Illinois’ child labor laws could be in for a big-time upgrade.

State Sen. Robert Peters (pictured) (D-Chicago) wants to bring them into the 21st Century – whereas now they are barely in the 20-th.

“What sort of inspired me to take this on is that surrounding states have weakened child labor laws,” Peters told a statehouse news conference. “They used a tight labor market as a reasoning or an excuse to put more children at risk in dangerous work environments.”

Big Labor supports Peters’ bill.

“Our child labor law now consists of patchwork amendments and conflicting legislatoin,” said Illinois AFL-CIO legislative director Frances Orenic. “In 2022, our neighboring state of Iowa used inconsistincies in their child labor legislation to allow children as young as fourteen to work in meat procesing facilities.”

Orenic said Illinois has a chance to become “the gold standard” in this field, saying, “Children belong in school, not on the factory floor.”