Global march's U.S. leg focuses on child workers in agriculture
5/8/1998 NOTE: Photo available with this story. By Shanta M. Bryant* SANTA MONICA, Calif. (UMNS)--Marchers against the practice of child labor began the U.S. leg of a global march on the problem by converging on California's wealthiest communities to raise consciousness of loopholes in U.S. labor laws that allow an estimated 300,000 children to work on farms in the United States.
Cosponsored by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and the Women's Division of the Board of Global Ministries, the U.S. leg of the Global March Against Child Labor kicked-off with an early afternoon rally on May 2 in Santa Monica and will travel to more than 20 U.S. cities focusing primarily on children working in agriculture.
In California, U.S. marchers distributed leaflets listing countries producing garments with child labor in front of exclusive shops on Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive and hosted a benefit music concert for young people in West Hollywood. First United Methodist Church in San Diego held a May 3 forum on child labor.
The global march is intended to increase awareness of child labor issues through a combination of rallies, short marches and bus caravans linked with demonstrations and advocacy campaigns. United Methodist churches and related community centers have provided housing and food to the marchers throughout the United States.
In the United States, laws permit children, in some cases as young as 4-years-old, to work in often hazardous conditions in the agricultural sector. With the consent of a parent or guardian, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows children under the age of 12 to work during non-school hours on farms that are exempt from the minimum wage.
"The labor laws completed in 1938 reflected work on family farms, which was 90 percent of the employment on farms at that time," said the Rev. Pharis Harvey, a United Methodist clergyman and member of the Global March's international steering committee. During the San Diego forum, Harvey pointed out that it's a myth that most of today's farm workers work on their family farm.
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), reports that at least 300,000 children under 17 work in agriculture during the year and 155,000 are full-time workers. Although U.S. laws require young people outside of agriculture to be at least 18 years old before they can work in hazardous jobs, children in agriculture can work on their parents' farm without any legal restrictions. Most farm worker children and youth are U.S. citizens and legal residents.
Under FLSA, 14-year-old farm workers can work for an unrestricted number of hours and 16-year-old laborers can handle toxic pesticides, operate heavy machinery and use sharp cutting instruments. "Children can't work in an air-conditioned office and file, but children as young as four years old can legally work in the hot, blazing sun with sharp knives and machetes," said Diane Mull, executive director of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs.
Mull added that children are employed as hired workers and their working does not show up on the wage records because they are working under a family member's Social Security number.
"It's hidden here in the United States," said Nan Mitchell, the march's San Diego coordinator and member of First United Methodist Church. "You hear of children who work in the carpet factory in other countries, but not here in the United States."
Harvey, who has participated in marches in Asia and Africa, noted that the march will give a global perspective on the use of child labor worldwide.
"The United States needs to sweep on our own door step," Mull emphasized. "We have to respond we can't just focus on somebody else's problem. They are our own."
Following California, the march will travel to Arizona and will eventually end in Washington, It has already traveled through Asia, Africa and Latin America. Core marchers from the Asia, Africa and the Americas, including former child workers from the farm, carpet and garment industries, have joined U.S. marchers. Launched in the Philippines on Jan. 17, the march will have traveled to almost 100 nations at its conclusion.
In June, the march will end in Geneva at an International Labor Organization (ILO) meeting where representatives of governments, businesses and unions hold a meeting on a new ILO Convention on Child Labor.
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* Bryant is program director of Communications for the General Board of Church and Society in Washington.
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