“If the federal government can regulate the relationship
between parents and their children on their own family’s
farm there is virtually nothing off limits”
- Senator Jerry Moran
Posted on 03/22/2012 9:14:07 AM PDT by Starman417
“If the federal government can regulate the relationship
between parents and their children on their own family’s
farm there is virtually nothing off limits”
- Senator Jerry Moran
Just when I thought Obama's big government couldn't get more intrusive we have this: (h/t Gateway Pundit and Allen Wall)
The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing revisions to child labor regulations that will strengthen the safety requirements for young workers employed in agriculture and related fields. The agricultural hazardous occupations orders under the Fair Labor Standards Act that bar young workers from certain tasks have not been updated since they were promulgated in 1970.The department is proposing updates based on the enforcement experiences of its Wage and Hour Division, recommendations made by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and a commitment to bring parity between the rules for young workers employed in agricultural jobs and the more stringent rules that apply to those employed in nonagricultural workplaces. The proposed regulations would not apply to children working on farms owned by their parents.
"Children employed in agriculture are some of the most vulnerable workers in America," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "Ensuring their welfare is a priority of the department, and this proposal is another element of our comprehensive approach."
The proposal would strengthen current child labor regulations prohibiting agricultural work with animals and in pesticide handling, timber operations, manure pits and storage bins. It would prohibit farmworkers under age 16 from participating in the cultivation, harvesting and curing of tobacco. And it would prohibit youth in both agricultural and nonagricultural employment from using electronic, including communication, devices while operating power-driven equipment.
The department also is proposing to create a new nonagricultural hazardous occupations order that would prevent children under 18 from being employed in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials. Prohibited places of employment would include country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and livestock auctions.
Additionally, the proposal would prohibit farmworkers under 16 from operating almost all power-driven equipment. A similar prohibition has existed as part of the nonagricultural child labor provisions for more than 50 years. A limited exemption would permit some student learners to operate certain farm implements and tractors, when equipped with proper rollover protection structures and seat belts, under specified conditions.
The proposed rules only affect "hired farm workers," not those working on farms owned by their parents.
So that should make us all breath a sigh of relief for the American farm family right?
This just shows how much the Obamacrats are out of touch with America’s farm belt. In multi-generational farm families, you often have several siblings or other relatives living in close proximity. Parts of the operation may be owned by several family members. Some of the land may be rented. Some family farms are technically considered limited liability corporations or other such arrangements. It can get complicated.Johnny might work on his dad’s farm, but he might also go right next door to his uncle’s property to work for him a few hours in the afternoon. These rule changes would make that traditional practice much more difficult.
Under these rules, kids wouldn’t get to drive (or sometimes even ride!) tractors. Typically, farm youngsters drive tractors from an early age. I did. My 14-year old nephew, an experienced tractor driver, tells me he started driving a tractor at about age 7 and was driving in the field by 9 or 10.
Not only do the new regulations prohibit the kids’ driving tractors, except under certain conditions, they can’t even ride the tractors!
Farm kids would also be restricted from working with livestock.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
Gee Whiz...I was 13 years old and was able to make 5 Cents a quart picking strawberries on an area farm. This was in the 50’s. I was pleased to have the spending money.
I can’t believe where this country is going. I was raised in an average middle class home. We weren’t needy. But I wanted to make some money on my own. No one made me do it. Today....I would not be allowed to do this. What kind of nation is this?
And NOW, 0pansy is beating me into the mud with his crap. I have worked my butt off and 0pansy is hell bent on........
This should be fun to watch...sorta like the revenooers coming to town. Gonna be impossible to enforce and I don’t know a lot of people who would even try to enforce it. When the cows need milked I guess there will be an agent there checking for Birth Certificates. I guess they could get around it by telling the govt they were just going into the barn for a campaign speech and not to actually milk the cow.
For those who don’t think you need equipment to milk a cow try mucking out the barn when your done without a Bobcat. See you round midnight.
You know...this is not just an attack on American farmers...this is an attack on socio cultural values where a kid could earn extra money not ‘handed’ to him/her. There is more behind this type of regulation than meets the eye.
A lot of young boys around here spend their summers working on farms to earn extra money.Many start at 13 or 14 throwing hay or helping drive equipment during harvest.These are not family cars they work on but farms that know many of these kids otherwise won’t have a lot of money for school clothing or for extras like having cash for insurance so they can have a car.Things their families just can’t afford to provide.This will hurt many of those kids.
Jimmy! Feed the dog!
Sorry, Mom... Under Federal regulations, I am not permitted to work with the livestock. You’ll have to do it yourself.
Oh, and cleaning up after Fido... That is definitely against the rules!
Back when I was a kid, you could drive anything without a license plate on the roads from 12-years-old and up. The one rule was that you had to be going from one farm to another.
You can bet we kids knew the name of every farm in the area, so no matter where we were, we could say we were between this one and that one.
Growing up in a small rural town,(I was a town kid) I made a lot of money working for various farmers(Mers). In the spring, I’d be picking rock and in the summer and in the fall bailing hay, with some milking and other barn related chores mixed in.
Under these rules that would no longer be an option.
I DID read the article, goodwins, did you? I merely pointed out that it does our side no good to exaggerate and get our facts wrong. I pointed out that the huge quote under the photo said: “If the federal government can regulate the relationship between parents and their children on their own family’s farm there is virtually nothing off limits”. Then I asked what this had to do with not allowing kids to work on their own family farm. Senator Jerry Moran would do better to point to the real threat of this legislation rather than pointing to something that has nothing to do with it.
CharlesThe Hammer, you are right that many farms are owned by aunts, uncles, etc (family)...... if they are smart, they will not officially “hire” the kids, they will allow them to work, then give them “gifts”. Meanwhile, if we want to stop this non-sense legislation, let’s hammer the real issue!
It’s all about control. The more government can control, ie our food sources, the more of a strangle-hold government will have on us. Our healthcare, our food, our jobs....our very survival will ALL be up to Big Government leftists.
At least, that’s their plan. Romney’s got another plan for their @ss....lol.
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