When I was in 10th grade, I had a mandatory class called "Career Life Education". One day, a representative from the BC Federation of Labour came in to give us programming aimed at workers under the age of 25. It's called "Alive After 5" and its aim is to inform us of our right to refuse unsafe work. From the age of 16, or often earlier, with a parent's permission, we are exposed to situations where we have little power and our safety is mostly mediated by state regulations. Why should we not have a say in them? Teenagers deserve the right to vote. This education was not for nothing. Some might claim what the BC Fed teaches is ancient history, but employers frequently denied myself and my classmates our rights. I knew people who worked 6 hours or longer without a break. People who did unpaid work. Multiple times I was asked to perform tasks other employees had been hurt attempting. Your employer could not care less whether you're alive after 5 (or more often later for teenagers that work after school but you get the point). The BC Fed does. You should. Care whether you live. Care whether your friends live. Protecting yourself in this sense requires protecting everyone else too. We aren't free until we're all free.
Solidarity,
Bread and Violets, stories for the soul