Administration Pulls Protections for Children Employed in Agriculture

April 28, 2012—Washington, D.C.—Last night the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a press release announcing the Obama Administration would be withdrawing the proposed updates to the Hazardous Orders to protect children under the age of 16 who are hired on farms.  The rules would have restricted farmworker children, aged 12 through 15, from performing work that data has shown to be especially dangerous.

“We are profoundly disappointed the Administration will not be pursuing the proposed protections for children employed in agriculture,” said David Strauss, Executive Director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP). “These were common sense protections  that would have saved many children’s lives.”

The exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 protects the tradition of children working on their parents’ farm. In a factsheet released by the DOL, “Myth vs. Fact,” it was stated that these agricultural protections would only apply to those children involved in an employer/employee relationship. Despite this fact, in the press release issued by the DOL, it stated the withdrawal “was made in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effect of the proposed rules on small family-owned farms.”

The proposed rules that were issued in September, were strongly opposed by the agribusiness community. The Republic Report noted in an article last week that National Milk Producers Federation, just one segment of the farm lobby, spent $130,502 lobbying Congress against the child safety rules in the first three months of this year.

“Farm work for many children is not a vocation,” said Norma Flores Lopez, Director of the Children in the Fields Campaign at AFOP. “For the children of farmworkers, whose lives will continue to be put in jeopardy to harvest America’s food, this is not an educational experience to prepare them to own their own farm one day. They are left exposed and unprotected through this move to withdraw the safety rules for children employed in agriculture.”

The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs is the national federation of nonprofit and public agencies that provide training and employment services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. For additional comment or interview, please contact Ayrianne Parks at (202) 828-6006 x140 or Parks(at)AFOP(dot)org.

Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs Applauds President Obama’s Budget that Offers Renewed Hope for America’s Farmworkers

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) commended President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal for its continued commitment to securing better futures for America’s farmworkers and their families.  The President submitted his budget today, including level funding for the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP).

“We understand the President and our national policymakers face challenges in managing the federal budget with limited resources, which is why this commitment is so heartening,” said David Strauss, Executive Director of AFOP.  “The President’s commitment to continue investing in programs like the NFJP will help to secure the future of our nation’s businesses and workers.”

The NFJP is a highly successful federal job training program, exceeding all of the major goals established by the Department of Labor. It is funded through a competitive grant process that selects providers best qualified to serve farmworkers efficiently and effectively. Farmworkers enrolled in the NFJP must provide evidence they earn below the federal poverty line and present proof they are authorized to work in the U.S. Nationally, AFOP members providing the services have achieved an entered employment rate of 80.1% and a retention rate of 76.4%, according to data from this most recent program year.

NFJP providers achieve this success by addressing the unique set of barriers farmworkers often face. Most farmworkers reside in rural locations and lack access to transportation. Additionally, the majority of farmworkers’ English language skills are limited. The National Agricultural Workers Survey also reveals the average education level attained by farmworkers is just 7^th grade. These factors, along with a host of other issues, necessitate specially tailored education and training models.

“Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are among the nation’s most vulnerable in the current economic climate and the NFJP is the only federal job training program that provides education and job training services to farmworkers,” said Strauss. “Considering the significant barriers farmworkers typically face and the depth of unemployment in rural America, these results are pretty remarkable; the success clearly illustrates the effectiveness and efficiency of the NFJP. We are happy the budget request reflects that.”

The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs is the national federation of nonprofit and public agencies that provide training and employment services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. For additional comment or interview, please contact Ayrianne Parks at (202) 828-6006 x140 or Parks(at)AFOP(dot)org.

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AFOP Member HELP-New Mexico Provides Essential Job Training Services through the NFJP

January 27, 2012–HELP-New Mexico, Inc., a statewide community-based organization headquartered in Albuquerque, has prepared 11 farmworkers to obtain a certification that will provide them with the skills, knowledge, and ability to work together with journeyman electricians to design and install solar panel systems. This 48-hour training will culminate with a hands-on solar panel installation of a system on the homes of two low-income families in Berino, New Mexico. Funding is provided via a grant from the Community Services Block Grant and the National Farmworker Jobs Program.

“The class has provided workforce participants, many of whom are currently unemployed and/or underemployed, with a way to enhance their skills in targeted industries and provide them with a ‘leg up’ in the job market,” states Roni Spetalnick, Southwest Regional Manager, HELP-NM.

Classes began on November 15, 2011, at the El Paso Electricians Apprenticeship Training Facility where a journeyman electrician/trainer worked together with our New Mexico trainees preparing them to take the entry level North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) certification exam. On January 28, 2012, in Berino, New Mexico, these trainees will use these skills to actually install systems on two homes built by Tierra Del Sol Housing, a nonprofit agency that builds affordable homes for low income individuals. They will work under the guidance and direction of a local solar installation company, Border Solar.

John Martinez, HELP-NM’s Executive Director said, “preparing the workforce for the economy of the future, while assisting local non-profits to reduce their carbon footprint is at the core of our mission. The solar photovoltaic workforce training session’s goal is to prepare individuals with new skill sets and the ability to command higher wages. At the same time a local non-profit builder will be able to pass on the opportunity to low-income homeowners to reduce energy costs by creating electricity.”

The solar panel installations will take place at 1232 and 1240 Aero Lane in Berino, NM beginning at 9:00 AM. For further information regarding the training and the installations in Berino, New Mexico, please contact Roni Spetalnick at (575) 642-1008, or Victor Cabrera at (575) 642-5146.

HELP-New Mexico’s mission is to create self-sufficiency and promote economic opportunities to strengthen families throughout New Mexico. HELP-NM has over 220 staff in 35 offices and/or Head Start and Pre-Kindergarten Centers throughout New Mexico. For additional comment or interview, please contact Rita Garcia McManus at (505) 766-4950.

The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs is the national federation of nonprofit and public agencies that provide training and employment services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. For additional comment or interview, please contact Ayrianne Parks at (202) 828-6006 x140 or Parks(at)AFOP(dot)org.

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RE: RIN 1235–AA06 Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation; Child Labor Violations – Civil Money Penalties; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Request for Comments

The following comments represent the views of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs regarding the Department of Labor’s (DOL) published Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (RIN 1235-AA06) to update the agricultural child labor regulations.

The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) is a national federation of 52 non-profit and public agencies that provide training and employment services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Our goal is to improve the quality of life for all farmworkers and their families through advocacy, education, and training.

For more than 40 years, AFOP members have worked directly with farmworker families in America’s agricultural communities. Our organization understands the needs of our nation’s farmworker families and has seen first-hand the effects of agricultural work, especially on children.  We are concerned about the safety, education, and welfare of children who work on farms.

As many as 500,000 children and teenagers toil in agriculture, an industry consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous industries in America. In its 2008 edition of Injury Facts, the National Safety Council ranked agriculture as the most dangerous industry, with 28.7 deaths per 100,000 adult workers. Kansas State University reports that in 2007, there were 715 deaths on farms involving workers of all ages, and more than 80,000 workers suffered disabling injuries. Most of the injuries were caused by livestock and farm machinery while tractors caused most of the deaths.

Yet, under the current Fair Labor Standards Act, children as young as 12 are allowed to work in agriculture with few protections.

This year provided tragic examples of the dangers youth face when working on farms:

• On August 4, two 17-year-olds suffered serious injuries when they became trapped in a grain auger in Kremlin, Oklahoma; each teenager lost a leg.
• On July 25, two 14-year-old girls were killed and eight others injured while they detasseled corn in Tampico, Illinois. The youth worked in water-soaked fields and were electrocuted by nearby irrigation equipment.

For workers 15 to 17, the risk of fatal injury is four times the risk for young workers in other workplaces, according to DOL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additionally, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports that between 1995 and 2002, an estimated 907 youth died on American farms, well over 100 per year. Between 1992 and 2000, more than four in 10 work-related fatalities of young workers occurred on farms. Half of the fatalities in agriculture involved youth under age 15.

There is no doubt that work on a farm is dangerous, especially for youth. Agriculture uses more machines and more dangerous chemicals since the days when the U.S. child labor regulations were established, yet there have been no updates to these policies in over 40 years. The DOL’s proposed regulations will help protect tens of thousands of youth workers from life-threatening injuries. In the span of a decade, it will save dozens of lives.

Imperative that Regulations be Adopted within 30 Days

The proposed regulations must be adopted as expeditiously as possible. AFOP is requesting the DOL adopt the regulations within 30 days of the end of the comment period. The DOL has spent nearly a decade refining the proposed regulations and wisely followed the recommendations of NIOSH, producing a body of regulations that both improves the safety of youth workers and passes the common sense tests that most average Americans would apply. These regulations are reasonable and they save lives.

Thirty (30) days will allow sufficient time for any minor edits needed to the proposed regulations and should not be delayed further. Any new major expansions of these safety proposals should begin immediately and implemented separately. Additionally, AFOP believes the H.O.s must be updated on a continual basis every two years henceforth. Updates to the regulations that protect our youth from preventable injuries and death should not be four decades apart.

As recent months have shown, delaying these regulations further at this point will mean that youth working in farm work will be killed and maimed unnecessarily. The updates to the non-agricultural child labor regulations took three years to be implemented after they were proposed. Given the extreme dangers posed by agricultural work, a delay of this magnitude would be disastrous for youth working in agriculture.

The prospect of regulatory change produces fear for many farmers in agricultural areas, yet these regulations seek to protect their sons and daughters when they work on neighboring farms. The regulations will continue to preserve the parental exemptions for children working on their parents’ farms.

According to recent consumer poll conducted by the National Consumers League, the American public supports the concept that children working in agriculture should receive the same level of protection that children working in other industries receive.

The Fair Labor Standards Act provide exemptions for children working in agriculture from many of the protections children working in other industries , including protections against work that is known to be hazardous. It is especially important that children ages 14 and 15 receive the increased protections offered through the updates to the H.O.s.

AFOP has the following recommendations regarding the proposed regulations to the H.O.s:

Support Agricultural Hazardous Order 1; Oppose Student-Learner Exemption

AFOP supports the improved protections in H.O. 1 which removes the 20 PTO Horsepower threshold criteria, and opposes the student-learner exemption.

As noted earlier, tractor operation is a leading cause of deaths among agricultural workers. According to the ROPS Retrofit (Tractor) Program, it is the leading cause of death on the farm and one in seven farmers involved in tractor overturns are permanently disabled by their accidents.

The use of all tractors and machinery should be banned for use by workers under 16, as in other industries, regardless of the youth’s participation in short-term training courses. The effectiveness of the short-term training courses has been called into question by safety advocates. Ample research suggests that teenagers are still developing neurologically and that their still-developing brains lack the capacity to perform the risk assessments that accompany the use of potentially lethal machinery, the same way most states do not allow youth under 16 to operate motor vehicles. Teenagers are four times as likely to be involved in a car crash as adults, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. We believe these same risk factors apply to the use of tractors. The risks of rollover and the risks of running over young siblings on farms are too great to allow children under 16 to operate tractors. AFOP believes that even well-designed training programs are not capable of overcoming this neurological issue.

AFOP supports the expansion to prohibit outside helpers on vehicles. Additionally, AFOP supports the proposed provision regarding prohibiting electronic devices, including communication devices, while operating tractors.

If the student-learner exemption is to continue, AFOP supports the requirement that student-learners operating tractors have a valid state driver’s license to operate tractors and other farm machinery on public roads.

Support New Agricultural Hazardous Order 2; Oppose Student-Learner Exemption

AFOP supports the proposed changes encompassed by the new H.O. 2, which would protect young workers from many types of power-driven machinery by prohibiting the use of all power-driven equipment, and opposes the student-learner exemption.

AFOP also agree that minors should not be allowed to ride as passengers on farm machines being moved on public roads.

As stated in the above H.O. 1 section, our support is based on our concern that neurologically, teenagers lack sufficient risk assessment capabilities to operate such equipment safely.

If student-learners are allowed to operate equipment on public roads, AFOP agrees that they should hold a valid license for such operations. Furthermore, if student-learners are allowed to ride as passengers, AFOP agrees that they should have an approved seat with a seat belt with the seat-belt use as a requirement.

AFOP opposes the possibility of waiving driving restrictions for H.O. 2 for 14- and 15-year-old student learners to drive licensed vehicles in states that provide for licensing 14- and 15-year-olds.

Support New Agricultural Hazardous Order 3; Support the Exclusion of the Student-Learner Exemption

AFOP supports the proposed prohibition of employment in occupations involving the operation of non-power driven hoisting apparatuses and conveyers. Given that apparatuses and conveyors are often used to move heavy objects, there is an unacceptable risk of injury involved with their use by young workers.

AFOP agrees with the decision to not permit a student learner exemption.

Support Agricultural Hazardous Order 4; Support the Exclusion of the Student-Learner Exemption

AFOP supports the proposed protections regarding work with or around animals, and agrees with the decision to not exempt student-learners.

Working with livestock is one of the most common causes of injuries to agricultural workers, according to John Slocombe, an extension farm safety specialist at Kansas State University. According to a publication from the North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU), a recent 15-state summary of farm accidents revealed that animals were a factor in one of every eight farm injuries reported, ranking it second after farm machinery as the major cause of injuries. According to the NDFU, livestock accidents account for almost 100 deaths a year on farms.

AFOP also supports the prohibition on herding animals into confined spaces, such as feed lots or corrals; on horseback; and on motorized vehicles such as trucks or all terrain vehicles.

Support Agricultural Hazardous Order 5; Support the Exclusion of the Student-Learner Exemption

AFOP supports the removal of the 6-inch threshold when it comes to felling, bucking, skidding, loading or unloading timber, and supports the exclusion of the student-learner exemption.

Support New Agricultural Hazardous Order 6; Support the Exclusion of the Student-Learner Exemption

AFOP supports the new proposed H.O. 6 which prevents employment in construction, communications, wrecking, demolition, and excavation and extends protections enjoyed by other 14- and 15-year-olds in non-agricultural industries.

The dangers of construction, wrecking, demolition, and excavation work are well known, killing hundreds of American workers each year. According to an ABC News report citing federal statistics, in 2006, more than 1,200 workers died in construction accidents. According to the Web site www.trenchsafety.org, between 1990 and 2000, on average 70 workers died in excavation accidents each year; 10 times that number of workers are estimated to be injured each year in excavation accidents.

Support New Agricultural Hazardous Order 7

AFOP supports the new proposed H.O. 7 which prohibits work on roofs, scaffolds and at elevations greater than 6 feet. The dangers of falls to workers are evident. According to the 2009 data from the DOL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, 605 workers were killed and an estimated 212,760 workers were seriously injured by falls to the same or lower level. Youth workers, with their smaller bodies, are at greater risk of injuries for heights over 6 feet.

AFOP is concerned that the 6-feet threshold may not provide adequate safeguards and encourages the DOL to examine the stricter height restrictions in non-agricultural occupations to determine if greater protections can be included in agricultural work.

AFOP specifically opposes the possibility of adopting a 10-foot threshold. This threshold does not provide adequate protection for the smaller bodies of youth workers for whom a 10-foot height might represent a height twice the length of their body.

AFOP supports prohibitions of any work on ladders involving youth workers. Ladders represent a particularly unstable work surface, increasing the likelihood of falls for youth.

AFOP strongly supports the expansion of current regulations to prohibit work on elevated farm structure, including silos, grain bins, windmills, and towers; and vehicles , machines, and implements.

AFOP supports the removal of the student-learner exemption.

Support Agricultural Hazardous Order 8

AFOP supports the prohibition against all work inside a fruit, forage, or grain storage container, including silos and bins.

Purdue University found that at least 26 U.S. workers were killed in grain entrapments in 2010. Each year in the U.S., teenage workers suffocate as they become trapped in shifting grain in grain structures and facilities.

• In July 2010 in Middleville, Michigan, 18-year-old Victor Perez and 17-year-old Francisco M. Martinez died after falling into a silo they were power washing.

• That same month, in Mount Carroll, Illinois, two workers, Alejandro Pacas, 19, and Wyatt Whitebread, 14, also suffocated in a grain silo.

• David Yenni, a 13-year-old, was killed in a grain loading accident at a Petaluma, California, mill in August 2009.
• In May 2009, Cody Rigsby, a Colorado 17-year-old was working in a grain bin when he vanished; it took rescuers six hours to find his body.

Suffocation is not the only threat when it comes to working in large agricultural storage containers. Workers are exposed to dangerous gases that emanate from grains, and work around dangerous equipment used to move grain within structures. As noted previously, on August 4, 2011, two 17-year-olds each lost a leg when they became trapped in a grain auger in Kremlin, Oklahoma.

Support New Agricultural Hazardous Order 9

AFOP supports the prohibition against all work inside a manure pit or other manure containers, as described in the new H.O. 9.

AFOP requests the DOL developed a confined spaces standard with broader scope. The recent death of Armando Ramirez, a Californian worker, shows the dangers of confined spaces. Ramirez, a 16-year-old teenager, was asked to clean out a drainage tunnel. While working in the tunnel, he was overcome with hydrogen sulfide gases and died. In attempting to rescue him, his brother also died from the exposure to these gases.

Support New Agricultural Hazardous Order 10

AFOP supports the improved pesticide protections in the proposed regulations and attempts to bring consistency with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Worker Protection Standard (WPS) proposed in the new H.O. 10. One of the greatest dangers that farm work poses to young workers is the dangers posed by pesticide exposure.

According to the EPA, children are at a greater risk of the negative effects of pesticides for a number of reasons. Children’s internal organs are still developing and maturing and their enzymatic, metabolic, and immune systems may provide less natural protection than those of an adult. There are “critical periods” in human development when exposure to a toxin can permanently alter the way an individual’s biological system operates. Children may be exposed more to certain pesticides because often they eat different foods than adults.

Adverse effects of pesticide exposure range from mild symptoms of dizziness and nausea to serious, long-term neurological, developmental and reproductive disorders. Americans use more than a billion pounds of pesticides each year to combat pests on farm crops, in homes, places of business, schools, parks, hospitals, and other public places.

Recent research has suggested links between pesticide exposure and Attention Deficit Disorder, presenting yet another educational obstacle especially for migrant farmworker children. Farmworker children drop out of school at four times the national rate due to the hardships the farmworker community faces, including difficulties in keeping up with their studies.

While conducting outreach in the farmworker community, AFOP members observed youth worker behaviors that increase the likelihood of pesticide exposure. Many youth workers wear less protective clothing than adults when working on farms. Children are seen working barefoot, increasing their exposure risks to the chemicals in the soil. Many farmworker children acknowledge eating unwashed fruit and vegetables as they work, and often do not have hand-washing facilities in the fields.

AFOP supports the ban on all work that falls within the EPA classification of pesticide handler. Additionally, AFOP supports the continual automatic updating of DOL regulations as EPA revises the WPS.

AFOP supports the use of the definition of pesticides contained in FIFRA.

AFOP also supports prohibitions on the emptying, handling or washing of used pesticide containers based on concerns that empty or rinsed pesticide containers often have enough chemical residue left to endanger the health of working teens.

Furthermore, AFOP suggests the DOL examine protections contained in pesticide protections in the states of California and Washington for additional improvements to this H.O.

Support New Agricultural Hazardous Order 11

AFOP supports the retention of prohibitions regarding the handling and using of blasting agents in H.O. 11.

Support New Agricultural Hazardous Order 12

AFOP supports the retention of the prohibition regarding the transporting, transferring, or applying of anhydrous ammonia in H.O. 12.

Support New Agricultural Hazardous Order 13

AFOP supports the prohibition of youth working in the tobacco industry in H.O. 13. Young workers should not have contact with tobacco and the toxic chemicals contained in tobacco plants. The dangers of the resulting Green Tobacco Sickness are well-known by the healthcare community.

AFOP recommends adding “packing and transporting” to the list of specifically prohibited activities.

Given the toxicity levels of this product and prohibitions of its use by minors, AFOP supports banning all work on this crop by workers under 18.

Support New Non-Agricultural Hazardous Order 18

AFOP supports the prohibition of young workers in occupations involving farm-product raw materials wholesale trade industries, including most occupations performed at country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, feed yards, stockyards, live stock exchanges and livestock auctions.

[Please refer to our specific comments about the dangers posed by working in grain structures and facilities in our discussion of H.O. 8]

Support New Non-Agricultural Hazardous Order 19

AFOP supports prohibitions against using electronic devices, including communication devices, while operating power-driven equipment, including motor vehicles.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Create New Heat Stress Agricultural Hazardous Order

AFOP believes the DOL should adopt a Heat Stress H.O. in the next iteration of protective child labor regulations. Children, as young as 12, and sometimes even younger, are working 8-, 10-, and 12-hour days in 100-degree heat performing back-breaking, strenuous labor. These children put far too great a strain on their developing bodies regardless of the heat. The dangers of working in extreme heat were made clear in May 2008 when 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez collapsed after she was denied access to shade as she worked in near-triple-digit heat in a California vineyard.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) considers heat stress to be a major concern in the workplace. Working in hot environments can create heat stress, which is a dangerous, and sometimes fatal, condition. The body functions most effectively within a limited temperature range. If the temperature rises too high, the body’s metabolic rate increases and its efficiency decreases. The body loses fluid through perspiration and the blood vessels dilate in an attempt to cool the body. Eventually, the body suffers from heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Children are more susceptible to heat stroke than adults. AFOP members know children wear hats less frequently and wear less protective clothing than adults when working in the fields, exposing their bodies more to the sun. The tremendous exertion associated with much field work increases the risk of suffering heat stress and heat exhaustion.

AFOP urges the DOL to implement a ban that would prevent children from working when the temperature is over 100 degrees; and regulations that require rest, shade, and water breaks for work in fields where the temperature is over 90. Both California and Washington have implemented heat stress rules, and we urge the DOL to examine these regulations in implementing new heat stress regulations. DOL should also examine the feasibility of using a heat index and other criteria for deciding when weather conditions are too extreme for children to work. In order to be effective, any standard must be relatively simple to understand and enforce.

Prohibit Piece-Rate Work for Children Under 16

Many crops in U.S. agriculture are harvested under the piece-rate compensation system. Under this system, the pay of the worker is dependent on the amount of crops they harvest. This system causes farmworkers to work at a quick pace for hours on end and prompts many farmworkers to bring their children to work with them in the fields to earn a living wage.

Typically, farmworker youth work under their father’s or mother’s name when performing piece-rate harvesting. The actual compensation rate these children are earning is often only $1 to $3 an hour. As a result, AFOP believes that the piece-rate payment system is a vehicle for rampant wage theft, causing farmworker youth to work for what might be called “slave wages.”

There are health and safety implications associated with the piece-rate payment system as well since it causes children to work at the edge of their capacity. AFOP members have witnessed children as young as 10 working as hard as humanly possible while harvesting onions in Texas in temperatures that were in the mid-90s. Pushing themselves to their limits, these children will often harvest thousands of pounds of produce over an 8- to 14-hour span. Simply put, the piece-rate payment system is inhumane and not fit for children.

The U.S. is out of compliance with International Labor Organization Convention 182, the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, which the U.S. signed in December 1999.

The piece-rate payment system and the health dangers posed by farm work at very young ages are two of the salient reasons that we believe the U.S. is in violation of this important international convention.

AFOP urges DOL to prohibit the piece-rate payment system for youth under 16. Additionally, AFOP encourages the DOL to pursue its enforcement activities in agriculture with a focus on ensuring that every individual working in the fields is listed as an employee on the employers’ books. All children should be listed and not permitted to work under other individual’s names, including their parents’ names.

Supports Prohibition of the Hiring of Transferring Student before June 1

AFOP supports the proposed change that would prohibit employers from hiring workers prior to June 1 when the workers in question are under 16 and have transferred schools. The advocacy community believes that farmworker youth, particularly those who migrate, drop out of school at alarming rates. As many as two out of three, migrant youth do not graduate high school. Child labor plays a large part in forcing these youth to drop out. Exhaustion from back-breaking work and the difficulties associated with transferring school districts combine to make it extremely difficult for even the hardest working children to succeed in school. As noted previously, work in pesticide-treated fields impairs the ability of young farmworkers to focus mentally.

The high dropout rates among farmworker youth perpetuates a cycle of poverty that causes great harm to the farmworker community. By requiring a later hire date for farmworker youth, the DOL can mitigate this negative phenomenon and help ensure that farmworker youth finish the school year in their home district or improve the likelihood that children who have already moved will be able to focus on their school work. The extent to which they attend school while they are exhausted from work in the fields will decrease because of this proposed change.

Transportation Recommendation

AFOP urges the DOL to adopt transportation protections that constitute a stronger level than those under the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Protection Act (MSPA). We believe that all minor workers transported in agriculture should require a bolted seat with a working seat belt.

The dangers of transportation in the farmworker community are well known. Crew leaders often transport workers in buses lacking safety equipment or in over-crowded 12- and 15-passenger vans which have had seats removed. Workers have been known to sit on wooden planks supported by cinderblocks, which become lethal missiles during crashes.

Any delay in issuing these protections, will almost certainly result in the needless deaths and permanent disability of numerous young farmworkers. We strongly urge that they be promulgated 30 days after the comment period ends. Work should begin immediately to add heat stress and piece-rate prohibitions.

Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs Opposes Holdup in Protecting Farmworker Children

October 28, 2011—Yesterday, the Department of Labor sent notice that it would be extending the comment period and further delaying its proposal to update child labor regulations. The postponement will be announced in the Federal Register on Monday. The DOL released the proposal in August to update child labor regulations, which have not been updated in almost 40 years. Comments were set to be due November 1, 2011, 60 days after the proposal was introduced by the DOL, the standard time allotted for such changes. As a result of lobbying efforts by the Farm Bureau and other agribusiness groups, 78 Members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis pressuring the DOL to further postpone these important updates.

“As farmworker advocates, we are opposed to additional delays that may lead to further deaths and the maiming of children working in agriculture,” said Norma Flores López, director of AFOP’s Children in the Fields Campaign and a former farmworker child. “These updates are too late for the hundreds of children who have died as a result of these out-of-date child labor regulations, but it’s not too late for those children currently laboring in hazardous conditions.”

The National Safety Council ranked agriculture as the most dangerous industry for even adult workers, with 28.7 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2008. For youth, agriculture has the highest fatality rate of any industry, with 40% of all youth fatalities occurring on farms. This year alone, two 14-year-old girls were killed and eight others were injured while detassling corn in Tampico, Illinois after being electrocuted by irrigation equipment in July. In August, two 17-year-olds each lost a leg when they became trapped in a grain auger in Kremlin, Oklahoma.

The proposed hazardous orders continue to protect the family farm exemption. The revisions would extend restrictions on child labor including barring children under 16 from cultivating, harvesting, or curing tobacco. Farmworkers in tobacco fields have been shown to have nicotine exposure equal to the worker smoking 36 cigarettes per day, according to Public Health Reports. Children working in tobacco fields are particularly vulnerable to acute tobacco poisoning, known as green tobacco sickness, which has no special treatment or cure.

The DOL is also proposing, under recommendation by NIOSH, to prohibit all work inside grain silos. In 2010, 51 workers were engulfed by grain stored in towering metal structures, and 26 died — the highest number on record, according to a report issued by Purdue University. These restrictions, which were delayed nearly nine months rather than the usual 90-day review procedure, could have also prevented the death of 14-year-old Wyatt who drowned in a grain bin earlier this year.

“While we applaud the Department of Labor’s efforts to update these regulations and better protect working children, this delay is alarming,” notes López. “The safety of America’s children must be our nation’s priority.”

The full text of the proposed update to child labor regulations can be found on the DOL website. Comments are now being accepted until December 1, 2011.

The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs is a non-profit, national federation of 52 non-profit and public agencies that provide training and employment services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Our goal is to improve the quality of life for all farmworkers and their families through advocacy, education, and training.  For additional comment or an interview, please contact Ayrianne Parks at 202.828-6006 ext. 140 or Parks@AFOP.org.

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Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs Responds to Dangerous Cuts to Job Training Programs Proposed by the House Appropriations Committee

Washington, D.C. — Today, the House Appropriations Committee released the draft fiscal year 2012 Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) funding bill. The cuts proposed in this bill would cut funding for the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training Administration nearly in half.

“Right now there are over 14 million Americans without a job, yet a large percentage of job openings remain unfilled due to a shortage in workers who have the skills these positions require,” notes David Strauss, Executive Director of AFOP. “Despite this fact, the House Appropriations Committee is proposing draconian cuts to the very job training programs working to get Americans the education and training services they need to get back to work and help businesses find the workers they need.”

The National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP), is a fiscally responsible federal job training program aimed at educating and training farmworkers into jobs that allow them to earn a self and family-sustaining income. AFOP and its 52 non-profit and public agencies that operate the NFJP provide access to training and supportive services to help farmworkers create better futures for themselves and achieve the American Dream. AFOP’s member agencies that are awarded the competitive grants provided by the DOL typically place over 80% of job-training farmworker customers into good jobs with benefits.

“Our country’s leaders need to hear from the public; they need to hear that while solutions to our budget deficit are necessary, we cannot demolish our education and workforce system,” said Strauss.  “We need a balanced and comprehensive approach that combines gains in efficiency and invests in our nation’s education and workforce.”

The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs is the national federation of nonprofit and public agencies that provide training and employment services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. For additional comment or interview, please contact Ayrianne Parks at (202) 828-6006 x140 or Parks@AFOP.org

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Death of Two 14-Year-Old Girls in an Illinois Field Underscores the Need for an Overhaul of U.S. Child Labor Laws—Groups Condemn  New Laws that Weaken Protections for Young  Workers in States

A Joint Press Release of the Child Labor Coalition and the Global March Against Child Labor:

Washington, D.C.—The tragic death of two 14-year-old girls while detasseling corn in Tampico, Illinois last week stands as a painful reminder that U.S. child labor laws are inadequate and efforts by states to weaken current protections are further endangering the lives of American children.

Hannah Kendall and Jade Garza, two friends from Sterling, Illinois, were electrocuted while they worked with a crew of about 70 others, including workers as young as 13. Ten workers were injured in the electrocution incident whose cause is still unknown. According to news reports, the girls were employed by Monsanto Corporation, which was acting as a contractor. They worked in a muddy field, detasseling corn—a common job for many teenagers in the Midwest that involves removing tassels to encourage cross-pollination—when they received a shock from a nearby center pivot irrigation system. Fourteen-year-old Delanie Knapp, was taken to a Rockford hospital and listed in “serious” condition. Seven other workers were taken to the hospital and released.

“We are devastated by this terrible news and our thoughts go out to the families of these young workers,” said Sally Greenberg, the co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) and the executive director of the National Consumers League (NCL). “Across the nation, legislators in Maine and Wisconsin have weakened child labor laws by allowing teens to work longer hours in recent months. In Missouri, the state’s child labor inspection team was eliminated. Legislators need to know that child labor laws save lives and any weakening of protections has very serious potential consequences.”

Agriculture is consistently ranked as one of the two or three most dangerous industries in the U.S. Each year, NCL produces an annual report titled, “The Five Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens” and agriculture regularly tops the list. “Young teen should not be allowed to work in the fields, given the dangers posed by chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as heavy machinery and razor-sharp tools,” said Reid Maki, coordinator of the CLC, which believes that 14- and 15-year-olds should only be allowed to perform agricultural jobs deemed safe for them by the Secretary of  Labor after careful evaluation. In March of this year, two 18-year-old Illinois teens were electrocuted as they worked with irrigation piping.

“As a child, I spent every summer since the age of 12 detasseling cornfields in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa,” said Norma Flores López. “This work is grueling and puts children’s health at risk, yet exemptions to U.S. child labor laws allow 12- and 13-year-olds to perform back-breaking farm labor for very low pay.” Flores López is the Director of the Children in the Fields Campaign for the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and the chair of the CLC’s Domestic Committee.

The CLC strives to protect children around the world, including the estimated 300,000 to 400,000 children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the U.S. who work long hours in the fields. The CLC is working to help pass the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE), HR 2234, federal legislation to remove the child labor exemptions for agriculture and prohibit farm work for kids under 14 (unless children are working on a family farm for their parents). The proposed law would require the U.S. Secretary of Labor to determine if specific farm jobs like detasseling corn are safe enough for 14-and 15-year-olds to perform and would prevent 16- and 17-year-olds from doing agricultural jobs already determined to be hazardous.

“Children working as farm laborers suffer serious educational impacts in addition to the physical health threats,” said Toni Cortese, the Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.5 million public service employees. “They drop out at rates several times that of other kids because they miss so much school and experience so many disruptions in their education. They are sacrificing their futures to put fruits and vegetables on our tables and it isn’t right.”

“The U.S. has worked diligently to reduce child labor around the world, but it must address its own child labor problem,” said Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of the Global March Against Child Labor. “Internationally, child labor in agriculture is the most frequent type of child labor, experienced by 60 to 70 percent of child laborers around the world. The conditions experienced by migrant children in the U.S. are not much different than the conditions experienced by child laborers in the cocoa fields of Ghana or the school children who are forced to pick cotton in Uzbekistan.”

About the Child Labor Coalition. The Child Labor Coalition is composed of 28 organizations, representing consumers, labor unions, educators, human rights and labor rights groups, child advocacy groups, and religious and women’s groups. It was established in 1989, and is co-chaired by the National Consumers League and the American Federation of Teachers. Its mission is to protect working youth and to promote legislation, programs, and initiatives to end child labor exploitation in the United States and abroad.

About the Global March Against Child Labor. The Global March Against Child Labour was established in 1998 to plan and coordinate a worldwide social mobilisation effort involving thousands of organisations and people in all four corners of the globe to raise awareness of child labour and to support the adoption of ILO Convention No. 182 on worst forms of child labour in Geneva in 1999. It is a global network of trade union, teachers’ and civil society organisations that work together towards the shared development goals of  eliminating and preventing all forms of child labour and ensuring access by all children to free, meaningful and good quality public education. Global March mobilises and supports its constituents to contribute to local, national, regional and global efforts and support for a range of international instruments relating to the protection and promotion of children’s rights and engages with UN and international and inter-governmental agencies on the same.

Contacts: Reid Maki, Coordinator, Child Labor Coalition (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org &

Nick Grisewood, Executive Director, Global March +353 61921685, nick@globalmarch.org