I am writing in reference to L.D. 1346, “An Act to Enhance Access to the Workplace for Minors.”

I am the parent of two children and have been a teacher for 38 years, and I urge every parent in the state of Maine to stand up for young people and prevent this assault.

This bill allows businesses to work our children more hours and later in the evening on school days. It also proposes that young people under 20 be paid a “training wage” of $5.25 per hour, $2.25 less than the $7.50 minimum wage. In other words, work longer and later for less money.

Studies show that working does benefit students and teaches them work skills, but they also show that too much work results in lower grades.

We are encouraging our children to go on to some type of education after high school. We should be encouraging them to put school first and prepare themselves to gain acceptance to the program of their choice after high school. The cost of a post- secondary education is high.

How are students going to earn enough money to help finance at least part of this cost? Many students graduating from post-secondary programs leave with huge debt, and this bill will only exacerbate the problem.

This bill sends the message that young adults are second-class citizens. The bill states that for an 180-day period, a young person can be paid less. How convenient for business: A student works for the summer and goes to college, and the next summer they hire someone else.

The student will never be able to earn minimum wage. Businesses will make more money on the backs of our young people. It offers no advantage to our youth. We have passed child labor laws for a reason.

Joyce Southard

North Berwick

Legislators in Augusta will soon consider L.D. 1346, a bill that slashes minimum-wage protections for Maine’s working teens at the same time it would eliminate any cap on the number of hours they are allowed to work. If passed, the consequences of this bill would be dire.

Maine has child labor laws for a reason, not least of which is the fact that overworked students were falling asleep in class before those laws were strengthened in the ’90s. L.D. 1346 is a regressive and counterproductive bill that will sabotage the educations of working teens in the short term and thus severely limit their career prospects in the long term.

Do legislators and Gov. LePage want the teenagers of Maine to complete high school? Do they want our state’s youngsters to achieve their full academic potential? Don’t students deserve a shot at a post-secondary education? Surely Maine’s future economic success depends on its ability to cultivate and sustain a skilled work force. I hope legislators recognize these goals are jeopardized by this bill.

Make no mistake — L.D. 1346 is a shortsighted attempt to exploit cheaper labor for longer hours. This bill is a race to the bottom — it does nothing to create higher-paying jobs in the state of Maine. It does nothing to help teens help their families. All it does is guarantee they will be overworked and underpaid, and their chances at future success dimmed.

Maine’s key to future success is not to be found in the mid-19th century and the bad old days of exploiting all forms of labor to the point of exhaustion. Legislators should protect our child labor laws and vote down L.D. 1346.

Patrick Banks

Maine League of Young Voters

Steering Committee

Portland

Changing marriage would offer opportunity to all

I read, with interest, your article regarding “Gay rights advocates look ahead to 2012 election.”

As a straight person happily married to my wife for 47 years, raising a family, and having all the resulting social and economic benefits, I would love to see every person have that same opportunity which only civil marriage, licensed by the state, can provide.

Unfortunately, in Maine that is not the case. Gay and lesbian couples and their children are denied those very protections that are afforded to people like my wife and I.

When you think about it, the issue is fairness, equality and respect. When two people are committed to each other in love, that love should be treated with the same respect regardless of gender orientation.

Gay and lesbian couples are part of the fabric of our communities. They are our friends, neighbors and members of our families. Why are they treated differently?

My journey over the years has taken me from simply looking the other way to now being able to look it squarely in the eye and say that I can no longer deny my fellow human beings who are in a loving relationship the happiness, social equality and legal protections that only civil marriage can give.

I hope that the journey of others leads in this direction as well.

Ted Little

York

My question for Marc Mutty is: “What do you intend to do to rectify the wrong that you did?” (as stated in Bill Nemitz’s column, “Documentary shows sad face of Yes on 1,” Maine Sunday Telegram, April 17).

Rose Marie Dougherty

Eliot 

Bottle bill’s a good deal for those down and out

Don’t repeal the bottle bill.

Instead, please consider the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of really low-income residents of Maine who collect bottles every day to supplement their meager incomes.

I meet them on my daily morning walk; there are more on “trash day.”

I set aside my bottles so these people won’t have to suffer the indignity of pawing through my trash.

Some have minimum wage jobs. Some have joined the ranks of the unemployed during this recession. Some may be disabled.

I don’t know their reasons for collecting bottles. But I’m pretty sure those meager earnings from walking the streets of our cities and towns looking for a nickel here and 15 cents there don’t afford them the ability to drive to Augusta to testify on their own behalf.

And yet those trash bags, wagons and grocery carts full of cans and bottles allow them to purchase necessities that they can’t cover with the unemployment insurance, disability payment or general assistance checks.

Collecting bottles is their job for the time being.

Don’t take that away from them.

Mimi Dunn

Portland

 

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