Problems Facing American Farmer Workers

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Child labor
The immigrants
Other workers
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Employment is a major source of income for many people in America. This is because most of them cannot afford to be in self employment. One of the industries that have contributed to providing employment for the people is the farming industry. This industry employs workers from different backgrounds. In the industry, there are high ranking personnel in managerial positions as well as manual laborers. The industry also employs people from different age groups. Consequently, it is a major area of study for most researchers. They do this with the aim of understanding the problems that people who work in this industry face. In so doing, they are able to come up with solutions for these problems.

The problems that workers in this industry face are numerous and may not be dealt with exhaustively in this paper. For this reason, this paper will deal with how farm workers are mistreated by the owners of the farms. It will address the use of child labor as a source of cheap labor for the farmers, and immigration regulation regarding the shortage of American farm workers.

Child labor

A major concern in the agricultural sector is the increasing number of children who work in the farms. These children work for ten hours or more. This reduces their likelihood of continuing with school as well as engaging in normal childhood activities such as play for normal growth and development (Human Rights Watch, Para 1).

In addition to the numerous harmful farm chemicals and pesticides that such a child is exposed to, a lack of proper protective clothing increases the child’s risk of being injured by equipment that are used in the farm (Schick, Para 4). Another harmful effect of child labor is the increase in the child’s vulnerability to abuse due to exposure to an environment where there are no people who are responsible to take care of them. Therefore, they may be taken advantage of hence risking not only their health and safety, but also their lives.

One of the reasons why children are largely becoming popular in agricultural sector is because they offer cheap labor and still do the work that adults would do with only minimal assistance. Additionally, due to the harsh economic times in the United States, parents are opting to give their children for hire in the farms so as to increase the family’s income. They do this as a means to help them cater for the basic needs of the family.

The issue of legislations against child labor can be learnt from China where it has been provided that the minimum age for hiring a child for labor is sixteen years (Zhang, Para 24). Hiring children who are less than sixteen years is prohibited by the law. Such a law, coupled with the compulsory free non-discriminating basic education, encourages parents to send their children to school since they are not burdened with the issue of school fees. This, however, is not the case in the United States as children as young as twelve years engage in labor to supplement their parents’ income.

As I read through the articles and other materials on child labor, it was evident that not all the people use child labor for malicious reasons. Some of the employers do it because they are requested to do so by the parents of a child who need an increased income in their family. Ignorantly, they offer children work in their farms. Others just need their work done and their drive is profit and not exploitation of the workers, whether children or adults. However, whether the reason for child labor is genuine or not, it is generally wrong and should not be encouraged, especially in the highly risky agricultural sector.

The immigrants

Another group of people who have been a target for exploitation in the United States farms are the immigrants who seek employment in these farms. Due to the poor policies that protect this group of people, they are exposed to exploitation by their employers in the farms. It is for this reason that proper laws and policies should be put in place so as to protect them since they deserve fair treatment as natives.

Some of the major problems that these people face are the existing division in rights to get a sustainable source of income and food for their families due to the lack of citizenship or valid documents that gives the immigrant an equal chance of employment (Candace, Para 5). These people also have to deal with low rates of payment and harsher working conditions due to their nature of citizenship (Moore, Para 6). Due to this, therefore, the immigrants from various places are faced with the risk of poor health conditions, increased vulnerability to mechanical injuries as well as other hazards that are related to the work that is done in the agricultural farms.

The problems that these people face will not be solved if proper laws are not put in place to protect the rights of these people or at least ensure that their working conditions are improved. The owners of farms will continue to exploit these people since they are not afraid of any law that is in place and working as it should to protect this group of people. The immigrants in the United States will continue to suffer in the hands of farm owners who will continue to take advantage of them since they need employment desperately so as to meet their day to day needs such as food and medical care.

Other workers

As seen above, children and immigrants are just a part of the people who provide labor in the agricultural sector in the United States. However, there are other people also who are not in these two categories but work in farms. Agriculture provides a great source of income to the people of the United States but also contributes significantly to the number of the people who are exploited in their line of duty.

The problems that these people face include poor protective clothing while working such as nose masks and hand gloves. Majority of the people in this sector lack proper clothing that is necessary to protect them from various health hazards that they may be exposed to. Examples of these include poor working condition or lack of gloves that may help protect their hands from harm during work. For this reason, they may be injured thus resulting to serious complications which the farm owners may not be ready to cater for the treatment costs.

This, therefore, brings us to the next issue which is a lack of proper medical cover for the employees. Employers are supposed to provide medical cover for their employees in case of any medical issue at the place of work. On the contrary, the employees who get sick and are incapacitated are discontinued from the work with very minimal if any compensation given for the health issue.

Long working hours is another issue that is being faced by the farm workers in the United States. Due to the increasing demand for the agricultural products and the availability of measures to work around the clock, the farm owners are looking for ways to get labor at an affordable way without necessarily having to increase the amount of money they are paying out for the services significantly.

In addition to this, the wages paid to most of the farm workers is low and they are not able to meet their needs as opposed to other people in other industries who are better paid (Migrant Health, Para 24). Most of the farm workers earn very little and they end up living below the poverty line. Most people are not able to comfortably meet their daily needs with the normal pay they get. This is particularly the case for parents who are the bread winners for their families.

This is, therefore, one of the reasons that most of the farm workers will be accompanied by their children to the work to ensure that more income is got for the family but also facilitating the issue of child labor as seen in the earlier part of the paper. This situation may be even worse when there is only one parent in the house and also in households with many members, especially those who are dependent on the adults for provision for their daily needs. Another problem faced by these employees is the lack of security for their employment. Therefore, they risk losing their job at any time even without any notice and they will still not have any legal grounds to prevent this action by their employers.

Due to this loophole, the employers take advantage of the employees by giving them a lot of work with poor working conditions with the mind that there is little that the employee can do to prevent such exploitation. The employees, on the other hand, do not want to risk their only source of income. Therefore, they withstand the poor conditions to avoid being sacked by their employers in case they raise any complaint.

Conclusion

As seen above, there are many problems that the employees working in the farms in the United States are facing and alot need to be done to address these problems so as to help the people working in this industry reduce their vulnerability and meet their basic needs with ease. This will range from setting up groups to lobby for the rights of such people as well as laws to protect the rights of these people. This will help increase and strengthen the ground for seeking proper employment environments in the farms and also reduce the exploitation of the workers who form a significant part of the labor task force in the United States.

Works Cited

Candace, Beck. Migrant Farm Workers under the New Regime. 2013. Web.

Human Rights Watch. US: End child labor in the fields, 2012. Web.

Moore, Melissa. Migrant Farm workers: America’s New Plantation Workers, 2004.Web.

Migrant Health. Farm workers in the United States. 2013. Web.

Schick, Antony. Child farm labor in Oregon and the U.S: big dangers, little change. 2012. Web.

Zhang, Laney. Children’s rights: China. 2007. Web.

Click Here To Order Now!