Mr. Speaker. migrant labor housing standards promulgated by the Department of Labor are being rigidly enforced in the fruit- and vegetableproducing areas of southwestern Michigan. The unrealistic and impractical application of the standards. from the growers point of view. has resulted in an organization intent on obtaining Federal aid in the construction of migrant housing. Their position is that if the Government requires housing for migrants beyond the financial ability of the grower to provide. the Government should bear a part of the burden. Illustrative of the manner in which the standards are being applied is the reported case of a grower who just completed a new house for his family. but found that if the house had been built for migrants it would not pass inspectionthe windows were not properly spaced. In other cases. shower facilities which passed the requirements of distance from the dwellings at the time of construction now are declared too far away. There is a growing opinion that the Government seeks to discourage the use of migrant labor in the area. though such labor is presently essential to the harvesting of crops. A principal complaint of the growers is that they need to obtain Individually and annually the housing permit required before they can utilize the services of the U.S. Employment Service in obtaining essential farm labor.
Keywords matched
migrants migrant