More than 150 Groups Urged U.S. to Implement Child Safety Rules for Agriculture But U.S. DOL Succumbs to Political Pressure from Farm Lobby and Withdraws Proposed Protections
[The CLC submitted the following letter to Secretary Solis, urging her to implement the first update of occupational child safety rules for agriculture in four decades. The letter was originally submitted in March with 105 signatories. This update had 156 organizational endorsements. Unfortunately, the Department of Labor withdrew the proposed rules in late April under strong pressure from the Farm Lobby .]
April 19, 2012
The Honorable Hilda L. Solis
Secretary
U.S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20210
RE: Updates to the Agricultural Hazardous Occupations Orders as Proposed by the Department of Labor
Dear Secretary Solis:
The Child Labor Coalition represents millions of Americans, including teachers, workers, farmworkers, farmworker advocates, and human rights activists concerned about the safety, education, and welfare of children who work in agriculture. We understand the needs of our nation’s farmworker families and have seen the effects of agricultural work, especially on children. The Coalition, along with the organizations listed below, support the proposed changes to the agricultural hazardous orders and implore the Department to implement the changes as quickly as possible.
As many as 500,000 children and teenagers toil in agriculture, an industry consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous industries in America. Last year, 12 of the 16 children under age 16 who suffered fatal occupational injuries worked in crop production, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Just this past August, Oklahoma teens Tyler Zander and Bryce Gannon, both 17, each lost a leg in a grain auger accident. We can prevent these tragedies from happening to other children by implementing the proposed updates to the hazardous orders without delay. The rules won’t impair the rural way of life; they simply put the safety and well-being of children above corporate profit.
For agricultural 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. Furthermore, 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.
Agriculture uses more heavy machinery and more dangerous chemicals since the days when the U.S. child labor rules were established, yet there have been no updates to these policies in over 40 years. The DOL’s proposed rules 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 without Further Delay
The proposed rules must be adopted as expeditiously as possible. The CLC and undersigned organizations request the DOL the rules be adopted within 30 days. The DOL has spent nearly a decade refining the proposed rules and wisely followed the recommendations of NIOSH, producing a body of rules, based upon the evidence of disproportionate injuries and deaths among children performing the tasks outlined in the rules. The proposed update both improves the safety of youth workers and passes the common sense tests most average Americans would apply. These health and safety rules for child laborers are reasonable and they will save lives.
As recent months have shown, delaying these rules 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 rules took three years to be implemented after they were proposed. Given the extreme dangers posed to children by these types of agricultural work, a delay of this magnitude would have devastating consequences.
The safety of our children needs to be a priority, even over corporate interests. The improved hazardous orders will continue to protect family farms by allowing children to work on their parents’ farm without any restriction. Furthermore, children will still be allowed to perform most types of agricultural work – just not the jobs that have proven to be especially hazardous. The proposed rule would in no way prohibit a child from raising or caring for an animal in a non-employment situation through educational programs, such as Future Farmers of America and 4-H — even if the animal were housed on a working farm — as long as he or she is not “employed” to work with the animal.
We estimate the rules will save 50 to 100 lives of teen workers and countless injuries over the next decade. Delaying these common sense protections will certainly result in the needless deaths and permanent disability of numerous young farmworkers.
Sincerely,
The following 156 groups, representing over 1,400 organizations and millions of Americans:
Company Name |
---|
9to5, National Association of Working Women |
Action for Children North Carolina |
Action LA Network |
AFL-CIO |
Agricultural Workers Alliance (Canada) |
American Federation of Teachers |
American Public Health Association |
American Rights at Work |
Americans for Immigrant Justice |
Arkansas Interfaith Alliance |
Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs |
Avant-Garde Foster Family & Adoption Agency |
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers Union |
Black Hills Special Services Cooperative |
Bon Appetit Management Company |
California Institute for Rural Studies |
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation |
Capital Area Food Bank – DC/MD/VA |
Casa Esperanza of Bound Brook, New Jersey |
CATA-The Farmworkers Support Committee |
CAUSA |
Center for Employment and Training |
Center for Latino Progress-CPRF |
Centro Campesino |
Change to Win |
Child Labor Coalition |
Children’s Alliance (Washington State) |
CITA-Independent Farm Workers Center |
CLASP |
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of L.A. |
Coalition for Justice |
Coalition of Human Needs |
Coalition of Immokalee Workers |
Coalition of Labor Union Women |
Coalition to Abolish Slavery-CAST |
Communications Workers of America |
Community Action Partnership (Rep. 1,000 groups) |
Community Council of Idaho |
Community Health Partnership of Illinois |
Covenant with North Carolina’s Children |
Delaware Ecumenical Council on Children & Families |
Dialogue on Diversity |
Dominican Sisters-Grand Rapids |
East Coast Migrant Head Start Project |
Eastern Maine Development Corporation |
Education Equals Making Coummunity Connections |
El Pueblo |
Equal Justice Center |
Farmworker Advocacy Network of North Carolina |
Farmworker Association of Florida |
Farmworker Justice |
Farmworker Pesticide Project |
First Focus |
Florida Non-Profit Housing |
Florida State University College of Law |
Food Chain Workers Alliance |
Food Forward, Los Angeles |
Galen Films |
Greater Rochester Coalit’n for Immigration Justice |
Green For All |
Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, Yardley, PA |
Healthy Child Health World |
HELP-New Mexico |
Hope Community Center |
Hudson River Health Care |
Human Rights Watch |
Illinois Coalition for Community Services |
Immigrant Worker Project of Ohio |
Indiana Toxics Action |
Insight Center for Community Economic Development |
Interfaith Worker Justice |
International Brotherhoods of the Teamsters |
International Initiative to End Child Labor |
International Labor Rights Forum |
Jobs with Justice |
Kentucky Environmental Foundation |
Kentucky Equal Justice Center |
La Fe Policy Research & Ed. Center of San Antonio |
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement |
League of United Latin American Citizens |
LUPE-La Union del Pueblo Entero |
MAFO-Nat’l Partnership of Farmworker & Rural Org.s |
Mass. Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health |
Maui Economic Opportunity |
Media Voices for Children |
Migrant Clinicians Network |
Migrant Legal Action Program |
Migrant Support Services of Wayne County |
Migrants in Action |
Ministry of Caring, House of Joseph II |
Minnesotans Standing Together to End Poverty |
MIRA Coal.- Mass. Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy |
Motivation Education and Training |
N.Y. Greater Rochester Coal. /Immigration Justice |
NAACP |
National Assoc. of State Directors of Migrant ED |
National Center for Farmworker Health |
National Consumers League |
National Education Association |
National Farm Worker Ministry |
National Immigrant Solidarity Center |
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health |
National Migrant & Seasonal Head Start Association |
Nat’l Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Com.s |
Nat’l Assoc. of Social Workers (Maine Chapter) |
Nature Fresh Farm |
NC FIELD |
NCLR: National Council of La Raza |
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby |
New Jersey Work Environment Council |
New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty |
New York Com. On Occupational Safety & Health |
North Carolina Justice Center |
OIC of Washington |
OneAmerica |
Oregon Human Development Corporation |
Partners for Community |
Pathstone |
PCUN-Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste |
Polaris Project |
PPEP |
Pride at Work |
Proteus |
Public Citizen |
Public Justice Center |
Ramsay Merriam Fund |
Robert F. Kennedy Center |
Rocky Mountain SER |
Root Cellar Grocery |
Sacramento Occupational Advancement Resources |
Sacramento/Yolo Mutual Housing Association |
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law |
SER (Kansas) |
Service Employees International Union-SEIU |
Shine Global |
Sin Fronteras Organizing Project |
Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Justice Team |
Social Justice Cncil of the Unit. Univers. N. Nev. |
Student Action With Farmworkers |
Swanton Berry Farms |
Telamon Corporation |
Tennessee Opportunity Programs |
UFW Foundation |
Un. Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries |
United Farm Workers of America |
United Food & Commercial Workers Union |
United Migrant Opportunity Services-UMOS |
United States Hispanic Leadership Institute |
United Steelworkers |
United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities |
Wayne Action for Racial Equality |
West Virginia Univ. Injury Control Research Center |
Worcester Food & Active Living Policy Council |
Worker Justice Center of New York |
Worksafe |
Yellabird Farm |