The Blueberry Children

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
The Blueberry Children
4
Sat, 10-31-2009 - 3:56pm

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/young-children-working-blueberry-fields-walmart-severs-ties/story?id=8951044&rss=rss-ktrk-snippet-7092280


Walmart and the Kroger supermarket chain have severed ties with one of the country's major blueberry growers after an ABC News investigation found children, including one as young as five-years-old, working in its fields.


The children were discovered at the Adkin Blue Ribbon Packing Company, in South Haven, Michigan, this summer by graduate school students working with ABC News as fellows with the Carnegie Corporation.


The full report on the investigation airs tonight on Nightline.


A five-year-old girl, named Suli, was seen lugging two heavy buckets of blueberries picked by her parents and brothers, aged seven and eight.


An 11-year-old boy in the Adkin fields told the Carnegie fellows he had been picking blueberries since the age of eight.


The owner of the company, Randy Adkin, was once featured on a Walmart billboard advertising his "locally produced and locally sold" blueberries.




Related

 "Walmart will not tolerate the use of child labor," said a spokesperson who said the retailer was unaware of the children at the Adkin facility until contacted by ABC News.

"We will not purchase any additional product from Adkin Blue ribbon Packing Company pending the outcome of an investigation by our ethical sourcing team," the Walmart spokesperson said.













Separately, the Department of Labor cited Adkin this week for violating federal child labor laws. Inspectors reported they found a six-year-old picking blueberries in Adkin's fields this summer.

As part of the ABC News investigation, the four Carnegie fellows spent weeks in fruit and vegetable fields in Michigan, New Jersey and North Carolina.


"What it really comes down to is small fingers picking the smaller fruits and vegetables," said Joel Stonington, a recent graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.


In Michigan, a legal aid attorney who works with migrant families, Teresa Hendricks, said the enforcement of the federal child labor law is "very lax."


On Friday, the United Fresh Produce Association sent a letter to its members referencing the "alarming" ABC News investigation, urging members to "redouble your efforts to ensure that no young children are ever working illegally on our farms."


(more on link)



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2007
Sat, 10-31-2009 - 7:11pm

To be honest, I have mixed felling about this. I grew up on a farm. So we had to help out from my first memory. We weren't ask if we wanted to work. We just did what we were told.

I also lived in Toledo for 7 years. There are a lot of migrant workers there. I would see young kids working in the fields. Back then the workers were paid by the bushel not the hour. So they had as many family members working as they could so they could get more money. Didn't matter what their age was.

I don't think anyone would ever be able to stop this. If they tried to stop it, would it affect the family farm? Would farmers be charged for using their own children for working? This just has to many far reaching issues.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-24-2009
Sun, 11-01-2009 - 12:32am

Good questions.


My son picked blueberries when he was 11.

Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-02-2009 - 8:56am

I think the difference is you worked with your family on your farm. Most farming families don't keep their children home from school these days in order to plow, plant and harvest. Even farming families recognize the importance of education.


These migrant children are forced into labor. They aren't going to school, they aren't getting an education, and therefore the likelihood of them ever breaking the cycle of poverty they live in is slim. Much like the children who worked the cotton mills in the south or the young boys who worked in coal mines or the young girls who worked in the sewing factories, these children don't have a chance. They are being exploited because American business owners have, since the beginning of this nation, loved cheap and/or free labor. If they couldn't have slaves, they'd use children. If they couldn't use children they'd use immigrants. Nothing much has changed in this country. The rich continue to use the poor.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 11-02-2009 - 9:13am

'I think the difference is you worked with your family on your farm. Most farming families don't keep their children home from school these days in order to plow, plant and harvest."


I

 


Photobucket&nbs