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 Letter to Ann M. Veneman, U.S. Secretary of AgricultureFebruary 8, 2001 The Honorable Ann M. Veneman Secretary of Agriculture US Department of Agriculture 14th and Independence Ave, SW Washington DC 20250 Dear Secretary Veneman: Congratulations on your appointment as the new US Secretary of Agriculture. We wish you success in your new post, as you carry out the USDA's mission of assisting America's farmers and ranchers and promoting land conservation, food safety, anti-hunger and other initiatives. As you assume your new responsibilities, Human Rights Watch would like to bring to your attention our deep concern about the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of children who work as hired laborers in commercial US agriculture. Human Rights Watch is the largest U.S.-based organization monitoring human rights throughout the world. We conduct regular, systematic investigations of human rights abuses in some seventy countries, and are known for our impartial and reliable reporting. Recently, we completed a two-year investigation of the conditions for children working as hired farm laborers in US agriculture. Our resulting report, Fingers to the Bone: United States Failure to Protect Child Farmworkers (copy enclosed), was published in June of 2000. It is based on interviews with child farmworkers, farmworker advocates, experts, and government officials in the areas of labor, agriculture, and health and safety. The report examines health and safety risks to child farmworkers, including pesticide exposure and inadequate sanitation; hazardous conditions, including work-related illnesses and injuries; wage and hour concerns, including wage fraud and excessive and inappropriate hours of work; the effect of farm work on education; and special risks to girls, including sexual harassment. We would like to outline for you several specific concerns identified in our report, and steps that the U.S. Department of Agriculture can take to help safeguard the health and well-being of child farmworkers. Pesticide Exposure: Our investigation found that child farmworkers are routinely exposed to dangerous pesticides. Some children we interviewed reported working in fields while they were being sprayed, or when they were still wet with pesticides. Many reported suffering symptoms of pesticide poisoning, including rashes, headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Long-term effects of pesticide exposure can include cancer and brain damage. Of great concern is that none of the child farmworkers interviewed by Human Rights Watch had received training regarding the dangers of pesticides, safe usage, preventive measures, or what to do in the event of exposure. Agricultural employers are required to provide such training by the Worker Protection Standard of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Standard also forbids employers from requiring or allowing workers, other than trained pesticide handlers, to enter or remain in areas being treated with pesticides, and to notify workers when areas have been treated with pesticides. Sanitation: Many child farmworkers are forced to work without access to minimum sanitation requirements. Agricultural employers that employ eleven or more hand laborers are required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Field Sanitation Standard to provide workers with adequate drinking water and access to toilet and handwashing facilities. However, many of the children interviewed for our report had never seen a porta potty at their work sites. Half of the children interviewed said they had no access to water for hand washing, which virtually guarantees that pesticides will be ingested when workers eat their lunch. We also found that employers frequently provided inadequate amounts of drinking water, contaminated water or no water at all, even though temperatures for workers may exceed 100 degrees. Without adequate fluid intake, workers risk devastating dehydration and heat-induced illness, up to and including death. However, not only do many employers fail to provide sufficient water to employees, but they exploit workers economically by selling sodas or beer for $1.00 to $1.50 each in lieu of providing water. Injuries: Children working in agriculture suffer a high rate of injuries from knives and heavy equipment, and account for 40% of work-related fatalities among minors, even though they make up only 8% of children who work. They suffer injuries from sharp knives, falls from ladders, and may be crushed or maimed by tractors and other motorized farm equipment. The National Research Council and Institute of Medicine estimates that 100,000 children a year suffer agriculture-related injuries in the United States. Excessive Hours of Work: Child farmworkers frequently work long hours. We interviewed children who worked ten hours a day at age twelve, and others working twelve hours a day or more at age fourteen. Many worked six or six and a half days a week, sometimes beginning work as early as 3 a.m. These long hours of work interfere dramatically with the education of child farmworkers, leaving them too exhausted to study, and forcing them to miss classes. Ultimately, many drop out. Only 55% of young farmworkers ever graduate from high school. Wage Fraud: With some exceptions, child farmworkers are entitled by law to earn the prevailing minimum wage - currently $5.15 per hour. However, many young farmworkers do not receive their rightful wages. Approximately a third of the children interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported earning significantly less than minimum wage. Some earned as little as $2 an hour. Sexual Harassment: Young female farmworkers are routinely subjected to sexual advances by farm labor contractors and field supervisors, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Many do not speak English, do not know that sexual harassment is illegal, and fear losing their jobs or other retaliation if they report the abuse. Among farmworker advocates interviewed by Human Rights Watch, sexual harassment was a top concern. Many of the difficulties and hazards that child farmworkers face are rooted in a two-tiered, double standard of protection in US labor law. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), child farmworkers are allowed to work at younger ages, for longer hours, and under more hazardous conditions than children in non-agricultural jobs. The FLSA allows child farmworkers as young as twelve to work unlimited hours, and permit children of sixteen to work under hazardous conditions. In contrast, children in most other jobs cannot work before age fourteen, can only work three hours on a school day until age sixteen, and are prohibited from working under hazardous conditions until age eighteen. As you know, the FLSA dates back to 1938, when nearly a quarter of the United States population still lived on farms. Today, only about 1.5 percent of U.S. residents live on farms, and mechanization, specialization, fertilizers, and other technical innovations have led to the phenomenal growth of large-scale agriculture. As a result, where once most children in agriculture were working on their own family farms, now most are working as hired hands for commercial enterprises. Unfortunately, the law has not kept pace with these dramatic changes. Even the limited protections that exist in current law are not adequately enforced, placing many children at risk. Many agricultural employers either ignore, or are unaware of, their legal responsibilities to protect their workers. Our report has recommended that the Department of Labor and Environmental Protection Agency both take steps to more vigorously enforce relevant laws, and sanction violators to the fullest extent of the law. We also believe that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a vital role to play in protecting the health and safety of child farmworkers. Its close relationship with agricultural employers and extensive presence in local communities place the Department in a unique position to address the problems that we have outlined. In particular, we believe that the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), with more than 3 million trained volunteers who work in outreach education and over 9,600 local extension agents working in 3,150 counties, can make a powerful difference in the lives of child farmworkers. Human Rights Watch recommends that:
We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you or your staff at any time to discuss these recommendations or to provide additional information, and look forward to working with you to help safeguard the health and well being of our country's children. Thank you for your kind consideration. Sincerely, Lois Whitman Executive Director Children's Rights Division cc: Thomas M. Markey, Acting Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor Stephen L. Johnson, Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, Environmental Protection Agency Senator Tom Harkin | |
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