[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 93 (Friday, June 27, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 1870--YOUNG AMERICAN WORKERS BILL OF RIGHTS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 26, 1997

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, several days ago our colleagues in this 
House rose in support of the Flag Burning Amendment. We voted to 
protect our flag and all that it stands for in America's past as well 
as its future. Today, I rise to urge my colleagues in this Congress to 
consider and adopt legislation that will protect the children who live 
under that flag.
  I welcome the fact that a number of our colleagues have begun to look 
at the problems American children are facing. Our colleague from Texas, 
Nick Lampson, and our colleague from Alabama, Robert E. (Bud) Cramer, 
Jr., should be recognized for their efforts in establishing the Caucus 
on Missing and Exploited Children. We also owe particular gratitude for 
the bipartisan efforts of our colleague from Florida, Ileana Ros-
Lehtinen, and our colleague from Texas, Sheila Jackson-Lee, who have 
begun to set the agenda for the newly formed Children's Caucus. These 
two caucuses reflect the concern of Members of Congress and the concern 
of the American people for our children.
  Mr. Speaker, it is within this framework that I am delighted to 
inform my colleagues that I have introduced H.R. 1870, The Young 
American Workers' Bill of Rights. I am pleased that our distinguished 
colleague and my neighbor in California, Tom Campbell, has joined me as 
the principal cosponsor along with another 30 of our colleagues have 
joined us in introducing this legislation. This bipartisan bill is an 
example of the way all of us must work together to make our children's 
lives safer and more secure as they enter the work force. No bill 
introduced in the 105th Congress will have greater potential for 
protecting and helping our nation's young people.
  As the former chairman of the House Government Operations 
Subcommittee on Employment and Housing for several years in previous 
Congresses, I learned first hand about how exploitation, injuries and 
death have taken their toll on America's young workers. In hearings on 
child labor, I heard horror stories about young people losing their 
lives to deliver pizza within a 30-minute time limit. I heard of others 
who lost their lives or suffered permanent and crippling injuries 
because they were using equipment which they were not sufficiently 
trained or sufficiently experienced to use. Unfortunately, the 
exploitation of child labor in America, which I found during those 
hearings of the Employment and Housing Subcommittee, is not a thing of 
the past. It remains a serious problem, it is a growing problem, and it 
continues to threaten the welfare and education of American teenagers.
  At the same time, however, we recognize the importance of work and 
the value of the work experience. The Speaker of the House, Mr. 
Gingrich, has spoken about the need to encourage the development of a 
positive work ethnic in this country. I concur. We must do all we can 
to help our children prepare for their future in the Nation's work 
force. At the same time, however, we must be certain that our children 
have safe and secure places to work when they do work as teenagers, and 
we must be certain that the work experience does not interfere with the 
education of our young people. Mr. Speaker, it is to address these 
concerns that we have introduced H.R. 1870.
  Mr. Speaker, the first matter that our legislation addresses is the 
concern for our children's safety. A study covering the period 1992-95 
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that during that four year 
period, 720 young people suffered work-related fatalities. Other 
studies have concluded that an additional 200,000 young people suffer 
serious work-related injuries each year.
  Several provisions of our legislation are crafted to deal with this 
serious matter of workplace safety. Our bill specifies that young 
people may not use or clean certain types of particularly hazardous 
equipment and many not work in certain hazardous occupations. The bill 
also specifies that children are not to work late hours, the times when 
the most serious injuries and fatalities take place. It also 
establishes new criminal sanctions for willful violations of child 
labor laws that result in the death or serious injury of a child. Civil 
penalties would be established for willfull and repeated violators of 
our child labor laws.
  The second concern that our legislation addresses is the problem of 
work interfering with our children's education. It is essential that we 
send a message to these young workers that education must be their 
number one priority. Our legislation makes it clear that excessive work 
in unsafe environments will no longer be tolerated. The Young American 
Worker's Bill of Rights will address the needs of children under the 
age of 18 or those who are eighteen and still a full-time high school 
student. Students need to spend much of their day in classrooms, 
libraries and involved in their school's activities. They need to 
experience young adulthood, not make the quick leap from childhood to 
adulthood. By entering the world of adults before they are ready, many 
of these young people become vulnerable to alcohol and drug abuse. They 
frequently fail to hand in school assignments, if they bother attending 
school at all.

  Today many of our teenagers are working more than many adults who are 
employed full time. Many are working more than 40 hours per week in 
addition to attempting to attend school. It is no wonder one of the 
most common phrases heard by teachers from their students today is, ``I 
am so stressed.'' Testimony of many experts on education have alerted 
us to the dangers of too much work. In addition to the substance abuse 
studies, other studies have been done on the effect too many hours have 
on the grades our children are getting. A study of students in New 
Hampshire concludes that there is a direct correlation between grades 
in English and the number of hours worked. The more hours a student 
works, the slower the student's grade. Teachers often comment that a 
job is the reason some students drop out.
  In order to assure that education is given proper priority, the 
legislation establishes limits on the number of hours that children can 
work when school is in session, and limits late hours on school days. 
Teenagers attending school would not be employed more than 4 hours per 
day while school is in session and they would not be permitted to work 
after 10 p.m. on school nights. The law also has provisions to insure 
that schools are informed if students are working.
  Mr. Speaker, as we enter the next century, we must modernize our 
Nation's child labor laws. Our legislation amends the Fair Labor 
Standards Act of 1938 to reflect conditions in today's world. We must 
remind ourselves that the romantic notion of an after school job of the 
50's and 60's is a thing of the past. Some employers have for too long 
been able to write off the death of a child as merely the cost of doing 
business as they pay a modest fine. The Young American Worker's Bill of 
Rights will impose stricter civil as well as criminal penalties for 
employers who willingly violate the law to assure protection for our 
young men and women.
  Mr. Speaker, I never again want to stand next to parents and listen 
as they tell of the senseless death of their children. I never again 
want to listen to the testimony of young workers as they sit before me 
missing arms or legs because they were asked to operate unsafe 
equipment or machinery which they were not trained to use. I never want 
to see the frustration on the faces of teachers who tell me about their 
students falling asleep in class, failing to hand in assignments, or 
who just drop out because they cannot keep up both work and school.
  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to announce the support of the National 
PTA for H.R. 1870, The Young American Workers Bill of Rights. The PTA 
is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. It is interesting to 
note that in their first year of existence they asked the Congress to 
do something to protect our nation's children in the workplace. It is a 
sad commentary that today they are still asking us to protect our 
teenagers. Some 50 other organizations which focus on youth and 
education have indicated their support for this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time that we took that action. I invite my 
colleagues to join me and my colleagues to cosponsor this important 
legislation.

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