Aug 7, 2012

U.S. Child labor camps start at 4:30 a.m. often working 9 to 10 hours a day in 100'F heat | NBC Bay Area

Thousands of children, many too young to drive, are hard at work putting in long hours in brutal conditions to make sure the rest of us eat well -- and cheaply.

NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit spent weeks penetrating the close-knit and tight-lipped community of migrant workers and found dozens of children working the fields in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys – some who started work at 11-, 10- and even 8-years of age.

While an 8-year-old could not work in an office or fast-food restaurant, a 1938 law allows them to legally work in agriculture.

These children are working a full day in the fields picking, trimming and cultivating fresh fruits and vegetables. They often work 9 to10 hours a day in 100-degree-plus heat.

NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit found these children working all over -- not in China, not in Indonesia, not in Guatemala, not in Mexico - but in the United States, from North Carolina to California. Everyone interviewed worked on a large farm, not a small, family one.

And these, for the most part, are not illegal immigrants, but children born here in the United States.

“Children can work at any age on a small farm with their parents’ permission. It’s absolutely legal for a small farmer to hire a 6-year-old to pick blueberries,” said Zama Coursen-Neff of Human Rights Watch. Coursen-Neff authored a 2010 report that found child labor prevalent in fields across the United States.

Coursen-Neff added as unfortunate as it may seem, these long hours in the fields are perfectly legal.

“You have to realize that many children who are working in hazardous conditions in the United States are working absolutely legally because U.S. child labor law which is pretty good has a big gaping hole in it when it comes to agriculture,” Coursen-Neff said.

“Children are working in American fields at far younger ages for far longer hours and in far more hazardous conditions than all other working children in America,” Coursen-Neff said. “(Under current law) a child can work again for hire at age 12 on any size farm. And at age 14 they can work for hire even without their parents’ permission. A child of any age can work unlimited hours outside of school in agriculture even though in all other forms of work the number of hours that they can work is limited to make sure that they can get an education and to make sure that they’re not put at risk.”

Please continue reading at:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Children-in-the-Field-Picking-Our-Food-164796976.html


Just this year, the United States Department of Labor tried to change the law and further restrict and even prohibit some children from working in fields. [Click here to read HR 4157, the bill that passed the US House of Representatives on July 24, 2012.]

“I don’t think they (Americans) do (realize children are picking their food),” Aeillo said. “I think Americans are largely clueless about the labor in general that supplies their food. And whether it’s their age or their ethnicity or their legal status or any of the above I think Americans are in the dark about what’s going on.”