Speech #880020540

Mr. Speaker. in the 87th Congress I introduced a number of bills directed at the migratory labor problem. Only one measure was enacted into lawPublic Law 87692. which provides grants for public health clinics for migrantsand the plight of migratory laborers remains very largely unchanged. I have introduced a package of bills that aim at specific. continuing and remediable evils. The conditions under which many thousands of migratory laborers must work represent a dark corner of our society that we can no longer afford to neglect. How very bad these conditions are has been made clear beyond doubt in several recent investigations. No one who watched "Harvest of Shame" on television could fail to be deeply distressed that American citizens should live under such conditions. Those who have read Dale Wrights series of articles in the New York World Telegram and Sun will know that our Government has not so far been able to protect migrant laborers from 14hour days at unbelievably low wages. from cheating and exploitation at every turn. from a life of squalor. filth. and even danger. The investigations of the Senate Subcommittee on Migratory Labor have established that the great majority of migrant workers are excluded from the benefits and protections other Americans have long since come to take for granted. The position of the migrant laborer in American society is highly anomalous. By definition he is a transient. a man whose occupation prevents him from forming stable ties with any one community. Nobodys constituent. he is also no ones responsibility. At the same time his extreme mobility throws unusual burdens on those who attempt to provide for his needs.- Special arrangements must be made to adapt community facilities to the needs of the migrant worker. To take but one example. there is an inherent conflict between the demands of the average school System and the transitory character of the migrants work. For all these reasons. the migratory labor problem has become a problem with which the Federal Government must cope. No one State. unaided. can reasonably be expected to assume responsibility for the working and living conditions of laborers whose occupation requires them to move on to another State every few weeks. The bills I am sponsoring would. if passed. bring badly needed Federal assistance to the migrants themselves and to the State governments. The first measure would provide the States with financial assistance to improve the educational opportunities of migrant workers and their children. As I have already pointed out. many local communities have great difficulty in making education available for their permanent residents and are unable to bear financially the seasonal burden of migratory workers children. Since the illiteracy rate is high among adult migratory workers. this bill contains further provisions for adult education.