USA often
preaches against child labor and campaigns to reduce child labor in
developing countries such as Mexico and India but a recent report on
child labor in USA released by Human Rights Advocate Group reveals many
shocking statistics. The report reveals debilitating effects that
tobacco plantations, for example have had on the health of children as
young as seven years working there. For earning higher profits
Capitalism does not discriminate young children, old or any category of
population.
The 138 page HRW report ( http://www.hrw.org/support-care )
says the children ( both from American and immigrant South American)
employed in hazardous work in tobacco plantations and other industries
are exposed to hazardous work conditions, suffering from nausea, head
aches, dizziness, all symptoms matching to acute nicotine poising. This
type poisoning often referred to as “Green Tobacco sickness”, is said to
occur when nicotine is absorbed through their skin while handling
tobacco plants , especially are wet. Based on interview with 141 child
tobacco workers, aged between 7 to 17, the hrw report noted that many of
them are also working long hours with out over time pay, in extreme
heat with out shade, protective gear or sufficient breaks.
With several hundred thousand children
said to be working in US agriculture each year, yet no data is readily
available on the number of children working in various sectors of
economy. The Report on the Youth Labor Force was revised in November
2000 ( http://www.bls.gov/opub/rylf/pdf/chapter3.pdf ).
It notes in some states of US children aged between 14 and 15 are often
employed in sectors including agriculture, plantations, retail food
outlets and automobile repair during the school year ( generally after
school hours) . The number reaches in some states to as high as 8-
percent during summer time .
Hundreds of thousands of children work as
hired laborers on American farms. Child farm workers as young as 12
often work 10 to 14-hour days under dangerous and grueling conditions.
They risk pesticide poisoning, injuries, and suffer fatalities at more
than four times the rate of children working in other jobs. As a result
of their long hours, they drop out of school at alarming rates.
Nationally, one-third never graduate from high school. At age 14, female
children were more likely than males to work – 59 percent versus 55
percent respectively. However at age 15, the rates were essentially same
( 63 percent versus 64 percent, source: National Longitudinal survey of
Youth, 1997). They often
work 10 or more hours a day with sharp tools, heavy machinery, and
dangerous pesticides, and die at 4 times the rate of other working
youth. Farm worker children drop out of school in alarming numbers. The
report on the Youth Labor Force was revised in November 2000 ( http://www.bls.gov/opub/rylf/pdf/chapter3.pdf )
notes similar statistics. Among the children interviewed by HRW many
said that they had begun working on tobacco farms at age 11 or 12, most
are from Hispanic immigrant communities, primarily to help to support
their families.
Ironically under US labor law, children
engaged n agriculture are permitted to work longer hours at younger ages
and in more hazardous conditions than children in any other industry.
It is a common sight that children as young as 11 or 12 work in kitchens
in retail food outlets or in super markets in many US cities.. Children
as young as 12 could be working hired for unlimited hours outside of
school hours on a farm of any size with parental permission, and there
is no minimum age or wage for children to work, HRW report notes.
No comments:
Post a Comment