Nonprofits & Social Services

Women’s Center builds program to help women enter skilled trades

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The Women’s Center of Greater Lansing is helping area women build careers in the skilled trades, one concrete slab and brick at a time. The center graduated its first class of six students in July from the new Women in Skilled Trades Apprenticeship Readiness Program. It’s among several programs at the center designed to help women re-enter the workforce.

Agriculture

Young farm worker rules misunderstood, Labor Department says

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By JENNIFER CHEN
Capital News Service
LANSING – A proposed revision of federal regulations for young farm workers is in need of clarification, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. “Children employed in agriculture are some of the most vulnerable workers in America. Ensuring their welfare is a priority of the department, and this proposal is another element of our comprehensive approach,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. The revision aims to better regulate child labor in agriculture, including a better interpretation of the “parental exemption,” according to the department. The department said the proposed rules would not eliminate the parental exemption, created in 1966, which allows children of any age to work on even hazardous tasks on a farm owned by their parent.