Note from Baldemar Velasquez, President, IUF affiliate Farm Labor Organizing Committee: To mark the 2024 World Day Against Child Labor, we want to share the stories and experiences of some of our staff who laboured in the fields as children. Child labour is still rampant, with 60% of child labour occurring in agriculture. In the United States, more children die working in agriculture than in any other industry. No child should be working in the fields to supplement the poverty wages their family members receive. As our staff reflect on their experiences, we urge you to join us in fighting against child labour and labour exploitation in the fields.
| David
David started working in the fields at 9 years old with his 12 siblings and parents. He is now a lead organizer at FLOC. “No one cared that I was kid. I wanted to be a teacher. We travelled from Texas to Ohio, Michigan and Nebraska every summer. We worked in Texas on the weekends and after school. I knew I was different from my classmates. I worked alongside grown men. The conditions were worse than today. We were extremely poor, working in over 100-degree weather, we got paid minimum wage and we were never provided bathroom facilities or drinking water. I felt indifferent to my own suffering but felt bad for my mother and father. We got paid several different ways, but it all went to the family. Every experience led me to the Union (FLOC). I was recruited by FLOC at 22 years old when I was working in the fields up in Ohio. They recruited me because I was outspoken. Ever since then I have worked to advance labour rights. No child should be working in the fields.” |
| Mario
Mario started working with his mom and 9 siblings at 12 years old. He is now FLOC’s lead development coordinator and oversees our organizing efforts throughout the Southeastern United States. “When I think back to when I first started working in the fields as a child, all I can think about is the pain. I was 12 years old, not wanting to get out of bed because my bones hurt, my back hurt, my whole body ached. I weighed maybe 100 pounds, and I was doing such harsh manual labour. No farmers cared that I was so young. The schools didn’t seem to care either. I went from school to school, migrating from Florida up the east coast following the harvest throughout the year. We were never in a place long enough; we would work full days during school time. In South Carolina we would pick tomatoes all day, then go to the packinghouse afterwards and pack tomatoes until midnight, sometimes 1am. Nobody asked how old I was, or my siblings. We were paid cash, all under the table. I graduated high school through a migrant school program. There is one moment that really sticks out to me in my childhood, when I received my first paycheck. It was $75 for a full week of work. After being in so much pain and working fulltime it was only $75. And that of course went to my mom to help provide for me and my siblings. I had a lot of anger built up from childhood, from the injustices. I knew since I was young, I would break the cycle of being a migrant farmworker, that I would be a role model for my younger siblings. In the labour camps, I was always the one people went to for help. I would translate official paperwork or help people send letters back home. I liked helping people, and I wanted to spend my life doing so. My work at the Campaign for Migrant Worker Justice (CMWJ) and FLOC is deeply personal. I know the pain and struggles of our members in the fields. There is a certain satisfaction I get, it’s almost healing, when I can help one of my brothers or sisters working in agriculture.”
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