Despite the failure of the Labor Department to tighten child labor regulations a few years ago, some safety advocacy organizations are still pushing for new federal reforms, claiming that farming is too dangerous a profession for young people to take part in.
Two years ago, the US Department of Labor suggested a series of restrictions and regulations on the agricultural use of child labor. Farm labor laws had not been updated in several decades, and then Labor Secretary Hilda Solis hoped to quickly push through new rules to limit the ability of minors to work dangerous farm jobs.
An outcry from the farm sector, however, convinced Labor officials to abandon the plan.
Despite the government’s refusal to impose new regulations, some safety organizations are still pushing for new limits. “Somehow people have developed this cultural myth that the work ethic has to be developed early and we should put children at risk,” said one Washington state labor official. “I’m constantly skunked that there’s no constituency for child workers,” she said. “They don’t vote.”
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