Jamie Shumaker, Executive Director, Central Ohio Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Summary

Testimony from Jamie L. Shumaker, Executive Director of the Central Ohio Labor Council, AFL-CIO, addressed to Chair Johnson, Vice Chair Lear, Ranking Member McNally and members of the committee. The testimony states that the council represents over 35,000 workers and their families who belong to 89 different unions across Central Ohio. It urges a no vote on Senate Bill 50, which it says would weaken protections for Ohio teenagers by allowing employers to schedule them to work later and put Ohio law in direct contradiction with the Fair Labor Standards Act. It also urges the committee to reject SB 50.

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“Jamie Shumaker, Executive Director, Central Ohio Labor Council, AFL-CIO.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2025-11-05-commerce-labor-testimony-testimony-12638-15895ece69/, SHA-256 340b774311a606ab52a8fe4d40c2e8608852e3ad44a41b6a3af8d1af11eecd88.

Full text

Good morning Chair Johnson, Vice Chair Lear, Ranking Member McNally, and
members of the committee.
I’m Jamie Shumaker, and I’m the Executive Director of the Central Ohio Labor
Council, AFL-CIO. The Central Ohio Labor Council, AFL-CIO currently
represents over 35,000 workers and their families who belong to 89 different
unions across Central Ohio.
The labor movement has long fought for labor protections for everyone, including
the most vulnerable among us.
I urge you to vote no on Senate Bill 50, which would weaken the protections for
Ohio teenagers by allowing employers to schedule them to work later and put Ohio
law in direct contradiction with the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Since the AFL’s first national convention in 1881, we have called for strong legal
protections to prevent child labor abuses both nationwide and locally. We renew
that call today in Ohio. Child labor laws protect young workers from exploitation,
and there is no justification for weakening those safeguards.
The restrictions currently in place for businesses that employ young workers were
passed nearly one hundred years ago in the FLSA and were designed with
children’s well-being in mind. These protections recognize that education and
adequate rest are essential to a young person’s development and success. It is
shocking to me that this body would disagree and work to undermine those
protections with this bill.
We should absolutely continue to limit how late teens can work, especially on
school nights to make sure they have time to complete homework, participate in
extracurriculars, and get adequate rest to maintain their mental and physical health
and be prepared for the school day.
SB 50 sends the wrong message. The safety and well-being of Ohio kids is much
more important than employers’ desire for cheap labor. If passed, this bill would
open the door to workplace injury and exploitation for young workers and that is
unacceptable in our state.
Chair Johnson, Vice Chair Lear, Ranking Member McNally, and members of the
committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify in committee today. I strongly
urge you to reject SB 50 and instead uphold the protections currently in place in
Ohio law. I am open to any questions from the committee, thank you.
Jamie L. Shumaker
Executive Director
Central Ohio Labor Council

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