IR #2006-18

DIR collaborates on photo exhibit, “Keeping Young Workers Safe on the Job”

Who: In observance of Safe Jobs for Youth Month in May, the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation, the California State Department of Industrial Relations, the California Resource Network for Young Worker Health and Safety, the United States Department of Labor and Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change present a joint exhibit of photographs from two collections:

What:

“Let Children be Children: Lewis Wickes Hine’s Crusade against Child Labor”
Courtesy of the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, and
“Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change”

When: Opening reception is Tuesday May 2, 2006. Please RSVP to workingsafe@dir.ca.gov

The exhibit runs Tuesday April 10, 2006 through Friday, May 12, 2006. Monday – Friday 8am – 5 pm

Where: Dalziel Building, 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland

Why: Many young people work full-time, especially during the summers. Child labor laws, which define and prohibit hazardous and harmful work, apply to young persons younger than age 18.

Law reflects history. The joint exhibit offers a rare opportunity to see similarities between both the child labor problem of the early 20th century in the United States and in the global community today:

Lewis Hine, perhaps the most important photographer of child labor in the United States in the early 1900s, left a legacy that influences the debate about child labor even today.
Contemporary child labor is more common in other parts of the world. Child Labor and The Global Village:
Photography for Social Change is a team of 11 photographers who photograph child workers around the globe.

Also shown will be posters created by California teens to bring attention to Safe Jobs for Youth Month, May 2006. This summer thousands of young workers will go to work, many for their first time. They will work in industries such as retail, food service, agriculture, and tourism. Many will earn money and gain valuable experience. Hazardous work, however, may lead to injury or disability.

Photos: Photos available for publication on request as well as interviewees. Call Renée Bacchini 415-703-5050.

For more Information: Visit http://www.dir.ca.gov/YoungWorker/SafeJobs.html and www.youngworkers.org. To preview photos http://www.geh.org/ar/letchild/letchil_sld00001.html www.childlaborphotoproject.org

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