American Public: Young Farmworkers Deserve Equal Protection
Consumer Survey Finds Americans Concerned about Youth Working in Ag; Majority Would Restrict their Teens More than Current Laws
Click Here to See Photos from the Press Event
Washington, DC – The vast majority of American consumers would not allow their own children to work on a commercial farm at ages that the government currently allows, according to a survey released today. The survey, commissioned by the National Consumers League (NCL) for the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), found that more than half of respondents think agriculture is a dangerous occupation—and they think workers should be protected: the majority of respondents agreed that children working in commercial agriculture deserve protection equal to that enjoyed by their counterparts in retail stores and restaurants.
At a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, the CLC, which is co-chaired by the NCL and the American Federation of Teachers, released its survey findings, joined by Linda Chavez Thompson, AFL-CIO vice president; Hector Flores, League of United Latin American Citizens president; Norma Flores, a 20-year-old former child farmworker from Texas; and other advocates. The CLC called on Congress to act upon public support to amend the child labor laws failing America’s young farmworkers.
NCL, which coordinates the 30 member CLC, commissioned Opinion Research to conduct a national random-sample telephone survey of 1,016 adults earlier this year to gain an understanding of consumers’ views on child labor in American commercial agriculture. A majority was unaware of the current child labor problem in the United States: 65 percent believed such a problem does not exist; however, a majority agreed that agriculture is an industry that is dangerous for all its workers.
“When the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938, there was little interest in protecting the health, safety, and education of hundreds of thousands of child farmworkers in the United States,” said Linda Golodner, NCL President and Child Labor Coalition Chair. “They were not protected as other working children. This travesty has remained unchanged for more than 65 years.”
Currently, U.S. law allows children as young as 10 years old to legally work in commercial agriculture, while children of the same age are prohibited from working in nearly all other industries (with only a few exceptions such as delivering newspapers). An estimated 400,000 to 500,000 children work America’s fields, often working eight-hour, nine-hour, and ten-hour backbreaking shifts in intense heat, often exposed to pesticide application, runoff, and drift. While only about eight percent of youth are employed in agriculture, the industry comprises 40 percent of child worker fatalities.
“As millions of our children return to school this week, we need to focus on eliminating obstacles to their ability to learn,” said Antonia Cortese, the American Federation of Teachers Executive Vice President and CLC co-chair. “For children who work on commercial farms, those obstacles are particularly great, as they may be employed earlier in the morning, later at night and for more hours per day and week than any other child during the school year. We must bring an end to this inappropriate and unfair practice.”
Perhaps the survey’s most telling findings, respondents demonstrated differing levels of concern for different types of children – strangers’ as opposed to their own children. Although nearly half of respondents appeared tolerant, in principle, of children ages 12 and 13 working in agriculture, only four percent said they would allow their children to work in fields as a hired farmworker under the age of 13.
“Clearly, the U.S. government is under a moral obligation to treat all working children fairly, especially in protecting their health, safety, and education” said Darlene Adkins, CLC Coordinator. “Our survey should serve as a mandate to Congress: protect all working children today.”
For additional information regarding the survey results:
Survey
results
Questionnaire
Raw data
For more survey results, including consumers’ attitudes towards importing and exporting of products made or harvested with child labor, respondents’ comfort with their own children working, and thoughts on the safety of agricultural work for laborers of all ages, visit www.nclnet.org.
The Child Labor Coalition is a group of more than 40 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.
Hector Flores, League of United Latin American Citizens president, recounts his experience as a child farmworker.
Darlene Adkins, CLC Coordinator, details the survey findings for reporters.
From right to left: David Strauss, Linda Chavez Thompson, Norma Flores, and Hector Flores.
David Strauss, Executive Director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, moderated the media breakfast.
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