Farmers Contest Child-Labor Rules [View All]

[alp227]

Source: WSJ (Google title for full article)

Some farmers are opposing new rules proposed by the federal government that would restrict the chores children can be hired to perform in the nation's fields, including driving tractors and rounding up cattle in corrals on horseback.

The U.S. Department of Labor says its proposal aims to look after children's safety in a dangerous industry. The rules would bar most farm hands younger than 16 years old from jobs such as operating power equipment, branding and breeding farm animals, and working atop ladders at heights over six feet.

Farmers say the planned regulations are overreaching.

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Of the two million U.S. farms, about 98% are family owned, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, a trade group. The new rules would apply to children under 16 who are hired by farming operations, not those who work at farms owned and operated by their parents. But many teens work at farms not owned by their immediate family, such as uncles or grandparents.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204083204577078491680523760.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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I bet these same farmers who complain about this government over-reach on child labor also would hire adults only if the adults are poor, uneducated immigrants willing to work for cheap.