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 Federal agencies say they will curb abuse of young farm workers
NEW YORK — Year after year, to little avail, activist groups have been urging bolder federal action to curtail the health risks and exploitation endured by the legion of children who labor on America’s farms.
This week, against the backdrop of a stinging new report from Human Rights Watch, two federal agencies are pledging to do better. And prospects are brightening, though still uncertain, for a bill pending in Congress that would close loopholes that facilitate many of the abuses.
Human Rights Watch, which focuses most of its investigative work overseas, had examined the exploitation of America’s child farm workers in a report 10 years ago. It documented the harm many children suffered to their health and education, and assailed existing legal protections as weak and poorly enforced.
In its new report, released yesterday, the group said conditions for the estimated 300,000 to 400,000 child farm workers “remain virtually as they were’’ and faulted Congress, the Labor Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to take effective action.
“The Labor Department has done a very bad job up to now,’’ said report author Zama Coursen-Neff, deputy director of the children’s rights division at Human Rights Watch.
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis commended Human Rights Watch for its report and said ending illegal child labor is a top priority of her department.
The agency has added more than 250 new field investigators in the past year and planned to add even more, she said.
Human Rights Watch also criticized the EPA, saying its regulations regarding pesticide use on farms did not adequately consider the special vulnerabilities of child workers.
In response, the EPA said it was working to strengthen its assessment of pesticide health risks. Whatever federal agencies try to do, many child farm workers may remain exposed to onerous conditions unless Congress passes a bill that would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act regulating child labor.
Under that 1938 law, children working on farms are allowed to work longer hours and in more hazardous conditions than children in other jobs.
Children as young as 12 can work on farms, as opposed to 14 or 16 for other jobs. For nonfarm jobs, there’s a limit of three hours of work a day outside school;
young farm workers can work unlimited hours outside school.
Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, Democrat of California, has introduced a bill that would eliminate discrepancies.
(2010-05-06 / Boston Globe)
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