In today’s news and commentary, new reporting examines the rollback of child labor protections, California seeks to block a strike by its largest state worker union, and a Wisconsin mental health provider is charged with firing workers during a union drive.

A growing number of states are weakening child labor protections even as federal violations climb, Alive Driver reports in The New York Review of Books. In Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a 2023 law eliminating a century-old requirement that children under 16 obtain a state work permit – the state’s main record of working minors. Sanders’s office called the permit an “arbitrary burden on parents,” but a University of Maryland study found that states with permit requirements have 35.2% fewer minors working illegally. Arkansas is one of 15 states to enact rollbacks since 2023, and federal child labor violations rose from 4,030 in fiscal year in 2024 to 5,272 in 2025. One sanitation contractor was found to have hired more than 100 minors to clean slaughterhouses in eight states, including a Tyson plant in Arkansas.

Next, California has asked the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to halt a one-day strike planned for October 21 by SEIU Local 1000, which represents nearly 100,000 state workers. The union’s contract expired June 30, and it is seeking larger raises, more affordable healthcare, and more flexibility to work from home. The California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) argues the strike is unlawful because it does not exempt health and safety workers an is meant to pressure mediation scheduled for Thursday; the union counters that CalHR canceled meetings to identify essential employees. CalHR called the strike “a calculated coercive tactic aimed at frustrating mediation.”

Finally, the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint alleging that Rogers Behavioral Health illegally fired six employees at its West Allis clinic during a union drive. Workers at two Rogers clinics voted overwhelmingly in April to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers, but Rogers refuses to recognize the union. The complaint alleges Rogers fired three union supporters after they petitioned for recognition, fired three more shortly after the vote, and threatened employees with criminal charges. A hearing is set for December 14.