US: Child Workers in Danger on Tobacco Farms

[TBF]

US: Child Workers in Danger on Tobacco Farms
Government, Companies Should Provide Protection
May 14, 2014

Children working on tobacco farms in the United States are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides, and other dangers, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Big tobacco profits from child labor in US tobacco fields. While US law prohibits the sale of tobacco products to children, children can legally work on tobacco farms in the US. The world’s largest tobacco companies buy tobacco grown on US farms, but none have child labor policies that sufficiently protect children from hazardous work.

The 138-page report, “Tobacco’s Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in US Tobacco Farming,” documents conditions for children working on tobacco farms in four states where 90 percent of US tobacco is grown: North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Children reported vomiting, nausea, headaches, and dizziness while working on tobacco farms, all symptoms consistent with acute nicotine poisoning. Many also said they worked long hours without overtime pay, often in extreme heat without shade or sufficient breaks, and wore no, or inadequate, protective gear ...

Much more here: http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/14/us-child-workers-danger-tobacco-farms

[yallerdawg]

1. Our employment figures are mostly identified as "Nonfarm Payrolls"

Farm workers and domestic help are some kind of special class of worker. Probably because they are "special" people, including children.

But at least we have more affordable tobacco products. Our industries and corporations are always looking out for the benefit and safety of consumers. Nobody would ever have a business model where your product kills all your employees and customers, right?

This is why republican'ts support deregulation and the free market. Regulation and consumer safety can't be a government function without impeding job creation and free enterprise. Look at the job opportunities your children are missing out on.

[TBF]

3. I always think of these as the invisible children -

Here in Texas the public schools have tightened the rules so that you can only miss a handful of days of school in the year - that is specifically targeted at minority workers so the kids are brought back for school in the fall. They do not have the luxurious summer camp experience that many Texas kids experience however - they are up north picking tobacco, pickles, apples etc ... I think many folks have no idea that this goes on nor do many care. And it has been going on a long time - 30 years ago when I was a teen they would come to Wisconsin in vans from Texas to pick various crops. I was a factory kid and would hang out with those kids sometimes when they weren't working. We'd speak a mix of Spanish and English ...

[dem in texas]

2. We once raised tobacco

Back in 1970's, we lived in rural Western Tennessee, right on the Tennesse/Kentucky state line and raised dark fired tobacco. We had a small allotment, about 2 acres. Yes, our three children did work with us, but only a few times a month and at certain stages of the crop growing cycle.

We started with a cold frame bed where the seeds were planted in the very early spring. Later on, when the danger of frost was over and the plants were large enough to be moved to the fields, they were dug up and transplanted. The old people would take them from the plant beds. My husband and son prepared the fields for the planting. The plants were run through a tobacco planter which placed the plants in the field and local kids walked behind making sure the plants were placed okay and got some water. The teens earned money doing this.

During the growing cycle, only my husband and son handled any pesticides. The younger ones just hand weeded and hoed around the plants. When the plants were big enough to cut, this was a big deal for teenage boys, cause they did the cutting and could earn some serious pocket money. It usually only took a day or two and was a big affair. The women cooked a big noon day meal to feed the field workers and took them gallons of cold water and lemonade.

Once the tobacco was in the "barn" it had to fired and my husband and son took care of that. Once it was ready to sell in December, it was taken down from the barn and "stripped". Stripping tobacco was the traditional work for the older people in the community. They meet in barns or old houses with their chairs with the cut down legs and "strip" the tobacco. It gave them a little extra spending money. Once the tobacco was stripped, it was ready to go to the "floor" to be auctioned off.

This is when the farmer got his tobacco money. Once the bank loan was paid off, the farmer could use the cash to buy a new truck or other vital piece of equipment.

Yes, children do work in tobacco, but it is a crop that requires lots of manual labor and gives periodic employment to people in rural communities who have no other chance to work. It is also a source of cash in hand to the farmer.

It is my understanding from friends and family up in that area, that Mexican immigrant workers are taking over the work done by the children and family members.

So from experience, it is not as bad as the headlines are saying, now conditions might be worse on larger tobacco farms, but at the time when we lived in that area, dark fired tobacco was mostly grown on small farms and the rural area where we lived was very poor with the unemployment rate over 20% and any work was welcomed.

[TBF]

4. "Mexican immigrant workers are taking over the work done by the children" -

from my personal experience growing up in Wisconsin the migrant workers - and many are domiciled in Texas which makes them American - have been doing these jobs for decades and yes the kids are in the field. In your own personal family you may not have over-worked your own kids but we are talking about large farms here.

"any work was welcomed" Uh huh. You are in the socialist progressive group so please tread carefully. We advocate for the workers here - and are not going to entertain right wing arguments.