“Federal laws permit a child age 12 to work in 100 degree heat for 16 hours a day in a tomato field but may not permit that child to work in an air conditioned office.”
~U. Roberto Romano (Director of the Harvest)
As Human Rights Watch says in its report – hundreds of thousands of American children are working in 100 degree heat for up to 16 hours a day making less than minimum wage picking vegetables etc in agriculture fields. Everyone should watch the Tedx talk above by U. Roberto Romano as he explains what he observed in his documentary – The Harvest – which highlights these atrocities.
America has labor laws to prevent child labor for a reason. When children start working at such a young age – they do not have the ability to gain a good education and precisely that lack of an education is what keeps people in poverty. We often hear that Americans would LOVE to have jobs but the reality is that very few people want the jobs these kids and migrant workers are doing. The working conditions suck. The pay sucks. It’s absolutely back breaking work and workers have to deal with toxic pesticides. Americans DO NOT want that work; they won’t do that work.
This is just one more reason why I am 100% supportive of opening the borders to anyone who would like to come here provided they have a criminal background check; Mexicans who want to become Americans should not have to wait 8 years to become Americans. Mi casa es tu casa but I digress.
Human Rights Watch put together a report in 2010 called Fields of Peril which you can find HERE; an excerpt:
Current US law provides no minimum age for children working on small farms so long as they have their parent’s permission. Children ages 12 and up may work for hire on any farm with their parent’s consent, or if they work with their parents on the same farm. Once children reach age 14, they can work on any farm even without their parents’ permission. Outside of agriculture, children must be at least 16 years old to work, with a few exceptions: 14- and 15- year-olds can work in specified jobs such as cashiers, grocery baggers, and car washers, subject to very restricted conditions.
Children often work 10 or more hours a day: at the peak of the harvest they may work daylight to dusk, with few breaks. Children described working five to seven days a week, weather permitting.
Children working in agriculture typically make less than the minimum wage. Their pay is often further cut because employers underreport hours, and they are forced to spend their own money on tools, gloves, and drinking water that their employers should provide by law. For example, in the Texas panhandle region, children told us they made $45 to $50 a day for 10 or more hours of hoeing cotton, or at best $4.50 to $5.00 an hour, compared with the federal hourly minimum wage of $7.25. Where the pay is based on a piece rate, meaning workers are paid by the quantity they pick, it is usually much worse. Antonio M., age 12, said that picking blueberries on piece rate in North Carolina, he made at most $3.60 an hour.