Department Of Labor: Farm Work No Good For Teens

November 18, 2011 by Sam Rolley

The Department of Labor (DOL) wants to implement new rules that would ban certain farm work for children under the age of 16.

The Department, according to NPR, says that children who work on farms are six times more likely to be killed or injured than those who do not. The DOL issued the first new child labor regulations in 40 years, which propose barring children under the age of 16 from performing tasks such as driving tractors, handling pesticides and branding cattle.

The regulations reportedly exempt family-owned farms, but only if they have not grown to the point of becoming incorporated.

The department also proposed preventing anyone under age 18 from working at stockyards, livestock auctions and commercial feed lots or grain elevators.

“So kids of individuals who are involved in a family corporation would no longer be able to help mom and dad on the ranch, on the farm. They wouldn’t be able to work with animals. They wouldn’t be able to work on hay wagons stacking bales six feet tall,” said Jordan Dux, national affairs coordinator with the Nebraska Farm Bureau. “There are lots of things that kids, typical farm practices, that … would be outlawed by the Department of Labor.”

Critics of the regulations see them as a direct assault on an American lifestyle and on getting young people interested in farming in the United States. Public outcry has caused the DOL to extend a forum for public comment on the regulations that was scheduled to end Nov. 1.

Rate this:

Filed Under: Liberty

Facebook Conversations

Join the Discussion:
View Comments to “Department Of Labor: Farm Work No Good For Teens”

Comment Policy: We encourage an open discussion with a wide range of viewpoints, even extreme ones, but we will not tolerate racism, profanity or slanderous comments toward the author(s) or comment participants. Make your case passionately, but civilly. Please don't stoop to name calling. We use filters for spam protection. If your comment does not appear, it is likely because it violates the above policy or contains links or language typical of spam. We reserve the right to remove comments at our discretion.

Is there news related to personal liberty happening in your area? Contact us at newstips@personalliberty.com

http://personallibertydigest Lyle McDaniell

The most valuable years of my life was living on a ranch in co. Leaving there to the military i took many useful skills and gained more as life went on.If i hadn’t had that farm ,ranch experience i would have been years behind in life itself.Of course we didn’t have some halfwit govt. idiot sitting on top of a manure pile making the decisions for us.

Joe H.

Lyle M.,
What do you mean sitting on the pile??? most of them are MAKING the pile!!! They pass more BS than any cow herd I ever saw!!!

Jennifer

No one here cares WHY 6x more children die on farms?? I would like to know more about what activities those are… and how those activities could be made more safe….

Instead of caring about children’s lives, all these comments are about poor me, poor farmers…

Heck yes, regs like this is going to hurt family farms and are excessive,,, BUT which is the greater hurt….. a dead child…. or over cautious regs ?

kemp

Jennifer more childern are killed on the streets on purpose then by farm related accidents
Country Bumpkin

Jennifer,
I do not know where NPR got their “stats” but they sound suspect to me. They probably include vehicle accidents on the country roads and then call that “farm work” just because the kids lived in the country.
I would much rather have my kids doing these jobs than working at barf donalds and living in the disgusting, putrid city.
http://naver samurai

Another bleeding heart. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!
s c

j, you are a politician’s ideal voter. Some voters get in line because ‘there’s a serious propblem out there,’ and a certain politician wants to SOLVE the problem and [be handed an easy career in Washington]. It becomes a revolving door, j.
See a problem. Throw it out into the open for public consumption. Hook people who have no compass and seldom think twice about anything.
j, somewhere in your life you missed some valuable lessons that would have prevented you from becoming an easy mark for a wannabe career politician.
By the way, WHY aren’t you demonstrating? It’s on the TV, and NPR talks about it on the radio. Politicians NEED YOU to show that they “CARE.”
Find a local problem, and help fix it. BUT, keep politicians OUT of it. They’re not worth it, and you deserve to be rid of them before you become just another utopian. May you never be used, abused and manipulated by a stinking, worthless, hobag
‘community organizer.’

http://danthorntons.com Bluff Rat

I can’t work in the stockyard because it is too dangerous, but it is ok to join the military and go to war.

Angel Wannabe

B. Rat, YEP!_ you can go fight a war at 18, get shot and killed for your Country, but it’s illegal to have a beer!__Such idiots!

Tim P

Stop and think a minute about what this is really about. The feds create new laws, create a new enforcement agency to oversee it, and then hire for those newly created federal unionized positions. Enforcement is the new government position of choice. Tim
http://www.fightingpatriot.com patriot ken

I grew up on a farm and beside getting dirty,sweaty and tired it didn’t kill me. Sometimes we would go to our neighbors farms and help them out and that didn’t anyone. If the kids now days would go to a farm and work for the summer that would might just keep them out of trouble and all that would happen would be that they might get dirty,sweaty and tired. They might also learn responsibility.
Patriot1776

The next thing will be that kids under the age of 16 can’t clean their rooms because of handling chemicals. Government needs to be down sized so that they stick to what the Constitution says they should and leave parenting up to parents. I don’t need or want government telling me what to eat, what to do, where to live, if I did I would live in China.

Joe H.

Patriot1776,
Careful what you post!!!!! I still have two kids at home!!! LOL!

http://liberyalearts john p.

WHEN I WAS A BOY I WORK ON A FARM AND I LOVED IT.BACK THEN EVERY
THING WAS DONE BY HAND. MILKING COWS TWO TIMES A DAY.I THINK IT IS
GOOD FOR KIDS TO LEARN WHAT HARD WORK IS.I THINK GOVERNMENT SHOULD
STOP INTERFERING IN PEOPLES LIVES.WE SHOULD DO AWAY WITH THE
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR THE COUNTRY WOULD SAVE A LOT OF MONEY.
Usa4ever

What happened to all these people with the contract with America we voted for in 2010??
Since they left to go to Washington haven’t heard a peep out of them.
Shovels – pitchforks – and rifles
2 of them are used for cleaning out poop and the other for the ones who don’t want to leave on there own
Karolyn

I just heard yesterday about Nebraska trying to institute a law prohibiting kids from operating tractors.

Angel Wannabe

Karolyn, If thats true, then we’d better watch what Washington is really covering up, to bring something that stupid to the table!?__That’s ridiculous!

fedup

When the People fear the Government, there will be tyranny.
When the Government fears the People, there will be liberty.
USA4ever

I grew up on a farm -when other kids were playing football or baseball after school I was either working up a field for planting, helping put away hay or straw or doing chores then dinner then school work and bedtime. Worked every silly holiday there is and had to do chores even before going to a family function even a funeral.
The best way any one person could grow up. You learned how to interact with this planet and to reap the many benefits that it has to offer you just had to put a little effort into it. Farm machinery to date is a lot safer then it was 50 years ago – egads thanks to gumint regulations.
The elections of 2012 won’t be enough — it is long past due to goto DC and drag all this crap out of their cushy office and throw them in the streets – clean house so to speak.
These fools have no interest in the American worker.
Like at chore time — time to pitch out the sh*t
Wilson

You have a choice: vote for Obama and perpetuate this socialist government run amuck or vote for one of the candidates who advocates limited government and balancing the Federal budget by eliminating czars, agencies and departments that do more harm than good.

Today, there are hundreds of thousands of illegal kids working in agriculture. And, what is our government doing about that?
Randy131

And who denies the government wants to get into every aspect of Americans’ lives and control what they can and can’t do, like things we’ve done on family farms for hundreds of years without the government’s interference? The hand writing is on the wall, the government will not stop until the American people is completely enslaved, for their own good and protection, the same reason the government is violating our 4th Amendment rights under the US Constitution, hundreds of thousands of times daily, at our airports.
Sandra Brown

What is wrong with our govt? We are hurting for family farmers now because the govt won’t let our farmers farm now! My family has been farming for years and they have shut us down in cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane and now they want to say that family can’t work the land as family. Give me a break you are looking at generation after generation that has done this and my family is educated from the University of Florida and Florida State so we are not lazy and we don’t use chemicals that aren’t allowed but we do work together as family. Our children work together with us and they aren’t lazy like the children that expect to live off of other people and the govt.. They know hard work which our president and the people in Washington have no idea. We know loyalty and consequenses for wrong decisions and the govt needs to back off. Everyone of in Washington needs to be fired and needs to have their money revoked like everyone here in the USA and have to work and do without. I would love for them to live on our salaries and have our health care. I promise “What goes around Comes Aroun”. May God Have Mercy On Your Souls”. Because what you have done to our older generation and young people is one of the biggest sins in the world.

Thank you for your time……..Brown

ericr

Now you can hire illegals instead of teaching your childre values.

Sheldon

What is all the hullabaloo? Many laws keep children from working until they are 18 whether they are the children of the farm owners or not. I learned to drive tractor when I was 11. I would have driven wheat truck to town but could not get a license until I was 16. I took my son to the farm and taught him to drive tractor and bucket loader because he could not lift very large rocks but he could control the loader. I did not let him drive on steep slopes because that would have been dangerous but he learned some skills. Children who do not learn to work to make money are useless as tits on a boar.
s c

First and foremost, SCREW NPR. Probably, this is Uncle Scam’s way of protecting illegals (it’s still a priority in Washington, folks). Indirectly, this will make life very interesting on a farm.
I suggest that OBUMMER put in some time on a farm so he can be said to have at last actually removed his head from that ‘certain’ place.
As usual, the culprit here is the fricking government. Government INTRUSION. Government STUPIDITY. Government INSANITY.
The cure is LESS government, and a whole lot MORE citizen involvement. HOW can anyone not understand that our government is corrupt, incompetent and in NO WAY deserves to have POWER over the American people?
Obummer, get a job. Get a life. Pick a country AND GO THERE!

Karolyn

Why “screw NPR”? It was just a report, and it enabled PLD to have a topic. So what’s the problem? Do you just freak out at the mere mention of NPR? Sad.
eddie47d

Yes Karolyn NPR was deliberately mentioned by PLD for the sole reason to stir the pot but we’re use to that aren’t we. Sometimes these articles are maddeningly insane. They are like putting a Pit bull in the ring with a Chihuahua and forcing the outcome. In other words they frame the articles to get the results they want. I never know when to LOL or just roll my eyes!

Angel Wannabe

Well eddie47d,(articles posted to stir the pot…)_it worked then! this article enticed to you to post your opinion too!
Lastmanstanding

Angel, you know how libs/progs can’t stand the truth, facts or anything that is documented.

Lies, and innuendo…totally acceptable.
eddie47d

But I have enough sense not to agree with the articles 24/7 like most of you do. I see few who really challange the author even when they make glaring errors. They just go along with anything that they come up with. The authors have become the new thought police in telling everyone what to think and how to think. Much like what some of you accuse the government of doing.
Joe H.

but eddie!!! You mmake it so easy!!! We know automatically if you are against the article, then it HAS TO BE accurate!!!
http://naver samurai

Ha, ha, ha, ha! Well said and true, as always! FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!
JeffH

eddie says “I have enough sense”? What he really means is he has enough “CENTS”. As for sense? Not a chance in hades!
Joe H.

JeffH.
Maybe he meant scents?? Being a libby progressive just shy of a commie, he probably DOES smell!!!

Jody Laviolette

What this country needs is Businessman Herman Cain. I am America! Obama is anti-America!

Karolyn

Right, just what we need – a President who has no clue about international affairs and is more interested in singing hymns to get more votes than in educating himself!

Greg

If there’s anything we don’t need Karolyn is a dumb liberal who doesn’t have a clue about business.
Stickwoman Red

Obama has the least amount of experienced doing ANYTHING! Foreign OR Domestic and it shows! Look at this country because of it! Our economy is in shambles! Our foreign neighbors have lost respect for us and laugh at us behind our backs. He is slowly tearing down every Right we have, little by little, and behind closed doors. A community organizer being elected to the highest office in the world! If someone wrote that as a bit of fiction 20 years ago, they would have been laughed at, but sadly this is the truth.
eddie47d

Here we go again. It was GB who screwed up the economy and allowed it to tank. It was GB who sent us to war which took money out of the economy. It was GB who lost us respect in the world.It was GB who brought us the Patriot Act and our loss of liberties. Obama might not be much different but come out from behind that curtain Stickwoman and take a closer look at the real truth.
http://naver samurai

Bush, baaaaa! Economy, baaaaa! Wars, baaaaa! GOP, baaaaa! Chaaaaange! When are you going to stop posting the same rhetoric, lies, and innuendo? Remember, it was the Fair Housing Act under Carter and legislation paseed under Clinton that caused our housing industry to tank, causing our economy to tank. Got to lay the blame at the feet of those responsible. I guess this is just another opportunity to bash Bush. Neeeeed to be making that popping sound. BTW, show me where Obama bin Laden has done anything but destroy this economy. It may have started in Bush’s last year, but it excellerated under Obama and not shown any signs of recovery. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!
Lastmanstanding

Why does anyone even respond to eddie?…His entertainment value I suppose.

Individuals like him are the reason why we will never relent in reclaiming the Constitution and driving the progressive, socialist, communist ideology from our shores.
Joe H.

samurai,
eddie forgets that Bush wasn’t in office when we went to bombing Libya, and when we sent “advisors” into Africa!!! He wasn’t in office to sign the misc. spending that ohbummer has done in the last three years. Bush is not the one that has repeatedly said the republicans have been guilty of stooping jobs bills when it is being done by the libby,progressive house to even a greater extent!!! i could go on but why bother, eddie is so far up his wazoo he wouldn’t get it!!!
http://naver samurai

Well said and keep up the good fight, fellow patriots! FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!
ericr

Eddie, yes I agree that GB helped screw the ecconomy, but by not using the veto pen against the Democratic party insane fiscal policies. Charlie Rangle and Cris Dodd saying that every one was “entitled” to a home loan and pushing regulations and investigations against banks that still tried to use prudent fiscal income measures to qualify for their home loan. That is what led to the housing morgage loan problems of today. GB’s sectrary Snow tried to warn congress in several different hearings but Charlie Wrangle told Snow that everything was fine and there was no trouble brewing in the housing market or in Fannie and Freddie Mac. Now look where we are today.

Connie

OMG….How many of us oldies worked on family farms or had grandparents who were farmers and loved to join in when visiting? This government is going out of it’s way to create more wuss kids who will be the next OWS mentality. And pretty much useless!

I’m a 70 year old female who had one set of grandparents who farmed and the other who owned a lumber yard & construction company. I grew up running around livestock, heavy equipment of all kinds, pesticides (I assume) and all the other things parents wouldn’t allow today…out of pure paranoia. Due to this childhood, my hobby is still woodworking, as well as home improvement projects that put most men to shame – and can handle, shoot, with very good accuracy. Instead of the “oh me” mentality of most women who hadn’t my background, I’m independent, unafraid, and capable. AND, never severely injured at any time in my life. Nor killed, obviously! Ummmm, my son and daughter were raised the same way and they were never harmed.
Angel Wannabe

Well then I guess I broke the law when I taught & let our 8 year old Grand Daughter how to cut grass!__Ya know what, I’d like to tell the Government, to go play in the freeway!..and mind your own damned business!__You changed the child labor laws years ago, that kids under 16 can’t work without signed working papers from parents (even thou working is better than stealing or begging on the corner). Go Socialize some other country, who likes being told what to do and how to live!!!!

Angel Wannabe

…and just for the record, I grew up in the Country with a very sick Mother, I learned how to run a skill saw and a tractor, before I knew what a broom was…and I even lived to talk about it!
eddie47d

You knew what you were doing and with your parents approval and guidance. I hate to inform you but kids can still mow their own grass so that’s not the issue. Now should a construction company hire you at age 12(or even 15) because you know how to use a skill saw. I don’t think so.

Angel Wannabe

eddie, Quite Frankly, I think kids “should” be allowed to go to work from time to time, with a parent or a trusted guardian to learn a trade, work skills & work ethic and discipline. Perhaps in time there would be a lot less entitlement junkies like those protesting across the country. It’s a proven fact that what you are repeatedly exposed to as a youth, nine chances out of ten forms your mind set as an adult.
Take for example Revisionist history, as long as you find & read literature before say the 30-40′s, its safe to say its not revisionist. But with Bill Ayers formerly of Weather Underground and currently vice president of “Curriculum studies” for American Educational Research Association, chances are it’s mostly all revised.

“Next, Ayers embarked on a quest to radicalize America by working within, rather than outside of, the nation’s mainstream institutions. In particular, he sought to embed himself in a position of influence
within the education establishment. In 1984 Ayers earned a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College. Three years later he received a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Columbia University’s Teachers College.”

Public Schools and Colleges today don’t teach critical thinking any more, they teach you what to think!
And they hope by teaching the same things over and over again, they’ve help create what’s walking and protesting across the globe today, and want they’re College Education paid for by someone else, when they’re the ones who took the loans out in the first place.

Keep the GUV the hell out of our lives, every time they intervene, they screw it up!

link to above quote

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7655
John W

Eddie go lay down in the shade. You couldn’t handle a good days work on a farm/ranch. What is your occupation?
You don’t start a kid driving tractor the first day, You don’t let him use a saw the first day, you work your way up to it and show you are capable and respondsible. Eddie stay in the city with your pencil make sure its not to sharp so you will not get hurt, watch out for paper cuts
Joe H.

John W. eddie was a union man, enough said???
http://naver samurai

Which one? The SEIU? FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!
http://naver samurai

What job did you do as a kid, Ed? I used to work on my grandfathers farm. I also mowed lawns and shoveled driveways for money. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!

Steve

It’s just more B.S. from a corrupt federal government. I went from a pampered city kid to a hard-working farm kid at the ripe old age of 10. I hired myself out to a neighboring farmer for the princely sum of 10 cents an hour plus room and board for the summer. It didn’t kill me then and it certainly won’t kill anyone now. In fact, farming is to a point easier now than it was forty years ago.

I think the DOL is stepping in, solving a problem that doesn’t exist. When you work on a farm, you learn how to work, something that they evidently are NOT teaching in schools today. When you work on a farm, you learn responsibility, something they evidently are NOT teaching in schools today. When you work on a farm, you learn consequences, something they evidently are NOT teaching in schools today.

And now, years later, I still remember those lessons, even though I haven’t worked on a farm since I was 18. One of my daughters married a dairy farmer in Wisconsin. Their 4 children are still quite little, but they’re already learning that you have to WORK to get ahead in life.

And the Department of Labor wants to eliminate that? Yes, I guess Americans are getting lazy. Only many of those Americans work in Washington….

CP

Steve, you are assigning tasks to schools they never did perform. No school ever taught kids to work or to take responsibility for what they have done unless they already had a fair idea of how to do those already from home. If you don’t have a decent work ethic before you start school, then you are doomed to the same life so many others seem to enjoy, sliding through with no more effort than necessary to get a passing grade. Granted, a passing grade isn’t necessarily a good grade, but it will get you advanced to the next level. I grew up living and working on a farm, and I think the worst thing that ever happened to me as a direct result of that was a pitchfork tine in my thigh. I THINK I actually got a tetanus shot over that, but nothing else. I have pitched loose hay, tossed and stacked bales, rode a dump rake behind a tractor, and no telling how many other things that COULD have gotten me killed, but am still here and mostly in one piece. What damage has been done to me since growing up was not as a result of any farm work I did, but another, far riskier job, and that was NOT in the military. I did collect a few dings during my service, but not as a result of any combat, either actual or simulated.
Stickwoman Red

There are many points to make here: yes the Dept. of Labor is over-reaching into the private lives of hundreds of thousands of farmers, ranchers and growers. Between the DOL and the EPA (now going to regulate the amount of dust a farmer can stir up while working) the DumbObama Administration is doing everything it can to put farmers of out business. Yes it will enslave this country. Why? Because where will we get food to survive? Another country? Really? Maybe we can get that from the Middle East, China or Africa, where their own people are dying of starvation? Problem is this kind of news isn’t picked up by the Lame Stream Media, as they are trying to do eveything in their power to keep PinnochiObama in office and not inform the American Public of the lies and B.S. that continually pour out of this corrupt and abusive administration. Just think “Fast & Furious” and how many things are kept under-covers and not exposing their nefarious agenda to the Citizens of America! How many other things is this administration working on to slow, but steadily take away all of our rights, one at a time? Like Pelosi, you have to pass the bill in order to see what’s in it! By the time we find out, it’s too late! As for working on a farm, my father’s entire family were farmers. I am a proud grand-daughter of a farmer. As one other person posted, working on a farm at a young age does teach responsibility and great work ethics! My brother was driving a tractor at the age of 12, when he was tall enough to reach the pedals. He was never maimed or injured. This is just a hoax perpetrated upon those who never worked on a farm, to garner sympathy and to get the lazy city dwellers to fall into line thinking they are saving a young person from the hazards of working on a farm. I was helping my grandparents to bale hay at 8 years, as was all my siblings and cousins. Yes and we all grew up to be hard-working, responsible adults who never took unemployment or any hand outs from anyone! We learned too, that while we might slaughter an animal for food, you provided for it’s needs, food, water, shelter and medical treatment if necessary before that time. Subsequently all of us grew up loving animals and are responsible pet owners as well. Because of not only seeing our grandparents and parents work hard, but doing the work ourselves, gave us a sense of just what it takes to make that dollar. You made wise choices when spending that money you made from selling eggs at the market that day. While a bag full of candy might have been wonderful to have, you ended up getting a better pair of gloves so the hay bales wouldn’t cut through your hands when working. This great country of ours was built and founded on the backs of farmers! Who were Washington and Jefferson, but farmers? When the U.S. went into World War II, who did they recruit, but the farmer and his kids because even the Gov’t. knew that they first of all were hard workers, they could make do on little and survive AND they had the brain-power to make something in the field when there were no stores or shops in which to buy that part! One of the others mentioned that growing up on a farm contributed to many of those kids becoming part of the military, joining the fire department or part of law enforcement and that’s true as my father is the product of a farm and he became a police officer, who is now retired. Unfortunately if Obummer is elected again, this country and everything it used to stand for, will be lost forever!

Joe H.

Stickwoman Red,
Very, very well put!!!

Beth W

Having grown up on a farm, I know that some adolescents are injured and even killed in farm accidents. However, I’d be willing to bet that there are far fewer farm children harmed while working on a farm than there are children harmed while roaming the streets in the city. I don’t have any statistics to prove this – but then since when are stats needed to “prove” a point. In my community, while growing up, I know of only one child injured while driving a tractor. (When I say injured, I mean more than just needing a bandage or a cast.)There were a few teens killed – but those were not on the farm – they were on the street in an automobile.

ArkansasRebel

Good point Beth. Also, if teens can’t drive a tractor until they are at least 18, how can we possibly let our boys & girls go to war when they are 17?

http://naver samurai

Defense of the country is a different matter. Now they have a choice to enlist or not and they aren’t drafted. We need to get the draft back. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!
Joe H.

ArkansasRebel,
Or how do we let our SIXTEEN YEAR OLDS drive a CAR??? Gee, then they can kill six or SEVEN at a time!!!

jennie

I extremly upset about this. Only parents are aloud to say if there childen work or don’t work. Not the corp. government. I’m seriosly upset that these government control laws are being passed. All I can say is that americans need to wake up and learn there constition.And fight for there rights. Teach your childen there constition. Because the corp. government doesn’t want americans to know ther rights so they can get away with there stupidity.The constition states that if it unconstitional it isn’t no law at all and no judge or law inforcement should inforece it.

fiscalsoundbiteme

yup, okay, I THINK someone may be able to decode this statement of yours….PLEASE, take some time to learn how to write and spell. Obviously, you did not copy your quote from our constitution as it is barely comprehensive, at best. Sorry, get some education then you’ll be understood. TY

s c

f, I can’t speak for Jennie, but I can say that you need to ‘decode’ this immediately. #^*, off, whiz ant.
Joe H.

BING, BING, BING, BING!!!!
http://naver samurai

I second that motion! FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!
Karolyn

Anybody with reading comprehension can understand what was conveyed in the post.
http://naver samurai

I understood what she said and I graduated from IU, so what’s your point? Neeeeed to learn some manners so you can more effectively communicate and commune with other people. What’s wrong with her exercising her right to freely speak? She is right that if a law is unconstitutional, it is not to be. How can the government tell someone they can’t work, when the child and their parents are supposed to do that? What ever happened to freedom of speech and choice with you libs? FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!

David in MA

“Department Of Labor: Farm Work No Good For Teens”
Damn, I wish I knew this when I was a kid!
As far as kids being killed in farm work, ya…but farm work is a top hazzard job, goes with the terretory.
Is this an approach to safety or is it an approach to fewer illegal immigrants kids working in the fields?
I can see a “summer jobs” thingy coming out of Washington, what better way to win childrens minds than a summer fema camping trip?

eddie47d

You contradicted yourself and the article. This agreement may stop kids under 16 from working but you say it’s an excuse to get kids to work. So which is it?
mrbill

I am with you David. In the 50′s I was working at a gro. store making 1.00 per day. A cotton picking crew came by to get their noon meal and I got to talking to them. I found out I could make 5-7.00 per day picking cotton. The next day I had my sack and jumped in with them and drug s sack around the rest of the season. It didn’t seem to scar me for life. That was a hell of a lot of money for a 13 year old back then.

tim

The dumbama administration killing more jobs. Maybe if he ever had to work for a living besides sucking the gov’t tit all his life he would know what it means for kids to do chores and get jobs for extra spending money! This idiot needs to be voted out before he destoys whats left, and these gov’t agencies that are doing all this damage need to be shut down or re-organized!!

Jeanne Stotler

If we let our kids in High school take summer jobs, digging potatoes, picking tomatoes, beans etc. they would learn the value of a dollar and how things are grown and that , they just don’t appear in grocery stores. We need to push more fourH clubs and stop making out that hard work is a bad thing. During WWII most had a garden and most families canned veggies all without central air, for that matter NO air except from an oscalating fan to move hot air around and we worked from 6 AM until 9 Pm most days, picking, preparing and canning.

Joe H.

Jean Stotler,
WHAT??? Why you ran a sweat shop!!! Better watch out, eddie’s union will get you for that!!!
http://naver samurai

Ha, ha, ha, ha! FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!

T. Raymond McCranie

Let’s see, President Obama says tht “American’s have gotten lazy” and then the DOL proposes stupid ban such as this? Are they trying to innoculate young poeple from real work? This is totally insane!!

DanB

“Are they trying to innoculate young poeple from real work? This is totally insane!!”

Yes. And, yes, they are insane. They problem is that so is the American people. I wouldn’t be surprised that most would believe this is a good thing, even a good number among those that actually do treasure small government and the constitution.

wandamurline

My kids worked on our farm…they worked with the animals, they bailed, hauled and stacked hay for the winder…they drove the machinery and the most important thing they did was that they learned responsibility and that hard work is part of the American life and neither of them got hurt. My daughter even raised a show calf…so, you tell me…are there more kids hurt while working on a farm, or more hurt driving their cars while texting? This government is insane and we must change it, starting in 2012…this is the first department that needs to be axed and the Department of Education the second, and the EPA the third. Let’s start desizing government and we will all be better off and happier.
USAF VET

The next thing you know the department of labor, and the EPA will say that they have to disband the FFA because it teaches kids how to work and how the be responsible adults, and gee, we can’t have that now can we????? These stupid departments that think they know more about what’s better for us than we do need to be shut down!!!
12AngryMen

Don’t you all know that what is dangerous for Americans is safe and beneficial to illegal immigrants? If only we could be strong like them…
Joe H.

12angrymen,
EXACTLY!! How else are they gonna guarantee work to their pet illegals if the kids of America are doing it????
http://naver samurai

Well said Joe H. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!
Marjorie Simchuck

My experience is much the same for my life and my children. I am 92 until February 20, 2012 – then 93 as my husband was when he died.
My grandchildren are not on the farms as previous generations of my relatives have been so they would not know the work ethics of farm life nor the everyday needs.
I rode horse for many years but only bare back as we had no saddle until my Dad borrowed one from an uncle who had one and that was for only a day. We had cattle, sheep , pigs, horses, poultry, and tractors, and many other machines in our life from birth to death for generations and no accidental deaths.
Papa

Funny thing… I grew up farming and ranching, as did all my brothers, sisters and cousins, and none of us ever got KILLED! No-one even got MAIMED that I recall, nor did any of our neighbors, and even though I’m pretty old, we actually had “tractors” and other farm machines back then. Not nearly as sophisticated (or safe) as the equipment out there today but we had all kinds of “machines” that could have killed us if we acted like we were STUPID, but we didn’t, because we KNEW that stuff was dangerous!

What we really need to do is bulldoze Washington DC, but not tell the people who work there in advance about our plans… That might solve the problem…
RobinPC

Yes, to buldozing up the mess in DC!!!!!!!!!!! How come there is never a terrorist (suicide bomber) when you need one? Maybe the big O can invite one for dinner?
eddie47d

That is the whole point of the DOL’s debate on this issue. Should farm kids be allowed to work on their own farm. You betcha! Should farmers and ranchers hire kids outside their family who don’t know a thing about farming ? I’m not so sure unless they have the time to train them on farm machinery. It’s not the same as a child growing up in that environment and working along side their parents. I doubt if you’d approve of any kid working in construction under the age of 16 because of the dangers of the equipment. The farmer or some company will have an awesome responsibility in keeping those kids safe and 16 may be a fair age to allow them to work.
JimH

Eddie, Farm machinery isn’t all that complicated to operate.
My uncle had a dairy farm. We baled alot of hay. At age 13 I had thrown alot of bales, drove tractors and pulled the hay rack, rake and mower. The training was my uncle drove and showed me what to do and then rode with me to make sure I knew it. Not complicated.
It is hot, heavy, sweaty work, but it isn’t any more risky than other jobs kids do.
Just the nanny state sticking it’s nose where it shouldn’t.
eddie47d

So you would hire a 13 year old from the city and allow him to drive a columbine and keep the rows intact. That could turn out to be a very expensive proposal for any farmer. I’m not concerned about what some farm kid would do but what an inexperienced kid would do if not properly trained. That’s the gray area. Farmers or any business professional seldom have the time to “babysit” a kid in training pants. Child laborers can also be exploited by the owners of any business such as in sweat factories. This issue goes far beyond farm work which the DOL has to contend with.
JimH

Eddie, If the farmer wants to hire an ineperienced kid and TEACH him how to drive a combine, before he lets him on his own, is non of DOL’s business.
You can take an inexperienced 21 year old and have to teach him the same way.
My Grandpa (a farmer) always said, ” Your not going to learn any younger.” Everyone has to have their”first time”, you don’t start out “experienced”.
eddie47d

As you said it comes down to IF. Is that a way to run a business?
daniel

eddie I started working on farms and ranches when I was 13 doing all of the above as I learned. Got the usual bumps and bruises that one would normally get. No I did not grow up on either farm or ranch. I did learn a respect for a days work and respect for life as well. That is something hard to find now. By the way the wages also fed my family at that time. So I think this is a bad idea as it closes a very baluable door for our kids to walk through.
http://naver samurai

I remember when I was a kid going to my grandfather’s farm. My grandfather had us shuck corn and work very hard the whole Saturday. My brother and I were tired at the end of the day. I also remember working in the garden they had there with my grandmother, so we also learned how to shell peas, pick strawberries, and use a plow in the garden. After all that was done, we then mowed and trimed the lawn. This was every Saturday for years. We didn’t mind it and we got to be out in the fresh air. I also still remember how to raise crops. I also still know some tricks of the trade, so I thank my grandparents for instilling some of their knowledge into me. Happy Thanksgiving everyone from Sook Young and I. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!
JimH

Hi Eddie, Does the DOL have the right to take away the farmers right to “IF”?
In rural areas where part time jobs for teens are rare, they hire out as farm hands. Give these teens some credit, they aren’t idiots. They learn the job.
You keep coming up with the worst case scenario. The farmer shouldn’t be restricted because of an “IF” might be a risk. The teen shouldn’t suffer because a bureaucrat thinks they’re incompetent.
“IF” you think about it farming is one big risk. Drought, flooding, a late freeze can all cause a crop lose. Hiring teens are the least of a farmer’s worries.
Besides baling hay is hard work. Let the teens do it. I never want to bale again.
sidewinderaz

Ummm Eddie47d Columbine is the name for a school in Colorado. A combine is a piece of farm equipment.
Plenty of us who grew up in the city actually worked in or on farms during the summer or during long holiday breaks. The foreman actually took the time to teach someone who showed proper initiative how to operate some of the equipment. Anyone who didn’t care, didn’t want to know or just didn’t have the capacity to operate anything with moving parts spent their time doing more menial tasks like cleaning pig sties or stalls.
Joe H.

sidewinderaz,
you have to understand, it’s a complicated thing to stack those bales on eddies farm!!!! One bale falls, and POOF the whole crop is ruined and the kid is smashed to a grease spot on the pavement!!!! What, they don’t pave the barns??? Oh, well!!!
http://naver samurai

Very funny Joe H. He also must understand that stacking bales is somewhat beyons eds ability to comprehend. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!

karel Eekels

Another example of how woooooeeeeeefully out of touch policy makers in our government are with reality.

This sick DOL mindset is not unique and clearly exists in other departments as well. Government get out of the way and get out of our lives. Yes, we believe in oversight, rules and order. Bad actors in every industry do exist, they come and go. But 99.9% of the US farming community are solid, virtuous and responsible people. They have no need and no use for a federal bureaucrat(s) with a political science, psychology or sociology degree to interfere in or on how a law obedient farmer conducts his private business. Please stay behind your desk from nine in the morning to 3 or 4 in the afternoon, sip your latte at Starbucks, and save us the gas to bother us at our farms.

Products from these farming families are a very sought after commodity today in the work force. They are highly employable, they have skills, practical exposure and well rounded in every department because they had loving and caring parents that taught them the trades since they were born. They know how to drill a well, repair and operate a tractor, run a workshop, maintain the grounds, how to responsibly handle a gun, and so on, and also do not forget that the sons and daughters of farmers are the cream of the crop in our military and law enforcement. Where would our country be without them today? These youngsters did not have access or were allowed to play (limited use) nintendo or waste their time playing computer games.

Department Of Labor: Farm Work No Good For Teens

Rate this:

Facebook Conversations

Join the Discussion:
View Comments to “Department Of Labor: Farm Work No Good For Teens”

Headlines From Today's Issue

More from this category

Featured Articles

Popular Articles

Contributing Writers

All Categories

Department Of Labor: Farm Work No Good For Teens

Rate this:

Facebook Conversations

Join the Discussion: View Comments to “Department Of Labor: Farm Work No Good For Teens”

Headlines From Today's Issue

More from this category

Featured Articles

Popular Articles

Contributing Writers

All Categories

Welcome to PersonalLiberty.com,America's #1 Source for Libertarian News!

Join the Discussion:
View Comments to “Department Of Labor: Farm Work No Good For Teens”

Welcome to PersonalLiberty.com,
America's #1 Source for Libertarian News!