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Abigail Villanueva, 2, trying to help out her family in the blueberry fields near South Haven, MI. 1998. (Dateline NBC)

CHILD LABOR OK? Michigan Allows Children Age 12 to Work Fields With Parent

September 8, 2014       2 Comments
By: Dave Rogers

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One of the undying Bay City stories is about little Robbie Waldo, age 11, who died when he fell from the roof of City Hall where he was working as the building was being built in 1896.

Although the City Council quickly approved a child labor law, restricting workers to those over 16, Robbie is rumored to haunt the iconic building. It is perhaps the most poignant of the dozen or so ghost stories of Bay City based on real people and events. (See Ghosts, Crimes & Urban Legends of Bay City, Michigan, published by Historical Press L.L.C.)

Proving that little has changed even in more than a century -- despite laws against it -- is the fact revealed in a recent Michigan farm report that "children as young as 12 are allowed to perform certain non-hazardous agricultural work provided that a parent works for the same employer."

Michigan investigations have found farmworkers as young as five, six and seven -- even a two-year-old in one case was seen harvesting berries.

The State of Washington allows 12-year-olds to hand-harvest berries, bulbs, cucumbers and spinach when they're not in school. In Hawaii, 10-year-olds can harvest coffee.

In a definite drawback for education, the federal government and 10 states set no maximum on the number of hours per day or week a young person can work on farms.

Ann Curry of NBC News has reported: ""When most children in America think of summer, they think of swimming, playing and going to camp. But for some children, hundreds of thousands of them, summer means hard labor in the hot sun. They're migrant workers, some as young as five or six years old, working alongside their struggling parents on America's farms."

NBC has a tradition of spotlighting child labor abuses on the nation's farms dating to Edward R. Murrow's 1960 blockbuster "Harvest of Shame."

Despite the dramatic broadcast reports and rivers of newspaper ink, it appears little has changed over the more than five decades since the Murrow report.

The main reason for continuance of the practice? Lack of regulation and a loophole in the federal law.

Michigan has the fifth-largest farmworker population registered with the state for agricultural employment. A 2013 estimate listed the Michigan farmworker population at over 94,000, non-working family members and dependents, with more than 42,000 children and youth ages 0-19.

A 2013 report by Marsha Mercer for the Pew Charitable Trust noted the loophole: "Federal child labor laws set a minimum work age of 16 for most occupations, but the laws exempt minors who work in the agriculture and entertainment industries.

"Unless states pass their own rules, children who are 12 can work seven days a week outside of school hours picking fruits and vegetables. Age, hour, overtime and minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act that protect young workers in other fields don't apply."

Michigan's loophole is big enough to drive a sugar beet truck through: Not covered under child labor laws are workers who plant, cultivate or harvest crops or raise livestock on farms and domestic workers at private residences.

The report comments:

"Migrant parents are less likely to conscript their children to work if they receive a living wage and services such as childcare and educational programming are readily available. The successful implementation of this recommendation thus hinges largely on the increased enforcement of child labor laws and access to childcare and educational services."

Farmworkers and dependents throughout Michigan are served by Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan, based in Kalamazoo.

"Farm work is the second most dangerous occupation in the United States," states the FLSM agency. "The vast majority of Michigan's migrant and seasonal farmworkers have incomes well below the poverty level, with an average annual income of less than $10,000 for a family of four. In addition to poverty, other unique barriers prevent this population from accessing justice as well as other needed resources."

"Clearly, anecdotal evidence suggests that improvements in the piece-rate/minimum wage structure paid to MSFWs (migrant and seasonal farm workers) will improve the family's ability to meet the most basic of necessities (food, shelter, clothing, and costs of migrating)."

It seems to this columnist that legislators should take a hard new look at farming employment practices and focus on protecting children as much as they do defending -- and expanding -- Second Amendment rights.

Guns or kids? It's really not a difficult choice.

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WALLWE Says:       On September 08, 2014 at 12:21 PM
POLITICS IS BECOMING A MATTER OF LANGUAGE . I WORKED THE SUGAR BEET FIELDS, PICKLE FIELDS, POTATO FIELDS AND PEPPERMINT FIELDS. ALONG SIDE CHILDREN WHOSE CONTRIBUTION TO THE DAILY FAMILY EARNINGS WAS NEARLY THE SAME AS AN ADULT AND WERE EITHER NOT PAID OR AT A LESSER RATE .. "ALLOWED TO WORK" BULSHIT..
+
luckybad Says:       On September 08, 2014 at 04:32 PM
The migrant worker comes to work in the USA, because it pays more then in Mexico. Deference should be given to children of farm families also, they learn early the valuable lesson of accomplishment, that is any work is worthwhile if you do your best. Also today, many youngsters first jobs are as farm helpers, as were many of my city friends back in the '50s
Agree? or Disagree?


Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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