Speech #930221608

Mr. Speaker. I wish to call to the attention of my colleagues the plight of one of the most vital yet exploited labor forces of our Nationthe migrant worker. Migrant workers have been relegated to a subservient role. they are victims of every illness of our societypoverty. hunger. disease. prejudice. discrimination. and exploitation. yet Congress and State legislatures throughout our country continue to ignore their vital needs. Consider for a moment how the energy crisis affects the migrant workers. Entirely dependent upon transportation while following the ripening crops which provide their work. the migrants are doubly burdened by the high fuel costs and fuel shortages. As they travel to secure work. they must pay outrageous fuel prices which cut deeply into their meager wages. Many migrant families. fearing they will be stranded without fuel or money to pay for it. are refusing to leave their homes this spring. as is proven by a U.S. Department of Labor manpower project survey in south Texas which indicates that the fuel shortage may keep 63 percent of the migrant farmworkers from traveling north this season to harvest crops. Despite the severity of the fuel crisis. this may be the least of their problems. Fuel prices are only the most recent difficulty to be added to the long list of hardships which migrant workers. men. women. and children. chronically endure. Health conditions continue to be a distressing illustration of the deplorable living conditions migrant workers must face. Flies. pesticides. lack of nourishing food. absence of sanitary facilities. wretched housing. overcrowding. and the forced life style of migration make migrants susceptible to all kinds of physical and emotional afflictions. The mortality rate for instance. from tuberculosis. influenza. pneumonia. and other infectious diseases. is more than twice the national average. Migrant children. due to the lack of nutritious foods and adequate medical care. often suffer from such poor health during their Infant years. that despite subsequent care. the damage Is irreversible. Dr. Peter Chase of the University of Colorado Medical School. treated 300 children under the age of six who live in the migrant flow area between Texas and Colorado. His report included findings that 54 of the children were severely retarded in height. 159 lacked sufficient sightgiving vitamin A. 28 suffered protein malnutrition. 49 had enlarged livers. 29 had eye diseases suggestive of trachoma. and 7 suffered from kwashiorkorstarvation. The parents of these children work from dawn until dusk. yet do not earn enough to provide adequate food and medical care for their families. Wages received by migrant workers are the lowest of the "working poor"far less than the minimum wage for industrial workersand the upredictability of work due to weather. crop. and soil conditions further cuts into their earning power. In addition. migrant workers are largely excluded from workmens compensation coverage. thus precluding compensation for an injury or illness received on the job. Considering the increased mechanization of agriculture. increased use of chemical herbicides and pesticides. and the fact that agriculture has become the third most hazardous industry in the United States. with a fatality rate exceeded only by mining and construction work. this in my view. is unconscionable. The problems of the migrant workers may be overwhelming. but we must not consider them insurmountable. The time has passed for promises. our task is to provide. not later. but now: minimum wage and guidelines for promotion. fringe benefits such as holidays and paid vacations. protections against discrimination in hiring. housing and wages paid. medical. dental. welfare and pension benefits. protection of enforced safety and equipment standards over pesticides used. and service centers established to aid migrant workers with social and legal problems they encounter. To ignore these tasks is to ignore one of the most deplorable situations existing in this country.