Long-awaited protection for child ag workers offered by CARE Act – National Consumers League

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Grecia Balli began working in farm fields when she was 10 years old. At age 14, she decided to drop out of school because her life as a migrant farmworker caused her to switch schools frequently, making it difficult for her to keep up academically. By age 17 she no longer dreamed of becoming a police officer, which had been her goal. Her life revolved around farm work.

Grecia is one of an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 children who work in U.S. agriculture. Interviewed for “Fingers to the Bone,” a film by U. Roberto Romano and Human Rights Watch, Grecia said she felt as though she had no choices as a farmworker. “You don’t feel the same as other kids.”

Child farmworkers aren’t treated the same as other children, either, under current U.S. labor laws. Seventy-five years after its passage, the antiquated Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 continues to regulate child labor, but fails to provide children performing agricultural work with protections equal to those afforded other children. The FLSA restricts children younger than 16 years from working for more than three hours on a school day, but a loophole for the agricultural sector means children as young as 12 can legally work unlimited hours on farms before or after school, and children of any age can work on small farms, with their parents’ permission. Children 14 and older can work on any farm, without parental consent. Child agricultural workers are also permitted to perform hazardous work at age 16, while hazardous work is strictly reserved for adults in all other sectors.

Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries and the most dangerous for children, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics. “Children working for wages on farms are exposed to many hazards—farm machinery, heat stroke, and pesticides among them—and they perform back-breaking labor that no child should have to experience,” says Child Labor Coalition (CLC) Co-Chair Sally Greenberg, the executive director of the National Consumers League, a consumer advocacy organization that has worked to eliminate abusive child labor since its founding in 1899. “Child farmworkers deserve the same protections that all other American kids enjoy.”

As Grecia’s story illustrates, schooling is also negatively impacted when children labor in agriculture. Many of them leave school before the term ends and return after it has begun. This can lead to academic difficulties. American Federation of Teachers Secretary-Treasurer and CLC Co-Chair Lorretta Johnson notes, “Fifty percent of children who regularly work on farms will not graduate from high school.” Child farmworkers have four times the national rate of school drop-out.

For more than a decade, the CLC has endeavored to address the issue of child agricultural labor and is working to help pass the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE), HR 2234, federal legislation re-introduced on June 12, 2013, by Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) to amend the FLSA.

The CARE Act would close loopholes that permit children under age 14 to work in the agricultural industry (unless working on a family farm or for their parents). The new legislation would require the U.S. Secretary of Labor to determine the specific types of farm work that are safe enough for 14- and 15-year-olds and it would restrict those under age 18 from performing hazardous farm work. Regulations protecting children from pesticide exposure would also be strengthened.

Grecia Balli says it’s difficult to know that she has not been able to take advantage of the opportunities and freedoms that her parents came to the United States to provide for their children, but hopes she will be able to “later on.” Although Grecia only has a grade 8 education she says, “I still have esperanza [hope].”

By offering children who work in agriculture the same protections as other child laborers, the CARE Act would ensure that the kinds of opportunities and freedoms other children enjoy aren’t something that child farmworkers can only hope for.

The CARE Act has been regularly introduced in Congress since 2001. It has had as many as 107 co-sponsors and more than 150 national and state groups have endorsed the legislation, but so far Congress has refused to vote on the bill. We urge readers to write their members of Congress at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov and urge them to enact the CARE Act, HR 2234.

 

Saving workers’ lives with the ’10 cents’ pledge – National Consumers League

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NCL has launched the 10 cents pledge campaign to harness consumers’ collective power and to send a message to retailers that we American consumers really do care about the health and safety of workers overseas who manufacture our clothes.

On April 24, in Bangladesh, the Rana Plaza garment factory collapsed and more than 1,100 people died. We have to do everything in our power to make sure that type of disaster never happens again.

The Worker Rights Consortium has calculated that for $3 billion total, every factory in Bangladesh could be renovated and updated to meet basic safety standards, preventing such tragedies. Updates would include construction of proper fire exits or fire escapes, as well as installation of emergency lighting, safety equipment, and electrical rewiring. Recent events have demonstrated the devastation and death that are inevitable when factories do not have these safeguards.

There is an estimated 7 billion individual garments imported every year from Bangladesh. A mere 10 cents tacked on to the price of each garment would generate $700 million a year – more than enough revenue to cover these necessary factory updates.

While European countries are making moves to show their support for improvement, only two American retailers (PVH and Abercrombie & Fitch) have signed an accord agreeing to improve factory conditions for workers in Bangladesh. Other American retailers including Walmart, GAP, JC Penney, and others think American consumers would be unwilling to pay the extra 10 cents needed to keep thousands of workers out of harm’s way.

Consumers need to SPEAK UP and let retailers know we are willing to pay 10 cents. Sign a pledge that you will pay 10 cents more to protect workers. When consumers band together, they have amazing power to influence even the biggest corporation’s decisions.

Let your voice be heard! Take the 10 cents pledge today!

Bangladeshi factory collapse igniting worker activist cries for improved safety – National Consumers League

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The death toll following the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh on April 24 has climbed to more than 1,000. There are hundreds of people – mostly women – injured and countless others still missing. In the wake of this tragedy, perhaps the deadliest ever garment-factory disaster, it is clear factory safety must be reexamined, and worker’s rights in Bangladesh must be given the highest priority.

Deadly factory disasters are, unfortunately, nothing new. Last fall, NCL observed that the Bangladeshi factory fires that keep killing workers are reminiscent of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the United States in 1911. That fire in New York City killed 146 — mostly immigrant – workers, galvanizing the labor community and government to make workplaces safer. Factories put in place fire codes, sprinklers, and new restrictions related to smoking and open flames inside the factory. Advocates hope the recent factory disasters in Bangladesh will have a similar effect on improving factory conditions for workers abroad.

The current situation in Bangladesh is complex, and there is much blame to go around. It would be easy to point to the Bangladeshi government, which often fails to enforce worker safety laws. What’s shocking is that a mere 24 hours before the Rana Plaza collapse, police warned that the building was unsafe to occupy after large structural cracks appeared in the support pillars. Factory owners decided to reopen the building the next day, forcing workers back inside. Those who refused to enter the building were told they would have to work three days unpaid for every day they missed.

The local and federal government in Bangladesh also has not provided a secure environment for workers to unionize and gain collective bargaining rights. Although unions are technically legal in Bangladesh, many reports suggest that those who act to protect themselves and fellow garment workers often face an uncertain fate. Aminul Islam, a Bangladeshi worker activist, disappeared under questionable circumstances last September. Days later, Islam’s body was found; he had been tortured and murdered. Many suspect his death was politically motivated.

It would also be easy for retailers to leave Bangladesh, following an example set by Disney earlier this week. To shed the label “Made in Bangladesh” might be a good PR move, for any affiliation with a country so riddled with worker safety issues can only have a negative impact on sales. Companies may be tempted to find the next frontier for cheap labor, a country that has not yet been burdened with the negative reports attributed to Bangladesh, and begin making cheap garments there instead.

This solution, however, could strip 3.5 million Bangladeshi workers of a paycheck. The garment industry pays workers an average of $38 per month, and while that figure may seem insignificant in America, in Bangladesh it provides an opportunity to escape poverty. If other retailers were to follow Disney’s lead, it could devastate the Bangladesh economy and reverse years of upward mobility among the poor.

The major retailers – those companies that reap billions in profits from selling products made in Bangladesh – bear the responsibility to mandate higher safety standards and worker protections. These companies include some of the biggest retailers in the world such as Walmart, J.C. Penney, Mango, Benetton, H&M, The Children’s Place, GAP, and Dress Barn. Currently, many of these companies perform social audits, a practice we and other labor groups call a façade. A 60-page report from the AFL-CIO claims the social auditing program accommodates major corporations at the expense of protecting workers.  Reports of factories being certified as safe just weeks before a collapse or fire raise serious question about these so-called safety audits.

So what can consumers and activists do?

Congressman George Miller, the Ranking Member of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, laid the groundwork for a new independent and transparent monitoring system called the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement. This template would more thoroughly protect worker’s rights and guarantee minimum safety requirements in factories, including that audits be conducted by independent safety experts that timely repairs be made to violating facilities, and that brands terminate contracts with a factory that does not meet high standards for keeping workers safe. Further, this agreement provides labor protections for workers. Major retailers including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Van Heusen, IZOD, Arrow and GH Bass & Co., have signed on to this new agreement. Others retailers must now be pressured by consumers and activists to follow.

While Rep. Miller’s proposal takes important steps to ensure increased factory safety, there is more that can be done. Western retailers must take independent steps to ensure increased worker protection. If the Bangladeshi government lacks the capacity to provide sufficient labor oversight, it is the job of those companies who make massive amounts of money from Bangladeshi labor to ensure those workers can safely unionize. Adidas, this week, announced a new program that encourages workers in Asia to anonymously report grievances through text messages directly to the company. The ability to blow the whistle without fear of being fired or blacklisted is an essential worker protection.

Those companies who play by the rules, and show they are willing to make investments to keep their workers safe, should be rewarded for doing so. For 114 years, NCL has worked to eliminate harsh, unregulated working conditions in factories. Florence Kelley, NCL’s first Executive Secretary, championed a “White Label” program over 100 years ago. This NCL seal of approval was displayed on stores that fought against child labor practices and endorsed 8-hour workdays. Consumers were urged to boycott stores that did not earn this certification.

Would a certification program work today? A certification process, like the White Label debuted by NCL a century ago, would give consumers the opportunity to check labels and only spend money on products from those companies who demonstrate the willingness to protect workers throughout their supply chain.

There are modern examples of how this can work. The GoodWeave label serves this function for the rug industry. In order to earn certification, companies must sign a legally binding contract to: adhere to child labor protection standards, allow unannounced random inspections by local inspectors, and pay a licensing fee to support the monitoring of the GoodWeave program. A similar labeling program could be implemented for clothing. If consumer awareness were raised and people began to consistently check labels, only those companies who are socially aware and willing to take the necessary steps for certification would thrive.

Congressman Miller has proposed a rational, realistic model to improve worker safety abroad. The Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement will create a binding contract for Western retailers and ensure they play by the rules. This issue deserves more legislative attention, and consumers need to understand that they too serve a role in protecting worker’s abroad. A petition on Change.org urging retailers to sign onto the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Agreement has already collected more than 100,000 signatures. Consumers should sign the petition, check the labels on the clothes they purchase, and continue to put pressure on retailers to protect worker’s rights and ensure factories are safe.

The human costs of big business: preventable workplace disasters – National Consumers League

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What do the explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, the fire at Exxon’s Beaumont, Texas refinery, the building collapse in Bangladesh, and injuries at American poultry processing plants have in common? They are all examples of employees going to work and getting injured or dying on the job. Everyday in America, 13 workers go to their job and never come home.

April 28 was Workers Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have suffered and died on the job from workplace injuries and diseases. Each death has left friends and family behind who have to pick up the pieces and move on with a new reality.

In many cases, the injuries and lives lost could have been prevented. Under the slogan “Job-killing regulations!” industry has fought for fewer regulations and less government oversight. Industry argues that more rules to follow and guidelines to meet result in lower productivity and fewer jobs. They have successfully lobbied government, on all levels, to create “toothless” regulations. However, reality reveals the true costs of deregulation – worker injuries, deaths, and in some cases—the devastation of entire communities.

The West Fertilizer Company plant, where the Texas explosion occurred on April 18, 2013, had not seen a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspector in 28 years. The West Fertilizer Company plant had not been placed on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) list of 4,000 facilities with high-risk chemicals. After 9/11, Congress passed a law that requires plants that use or store explosives or high-risk chemicals to file reports with DHS in order to increase security at those facilities. The requirement includes any plant with more than 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate, but, according to a DHS official, the West Fertilizer Company had 1,350 times the required amount and failed to file the report. The plant simply fell through the cracks of regulatory oversight.

Along with agriculture, mining, and construction, the energy industry has one of the highest death and injury rates in the United States. The fire at Exxon’s Beaumont refinery on April 17, 2013, resulted in 12 contract workers being injured on the job. According to an April 22 National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) press conference, temporary and contract workers are more likely than full-time employees to be injured or die on the job due to insufficient training. In many cases, prior to working in dangerous jobs, temporary and contract workers receive only minimal training. Since the company that employ the temporary workers is not always the same entity that is paying them, the company is incentivized to assume less responsibility by skirting laws such as providing workers compensation and paying taxes. Many of these workers don’t know whom to turn to in the event of injury—the company where they worked or the entity that hired them—to receive workers compensation and report injuries.

The collapse of the 8-story factory building in Bangladesh on April 24, 2013, which killed more than 377 people, has, once again, placed the spotlight on the poor and unsafe working conditions of those who create products for American consumers. International businesses, many based in the United States, used this factory, as well as the Tazreen Fashions factory where a devastating fire killed at least 112 workers this past November, to manufacture many of their garments. Western businesses need to wake up and realize the human cost of the race to the lowest prices.

Clothing brands and retailers like Walmart, H&M, Sears, and the Gap, which buy billions of dollars of clothes from Bangladesh, need to demand and pay for adequate safeguards at the factories that fill their orders. These companies have the power to demand better working conditions from these factories and improve the health and safety of millions of workers. International factory workers, especially those in China and Bangladesh – the two leading garment-producing nations – lack collective bargaining agreements and unions. Historically, unions have ushered in safer working conditions. In the case of the building collapse, strong unions could have prevented the loss of many lives by supporting workers who had noticed cracks in the structure but were forced back to work when factory owners threatened to dock their pay and fire them.

After the eye-opening Washington Post article on poultry processing plants, profiling a plant inspector who died after his lungs bled out, American consumers are faced with tough questions about how we produce our food. The poultry processing industry, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), are poised to change the way they process and inspect our chickens and turkeys but at what costs? The proposed rule increases the use of chemical baths and sprays, including chlorine and peracetic acid (chemicals that have been labeled toxic by their manufacturing plants), transfers inspection duties from federal employees to plant employees, and increases the speed of inspection – from four USDA inspectors inspecting 140 birds per minute to one USDA inspector inspecting 175 birds per minute – 3 birds per second.

The proposed rule has been heralded by industry and some in government as a way to save the government money by staffing plants with fewer USDA inspectors, while also allowing the poultry industry to increase profits by processing more birds. While it seems to be a win-win for the government and industry, what about the workers and American consumers? So far, there has not been a comprehensive USDA study about the possible side effects created from an increased reliance on chemicals. Besides the death of Jose Navarro, the inspector whose lungs bled out, other poultry plant employees have reported injuries, due to the increased use of toxic chemicals, ranging from respiratory system irritation (including coughing up blood) to rashes on their arms and legs and an epidemic of pain from musculoskeletal disorders (including carpal tunnel) due to the increase in line speed.

In these four examples – all of which occurred in a two-week span – big business has put its interests ahead of the interests of its employees. Either through lobbying to weaken regulations and government oversight, or simply gross negligence, industry has gambled with people’s lives. Unfortunately, it is the workers who pay when this gamble fails. Government is continuously lobbied by industry to either weaken existing regulations or prevent new proposed regulations from becoming law. Industry has lobbied to skewer government agency budgets to prevent proper funding to agencies tasked with inspecting duties. For example, OSHA has about 2,200 inspectors for 130,000,000 workers and due to budgetary restrictions cannot hire and train more inspectors. It’s time to demand more from big business and government.

Dozen states, cities ringing in New Year with minimum wage increases – National Consumers League

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With the turning of the calendar to 2013, ten states and two large cities have increased their minimum wage for low-wage workers. Is your city or state one of them?

Washington continues to lead the nation with the highest state minimum wage and is the only state with a minimum wage higher than $9 an hour. As of January 1, 2013, its minimum wage is $9.19 per hour. Nine other states also increased their minimum wages at the first of the year: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

State

Increase

New Wage as of Jan. 1, 2013

Arizona

$0.15

$7.80

Colorado

$0.14

$7.78

Florida

$0.12

$7.79

Missouri

$0.10

$7.35

Montana

$0.15

$7.80

Ohio

$0.15

$7.85

Oregon

$0.15

$8.95

Rhode Island

$0.35

$7.75

Vermont

$0.14

$8.60

Washington

$0.15

$9.19

As of the first of the year, San Francisco continues to lead nationwide minimum hourly wages – federal, state, county, and city; and is the first in the nation to top $10 an hour. The minimum hourly wage increased by 31 cents from $10.24 to $10.55 per hour. Albuquerque, New Mexico also increased their city minimum wage by a dollar to $8.50 an hour.

This New Year, be sure to take the time to examine your paystub and double check that you’re being paid the correct amount. Remember, the Department of Labor has tools to help you track your pay, overtime and vacation time – an app for your smartphone and a printable work hours calendar in English and Spanish.

Seasonal workers: avoid wage theft this holiday season – National Consumers League

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‘Tis the season of temporary holiday work. As unemployment continues to hover around eight percent, many Americans will be on the lookout for seasonal work this year. But before starting any new job, workers need to familiarize themselves with the potential pitfalls of seasonal or temporary employment to avoid becoming a victim of wage theft.

One of the most important things new hires need be aware of is their worker classification–whether they are labeled as an employee or an independent contactor in their job description and tax forms. A worker classified as an independent contractor is not entitled to employee rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). FLSA rights include the right to the minimum wage, the highest rate available between the federal ($7.25 per hour), state, city, and county minimum wages, anti-discrimination protections, workers compensation, and overtime pay. During tax time, an independent contractor receives a 1099 tax form in place of a W-2 form. Employers don’t pay payroll taxes for independent contractors, so contractors are on the hook for the back taxes to both the IRS and the state tax board.

According to the FLSA, full-time employees are legally entitled to overtime after working more than 40 hours a week for the same employer; overtime compensation is defined as 1½ times the regular hourly rate. By federal law, the workday begins immediately upon entering the workplace and includes the time it takes to don a uniform or set-up. Work time ends when one leaves the workplace and includes the time it takes to clean up or restock inventory.

Knowing the law and keeping proper records is critical for workers to ensure that they are being paid the amount they are owed. Workers should save any and all payroll stubs and double-check that the number of hours worked, rate of pay, paycheck deductions and that the official/legal name of the employer is correct. To help American workers calculate how much they should be earning, the U.S. Department of Labor has created a free app for smartphones to help track workers track their hours and determine the exact amount employers owe.  The tool is exceptionally useful when there are any paycheck discrepancies.

Remember this holiday season that it’s important to arm oneself with as much information and tools as possible to ensure that one does not become a victim of wage theft. For more information on ways to prevent wage theft please visit the National Consumers League’s Wage Theft Web pages, the U.S. Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division, one’s state labor department or a local workers’ center.

Plight of restaurant workers making dining out unappetizing – National Consumers League

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It was recently restaurant week here in Washington, DC, when participating restaurants make dining out a little more affordable by offering discounted price-fixed meals. Eating out is a special treat for many consumers, but what about workers? NCL staff hit the streets leafletting downtown DC to let restaurant customers in on some facts about what workers in the industry experience — and it turned many consumers’ stomachs.

If you’ve never worked in the restaurant industry, these facts might surprise you:

  • 88 percent of more than 4,300 restaurant workers surveyed by Restaurant Opportunities Center report not having paid sick days so they often come to work sick to earn a paycheck. That means sick employees who should be at home resting are handling your food.
  • When customers leave a tip on the credit card receipt, servers don’t always get the full tip: it may go to pay part of the credit card fee or the restaurant may keep part.
  • 90 percent of surveyed restaurant workers – servers, bartenders, bussers – receive no health insurance through their employers.
  • When you eat out, you are subsidizing the restaurant industry’s low wages. Restaurant servers don’t receive the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour – they get only  $2.13 the federal tipped minimum wage. That wage has been the same for 21 years.
  • The median wage for restaurant workers is $8.90 an hour, just below the poverty line for a family of three.

Pretty shocking, isn’t it? These numbers may make dining out a little less appetizing. Is there anything consumers can do? Thankfully, there is. Here’s what you can do — and remember, you can always cast your “vote” for restaurant workers with your wallet; don’t patronize restaurants that don’t treat their workers fairly — and be sure to tell them why you’re taking your patronage to places that do!

What you can do to help:

  • Inquire whether your favorite restaurants allow their staffs to earn sick leave. Did you know that 63 percent of surveyed restaurant workers admitted to cooking or serving food while sick at some point during the past year? This is a public safety issue as much as it is a workers’ rights one.
  • Pay your tip in cash so it will all go to your server
  • Inquire whether your favorite restaurants provide access to health insurance
  • Urge your favorite restaurants to join with more than 50 other restaurant owners in 8 cities that have partnered with ROC to promote improved wages and working conditions for workers who cook, prepare and serve our food.

ROC United, or Restaurant Opportunities Centers United – an organization representing restaurant workers – is asking restaurant owners to become members of the Restaurant Industry Roundtable to support higher wages for tipped and non-tipped workers, to provide sick leave and health insurance for all employees, and to provide opportunities to move up the ladder for all workers. And a new bill in Congress would raise the federal minimum wage for tipped employees for the first time in decades. Remember your power as a consumer and exercise it!

DOL withdraws much-needed child safety protections for children working for wages on farms – National Consumers League

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The safety of child workers on farms was dealt a harsh blow in April 19 when the Obama administration unexpectedly announced that it was withdrawing long-awaited occupational child safety rules for agriculture.

NCL and the Child Labor Coalition, which NCL co-chairs, has been a leader in the fight for protections against hazardous work in agriculture—well known among safety experts as the most dangerous industry that large numbers of children are allowed to work in.

Each year, 85 to 100 youth die on farms, mostly through accidents on family farms.  In 2010, twelve of the 16 children killed while working for wages died performing agricultural work. “There are specific jobs on farms that can be incredibly dangerous for children and teens,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL’s Executive Director and Co-Chair of the CLC. “The Department of Labor rules addressed those dangerous farm tasks.”

The proposed agricultural rules, called hazardous occupations orders, had not been updated by the Department of Labor for more than four decades. They specifically targeted the farm jobs that kill the most workers: driving tractors, handling stressed or enraged livestock, working from heights, and laboring in grain facilities. There were 15 rules in all.

Children 14 and 15 would still be allowed to drive a tractor but they would be required to take a comprehensive safety course instead of the superficial course current regulations allow. They would not be allowed to castrate or brand animals or work from heights above six feet because of the dangers posed by falls.

“They are long over-due, badly needed protections,” said Greenberg. “These rules emanated from painstaking research conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health that tracked injuries and fatalities among youth workers. We estimate these common sense rules would have saved 50-100 children over the next decade.”

The proposed rules exempted children working for their parents on a family farm, but that didn’t stop the Farm Lobby from complaining that the rules “would kill the family farm.” Kids would not be able to work for wages on incorporated family farms or for uncles and grandparents, the lobby charged. DOL Secretary Hilda Solis announced months ago that kids working on a parent’s farm would be exempted even if that farm was incorporated and when the protests continued she said publically that the “parental exemption” would be “re-proposed” to exempt children working on relatives’ farms.

The fact-checking Web site Politifact looked into the arguments of the rules opponents and declared them to be “misleading” and “mostly false.”

These clarifications had little impact and a misinformation campaign against the rules continued unabated. Hundreds of articles appeared in the farm press, suggesting that the rules were over-reaching and suggesting that they would prohibit children from using flashlights or water hoses. NCL, the CLC, and its members and campaign partners–the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, Human Rights Watch, First Focus and the American Federation of Teachers—responded with facts to correct the avalanche of inaccuracies.

CLC members organized a press conference that featured gripping testimony from the aunt of Alex Pacas, a 19-year-old who suffocated in a grain bin that also claimed the life of a 14-year-old Wyatt Whitebread. They reminded the public about the two 17-year-olds who lost their legs in a grain augur last summer. The proposed rules would have prevented minors from working in grain facilities, responsible for 26 deaths in 2010. The CLC, its members and advocacy partners organized the community of support for the rules and sent Secretary Solis a support letter with over 155 groups signed on. The list included the country’s major unions, nearly all farmworker groups, and dozens of child welfare organizations.

“Despite our best efforts, the opponents of these common sense rules portrayed  the government as bent on destroying the family farm,” said Reid Maki, Coordinator of the CLC.

Our campaign to support the proposed rules was pleased to welcome two Missouri farmers, Bryce Oates and Jake Davis, who reminded fellow farmers how dangerous agriculture is for child workers and argued that the rules were badly needed. They said the protections would have little impact on the ability of farmers to train the next generation of farmers, and they upbraided farm industry opponents for creating fear through a misinformation campaign that ultimately endangered farm children.

In the week before the rules were withdrawn, a conservative blogger went so far as to say the rules would prevent chores on farms. The charge was blatantly untrue, but within a few hours it was retweeted 2,000 times. Even former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin weighed in with inflammatory rhetoric that the rules represented an attempt to “destroy America.” The bigger the exaggeration, the more play it received in social media.

With conservative members of Congress echoing many of these claims, the DOL unfortunately felt that it had to withdraw the rules and that they would not be reissued during the Obama administration. “It was devastating news for our community,” said Maki.

Out of this debate came some very useful perspectives. Writing in a New York Times online op-ed May 7, 2012, historian Marjorie Elizabeth Wood found parallels to a misinformation campaign used to defeat child labor reforms championed by the National Consumers League in the 1920s:  “…by shifting the debate to red herrings — the supposed downfall of the private farm, and correspondingly of parental authority and rural ways of life — the opposition managed, as it has again now, to distract us from the real problem of exploitative child labor on farms.”

There was also enlightened perspective from one of the most important farm state newspapers, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, argued in an editorial, “When Political Rhetoric Trumps Child Safety,’ that the abandonment of “the entire safety reform effort because of public outcry from special-interest groups put political gain above children’s well-being, and that should never be the case.”

“Despite this painful setback,” said Greenberg. “NCL and the CLC will press on and continue the fight to protect children working in agriculture. As Martin Luther King once said, ‘the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.’ Children who work on farms deserve protection.

Survey says consumers willing to sacrifice for humane factories – National Consumers League

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With severe working conditions in the factories of mega-corporations like Apple making recent headlines, a new survey reveals that consumers say they are willing to wait for delays in the release of new technology devices if the trade-off is humane working conditions for employees.

According to a new survey of 1,019 adult Americans commissioned by the National Consumers League and conducted by ORC International from March 22-25,  consumers feel strongly that they do not want their products to be manufactured in unfair, overly harsh or dangerous working conditions, and they’re willing to make some sacrifices for that.

Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of respondents agreed that they would be “willing to wait longer to get the latest electronic gadget if [they] knew it was produced under humane working conditions.” Only 1 in 10 said they would be unwilling to wait. Thirteen percent were undecided.

“With Apple and its Chinese manufacturer, Foxconn, in the news for overly harsh and dangerous working conditions in China, it’s very encouraging to see that consumers not only care a great deal about the working conditions of the people who manufacture their electronic devices, but they also find it important that workers in shops and restaurants here in America are also treated and paid fairly,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg.

NCL, the nation’s oldest consumer advocacy organization, was founded in 1899 by Progressive-Era advocates who believed that consumers’ buying decisions should reflect the working conditions they accept for their fellow citizens. Early leaders exposed child labor and other scandalous working conditions and worked to establish a minimum wage. Today, NCL’s ties with labor issues and organized labor remains strong, and NCL advocates for consumers and workers on a variety of issues. NCL commissioned the ORC survey to examine contemporary American concerns about labor issues, in light of a challenging economy for both consumers and workers.

Other survey highlights

Working conditions are important for an overwhelming number of consumers.

Nearly three-fifths (59 percent) of respondents said it is very important to them personally that the products they buy are not made under unfair, overly harsh, and dangerous working conditions.  Nineteen out of 20 Americans – 94 percent – surveyed said that the way workers are treated is “very important,” “important,” or “somewhat important.” Only one in 20 said it was either not important or not a consideration.

Education needed: Many Americans are still unfamiliar with the concept of wage theft.

NCL’s survey revealed that 3 in 10 respondents did not report having ever heard of “wage theft,” and few are aware of direct experience with it, either personally (10 percent) or through someone they know (20 percent). This demonstrates a disconnect from reality; according to the National Employment Law Project, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of low-wage workers in a 2008 survey actually experience at least one pay-related violation (wage theft) in the previous work week.

Consumers overwhelmingly side with workers

Despite a lack of specific knowledge on the concept of “wage theft,” respondents overwhelmingly agreed (“strongly agreed” – 60 percent and “agreed” – 33 percent) that employers who cheat their employees out of the wages they have earned should be fined or punished in some way. And respondents nearly unanimously agreed that it is important (23 percent) or very important (68 percent) that the stores and restaurants they patronize pay their workers fairly for the wages that are owed.

“Wage theft continues to not only be a leading problem for low wage workers who can least afford being cheated in their paychecks, but also an increasingly growing problem for states who are being cheated out of million of dollars of tax revenue,” said Michell K. McIntyre, Project Director of NCL’s Special Project on Wage Theft.

The National Consumers League’s Special Project on Wage Theft seeks to raise awareness about the nature of wage theft in the United States and strives to educate consumers, workers, businesses and governments about wage theft issues.

Common sense child labor protections under attack – National Consumers League

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A teenager’s first job is an important rite of passage for many, offering that first taste of adult responsibility; but young teenagers are not yet adults and need to be protected from the risks of dangerous work. Certain jobs and industries, especially farming and agriculture, pose unique safety concerns. Common sense dictates that young teens be protected from hazardous agricultural work, yet it’s this common sense reasoning that’s currently under attack.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently proposed the first update to the rules governing child labor in hazardous work in over 40 years, with the strong support of NCL and the Child Labor Coalition, a group of 28 organizations focused on child labor issues that NCL co-chairs. While there has been a great deal of coverage highlighting agribusiness and its opposition to the changes, under the guise that the new rules would somehow impair the family farm or “rural way of life,” what’s often lost in the conversation is that the rules would protect children from harm, injury, and death. The opposition to these necessary changes is especially startling given the facts:

  • More children die in agriculture than in any other industry.
  • According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), between 1995 and 2002, an estimated 907 youth died on American farms – that’s well over 100 preventable deaths of youth per year.
  • In 2011, 12 of the 16 children under the age of 16 who suffered fatal occupational injuries worked in crop production, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • When you include older children, more than half of all workers under age 18 who died from work-related injuries worked in crop production.

Agriculture is consistently ranked as one of the three most dangerous industries, along with construction and mining, yet children are still allowed to work in agriculture under extremely dangerous conditions, such as handling poisonous pesticides, managing animals that can way upwards of 3,000 pounds, and operating heavy machinery. Just this summer, Oklahoma teens Tyler Zander and Bryce Gannon, both 17, each lost a leg in a grain auger accident. Agriculture uses far more machines and dangerous chemicals since the last update to rules for child workers more than 40 years ago.

DOL’s proposed rules will also preserve the “parental exemption,” allowing any child to do any job at any age on their parents’ farm. DOL also recently announced that they will redefine the parental exemption to be more inclusive of other types of family members.  Contrary to assertions by some in the farming industry:

  • Children as young as 12 will continue to be able to engage in non-hazardous farm work – just not the jobs that have proven to be especially hazardous—and will prevent such avoidable tragedies as children drowning in grain silos, being crushed by tractors or being maimed by heavy machinery.
  • Educational programs, such as FFA and 4-H, will continue to teach children about agriculture under safe conditions, including raising farm animals.

We can prevent needless tragedies from happening to children by implementing the proposed updates to the child occupational safety rules without any further delay. The rules won’t impair the rural way of life; they simply put the safety and well being of children above corporate profit. Every day we wait puts at risk the well being of these child workers and could cost them their lives.