The US Congress should amend outdated labor laws that allow even young children to work in commercial US agriculture, Human Rights Watch said today. Legislation introduced today by Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard of California would for the first time apply the same age and hour requirements to children working in agriculture as for children working in other occupations. Hundreds of thousands of children under age 18 work in US agriculture.

In states including Florida, Texas, North Carolina, and Michigan, Human Rights Watch has found that child farmworkers work longer hours, at younger ages, and under more hazardous conditions than other working youths. This summer, Human Rights Watch interviewed children hoeing cotton and sorghum in scorching heat, cutting collard greens and kale with sharp knives, hitching and driving tractors, and stooping for hours picking cucumbers.

Pay was, at best, minimum wage, but was often far lower. Many employers provided no drinking water or toilets. Children described smelling and, in a few instances, being sprayed with pesticides. Many left school in April or May, or were still working elsewhere when their schools started in August.

(Please click link to read full story)