This paper, by a teacher of migrants, summarizes various farm labor laws and child labor laws pertaining to migrant and seasonal workers. The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act of 1983 provides workers with assurances about pay, hours, and working conditions, including safety and health. This legislation permits anyone…

The 1916 Federal Employees' Compensation Act is still the focal point around which the federal workers compensation program works today. The program has gone through many changes on its way to becoming a modern means of compensating workers for job-related injury, disease, and death. (Author)

The first thing migrant farmworkers require when they arrive at a new place is shelter. Traditionally, on-the-job housing has been provided by the grower or by a growers association or by a company which owns the crops; and traditionally the quality of such housing has varied greatly. Although Texas is the biggest exporter and user state of…

Generally, when a student or a staff member coped with the psychological aftermath of a tragedy, they did so without the involvement-or responsibility-of school personnel. But educators have come to recognize that schools play a critical role in any crisis response and care system serving children and youth. This is true whether teachers are…

It may surprise students to realize that health problems in other countries affect them, too. Where people live and the conditions under which they live directly affect their health. The health of a population can also offer insight into a region's social, political, and economic realities. As a powerful lens into how human societies function,…

In Fiscal Year 1997, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has an estimated budget of $34.4 billion and is authorized 16,614 full-time-equivalent staff-years. DOL's many programs fall into two major categories: enhancing workers' skills through job training and ensuring worker protection. The DOL's work force development mission is being challenged…

During the 1980s, the rise of independent farm labor contractors and Republican labor policies led to a deterioration in the economic well-being of farmworkers and their families. Delays in the implementation of new safeguards under the Worker Protection Standards Act have resulted in continuing exposure to pesticides, causing such exposure to…

The current conditions of home workers in the garment industry in Toronto, Canada, were examined through in-depth telephone interviews with 30 Chinese-speaking immigrant women who were employed as home workers in 1999. The paper dicusses the formal training and informal learning experiences of immigrant woman who are garment workers. A comparison…

On May 8, 1990, testimony concerning the Child Labor Act of 1990 was heard at a joint hearing of two U.S. Senate subcommittees. Opening statements by Senators Metzenbaum and Jeffords concerned: (1) the increase in child labor law violations since 1983; (2) the lack of increase in penalty fines since that time; (3) child death and injury during…

Americans have been exposed to increased levels of mass violence during the past decade. School violence, shootings in the workplace, and terrorist acts both here and abroad--all have affected individuals, families, communities, and our country. This report addresses the urgent need to evaluate the various psychological interventions that are…

An estimated 200,000-800,000 children and adolescents work in the United States as migrant agricultural laborers, either alone or with their families. This digest describes the statutory and economic factors contributing to the presence of children in the fields and the impact of this labor on their health and educational progress. The Fair Labor…

This two-part report deals with the Lead Exposure Reduction Act of 1992 (H.R. 5730), an amendment to the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The amendment is intended to lead to the reduction of levels of lead in the environment and to lower the degree of childhood exposure to lead. The bill provides for a…

A Senate subcommittee hearing received testimony concerning a proposed amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to permit Amish youth, ages 14-18, to work under adult supervision in sawmills. Current Department of Labor regulations ban the employment of minors in sawmill operations. This poses a problem for Amish youth who finish their…