[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 137 (Wednesday, October 1, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1949-E1950]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          GROUPS RALLY TO SUPPORT YOUTH WORKER PROTECTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 1, 2003

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on September 23, 2003 I introduced H.R. 
3139, the Youth Worker Protection Act, (YWPA). This bill will make 
necessary common sense changes to America's child labor laws, which 
have not been significantly amended since their creation nearly 70 
years ago.
   Mr. Speaker, according to the National Institute for Occupational 
Safety and Health (NIOSH) an average of 230,000 teenagers are injured 
on the job each year and even more shocking is the fact that an average 
of 67 teen workers die each year from injuries sustained while on the 
job. That means a teen worker dies from work related injuries in this 
country every five days.
   The YWPA, addresses two major aspects of child labor: the deaths and 
serious injuries suffered by our young workers and the negative impact 
which working excessive hours during school can have on a child's 
education. I am honored to have the support of numerous organizations, 
including; the National Consumers League, the National Education 
Association (NEA), United Methodist Women, the International Initiative 
to End Child Labor, and Youth Advocate Program International. Mr. 
Speaker, these extraordinary organizations have dedicated themselves to 
advocating an end to exploitive child labor and I request that their 
letters be placed in the Congressional Record.
                                                    Youth Advocate


                                        Program International,

                                Washington, DC, September 3, 2003.
     Hon. Tom Lantos,
     House of Representatives, Rayburn House Office Building, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Lantos: Youth Advocate Program 
     International would like to voice its strong support for the 
     Youth Worker Protection Act and urge you to present this act 
     to Congress at your earliest convenience.
       YAP International believes that everyone, including 
     children, can contribute to society through work. We believe 
     job-skill training should be provided to young people and 
     that youth should experience the pride that comes from work 
     well done. We understand that in some situations children 
     must work to meet their own survival needs and those of their 
     family. However, gaining an education should be a youth's 
     primary job and we support the Youth Worker Protection Act 
     for formally recognizing and promoting this principle.
       We support monitoring of child labor practices to ensure 
     that work does not compromise the child's overall health, 
     well-being, and access to free, compulsory and meaningful 
     education. We strongly urge that monitoring efforts not only 
     include the formal sector--work in a factory or business 
     setting--but also work in the informal sector, including 
     domestic workers, agricultural workers, street vendors, and 
     heads of households/caregivers.
       Youth Advocate Program International commends your 
     leadership to update and strengthen child labor laws in the 
     United States, and we urge you to continue supporting the 
     Youth Worker Protection Act. Feel free to contact our office 
     if we can provide any assistance to you in further promoting 
     the rights of children. Thank you for your time and continued 
     advocacy on behalf of youth worldwide.
       In Service to Youth,
                                                Patrick J. Schoof,
     Director.
                                  ____



                               National Education Association,

                                                   Washington, DC.
     Representative Tom Lantos,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Lantos: On behalf of the National 
     Education Association's (NEA) 2.7 million members, we would 
     like to express our support for the Youth Worker Protection 
     Act.

[[Page E1950]]

       NEA believes that young people should focus on education as 
     their primary job and that excessive and unusual working 
     hours are detrimental to students' attention span and 
     academic achievement. Unfortunately, many minors are employed 
     for as many as 15 hours during the school week, with some 
     youth working more than 25 hours a week. In addition, too 
     many very young children--some as young as age five--are 
     employed as migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Such work 
     clearly interferes with and undermines the educational 
     process.
       By strengthening the Fair Labor Standards Act's child labor 
     provisions, the Youth Worker Protection Act will ensure that 
     minors can enjoy the benefits of workforce experience, while 
     maintaining their focus on education. We thank you for your 
     leadership on this important issue and look forward to 
     working with you to protect our nation's children.
           Sincerely,
     Diane Shust,
       Director of Government Relations.
     Randall Moody,
       Manager of Federal Policy and Politics.
                                  ____



                                    National Consumers League,

                               Washington, DC, September 10, 2003.
     Hon. Tom Lantos,
     House of Representatives, Rayburn House Office Bldg., 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Lantos: The National Consumers League 
     (NCL) commends you for addressing critical child labor 
     problems in your Youth Worker Protection Act. These problems 
     can be corrected. The status quo cannot remain.
       In the first two weeks of August, four young workers, all 
     of them 16 years old, died on the job--one in roofing, one in 
     a wrecking yard, and two in commercial agriculture.
       Every 30 seconds, a young worker under the age of 18 is 
     injured on the job. One teen dies due to workplace injury on 
     average every five days. These statistics are not from a 
     developing country. They reflect the reality of youth 
     employment in the United States, based on statistics from the 
     National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Yet, 
     the Hazardous Orders (HOs) found in the Fair Labor Standards 
     Act (FLSA) have not been comprehensively reviewed and updated 
     since they were enacted in 1938. These HOs are our first line 
     of defense in protecting youth from dangerous occupations, 
     industries, and machinery that threaten their health and 
     safety.
       Research shows that students who work more than 20 hours a 
     week demonstrate higher incidence of academic distress, 
     alcohol and drug abuse, and autonomy from parents. Yet, in 
     the United States, a student who is 16 years old and older 
     can work unlimited hours per day or week, at any time of day 
     or night during a school week. More U.S. teens are employed 
     and work for longer hours during the school week than in any 
     other affluent country--especially in those countries that 
     are outperforming this country in academic scores.
       In commercial agriculture, as many as 800,000 youth under 
     the age of 18 are hired farmworkers, harvesting our nation's 
     fruits and vegetables. Children of migrant and seasonal 
     farmworkers are routinely exposed to dangerous pesticides and 
     insecticides, hazardous equipment and tools, and work that 
     stresses their developing bodies. These children may legally 
     work as young as ten years old under the FLSA. Youth working 
     in agriculture are less protected than youth working in non-
     agricultural occupations. They may perform hazardous work at 
     16 and may legally work at younger ages, for more hours, at 
     any hour of the day or night (outside of school hours).
       No one questions that employment offers youth many 
     benefits. NCL supports appropriate and safe youth employment. 
     But, too much of youth work today is neither. The FLSA's 
     child labor provisions are inadequate. It is critical that 
     they be updated to reflect the realities of youth employment 
     today, new technologies and hazards, and the educational 
     competitiveness our youth and country need to maintain to 
     succeed.
       Founded in 1899, NCL is America's oldest national consumer 
     advocacy organization. Its mission is to represent consumers 
     in the marketplace and the workplace through investigation, 
     education and advocacy. One of our first and continuing 
     concerns is protecting working minors and ending child labor 
     exploitation in the United States and abroad.
       NCL is pleased to endorse this bill and is committed to 
     employing our resources to promote the bill's passage at the 
     earliest time. Again, thank you for your leadership on this 
     important issue.
           Sincerely,
                                                Linda F. Golodner,
     President.
                                  ____

         General Board of Global Ministries, the Unted Methodist 
           Church,
                                  Washington, DC, August 26, 2003.
     Representative Tom Lantos,
     House of Representatives, Rayburn House Office Building, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Lantos: I am a part of the Child Labor 
     Coalition (CLC) as a representative of my organization, the 
     Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries of 
     the United Methodist Church. As part of the CLC, we have been 
     shown a summary of the Youth Worker Protection Act, your new 
     and improved comprehensive child labor bill. I am impressed 
     with how you have updated and strengthened the federal child 
     labor laws in this.
       My organization has always been concerned for the needs of 
     women and children. In recent years, we have participated as 
     part of the Child Labor Coalition and supported organizations 
     like RUGMARK, anti-sweatshop efforts, and shared concerns for 
     children in the fields, specifically migrant children. We 
     join with the whole United Methodist Church as stated in 
     their BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS 2000, #58 ``to work toward the 
     reform of United States labor laws to provide better 
     protection of farm workers' rights and to bring child labor 
     restrictions into conformity with international standards.'' 
     These standards include the Convention on the Rights of the 
     Child and the International Labor Organization's Convention 
     138 for Minimum Age for Admission to Work.
       The Youth Worker Protection Act places a priority on 
     education by restricting the hours a youth may work. This is 
     of special concern to United Methodist Women since taking on 
     a Children's Campaign to advocate for free, quality public 
     education in our country. Given that the overall well-being 
     of a child affects his/her ability to learn in school, it is 
     easy to recognize that before/after school and weekend jobs 
     can be a major factor in how the child will learn.
       I support this effort you are making to bring a 1938 Act 
     with revisions over the years up-to-date and will encourage 
     United Methodist Women to be informed about this new 
     legislation in order to express support to their legislators.
       Thank you for protecting young workers in our country,
                                                  Julie A. Taylor,
                              Children, Youth and Family Advocacy.




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