WASHINGTON -- Far from places like Ohio and Wisconsin, Maine has become a new battleground in the labor fight. Gov. Paul LePage (R) recently sparked the anger of the union community by ordering a mural depicting workers throughout the state's history removed from the Department of Labor. Now, Republican members of the state legislature are attempting to loosen child labor laws that the community fought hard to put into place.

The minimum wage in Maine is $7.50 an hour, and there is no training or subminimum wage for students. But under a new piece of legislation introduced in the state's House of Representatives, employers would be able to pay anyone under the age of 20 as little as $5.25 an hour for their first 180 days on the job.

The bill, LD 1346, also eliminates the maximum number of hours a minor 16 years of age or older can work on a school day and allows a minor under the age of 16 to work up to four hours on a school day during hours when school is not in session.

With Maine's unemployment above 7 percent, state Rep. Paul Gilbert (D) wonders why Republicans are pushing to create a pool of cheap labor when so many people are begging for jobs.

"If we had a shortage of job applicants or potential workers, then you could look at other populations to ease that strain on the workforce," Gilbert told The Huffington Post. "But we don't have that right now. We have an excess of job applicants here in Maine, as well across the country."

The state Senate is also currently considering a bill (LD 516) that would allow 16- and 17-year-old students to work until 11:00 p.m. on school nights. Currently, they're allowed to work until 10:00 p.m. It would also allow students to work for a total of 24 hours per week, four more than current law allows. Senators on the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee are split along party lines on the bill, but it's likely to pass when the full body votes on it--the Senate, like the House, is controlled by Republicans.

Democrats in the legislature, along with progressives, labor groups, and advocates for women and children, are opposed to the bills, while industry groups such as the Maine Restaurant Association argue that the current law is too strict compared to others in New England.

Congressman Kimble Sponsors Legislation Extending Full Employment Rights to Children
Republican U.S. Rep. Jack Kimble(CA-54) issued the following news release Wednesday:

Kimble Introduces Bill to Extend Full Employment Rights to All Citizens Regardless of Age

WASHINGTON] With American competitiveness threatened by a stagnating economy brought on by public employee unions and well-meaning, but harmful social legislation Congressman Jack Kimble (R-CA) has sponsored legislation that would extend full employment rights to all citizens regardless of age.

The Roadmap for A Working America (H.R. 929) is a budget-neutral jobs strategy that will enable Americans of all ages to engage in meaningful employment and strip away many of the job destroying child labor protections that American businesses have been suffering under since the New Deal. Specifically the legislation:

· Allows the United States to compete globally by reducing the $125 billion dollars in goods imported annually from countries known to have child labor and encouraging businesses in this country to make those goods.

· Reduces the 8.9 million uninsured children by getting those children into the work force and making them eligible for employee provided health care.

· Provides outside the classroom career skill to a nation of students starving for greater educational opportunities.

· Supplies American businesses with a new younger work force able to work for greatly reduced wages while providing families with an extra source of income.

“For too long, Americans have suffered the consequences of overzealous social reformers picking winners and losers by prohibiting children from meaningful employment. A truly revolutionary groundswell from Maine to Missouri has begun to change these anti-business policies,” Kimble said. “I introduce this legislation to extend full employment rights to all citizens regardless of age not because it is the easy thing to do or because it is politically expedient, but because it is right for our children and it right for America."

I got punked. The Jack Kimble reference was an April Fools joke. There is no Congressman Jack Kimble. The Maine story is not, (so far as I know) a hoax.