Students Score in Battle Over Child Labor Issue

Prodded by a group of Monroe High School students, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday ordered companies to verify annually that the soccer balls they sell to the county are not produced with child labor.

The board acted after hearing from students in the North Hills school’s law and government magnet class. The high school seniors have spent the semester studying child labor and persuaded Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s office to seek the prohibition.

Last year another magnet class at Monroe prompted the Los Angeles Board of Education and Los Angeles City Council to enact similar policies.

The students’ efforts are part of an international movement to end exploitation, which is believed to affect 250 million children worldwide, human rights experts say.

Experts say Pakistan produces about 90% of the soccer balls imported to the United States, some of which are made by children who earn about 60 cents a day and work in dangerous conditions.

The county buys about 800 soccer balls annually, spending between $5,000 and $7,000 for the equipment that is used in county parks, juvenile halls and other programs.

The balls come from two vendors, and most are produced in China, county officials said, adding that they do not believe child labor is used to manufacture the equipment.

Tuesday’s motion also requires companies to determine where their soccer balls are produced. And for those balls manufactured in Pakistan, the sellers must certify annually that the suppliers have signed a recent international agreement that seeks to eliminate child labor in that country.

The supervisors also asked staff members to check into extending the new rules to all goods purchased by L.A. County. A report is expected in about a month.