Activists Call U.S. Child Labor Situation Atrocious

Child Labor Coalition, Rep. Lantos Team Up to Urge Congress to Act on Outdated Laws, Hold U.S. Government Accountable for Failure to Meet International Standards

June 13, 2005
Contact: Carol McKay
 or Mark Fernando
202-835-3323
media@nclnet.org

Washington, DC--At a press conference on Capitol Hill today, the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) released a report criticizing the U.S. Government for its indifference to protecting working children. At the event, Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA) introduced legislation meant to rectify many of the deficiencies outlined in the CLC report. 

“The United States government is indifferent to our children being injured in the workplace,” said Linda Golodner, co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition and president of the National Consumers League, which coordinates the coalition. “The government continues to ignore even its own reports that identify serious problems with child labor laws – and those serious problems often translate into dead kids.”

In its new report, Protecting Working Children in the United States: Is the Government’s Indifference to the Safety and Health of Working Children Violating an International Treaty?, the CLC takes the government to task for its inaction and questions whether the U.S. is in compliance with an international treaty on protecting children.  Five years after U.S. ratification of the International Labor Organization Convention 182, which called for immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor, the CLC finds the government’s failure to move to correct child labor deficiencies as woefully inadequate and possibly a violation of U.S. commitments under this international treaty. 

The problems are not difficult to find.  Four government reports, issued after U.S. ratification of the treaty in 1999, paint a disturbing picture:

• Outdated Hazardous Occupation Orders: The list of prohibited machinery, tasks, occupations, and industries for working minors has not been comprehensively updated since the list was developed in 1938.

• Inadequate enforcement: On the federal level, there is only one investigator for every 95,000 working children.

• Continued exposure of young farmworkers to dangerous levels of pesticides: EPA regulations for re-entry time into fields after they’ve been sprayed with pesticides are based on a 154-pound adult male, despite the fact that there are as many as 800,000 young farmworkers in the United States.

A History of Inaction

Beginning in 2000, U.S. government agencies have released reports that recommend necessary changes in policy and practice to better protect working youth.  In 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor released a report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which set forth 38 specific recommendations related to strengthening prohibitions for minors related to dangerous machinery, tasks, occupations, and industries.  The Labor Department has no regulatory timetable or process in action for implementing these recommendations.  Meanwhile, 230,000 youth are injured in the workplace every year and between 60-70 youth die on the job.

December 2, 2005 will mark the five year anniversary of the treaty going into effect in the United States. 

“Where are we five years later?” asked Golodner.  “We’re still gambling with the health and safety of America’s working youth, and our kids are paying a high price.  It’s time for the government to end the charade that all’s well with our antiquated child labor laws and take some action.”

The CLC hopes that by forwarding the report to the ILO, the U.S. government will be asked to explain its plan on addressing deficiencies in child labor protection. 

Rep. Lantos has introduced legislation, the Youth Worker Protection Act, to serve as a comprehensive revision of the federal child labor law.

"A child's primary job should be to attend school," said Antonia Cortese, Executive Vice President, American Federation of Teachers and CLC Co-Chair. "The CLC calls upon Members of Congress to support the Lantos bill which, among other things, removes 10-year-olds from working in the fields."

For copies of the CLC report, visit www.stopchildlabor.org, or contact the Child Labor Coalition at 202-835-3323.

About the Child Labor Coalition

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.  It’s mission is to protect working youth and to promote legislation, programs, and initiatives to end child labor exploitation in the United States and abroad.

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