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Farmers worry new labor rules will end teen jobs
google/ap ^

Posted on 12/02/2011 11:32:06 AM PST by traumer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — From tending cattle to driving tractors or ATVs, 15-year-old Taylor Muller and her three younger brothers have always done what they could to help the family's farming business.

"Most kids my age don't even have jobs," said Taylor, who assists her father at one southwest Oklahoma farm and her grandparents at another. "We already know what hard work is."

Many other young kids won't be allowed to do those kinds of chores if the U.S. Labor Department approves new rules on children working in agriculture. While the Mullers would likely be exempt because it's a family business, the proposed rules would prohibit most children under age 16 from driving tractors, using power equipment, working with livestock in certain circumstances and doing work at heights over 6 feet.

Federal officials say the rules are needed because farming is one of the nation's most dangerous occupations, but many farmers say children learn important life lessons and might develop an interest in agriculture by working on farms or ranches.

Muller's dad, Matt, says he worries about what the new rules might mean for the future of farming. "It's very disheartening to me," he said. "Farming is not just a business. It's a way of life."

Michael Hancock, the assistant administrator for policy at the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, said the rules covering child farm workers haven't been updated in more than 40 years and that changes are needed to address the dangers of working with tractors and other large farm machines. Farming, he said, is "the single-most hazardous occupation, as measured by fatalities, for children."

Nearly 29 out of every 100,000 farm workers in the U.S. die on the job, according to the National Safety Council.

(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Society
KEYWORDS: farming; un21; unagenda21

1 posted on 12/02/2011 11:32:09 AM PST by traumer
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To: traumer

SEIU needs those jobs for union dues.


2 posted on 12/02/2011 11:35:10 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Holding our flawed politicians to higher standards than the enemyÂ’s politicians guarantees they win)
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To: traumer
he said. "Farming is not just a business. It's a way of life."

The Feds don't care about your way of life. In fact, they probably actively oppose it.

3 posted on 12/02/2011 11:35:41 AM PST by PGR88
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To: PGR88

Nanny nation


4 posted on 12/02/2011 11:37:59 AM PST by traumer
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To: traumer
. . . the rules covering child farm workers haven't been updated in more than 40 years and that changes are needed to address the dangers of working with tractors and other large farm machines. Farming, he said, is "the single-most hazardous occupation, as measured by fatalities, for children."

Those jobs are needed for illegals, who vote for Democrats. Why keep them available to hard-working Americans, who are sure to grow up and oppose the socialist plans of the current White House? I approve of protecting children, but Big Government is a far greater danger than farm work. Let's protect the next generation from the Obama Regime, not from a clean way of life.

5 posted on 12/02/2011 11:37:59 AM PST by Pollster1 (Natural born citizen of the USA, with the birth certificate to prove it)
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To: traumer

Naw.....they just want to put them into the employment statistics before the election.
“Look, we created 600,000 farm jobs!” Doesn’t matter that the kids were already working.


6 posted on 12/02/2011 11:43:34 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Pollster1

“Those jobs are needed for illegals, who vote for Democrats.”

THAT IS THE TRUTH, PERIOD.

This administration, or Progressives in general, couldn’t give a rat’s arse whether your children are safe, or not.

All they want is power.


7 posted on 12/02/2011 11:51:56 AM PST by SatinDoll (NO FOREIGN NATIONALS AS U.S.A. PRESIDENT)
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To: traumer

Growing Up Absurd.


8 posted on 12/02/2011 11:52:10 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: traumer
I would really like to see the money trail to the Dems who support this. It smells like the huge agri business companies have a hand in this.

They will lobby to make the cost of farming too high for any smaller.family run operation. On top of that we will end up importing more food from overseas where there are no regulations regarding minors working on farms.

9 posted on 12/02/2011 11:54:52 AM PST by OldMissileer (Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, PK. Winners of the Cold War)
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To: SatinDoll
All they want is power.

Some of Obama's decisions make him look stupid, and others make him look evil. The bottom line is that he wants power, he wants to destroy America, freedom, and Christianity, and he is evil, but we're luck in the sense that he's too stupid to effectively inflict as much damage as he hopes to cause. He definitely wants power, and there are no redeeming qualities in his motivation to gain that power.

10 posted on 12/02/2011 11:58:38 AM PST by Pollster1 (Natural born citizen of the USA, with the birth certificate to prove it)
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To: SatinDoll

Government NEVER wants what is best for individuals—it is the leviathan-—government always wants complete control over all aspects of human activities. It is why we have a “limited” government. (We are supposed to have one). All political philosophy knows about the nature of government—to control and make slaves of all—led by a few “elites” who know better.

Destroying the family unit is what this bill is all about—destroying parents ability to direct the raising of their children—especially with religious and conservative values. What children do (or don’t do) forms their worldview. Government wants to eliminate perseverance and the Protestant Work Ethic which created the individualism and prosperity of America. No Abe Lincoln’s wanted!!!! in a Marxist society.

We need government OUT of our lives.....and keep strangers from raising children. It was NEVER in the realm of government to intervene in families-—it is all about PROTECTING the rights of biological parents=== except in Marxists societies where daycare was invented and there is no parental decisions without government. Elite homosexuals know what your children should learn so they form children with the proper worldview which is Atheism/paganism/occultism and sloth (welfare state).


11 posted on 12/02/2011 12:10:49 PM PST by savagesusie
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To: traumer
I KNEW this was coming! RRRRRAAAAHHH... the marxists are trying to put the final nail in the coffin of breeding hard work and self reliance in young folks. I'm fuming right now, so pardon any typos here.

I tell every lazy, TV/game addicted kid I meet about my education working on farms from 9 years old, driving tractors (1930's single piston hand start John Deer) with tandem over stacked hay wagons up and down hills plus backing them up to a barn, through high school (my 5 to 9 job on a dairy farm making $2/hr), and up through college graduation.

I am so, so amazed and sickened by the inability of kids today to do anything practical in their daily lives. If Google doesn't do it for them, they're paralyzed. Thank God for the Boy Scouts and FFA, but not enough boys, through their dads or family friend, get involved. My friend's 13 year old boy recently watched me put in a ceiling fan and faucet at their house and you'd think he just saw Houdini escape from a straight jacket inside a trunk wrapped in chains and dumped into the Hudson river covered in ice. I am VERY concerned about this generation of incompetent weenies!

As if the NEA and PC public schools haven't done enough damage to our progeny, along comes BHO's marxists to put a stake in the heart of the last know area where kids can learn a very high level of responsibility and how to get things done, while building their mind, body, bank account, and appreciation for God's gift of life.

12 posted on 12/02/2011 12:18:12 PM PST by uncommonsense (Conservatives believe what they see; Liberals see what they believe.)
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To: traumer

At age 14, I got my first summer job. I cleaned out irrigation ditches and mended fence along side Mexican laborers on a mid sized farm in Arizona. It helped me mature and reinforce a work ethic taught me by my Dad. As fewer young people get this sort of an upbringing our country is poorer.


13 posted on 12/02/2011 12:22:02 PM PST by JimSEA (The future ain't what it used to be.)
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To: uncommonsense

You are SO right


14 posted on 12/02/2011 12:23:37 PM PST by traumer
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To: traumer

Not to attack farmers, but many ignore the laws against hiring illegals so I’m guessing that they will simply ignore these as well.


15 posted on 12/02/2011 12:28:47 PM PST by apillar
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To: traumer
I remember having to go to the local elementary school for my working papers after school let our for the summer. In 1971 I made $1.20 an hour planting onions,picking grapes,(white and champagne)working the egg farms,picking tomatoes,etc in South Jersey. I rode my bike to all the different farms and always had a few bucks in my pocket. Seems that part of America is disappearing fast.
16 posted on 12/02/2011 12:34:34 PM PST by 4yearlurker (I've been dipping into my jar full of Hope & Change just to buy gas!!)
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To: traumer
"...doing work at heights over 6 feet."

Unbelievable.

When we were kids, farm work was all there was. Cleaning stalls, discing and mowing, putting up hay, stringing barbed wire. That's where you got your work ethic (and your muscles) for not a lot of pay. But it was a job. Hell, the hay mound was often 20 ft. or more high and we'd create ornate steps with the bales to get to the top.

And we wonder why we've got so many whiny zombie OWS types these days.

17 posted on 12/02/2011 12:43:59 PM PST by SnuffaBolshevik (In a tornado, even turkeys can fly.)
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To: traumer
While the Mullers would likely be exempt because it's a family business,

Sloppy reporting once again by the AP.

The Muller kids would be able to work on their family farm, within the new guidelines. However, they would be forbidden to work on their grandparents farm. Now tell me why they did that?

Obama and his Communists cloaked in Democrat cloth - out to destroy the fabric of the country.

18 posted on 12/02/2011 1:37:15 PM PST by VeniVidiVici ("Si, se gimme!")
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