Speech #910282327

The data on rural health is in like vein. The need for the farmworker provisions of the bill are thus well documented. The bill. beginning at section 521. states the congressional findings and declaration of policy in establishing this title. and section 522 establishes in the Department of Labor an Office of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Manpower Programs. Section 523 provides that funds available for this part shall be expended for programs and activities consistent with the purpose of this part. including but not limited to such programs and activities carried out by eligible applicants under other provisions of this act. The Secretary shall reserve funds for this part on the basis of the proportion of members of migrant and seasonal farmworker familiesover 1 millionto total lowincome population. Before approving financial assistance under this part. the Secretary must determine. on the basis of evaluation by the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Manpower National Advisory Council. that persons broadly representative of the population to be served are given the opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of programs under this part. The bill will assure an opportunity for migrant and seasonal farmworkers to obtain their fair share of our Nations efforts to permit and encourage the maximum development of our human resources. It will guarantee an equitable allocation of funds for migrant manpower programs under all of the bills provisions. Thus. migrants will benefit both from the manpower services and public service employment programs. An Office of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Manpower Programs will be established in the Labor Department to administer these programs and to provide a focal point for problems of migrancy. Because of the interstate character of this problem. it is especially Important to have a single office at Federal level with which public and private groups throughout the Nation can work. For a variety of reasons. including their economic and political powerlessness. farmworkers have been excluded. explicitly or implicitly. from major social and worker benefit programs. The bill should also lead the way toward correcting this injustice. It providessection 524for a National Advisory Council on Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Manpower to focus manpower programs on farmworkers. as well as to prepare a yearly comprehensive evaluation of the causes and possible remedies of the economic and manpower problems of farmworkers. Section 526 sets forth the duties of the council to advise the President. the Secretary of Labor. and the Congress with respect to the problems of migratory agriculture labor. and the Council will be composed of representatives from the agricultural industry. farmworkers. experts in the fields of rural health. education. and housing and State and Federal officialssection 524. The Council is directedsection 526to investigate various aspects of migrant work and develop demographic information with which to accurately describe this class of worker. including an analysis of who are migrant workers. and what constitutes migrancy. Data indicative of past and projected trends in the size and demographic composition and comparative employment find earnings records of this group will be sought. The effect of the open border policy between Mexico and the United States on farmworker economic and manpower problems will be studied.