Working on tobacco farms

[jjirons69]

Just read this on CNN. I worked two summers at 12 and 13 years-old before I finally got wise enough to do something better, become a lifeguard and sit around the pool. A friend and I worked from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily during those two summers. We topped, suckered, harvested, barned, and transported to sell. I can still go by a field and the smell of sucker oil (MH30) makes my mouth water. It's sickening to smell. It was hot, dry, and exhausting work. Nicotine sickness struck nearly every day and would make you nauseous/sick. Tractor fumes, still-dry heat, and nicotine sickness makes a lasting impression on a pre-teen, believe me. All of this for $20/day. Not the $100-$150 in the article. Believe me, my buddy and I had WAY more money that any of our friends that cut grass and delivered papers. I just thought it was the way the world worked - you got paid more for a tougher job. Tending tobacco all summer is a tough job. My mom and dad had worked in the fields as kids, so it seemed natural to do so myself. I'm half way to 50 and would not trade those two summers for anything. It's interesting to see it's finally hit the presses as being bad for kids. Hell, it's bad for anyone, but it is a job!

Article: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/17/health...html?hpt=hp_t2

(CNN) -- Jessica Rodriguez was 11 years old when she first stepped onto a tobacco field in Snow Hill, North Carolina. She spent the next five summers working on a neighbor's tobacco farm, usually six days a week.

"It was hard. It was definitely hard," she remembers. "We had a good boss lady -- she bought us lunch every day. But remember, you're sitting there eating lunch with tobacco gum all over your hands."

Rodriguez had a lot to do, including hand-pulling tobacco and panning it with a harvester. She and the other children on the farm worked from 6 or 7 in the morning to 7 or 8 at night.

"I got heat exhaustion -- vomiting, feel like my stomach was trying to come out of my body," she said. "They would bring me water and saltine crackers to settle my stomach until I got better and then back to work."

It may not have been easy, she says, but the pay was was good. She earned anywhere from $100 to $150 a day; the money was given directly to her parents.

Rodriguez's story has played out time and again on tobacco fields across the country for decades. A report published this week from Human Rights Watch details the dangers child workers face on America's tobacco farms.

Called "Tobacco's Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in US Tobacco Farming," the report documents conditions on farms in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. Ninety percent of all tobacco grown in this country comes from those four states.

The researchers interviewed 141 child tobacco workers between the ages of 7 and 17 for the report. Nearly 75% reported a range of devastating symptoms, including vomiting, nausea, headache, dizziness, skin rashes and burning eyes.

Many of the symptoms are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning, said Margaret Wurth, a children's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. It's often called green tobacco sickness, or GTS.

GTS can happen when nicotine is absorbed through skin while handling tobacco plants.

"About half the kids we interviewed said they saw tractors come through fields where they were working, or nearby fields, spraying pesticides," Wurth said. "And the children said they could smell and taste and feel the chemical spray as it drifted toward them."

And nicotine is not the only danger. There were more than 1,800 non-fatal injuries to kids under 18 that worked on farms in 2012, according to the Human Rights Watch report. Two-thirds of the children who died from occupational injuries that year were agricultural workers.

"We found that kids are working 10 or 12, sometimes 14-hour days in extreme heat," Wurth said. "They often have no place to go to the bathroom, no place to wash their hands at work and many of them are given no safety training, no health education and no protective equipment."

The researchers found kids using sharp tools, such as axes or machetes, to dig up weeds and/or harvest tobacco. Some kids worked near dangerous machinery. Others climbed up into the rafters of barns, more than one story off the ground, to hang tobacco to dry without any kind of safety gear.

The Human Rights Watch estimates several hundred thousand kids work in agriculture in the United States each year, but there are no hard numbers on just how many are working on tobacco farms, and no number to adequately portray the scope of the problem. Most, Wurth says, are the children of Hispanic immigrants.

U.S. labor laws, she says, do not protect these kids.

According to the report:

-- Children as young as 12 can work unlimited hours on any size farm as long as they have a parent's permission.

-- Children of any age can work in any job on a farm owned by their parents.

-- There is no minimum age for children to work on small farms.

-- At 16, children working on farms can do jobs considered hazardous by the Department of Labor. Children working outside agriculture must be at least 18 to do hazardous work.

The Federal Youth Employment Laws in Farm Jobs, while setting standards for youth employment in agriculture, does not specifically address tobacco farms. But the Department of Labor released a statement addressing the Human Rights Watch report:

"Our job at the Department of Labor is to ensure that agricultural employers keep their workers, regardless of age, safe on the job, housed in safe and sanitary residential facilities, and pay them their legally-required wages," the government agency said. "The Department especially takes seriously its role in ensuring that employers operate in compliance with all appropriate laws and rules with respect to young workers."

Several "young workers" who spoke to CNN said a tobacco farm is not an appropriate place for a child.

Mildre Lima, now 19, started working in the tobacco fields when she was 12. She came to Saratoga, North Carolina, from Florida with her parents, three brothers and her grandmother. They all harvested tobacco, receiving $7.25 an hour.

It wasn't long before Lima started getting sick. Rashes turned her skin a dark color and caused it to peel off in patches.

But that was just the beginning. The adults she worked with were mean to her, she says, and when she was 14 she was sexually harassed.

"When (my mom) confronted the supervisor he fired us. He fired my mom, me and my grandmother."

When she looks back on those years, Lima says no child should ever have to go through what she did. Her dad still works the tobacco fields, but last year was Lima's last. She is done.

For most of these kids, the money -- the ability to help their families financially -- is the draw.

Erick Garcia, 17, is one. He was 11 when he started harvesting tobacco in Kinston, North Carolina, with his parents and two older siblings. The teen says he worked from 7 a.m. to sundown with no breaks besides a lunch hour.

Though he doesn't want to, Garcia plans to work the tobacco fields again this summer. "When you are surrounded by plants that are taller than you, you feel like you are suffocating," he says. But there are "no other options to do another job, a better job, that is not dangerous and hard."

Jessica Rodriguez returned to the fields last summer when her other company cut her hours, and she was three to four months behind on every bill.

Her sons Brandon, 15, and Fernando, 13, spent the summer in the tobacco fields for the first time alongside her. Both boys have medical issues: Brandon has asthma and ADHD; Fernando has a tumor on the bottom of his brain stem. Rodriguez is worried about their well-being in the fields.

Still, her boys want the financial freedom of having their own money. Rodriguez herself is back to working full time elsewhere, and says she'll work with her sons in the fields this summer on her days off.

But if Human Rights Watch has any say in the matter, children will not be allowed on tobacco farms at all.

"We've concluded that any tasks where kids come into direct contact with tobacco plants or dried tobacco leaves pose hazards to their health," Wurth said. "We want companies to make clear that kids cannot work in jobs where they are exposed to these dangers and then to communicate this to the growers and their supply chains to make sure the growers know these rules and follow them."

Human Rights Watch shared its report with 10 companies that buy tobacco grown in the United States.

"Nine of the 10 companies responded and all are concerned about child labor, but none of them have policies that specifically protect children from the hazards we identified in our research," Wurth said.

Jeff Caldwell, a spokesman for Altria Group, one of the largest tobacco companies in the country, told CNN the company doesn't employ its own farmers, and has strict standards for contractors it buys tobacco from. Altria Group is the parent of Philip Morris USA, which makes about half of all cigarettes sold in the United States.

"Our tobacco companies do not condone the unlawful employment or exploitation of farm workers, especially those under the age of 18," Caldwell said. He said U.S. tobacco companies will work together on the issues outlined in the report.

To Wurth, the solution is more complicated.

"We can't let this be the only option for these families," she said. "We can't say these families are living in poverty, therefore it's OK ... We have to make sure that there are better opportunities for these kids, and that they're not forced to do this kind of work that makes them sick."

[fid]

This is nothing new. I remember watching a story on 60 minutes twenty years ago about this. Frankly, it's a crappy seasonal job that someone has to do. We've all been there at some point in our lives and if they don't want to do it, they should quit. The same poverty wage is available at many jobs that they will hate just as much.

[Remo]

As long as I get my smokes!!!

Just kidding! No one is forcing anyone to work, life sucks I guess I had a paper route when I was 12, up at the ass crack of dawn in freezing cold snow, folding and delivering papers, have had a job ever since, taught me a good work ethic.

[hotreds]

consider the source: Human Rights Watch. 'Nuff said!

[baust55]

Sounds like normal first jobs you have as a kid to learn about work .

AUSTIN

[The Poet]

How does this differ from any farm work? Both my parents were raised on small family farms, and both worked like this as children. My mother told me many times about dragging a towsack behind her as she helped pick cotton. She did manage to get a break from field work, however. When she was nine years old, my grandmother took her into the kitchen and told her that, from that day on, it was her job to cook for a family of 10 . . . on a wood stove with the nearest water out back at the well.

Me, I live in a yuppie North Joisey town, and normally "earn" several bucks a week from picking up the spare change the yuppie puppies toss into the street because they have no respect for the money their parents work to earn. Tell me . . . which is better?

[688sonarmen]

My high school FFA grew an acre that we took from seed to market. We learned a lot from that experience. Hard work, business, teamwork, responsibility, just to name a few.

[Remo]

Originally Posted by The Poet

How does this differ from any farm work? Both my parents were raised on small family farms, and both worked like this as children. My mother told me many times about dragging a towsack behind her as she helped pick cotton. She did manage to get a break from field work, however. When she was nine years old, my grandmother took her into the kitchen and told her that, from that day on, it was her job to cook for a family of 10 . . . on a wood stove with the nearest water out back at the well.

Me, I live in a yuppie North Joisey town, and normally "earn" several bucks a week from picking up the spare change the yuppie puppies toss into the street because they have no respect for the money their parents work to earn. Tell me . . . which is better?

Wait, you mean my parents and the guberment aren't supposed to take care of me for life there are a lot of twenty something's that are gonna be shocked

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by Remo

Wait, you mean my parents and the guberment aren't supposed to take care of me for life there are a lot of twenty something's that are gonna be shocked

I worked in the "store" half of a family pharmacy (as opposed to the "prescription" part) for a few years, from opening at 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM (or longer, if needed), when I was replaced by part-timers for the few hours until closing at 9:00 PM. Usually these were high-school or college kids, and most were fine. One young jerk however was a student at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, who was also the shortstop on their baseball team. He would come in and start complaining immediately that he hated to work, then would plop his @$$ on a stool with his laptop on his knee, surfing for his paycheck. And he did this each and every day. After a while, what with me being there all day long every damn day, I got sick of hearing this crap. So one day when he showed up (instead of NOT showing up, which he did often), and started moaning again about how he hated work (as if what he was doing was actually WORK), I snapped and told him he knew where the damn door was if he really felt that way. I then asked him what he would do once he got out of school into the REAL world and actually DID have to do a little work to make a living. He replied that would be no problem because he was going to be rich. I looked at him for a second, then wished him luck with that . . . then advised him that he should have something in mind besides playing shortstop, since if he was really any damn good he'd be playing for a REAL school and NOT for Fairly Ridiculous.

He was gone within the week. I still wish him luck.

[OLS]

I know Snow Hill, NC VERY WELL. I was stationed in Goldsboro for three years and I know every little spot
in that area. Tobacco is tough to work around. And when I saw a similar report on the regular news over the
weekend, I thought how odd it is that a kid can start working so young. I know to work in a chicken restaurant
at 14, I had to have permission from my folks. It was completely freeing, to have so much money and even
though I gave up my afternoons/nights almost every day, I wouldn't trade a minute of it today. The kid that
lives downstairs from me and lives with his grandmother (my landlady) is growing up to be the world's softest pu$$y.
All Halo and no money. Won't rake a leaf to save his life. His life is going to be VERY HARD because he will not
learn what I did. His goal for his life? TO be a video game tester and be paid to do it. Good luck with that buttface.

[Subvet642]

I used to work for a farm-stand and grocery picking corn and other vegetables. I lasted about three weeks before I got sick of it.
All farm work is hard.

[RWhisenand]

Working hard is one thing, being exposed to hazardous chemicals and sexual harassment especially with children is not cool anyway you slice it.

[357]

I'm not a fan of articles like this. Should safety for minors be a concern, absolutely. However, restricing them from working on farms has a wide reaching effect and could drastically affect our entire food supply. There are some trying to make it illegal for parents to have their kids work on ANY farm, not just tobacco farms.

[shilala]

Article aside, I'm pretty sure they call it "work" to differentiate it from "fun".
When I was a kid, they tricked me into thinking work WAS fun, and I still do.

Up north here, kids went to work tobacco when they were prone to trouble. If they remained prone to trouble, it was the army or jail.
I don't think I ever knew anybody for my first 35 years that didn't work on a farm at some time or another. Both men and women. I'm not at all saying that not working a farm makes someone lesser, by any means, but it certainly does make for some good, down-to-earth people.

I can't say I'm for 7 year olds in the tobacco fields, but if it's the family's farm, I'm all for it. I can't see why 12 year-olds can't work the fields. There's a lot of good lessons to be learned there. Good and bad.

[airtrade]

The articles angle sound bad. But I think we are not hearing the whole truth.

[nutcracker]

Exploitation of labour is universal - in every industry. Coffee and cocoa are probably worse offenders (check out the move "Black Coffee"). The clothing industry, etc etc. Ethically grown anything is hard to come by, and you won't buy terribly many things direct from source anymore. If you think people are treated badly, have a look at what we do with animals.

It's a big political question, and I don't have a solution, but suspect if North American consumerism ceases then most Third World economies will simply fail.

No point beating yourself up (or denying it for that matter) - So put your money into helping out - World Vision etc. Recently bought some "Blessed Leaf of Karos" - they're trying to give back, and many smokers on this forum are involved in advocacy for workers in Cuba, Honduras and other SA countries. Even if only token, it's kinda cool really....

AS for kids working - I guess I always had a summer job! Granted not toxic chemicals but I always valued the opportunity to have some cash on hand as a kid. It's when families find themselves all needing to do this that there is a nastier game in town.