Speech #930189471

The fact is that the majority of the Nations 140.000 field sugarworkers have an annual income so low that. were they not under the protective arm of the Department of Agriculture as provided by the Sugar Act. these workers would be eligible for welfare payments in most States. In addition to low wages. there are many other examples of injustice toward and neglect of the field sugarworkers: First. housing for workers is most often substandard and decrepit. Second. domestic workers are often deprived of an opportunity to work by the use of illegal aliens who are willing to work for as little as 50 cents an hour. Third. there are no provisions for accidents or sickness. Fourth. sugar workers are at times cheated in the deductions taken from their pay for the cost of facilities or servIces provided by producers or crew leaders and labor contractors. Fifth. there is no equitable mechanism for resolving disputes between workers and their employers. no safeguards against retaliation. Mr. Speaker. these inequities are hardly what President Roosevelt had in mind when he said to the Congress "that if the sugar industry is to receive the benefits of the quota system. then it ought to be a good employer." Therefore. in order to remedy these terrible inequities suffered by our sugar workers. I am today introducing the equitable benefits amendments to the Sugar Act. I am joined in doing so by Mr.