absolute minimum working age.

That’s likely to change this spring, when Minister of Labour Harry Bains is expected to introduce highly anticipated legislation to update the province’s labour laws for the first time in almost two decades.

Statistics Canada doesn’t collect data on workers under the age of 15, so it’s unclear exactly how many kids in the 12-14 age bracket are employed. Organizations like First Call — BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, where Luke works, have tried to piece a picture together using workers’ compensation data from WorkSafeBC.

Following a request by First Call, WorkSafeBC reported that it paid out injury claims for kids aged 12-14 from seven different sectors between 2007 and 2017. The largest total compensation payouts were for kids working in trades, manufacturing, services, and primary resources, in that order.

To Luke, the numbers were evidence kids in B.C. are working in industries known to be hazardous for adults — and they’re getting hurt doing it. She believes the government should have acted to implement a minimum working age of 16 for most jobs and that it should ban hazardous work people aged under 18 before updating the rest of the Employment Standards Act.

“We see it as a child protection issue rather than an employment standards issue,” she said. “Has (the government) acted fast enough? No. They haven’t.”

A WorkSafeBC guide for parents of young workers published this month lists trade helpers, plumbers, salespersons, kitchen helpers, and air transport ramp attendants as common roles held by young workers in the province.

Children’s advocates and labour representatives argue allowing kids aged 12-14 to work with few restrictions puts them at risk for workplace injuries, and takes away from their right to an education.

Others have called for more modest change. The British Columbia Law Institute’s Employment Standards Act reform project, which took place between 2014 and 2018 and took input from lawyers, employers, union representatives, and government employees, found the act didn’t do enough to protect young people. A majority recommended the act require employers to get a permit before employing anyone under the age of 14, and prohibit anyone under the age of 16 from working in “industries and occupations likely to endanger the health, safety, or morals of persons under 16.”

The BCLI’s recommendations were supported by the Joint Buiness Community submission to the ministry of labour, signed by the Business Council of B.C., Restaurants Canada, and the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of B.C., among others.

The British Columbia Agriculture Council, which represents farms across the province, is one of few opponents to changing the child work rules. They say requiring permitting for employees under the age of 16 could be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” when it comes to bureaucracy for farmers.

“By itself it doesn’t sound onerous,” to have to apply for a permit to hire young people, said Reg Ens, Executive Director of the council. “But it’s challenging enough to find people to work.”

B.C. is in the middle of a labour shortage, and agriculture is one of the leading industries that has had to use the temporary foreign worker program to fill vacant positions.

Not all jobs are suitable for young pepole, Ens said, but some agriculture jobs can be.

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“We think that parents are probably in the best place to guide what is an appropriate job, what isn’t an appropriate job,” Ens said, adding he thinks he government’s resources would be better spent on workplace safety education.

The B.C. Federation of Labour president, Laird Cronk has been vocal about B.C.’s child work laws, calling them the weakest in the country.

“If you have someone who’s 12 working in an industrial setting, that’s problematic. They’re put in situations where they can’t reach the emergency stop button,” Cronk said. “They should be living their young person’s life, they shouldn’t be out there working.”

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