wfn.org | Global march's U.S. leg focuses on child workers in agriculture

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May 7, 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.         {287}

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.
#  #  #
* Bryant is program director of Communications for the General Board of
Church and Society in Washington.

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(615)742-5470
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