[House Hearing, 108 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
H.R. 1943, LEGISLATION AMENDING THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT TO
PERMIT CERTAIN YOUTH TO PERFORM CERTAIN SPECIFIED WORK
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON WORKFORCE PROTECTIONS
of the
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
AND THE WORKFORCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
October 8, 2003
__________
Serial No. 108-37
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and the Workforce
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/
house
or
Committee address: http://edworkforce.house.gov
______
90-142 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2003
____________________________________________________________________________
For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; (202) 512�091800
Fax: (202) 512�092250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402�090001
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
JOHN A. BOEHNER, Ohio, Chairman
Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin, Vice George Miller, California
Chairman Dale E. Kildee, Michigan
Cass Ballenger, North Carolina Major R. Owens, New York
Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Donald M. Payne, New Jersey
Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey
California Lynn C. Woolsey, California
Michael N. Castle, Delaware Ruben Hinojosa, Texas
Sam Johnson, Texas Carolyn McCarthy, New York
James C. Greenwood, Pennsylvania John F. Tierney, Massachusetts
Charlie Norwood, Georgia Ron Kind, Wisconsin
Fred Upton, Michigan Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio
Vernon J. Ehlers, Michigan David Wu, Oregon
Jim DeMint, South Carolina Rush D. Holt, New Jersey
Johnny Isakson, Georgia Susan A. Davis, California
Judy Biggert, Illinois Betty McCollum, Minnesota
Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania Danny K. Davis, Illinois
Patrick J. Tiberi, Ohio Ed Case, Hawaii
Ric Keller, Florida Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona
Tom Osborne, Nebraska Denise L. Majette, Georgia
Joe Wilson, South Carolina Chris Van Hollen, Maryland
Tom Cole, Oklahoma Tim Ryan, Ohio
Jon C. Porter, Nevada Timothy H. Bishop, New York
John Kline, Minnesota
John R. Carter, Texas
Marilyn N. Musgrave, Colorado
Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
Phil Gingrey, Georgia
Max Burns, Georgia
Paula Nowakowski, Staff Director
John Lawrence, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON WORKFORCE PROTECTIONS
CHARLIE NORWOOD, Georgia, Chairman
Judy Biggert, Illinois, Vice Major R. Owens, New York
Chairman Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio
Cass Ballenger, North Carolina Lynn C. Woolsey, California
Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Denise L. Majette, Georgia
Johnny Isakson, Georgia Donald M. Payne, New Jersey
Ric Keller, Florida Timothy H. Bishop, New York
John Kline, Minnesota George Miller, California, ex
Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee officio
John A. Boehner, Ohio, ex officio
------
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on October 8, 2003.................................. 1
Statement of Members:
Norwood, Hon. Charlie, Chairman, Subcommittee on Workforce
Protections, Committee on Education and the Workforce...... 2
Prepared statement of.................................... 3
Owens, Hon. Major R., Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
Workforce Protections, Committee on Education and the
Workforce.................................................. 4
Pitts, Hon. Joseph R., a Representative in Congress from the
State of Pennsylvania...................................... 6
Prepared statement of.................................... 8
Souder, Hon. Mark E., a Representative in Congress from the
State of Indiana........................................... 9
Prepared statement of.................................... 11
Statement of Witnesses:
Blank, Christ K., Chairman, Old Order Amish Steering
Committee - National, Kinzers, Pennsylvania................ 12
Prepared statement of.................................... 14
Burkholder, William, C.B. Hardwood Lumber Company,
Centerville, Pennsylvania.................................. 19
Prepared statement of.................................... 20
Clark, Nicholas, Esq., Assistant General Counsel, United Food
and Commercial Workers, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC............ 16
Prepared statement of.................................... 18
Additional materials supplied:
Bontrager, Herman, Secretary/Treasurer, National Committee
for Amish Religious Freedom................................ 35
H.R. 1943, LEGISLATION AMENDING THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT TO PERMIT
CERTAIN YOUTH TO PERFORM CERTAIN SPECIFIED WORK
----------
October 8, 2003
U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
Committee on Education and the Workforce
Washington, DC
----------
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:35 a.m., in
Room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Charlie Norwood
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Norwood, Biggert, Owens, Kucinich,
Majette, and Payne.
Staff present: Jim Paretti, Professional Staff Member;
Donald McIntosh, Staff Assistant; Ed Gilroy, Director of
Workforce Policy; Loren Sweatt, Professional Staff Member;
Chris Jacobs, Staff Assistant; Kevin Frank, Professional Staff
Member; Deborah L. Samantar, Committee Clerk/Intern
Coordinator. Peter Rutledge, Minority Senior Legislative
Associate/Labor; Maria Cuprill, Minority Legislative Associate/
Labor; Margo Hennigan, Minority Legislative Assistant/Labor.
Chairman Norwood. A quorum being present, the Subcommittee
on Workforce Protections of the Committee on Education and the
Workforce will come to order.
We are meeting here today to hear testimony on H.R. 1943,
legislation amending the Fair Labor Standards Act to permit
Amish youth to perform certain specified work. Under Committee
Rule 12(b), opening statements are limited to the Chairman and
the Ranking Minority Member of this Subcommittee. Therefore, if
other Members have statements, they may be included in the
hearing record.
With that, I ask unanimous consent for the hearing record
to remain open 14 days to allow Members' statements and other
extraneous material referenced during the hearing to be
submitted in the official hearing record. Without objection, so
ordered.
In keeping with the tenets of their faith, our witnesses
from the Amish community have asked that they not be
photographed or videotaped during our hearing today. Out of
respect for these beliefs, today's hearings will not be
broadcast over the Internet, and we have arranged with
Subcommittee staff to ensure that our witnesses are not
videotaped or photographed this morning.
I would ask and expect the same cooperation of any
journalist present today that witnesses Blank and Burkholder
not be photographed or videotaped during this morning's
hearing. The Subcommittee greatly appreciates your cooperation.
STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLIE NORWOOD, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON
WORKFORCE PROTECTIONS, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
Good morning. The legislation before us today, H.R. 1943,
would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide
that certain youth whose religious faith and beliefs dictate
that they learn by doing are afforded an opportunity to do so,
and that the Federal Government, however well- meaning, does
not endanger the belief and culture of these young people and
their families.
Specifically, we will hear today about how the Fair Labor
Standards Act provisions regarding child labor threaten the way
of life of Amish youth. Now some of my colleagues may know, and
our witnesses today will certainly explain, that in the Amish
tradition, formal education ends at the eighth grade.
Thereafter, with the support of their families and communities,
Amish youth--Amish young people are expected to further their
education through hands-on training or learning by doing.
Now for many years, that training and learning came in
agriculture and family farming. The Fair Labor Standards Act
recognizes that and provides fairly broad exceptions for youth
working in agriculture and on family farms. But in recent
years, with the decline of agriculture, more and more Amish
families have turned to carpentry and woodworking as a source
of their employment and as a source of training for their young
people.
And there is where the FLSA has presented obstacles by
prohibiting 14- to 18-year-olds from working in such
facilities. In the recent past, several Amish sawmills in
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other states have faced thousands of
dollars of fines for training their young people in accordance
with their beliefs. Now many of these folks may never have
known that these prohibitions even existed, but now that they
are aware, they are justifiably concerned that these laws,
however well-intentioned, truly jeopardize their way of life.
H.R. 1943 seeks to address this threat by making narrow,
common sense changes to the FLSA while maintaining necessary
workplace safety and health protections. As some of my
colleagues will remember, this is not the first time the
Subcommittee has addressed this matter. Indeed, in both the
106th and 105th Congresses, we were able to pass this
legislation through Subcommittee, Full Committee and on the
House Floor with strong bipartisan support.
Unfortunately, in both of these Congresses, our colleagues
in the other body did not take action on this measure. I raise
this point today not only to refresh our collective memories
but also to express my hope that we might work in a similar
bipartisan fashion in moving this bill through the legislative
process this year.
I also would say that because this legislation has been
through the Committee process several times in years past, it
has been refined and perfected to address concerns that were
raised in earlier considerations. For example, the bill
includes numerous provisions to protect the safety of Amish
youth who work in these woodworking facilities. Requirements
that a minor working in these facilities be supervised by an
adult relative or other sect member, requirements that minors
are adequately protected by appropriate workplace barriers or
distance from machinery, and a strict prohibition on any minor
operating any power woodworking machinery.
Finally, I know in years past there has been concern that
this legislation may raise Constitutional concerns. Again, we
have worked to address those, and I am confident that the end
product before us today, which is a narrowly tailored, common
sense measure, passes Constitutional muster.
[The prepared statement of Chairman Norwood follows:]
Statement of Hon. Charlie Norwood, Chairman, Subcommittee on Workforce
Protections, Committee on Education and the Workforce
Good Morning.
The legislation before us today, H.R. 1943, would amend the Fair
Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide that certain youth whose
religious faith and beliefs dictate that they ``learn by doing'' are
afforded an opportunity to do so, and that the federal government--
however well-meaning--does not endanger the belief and culture of these
young people and their families.
Specifically, we will hear today about how the Fair Labor Standards
Act's provisions regarding child labor threaten the way of life of
Amish youth. Now some of my colleagues may know, and our witnesses
today will certainly explain, that in the Amish tradition, formal
education ends at the eighth grade. Thereafter, with the support of
their families and communities, Amish young people are expected to
further their education through hands-on training or ``learning by
doing.''
Now for many years that training and learning came in agriculture
and family farming. The Fair Labor Standards Act recognizes that, and
provides fairly broad exceptions for youth working in agriculture and
on family farms. But in recent years, with the decline of agriculture,
more and more Amish families have turned to carpentry and woodworking
as a source of employment, and as a source of training for their young
people. And there is where the FLSA has presented obstacles by
prohibiting 14- to 18- year olds from working in such facilities.
In the recent past, several Amish sawmills in Pennsylvania, Ohio
and other states have faced thousands of dollars of fines for training
their young people in accordance with their beliefs. Now many of these
folks may never have known that these prohibitions even existed--but
now that they are aware, they are justifiably concerned that these
laws--however well-intended--truly jeopardize their way of life.
H.R. 1943 seeks to address this threat by making narrow, common-
sense changes to the FLSA, while maintaining necessary workplace safety
and health protections.
As some of my colleagues will remember, this is not the first time
this Subcommittee has addressed this matter. Indeed, in both the 106th
and 105th Congresses, we were able to pass this legislation through
Subcommittee, Full Committee, and on the House Floor, with strong
bipartisan support. Unfortunately, in both of those Congresses, our
colleagues in the other body did not take action on the measure.
I raise this point today not only to refresh our collective
memories--but also to express my hope that we might work in a similar
bipartisan fashion in moving this bill through the legislative process
this year.
I also would say that because this legislation has been through the
committee process several times in years past, it has been refined and
perfected to address concerns that were raised in earlier
consideration.
For example, the bill includes numerous provisions to protect the
safety of Amish youth who work in these wood working facilities:
requirements that a minor working in these facilities be supervised by
an adult relative or other sect member; requirements that minors are
adequately protected by appropriate workplace barriers or distance from
machinery; and a strict prohibition on any minor operating any power
woodworking machinery.
Finally, I know in years past there has been concern that this
legislation may raise constitutional concerns. Again, we have worked to
address those, and I am confident that the end product before us today,
which is a narrowly-tailored, common-sense measure, passes
constitutional muster.
We are honored to have with us the sponsor of this legislation, our
colleagues, Mr. Pitts of Pennsylvania and Mr. Souder of Indiana, as
well as representatives of the Amish community, who will explain both
the role of their faith, and the difficulties they have encountered
under the Fair Labor Standards Act far better than I could hope to do.
I also look forward to hearing the testimony of our Minority's witness,
Mr. Clark. I welcome each of you, and with that would yield to my
distinguished colleague from New York for any opening remarks he would
care to make.
______
We are honored to have with us the sponsors of this
legislation, our colleagues, Mr. Pitts of Pennsylvania and Mr.
Souder of Indiana, as well as representatives of the Amish
community who will explain both the role of their faith and the
difficulties they have encountered under the Fair Labor
Standards Act far better than I could ever hope to do.
I also look forward to hearing the testimony of our
minority witness, Mr. Clark. I welcome each of you, and with
that would yield to my distinguished colleague from New York
for any opening remarks he might wish to make. Mr. Owens?
STATEMENT OF HON. MAJOR R. OWENS, RANKING MEMBER, SUBCOMMITTEE
ON WORKFORCE PROTECTIONS, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE
WORKFORCE
Mr. Owens. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me begin by saying
that I am gratified to see that Mr. Pitts has included the 1998
amendments to his original bill. The amendments provide
additional protection to minors working in these most dangerous
settings. However, while these changes improve the bill, they
do not perfect it. H.R. 1943 permits children as young as 14 to
work in one of the most hazardous industries in the country.
The occupational fatality rate in the lumber and wood products
industry is five times higher--five times higher--than the
national average.
According to the July 2003 National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health Alert, which is entitled
``Preventing Deaths, Injuries, and Illnesses of Young
Workers,'' an average of 67 young workers under the age of 18
died from work-related injuries each year during 1992 to 2000.
The report goes on to say that more than 30 percent of all
fatal injuries to young workers occurred in family businesses,
and that in 1998 an estimated 77,000 young workers required
treatment in hospital emergency rooms. However, information
from national surveys also indicates that only one-third of
work-related injuries are seen in emergency rooms. Therefore,
it is likely that nearly 230,000 teens suffered work-related
injuries that year.
This report also gives 11 cases as examples of the risks
young workers face while at work in a number of industries.
Among these they cite the case of the 17-year-old worker
crushed to death at a salvage lumber business when the forklift
he was operating overturned.
Sawmills are extremely hazardous work environments. Workers
have been killed when loads fell off of forklifts. They have
been suffocated by sawdust. They have been killed as a result
of boards being kicked out of saws.
Mr. Burkholder, I still remember your 1998 testimony on
behalf of this legislation when you told us how you lost the
tip of your finger during a moment of inattention. This
happened to you, an adult. What could possibly have happened to
a child of 14 years? I cringe to think of children working in
that kind of dangerous environment.
Inexperience, smaller size, and lack of maturity all serve
to make the potential risks faced by minors even greater than
they are for adults. Governments make an assumption that
children have to have special protections, and that is
something that is usually not challenged, the government's
prerogative to try to protect children. I do not think it is
reasonable to expect a 14-year-old to maintain a kind of
continuous safety concern that we would expect of adults. In
this industry, a moment of inattention can be fatal.
The child labor laws serve two vital purposes. First, the
child labor laws are intended to ensure that children are not
employed in circumstances that are unduly hazardous to their
health. I do not mean to imply that the proponents of this
legislation are indifferent to the health and safety of their
children. I understand the concern that children be employed in
occupations common to the Amish community. However, to employ
children in an industry where the occupational fatality and
injury rates are as high as those in this particular industry
are, in my view, just asking for trouble.
The second purpose of the child labor laws is to protect
the income of workers by ensuring that adults do not have to
compete for their employment with children who do not yet have
the burden of supporting themselves. This bill flies in the
face of that important public policy. Further, this bill
creates an exception whereby an employer may employ Amish youth
but no others. Creating an incentive for employers to hire
Amish youth over workers of other religious faiths not only
raises Constitutional questions, but also places the Department
of Labor in the position of having to document a worker's
religion. I do not think that kind of policy is either wise or
fair.
I yield the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Norwood. Thank you, Mr. Owens. It is now my honor
to introduce to the Subcommittee two of our esteemed colleagues
present with us today. On behalf of the Members of the
Subcommittee and myself, I want to thank them for being here as
well, thank each of our witnesses on our panel today for
testifying on this very important issue.
All of us know, but I'd like to introduce, the Honorable
Joseph R. Pitts, who serves the 16th Congressional District of
Pennsylvania. Mr. Pitts. The Honorable Mark Souder, who
represents the Third Congressional District of Indiana. Mr.
Souder, we're delighted to have you. Mr. Christ K. Blank, who
is Chairman of the Older Order Amish Steering Committee, and
he's here from Pennsylvania. Nicholas Clark, who is Assistant
General Counsel, United Food and Commercial Workers of AFL-CIO.
Welcome, Mr. Clark. And Mr. William Burkholder, who has C.B.
Hardwood Lumber Company in Pennsylvania.
Gentlemen, we generally ask our witnesses to stay at about
five minutes. There is a clock or a red/yellow/green light in
front of you, and I'll ask you to try to stay within the five
minutes. I know some of you have come a long way, and I hate to
cut witnesses off. So work with me if you would and try to stay
within that timeframe.
With that, I'd like to recognize Mr. Pitts.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH R. PITTS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS
FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA
Mr. Pitts. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding
this important hearing. I'll submit my entire statement for the
record and also testimony from Mr. Herman Bontrager, Secretary-
Treasurer of the National Committee for Amish Religious
Freedom, for the record.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to testify on
the cultural and employment needs of the Amish youth.
This is a critical issue for the Amish, who reside in 33
states and in 115 congressional districts. My home state of
Pennsylvania ranks first in the nation in the total number of
Amish adherents, with over 43,500, and more than half live in
my district, the 16th Congressional District.
People around the world know of the Old Order Amish as a
people who till their land and direct their lives with faith,
simplicity, and discipline.
Traditionally, Amish communities are centered around the
family farm, which requires participation from the whole
family. While caring for crops and animals, Amish parents show
their children how to make a living without exposure to outside
influences that contradict their beliefs.
However, a high growth rate and the soaring price of
farmland have forced the Amish to look for alternatives to
farming. Now Amish can be found in small businesses making raw
lumber, clocks, wagons, cabinetry, and quilts. Therefore, as
they did on the family farm, the Amish now wish to have their
youth work with them in these vocational settings. Typically
the youth learn a trade after the completion of Amish school,
or eighth grade.
The Amish view this work as part of their schooling, since
they often accompany a parent to the workplace. And these
apprenticeships are known as ``learning by doing.''
Unfortunately, these small, Amish-owned businesses have
received costly fines, ranging up to $20,000, from the
Department of Labor for having their youth under the age of 18
work alongside their fathers and uncles, even in family
businesses.
Mr. Chairman, a few years ago, an Amish businessman in my
district was fined $10,000 for having his own child in the
front office of his business. And this 15-year-old teenager was
simply learning to use the cash register alongside her father--
she was far from harm's way. But there was a machine in the
back of the shop.
Actions such as these by the Department of Labor have
severely threatened the lifestyle and religion of this
respected and humble community. Amish youth are already exempt
from state laws making school attendance mandatory when they
have finished the eighth grade and are 14 years old, and they
are permitted to work more hours than would normally be the
case and work during traditional school hours. Additional,
minors working in agriculture are totally exempt from child
labor laws.
The Amish expect diligence, responsibility, and respect
from their Community Services Block Grant. They do not
contribute to the social ills of society. They do not accept
any assistance from any government programs. Our government
should not interfere with this humble community.
Some of my colleagues, along with our Amish constituents,
have met with the Department of Labor over the past several
years to try to find a solution to the problem. In fact, a
group of officials from the Department of Labor joined me in
touring two Amish-owned woodworking businesses this May to
observe the conditions under which Amish youth would be allowed
to work if H.R. 1943 is enacted.
Unfortunately, the Department of Labor has repeatedly
indicated that there is no regulatory administrative solution,
and so we have to deal with this through legislation.
The Amish have a very unique situation. They complete their
formal schooling at the end of eighth grade. They are
prohibited by their religious beliefs from attending school
beyond this point. As such, they do not have the benefit of or
access to shop class or ``vo-tech'' programs that many of our
youth have.
We have a responsibility to evaluate the Amish in this
unique light. And this narrow legislation will only allow young
adults supervised by an adult relative or an adult member of
the same religious sect to work in places of business where
machinery is used to process wood products.
It requires young adults have adult supervision. It
prohibits them from operating or assisting in the operation of
power-driven woodworking machinery, and as a father and
grandfather myself, I can assure you I have no desire to put
any young person in harm's way. So my legislation provides key
safety provisions for the Amish youth that Mr. Owens mentioned
that we accepted his amendments a couple of years ago.
The youth must be protected from wood particles or flying
debris, maintain a sufficient distance from machinery in
operation, and required to use personal protective equipment to
prevent exposure to excessive levels of noise and sawdust.
Mr. Chairman, many communities, like Lancaster County, of
my district, greatly appreciate the heritage and work ethic of
the Amish. We wish to keep them as part of our communities.
However, if the Amish continue to be fined by the Federal
Government, they could be driven out of our communities, and
their strong heritage will be undermined by governmental
interference.
So in conclusion, let me ask a simple question: Is it more
dangerous to be in a woodworking shop--150 feet away from any
power equipment, sweeping sawdust, stacking lumber, working on
a cash register--than it is to have the Federal Government
destroy the ability of a religious community to teach its
children a work ethic that is culturally appropriate?
I urge this Subcommittee to help protect the Amish
heritage.
Mr. Chairman, again, thank you for inviting us to present
testimony, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. I'm sure
Mr. Blank and Mr. Burkholder, who join us, could give specific
details regarding this issue.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Pitts follows:]
Statement of Hon. Joseph R. Pitts, a Representative in Congress from
the State of Pennsylvania
Thank you, Mr. Chairman for holding this important hearing today. I
appreciate the opportunity to testify on the cultural and employment
needs of Amish youth.
This is a critical issue for the Amish, who reside in at least 33
states and 115 Congressional districts. My home state of Pennsylvania
ranks first in the nation in the total number of Amish adherents, with
over 43,500. More than half, 23,890, live in the 16th Congressional
District, which I represent.
People around the world know of the Old Order Amish as a people who
till their land and direct their lives with faith, simplicity, and
discipline.
Traditionally, Amish communities are centered around the family
farm, which requires participation from the whole family. While caring
for crops and animals, Amish parents show their children how to make a
living without exposure to outside influences that contradict their
beliefs.
However, a high growth rate and the soaring price of farmland have
forced the Amish to look for alternatives to farming. Now, Amish can be
found in small businesses making raw lumber, clocks, wagons, cabinetry,
and quilts.
Therefore, as they did on the family farm, the Amish now wish to
have their youth work with them in these vocational settings. Typically
the youth will learn a trade after the completion of Amish school, or
eighth grade.
The Amish view this work as part of their schooling; since they
often accompany a parent to the workplace. These apprenticeships are
known as ``learning by doing.''
Unfortunately, these small, Amish-owned businesses have received
costly fines, ranging up to $20,000, from the Department of Labor for
having their youth under the age of 18 work alongside their fathers and
uncles, even in family businesses.
Mr. Chairman, a few years ago, an Amish businessman in my
Congressional district was fined $10,000 for having his own child in
the front office of his business. This teenager was simply learning to
use the cash register alongside her father--she was far from harm's
way.
Actions such as these by the Department of Labor have severely
threatened the lifestyle and religion of this respected and humble
community.
Amish youth are already exempt from state laws making school
attendance mandatory when they have finished eighth grade and are 14
years old, and they are permitted to work more hours than would
normally be the case and to work during traditional school hours.
Additionally, minors working in agriculture are exempt from child labor
laws altogether.
The Amish expect diligence, responsibility, and respect from their
youth. They do not contribute to the social ills of our society, and
they do not accept any assistance from government programs.
Our government should not interfere with this humble community.
Some of my colleagues, along with our Amish constituents, have met
with Department of Labor officials over the past several years to try
and find a solution to this problem.
In fact, a group of officials from the Department of Labor joined
me in touring two Amish-owned woodworking businesses this May to
observe the conditions under which Amish youth would be allowed to work
if H.R. 1943 is enacted.
Unfortunately, the Department of Labor has repeatedly indicated
that a regulatory or administrative solution is not possible, and so we
have been forced to pursue a legislative solution.
The Amish have a very unique situation. They complete their formal
schooling at the end of the eighth grade, and are prohibited by their
religious beliefs from attending school beyond this point. As such,
they do not have the benefit of or access to ``shop'' class or vo-tech
programs that our youth have.
We have a responsibility to evaluate the Amish in this unique
light.
That is why I, along with numerous other Members, introduced H.R.
4257, legislation to address the employment needs of Amish youth, on
July 16, 1998. It passed the House by voice vote on September 28, 1998;
however, the Senate did not move on this legislation before the end of
the 105th Congress.
I then reintroduced the bill as H.R. 221 on January 6, 1999. The
bill passed the House by voice vote on March 2, 1999, but, again, the
Senate did not take action before the close of the 106th Congress.
The legislation was reintroduced on July 25, 2001 as H.R. 2639 in
the 107th Congress; however, without a commitment from the Senate to
push companion legislation, H.R. 2639 was not brought to the House
floor for a vote.
It is with great hope that I, along with Sen. Arlen Specter,
reintroduced this legislation in the 108th Congress on May 1, 2003.
Sen. Specter's bill, S. 974, is currently before the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
This narrow legislation will only allow young adults supervised by
an adult relative or by an adult member of the same religious sect to
work in places of businesses where machinery is used to process wood
products.
My legislation requires that young adults have adult supervision,
and it prohibits them from operating or assisting in the operation of a
power-driven woodworking machine.
As a father and grandfather myself, I can assure you that I have no
desire to put any young person in harm's way, and so my legislation
provides key safety protections for Amish youth.
The youth must be protected from wood particles or other flying
debris; maintain a sufficient distance from machinery in operation; and
are required to use personal protective equipment to prevent exposure
to excessive levels of noise and saw dust.
Mr. Chairman, many communities, like Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, of my district, greatly appreciate the heritage and work
ethic of the Amish, and we wish to keep them as a part of our
communities.
However, if the Amish continue to be fined by the Federal
government, they could be driven out of our communities, and their
strong heritage will be undermined by governmental interference.
In conclusion, let me ask a simple question:
Is it more dangerous to be in a woodworking shop--150 feet away
from any power equipment, sweeping sawdust, stacking lumber, or working
a cash register--than it is to have the Federal government destroy the
ability of a religious community to teach its children a work ethic
that is culturally appropriate?
I urge this Subcommittee to help protect the Amish heritage.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for inviting me to this hearing. I'll be
happy to answer any questions, and I am sure that Mr. Blank and Mr.
Burkholder, who join us today, can give you specific details regarding
this issue.
______
Chairman Norwood. Thank you very much, Mr. Pitts.
Mr. Souder, you are now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF HON. MARK E. SOUDER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS
FROM THE STATE OF INDIANA
Mr. Souder. Thank you. And I ask unanimous consent to put
my full statement in the record.
Chairman Norwood. So ordered.
Mr. Souder. And I have a little bit of an unusual personal
background. One of my brief moments of fame is I was listed in
the New York Times crossword puzzle as what Member of Congress
has Amish roots. My great, great grandpa was one of the first
Amish settlers in Indiana, in 1846. They came from
Pennsylvania, walked across to Ohio, into Holmes County, then
up to Archibald, and then down into Indiana.
My great grandfather left the Amish faith in about 1880,
thereabouts, but I still have many relatives in the Amish
community and grew up in a town surrounded by Amish and
understand a lot of the problems, and there's lots of confusion
about what's Amish, what's Mennonite, all the gradations. In my
home area, for example, in the little town of 700, there are
five to seven different Mennonite churches and different
gradations of Amish. For example, the Amish around my home town
can't marry anybody from the families in many of the towns in
Pennsylvania because they're more liberal. They have tops on
their buggies; they allow a pay phone on the porch. I come from
a very old order Amish area, and then there are gradations
within the Mennonite faith.
This only is tied to the Amish, which is a very defined
subgroup that came out of the Mennonite tradition. Let me deal
with another question here, and that's understanding the
geography of this challenge. The Amish basically are located in
a belt that goes from just west of Philadelphia to the end of
the fertile land in central Kansas and central Iowa. Pretty
much if you take U.S. 30, go 14 and 24 around it, you will find
the Amish belt. Because they don't use modern technology, they
are limited, because it's heavily work- intensive. They use
gasoline-powered equipment, kerosene-powered or other types of
things. Some communities make slight adaptations so they can
try to live and feed their families. But the options of where
they can move are limited, given their religious fundamental
beliefs.
So you see some pockets in Michigan, some pockets have
moved up to Minnesota, a few in Southern communities, but they
have more difficult times when the land is not as fertile as in
the center of Illinois around Arcola, Illinois or in centers of
Iowa, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.
Some go down to Brazil or other nations. It is, if you want
to take a literal scriptural interpretation, it is hard to find
a place to go as the suburban growth occurs in this good land
for them.
Let me give you an illustration. Why don't they believe in
pictures? The Bible specifically says, thou shall not have a
graven image or likeness thereof. They take that literally. The
church I grew up in, the Apostolic Christian Church, United
Brethren in Christ, and others for years took that literally.
But they take the Bible so literal that they believe that a
picture today would be blasphemous. It would be a likeness
thereof or something that God would create.
Their life is literally anchored in this. Because of that,
their kids are not going in automobiles. It is strange; when
the Amish hear the things about the dangers to their kids are
going, man, we don't have our kids getting assassinated on the
highways out there. They're not working in all kinds of other
industries where they're put at risk. They have a very simple
lifestyle. That furthermore, in the protections, and in my area
I have the tenth-largest but also the second-largest
settlements of Amish. The land is getting crowded. That
basically their choices are, with all due respect to the
Mennonites and United Brethren in Christ, which I currently am,
their big fear is that their kids are going to become Mennonite
or that they're going to drift away to these other
denominations, because in order to get a job, they start having
to go in vehicles away from their community, they start mixing
with other people, they start listening to tapes, they start
watching TV, maybe get a beer over here and there, and the next
thing you know, they can't keep them in their families. And
there's only so many times you can divide the farmland.
In a lot of my areas--and by the way, this is politically
not the easiest thing to do, because those who are English
don't necessarily want special advantages to the Amish, and
they vote, and Amish generally speaking don't vote--but it's a
question of can they survive? Are we going to give them the
option to do woodworking, or do they have to leave their faith
to go get other jobs, eventually get automobiles, eventually go
to other professions that are far more dangerous? Then quite
frankly, the apprenticeships that they seek, which are sweeping
the floors, cleaning the windows, watching their dad and their
brothers work at the fringes, and where we can have a
woodworking industry, which is very big in my region and is one
of the primarily Amish craft things that they are now employed
with, when they start to go into the housing area and they
start to do things where they move out of their community where
the business isn't right there, they'll leave the faith,
probably half to three-quarters.
Their only chance really to sustain themselves is on the
limited agriculture and the others. And I would ask those who
don't fully understand these communities to understand that
they're a minority, too, and their minority is fighting for
their life in America and whether they continue as American
citizens, and we need to give them some flexibility.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Souder follows:]
Statement of Hon. Mark E. Souder, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Indiana
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I appreciate this
opportunity to testify today regarding an issue of significant
importance to the Amish population in my district--the employment needs
of Amish youth. My colleague from Pennsylvania, Mr. Pitts, has pursued
this issue for several years now, and I am grateful to him for his
dedication. I am hopeful we can find a legislative remedy in this
Congress to a problem that jeopardizes the culture and religion of the
Amish people.
As representatives of Amish constituents, Congressman Pitts and I
are rarely asked to provide any form of government assistance for this
group of people. In the issue before us today, the Amish are asking for
something quite basic to our Constitutional freedoms: religious liberty
and the ability to live their lives according to their deeply held
religious convictions. As with many groups of people, religious freedom
is what brought the Amish to America, and, today it is our
responsibility to protect this liberty, which is foundational to their
entire way of life.
I am not a passive observer on these issues. Not only do I
represent the 2nd and 10th largest ``old order'' Amish settlements in
the country (about 40,000 altogether), but I am a direct descendent of
one of the first Amish settlers in Northeast Indiana. In 1846, my
great-great grandfather settled in the Hoosier state. While he left the
faith and culture around the turn of the century, I still have
relatives who continue to practice the Amish tradition. Furthermore, I
was raised in a small town--Grabill, Indiana--which is surrounded by
Amish families. Growing up, I had the unique opportunity to witness
first-hand the traditions of this religious and cultural community.
Congressman Pitts first brought the issue before us today to my
attention in 1997. I have been monitoring it closely ever since.
Although the Amish in Northeast Indiana have not experienced the degree
of conflict with federal labor laws as have the people of Pennsylvania
and Ohio, the federal restrictions on teen labor are still an issue of
much concern to my constituents. One Amish gentleman from my district
participated in some of the first meetings we had with the Department
of Labor under the previous Administration.
As you may know, the Amish culture places high value on a strong
work ethic. Idleness and leisure are believed to breed vice, so the
Amish raise their children at an early age to appreciate hard work.
Amish children end their formal schooling after the eighth grade to
participate in vocational training, most often apprenticeship programs
in such fields as farming and wood working. While child labor laws do
not apply to farming, they do apply to wood working shops.
In recent years, farming has become an increasingly difficult
livelihood for many Amish--unplowed land is difficult to find and
increasingly expensive, and competing with industrial farms that use
heavy equipment is overwhelming to small Amish family farms. Many Amish
families have been forced into corollary industries like arts & crafts,
woodworking, home building, pallet building, and furniture making. This
career shift from farming to wood working has led to new regulatory
compliance violations for businesses employing Amish youth in wood
working apprentice programs.
In recent years, several lumber facilities in Pennsylvania were
heavily fined by the Department of Labor for employing Amish teenagers,
aged 14-17 years. Some of the cases in which the Labor Department
assessed fines involved 14- and 15-year-olds who were working in a wood
shop stacking objects and sweeping floors and were not in close
proximity to machinery. Upon hearing of these problems, several of my
colleagues and I met with Labor officials and Amish representatives to
work out a remedy to this situation. Unfortunately, the Department of
Labor under the previous Administration told us a regulatory remedy was
not possible based on current law.
This impasse is what brings us here today to consider these issues.
Current law must be clarified in order to continue the Amish tradition
of providing teenagers with a practical education--one that allows them
to work alongside their relatives and church family. The bill
Congressman Pitts has introduced in this Congress, H.R. 1943, would
allow Amish teenagers to continue to do certain jobs where machinery is
used to process wood products. I am a cosponsor of this legislation and
believe it is a fair compromise, representing several years of
negotiations with the Department of Labor. In the 106th Congress, I was
a cosponsor of Congressman Pitts'' similar bill, H.R. 221, which passed
the House of Representatives by unanimous consent.
Simply put, H.R. 1943 would allow Amish teenagers aged 14 through
18 to continue to work in woodworking facilities while including sound
provisions to protect these young workers. As a father of three
children--two of whom are of working age--I would never advocate for a
bill placing teenagers in an unduly unsafe work environment. Safety
provisions have been carefully considered and included in this
legislation. The bill would require these young workers to be
supervised by adults who know and care about them. It would also
prohibit Amish youth from operating power-driven machinery and would
require these teenagers to be protected from flying debris, excessive
noise, and sawdust.
At the same time, this bill will preserve the traditional way of
life of the Amish, whose youth finish their formal education by the
eighth grade and then turn to a different style of religious, cultural,
and ``vocational'' education. This bill would protect a truly
endangered religion and culture that cannot afford to be trampled on by
federal micro-management.
The Amish represent a unique segment of Americans that rely on
self-sufficiency rather than assistance from government. They are a
peace-loving people who came to America in the Anabaptist tradition to
escape government regulation and persecution in order to practice their
faith without government interference. Today, government bureaucracy is
threatening the Amish people's very way of life. It is interfering with
their religious freedom.
I urge my colleagues on this subcommittee and the larger Committee
on Education and the Workforce to pass H.R. 1943 and send it to the
House floor for quick approval. Let's not hinder the ability of the
Amish to continue providing for themselves and their families, or to
maintain their cultural and religiously-based ``learn by doing''
apprenticeships.
Again, thank you for inviting me to testify on this issue today.
______
Chairman Norwood. I would think the environmentalists would
be for this bill. It would keep more cars off the highway.
Mr. Blank, we're delighted you're here, and the effort you
made to come, and I want you to feel very welcome, and we're
delighted to hear from you now, sir.
STATEMENT OF CHRIST K. BLANK, CHAIRMAN, OLD ORDER AMISH
STEERING COMMITTEE - NATIONAL, KINZERS, PENNSYLVANIA
Mr. Blank. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is with
appreciation, but humbleness, that we come before your
Committee today. We wish to thank you for this opportunity to
bring some of our concerns before you.
As Chairman of the Old Order Amish Steering Committee, I am
speaking on behalf of the various Older Amish and Mennonite
communities throughout the United States. Our concern is the
infringement of these child labor laws on our way of life.
In recent years, our Committee has been getting more and
more complaints of Amish and Mennonite businesses who have been
fined for child labor violations, for allowing youth between
age 14 and 17 to work in their various businesses.
As you undoubtedly know, the Amish way of life and
religious beliefs prohibit formal education beyond the eighth
grade level. Typically, the Amish youth complete their formal
education at the end of eighth grade.
But their education does not stop there. Instead, they only
begin to absorb with earnest the knowledge and the skills
needed to earn a livelihood and support a family. Upon
completion of the eighth grade, eight terms of elementary
school, Amish children are enrolled in an informal vocational
class of learning by doing under parent and church supervision
to further prepare them to enter into the adult workplace. This
informal vocational class is recognized by the United States
Supreme Court ruling in Wisconsin v. Yoder as a legal
alternative to the compulsory school attendance laws.
We recognize that historically the child labor laws have
been lenient on farm labor, especially a family farm. For many
years our livelihood was based largely on agriculture, and for
many, still is. However, due to the high cost of our dwindling
supply of farmland, more and more of our families are being
forced to start small businesses such as woodworking shops,
welding shops, sawmills, pallet shops, et cetera. This is in
keeping with the Amish tradition of operating a family business
so the family can work together.
This trend is gradually forcing more and more of our youth
to learn other trades. And in our small woodworking shops,
there are many occupations our youth would be capable of
performing. However, more and more of our small woodworking
shops are finding themselves in violation of the child labor
laws. Under the present regulations, even the owner's own boy
cannot legally work until age 16 in the manufacturing
operation, or 18 in any occupation which the Secretary of Labor
shall declare to be hazardous.
We have many Amish-owned and operated sawmills among our
community, so our youth are well-qualified and capable for
providing hand labor in stacking and sorting lumber as it comes
away from the saws. This sorting and stacking operation usually
occurs some distance from the saws themselves. However, under
the present regulations, no one under age 18 can legally work
in a sawmill building.
There seems to be a lot of government interest in finding
ways to better prepare today's youth to enter today's
workforce. Many states are drafting School to Work Acts, and it
seems coincidental that at the same time these Amish are being
fined for pursuing a system which has proved successful in
preparing our youth for adulthood and to be respectful, self-
supporting citizens.
In Wisconsin v. Yoder, Dr. Donald Erickson testified that
the Amish system of learning by doing was the ideal system of
education in terms of preparing Amish children for their life
as adults in the Amish community.
We are not asking for, nor do we intend to operate, any
type of sweat shop operations. We only desire to continue our
own informal vocational plan of learning by doing under parent
and church supervision.
The only concerns we hear voiced often are the safety
concerns for our children. We certainly share that concern.
However, we question where is the greatest danger. We feel it
very important to have our youth involved in productive
activity in those formative years of age 14 through 17 under
parent and church supervision rather than being out on the
streets or sitting around home with nothing to do.
We strongly believe that the age 14 to 17 to be a very
tender and receptive age in which to instill these long-
standing Amish values and work ethics in our children.
Mr. Pitts explained the provisions of the law that does
provide safety. This relief sought through this amendment to
the Fair Labor Standards Act is to provide flexibility that
permits Amish and other Old Order youth age 14 through 18 to
learn skills and values by working in what are typical and
common business owned by the Amish and other Old Order groups.
It is not to compromise their safety. Supervision by adult
members and other adults from the Amish community and certain
limitations on activities these youths may perform are
acceptable requirements.
The Amish are becoming more safety conscious. Many
communities have their own safety committees. The role of these
committees is to become acquainted with the various OSHA and
other government workforce regulations, to hold regular safety
awareness meetings in our communities. We do encourage our
youth to attend these safety meetings. At a recent meeting,
about one-third of those attending were our youth.
We as older Amish desire to continue to be a self-
supporting group without depending on the government for
assistance. We desire to pass on to the next generation the
work ethics and values our fathers handed down to us. It is our
deepest desire to continue to be a self-supporting group and
not become a burden on society.
We ask and plea of you men of authority to find some
reasonable solution to this current problem and concern which
we bring before you today.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter that is
vital to the interest of the Amish and other religious
communities.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Blank follows:]
Statement of Christ K. Blank, Chairman, Old Order Amish Steering
Committee - National, Kinzers, Pennsylvania
Honorable Congressmen, Mr. Chairman and Committee members,
It is with appreciation, but humbleness, that we come before your
committee. We wish to thank you for the opportunity to bring some of
our concerns before you today.
I am speaking here today on the behalf of the many Old Order Amish
and Mennonite communities through out the United States. In recent
years we are getting more and more complaints of Amish & Mennonite
businesses being fined for allowing boys under age 18 to work in their
place of business. Our concern is the infringement of these Child Labor
Laws on our way of life.
As many of you undoubtedly know, the Amish way of life and
religious beliefs prohibit formal education beyond the eighth grade
level. Typically, the Amish youth leave school at the end of eighth
grade, but their education does not stop there. Instead, they only
begin to absorb in earnest, the knowledge and skills needed to earn a
livelihood and support a family. Upon completion of the eight terms of
elementary school, many Amish children are enrolled in an informal
vocation class of learning by doing under parent and church supervision
to further prepare them to enter into the adult work place. This
informal vocational class, is recognized by, the United States Supreme
Court ruling in Wisconsin v. Yoder, as a legal alternative to the
compulsory school attendance laws.
At age 14, an Amish boy or girl is considered to be ready for a
full course of training. A training that requires ``learning by
doing''. This adolescent period Is of utmost importance to our
religious status. We must not tolerate idleness during these adolescent
years, therefore, we see a dire need that our youth learn a trade or
remain occupied, preferably under supervision of a parent or church
member. It is a long-standing Amish belief and tradition to instill
good work ethics in our children at a young age and to start training a
child at a fairly young age to become a self-supporting, respectful and
law abiding citizen. Train up a child in the way he should go and when
he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6). We strongly
believe the ages 14 through 17 to be a very tender receptive age in
which to Instill these long standing Amish values and work ethics in
our children. We believe that forced Idleness in this age to be
detrimental to our long-standing Amish way of raising our children and
teaching then to become good productive citizens. Keeping young hands
busy also keeps them out of mischief.
We recognize that, historically, the Child Labor laws have been
more lenient on farm labor, especially a family farm. For many years
our Livelihood was based largely on agriculture and for many still is.
However due to many reasons beyond our control, the trend is gradually
forcing more and more of our youth to learn other trades. We try to
encourage an occupation where such youth is learning by doing by
working at a place where his father or a member of the church is
available to supervise him.
Due to the high cost of our dwindling supply of farm land, more and
more of our families are being forced to start small businesses such as
woodworking shops, welding shops, sawmills, pallet shops etc. This is
in keeping with the Amish tradition of operating a family business so
the family can work together.
We have many Amish owned or operated sawmills among our
communities. Our youth are well qualified and capable of providing hand
labor in stacking and sorting the lumber as it comes away from the
saws. This sorting and stacking operation usually occurs some distance
away from the saws themselves. However, under the present regulations
no one under age 18 is allowed to work in a sawmill building. We have
in the audience several owners of sawmill operations that were
investigated and fined for allowing boys under age 18 to work in the
very situation described above. None of the owners were aware that they
were in violation of the child labor law until the investigator showed
up. They were told to send the boys home and warned that if he (the
investigator) comes back again in several weeks and finds the boys back
on the premises, he will shut the whole operation down. These threats
created a great concern in the area, not only among the Amish, but also
among their non Amish neighbors. They received no warning before they
were fined even though the owners indicated they would comply with the
order.
One of the owners related an incident to me where one of the boys,
whom he was required to send home, came back and asked, in tears,
``When can I come to work again?'' The owner of course had to say ``Not
until you are eighteen.''
In our small woodworking shops there are many occupations our youth
would be capable of performing, however, more and more of our small
woodworking shops are finding themselves In violation with the child
labor laws because of the power tools that are needed to be efficient.
Under the present Regulations even the owners own boy could not work
until age 16 in a manufacturing operation or age 18 in any occupation
which the Secretary of Labor shall declare to be hazardous.
There seems to be a lot governmental interest in finding ways to
better prepare todays youth to enter into todays workforce. Many states
are drafting School to Work Acts. It seems coincidental that at the
same time, these Amish are being fined for pursuing a system which has
been proven successful in preparing our youth for adulthood and to be
respectful, self-supporting citizens.
In Wisconsin v. Yoder, Dr. Donald Erickson testified that the Amish
System of learning by doing was an ``ideal system'' of education in
terms of preparing Amish children for life as adults in the Amish
community. Fit further stated, ``Many public educators would be elated
if their programs would be as successful in preparing their students
for productive community life as the Amish system seems to be.''
We realize that the object of the Child Labor laws is to protect
the children. We Amish share your concern for safety in the work place.
As an illustration of our concern, in one of our larger communities
they have set up an Amish safety committee. The purpose of this
committee is to work with Amish businesses to help make our people more
aware of good safety practices that need to be instilled in our work
places. Some other Amish communities are also showing interest in
setting similar committees.
As Old Order Amish, we desire to be a self supporting group, taking
care of their own needy and elderly people, in their own way, without
depending on the government for assistance. In the past we have been
granted a number of exemptions from participating in various programs
or requirements which our forefathers saw as being detrimental to our
way of life or which our religious beliefs prohibit. We very much
appreciate the many privileges which we have been granted over the
years. It is our deepest desire to continue to be a self-supporting
group and not to become a burden on society.
We ask and plea of you men of authority to find some reasonable
solution to this current problem and concern that we bring before you
today. We wish you many blessings and the guidance from above in
performing your many very important duties as elected officials of our
country. May the Lord Bless you.
______
Chairman Norwood. Thank you, Mr. Blank.
And now I'd like to recognize Mr. Clark, and we welcome you
here and look forward to your testimony.
STATEMENT OF NICHOLAS W. CLARK, ESQ., ASSISTANT GENERAL
COUNSEL, UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS, AFL-CIO,
WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Clark. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the
Subcommittee. Thank you for this opportunity to present the
views of working people on this most important issue of child
labor protections.
My written statement has already been submitted for the
record, so my remarks here will be brief.
While we respect the desires of the Amish community to
provide employment opportunities for Amish youth, we think that
weakening child labor protections is the wrong way to
accomplish that objective.
Under current law, all children, regardless of faith, are
prohibited from working in sawmills or other woodworking jobs.
The reason is simple. For decades, the Federal Government has
concluded that these occupations are extremely dangerous, even
for adult workers, and even more dangerous for young workers.
Sawmilling and woodworking jobs are among the most
hazardous occupations, with a death rate that is five times the
national average for all industries, exceeding rates even in
the construction industry. Those occupations also have
exceptionally high non-fatal injury rates.
We must recognize that work which is dangerous for adults
is doubly dangerous for children. Occupational injuries for
children are double the occupational rates of injuries for
adults. Every five days in this country, a child is killed on
the job. Every 40 seconds a child is injured on the job.
This bill would allow Amish children ages 14 to 17 to work
in Amish-owned shops that produce storage sheds, furniture, and
other consumer wood products, while preserving government
prohibitions against such employment of non-Amish children.
This means that only Amish children lose government protections
against working in such extremely dangerous occupations.
This bill purports to provide certain safety protections
for children employed in these mills. However, the Federal
Government has carefully examined those proposals and concluded
after visits to operating sawmills that these so-called
protections have very serious problems and would not protect
children from serious injury or death from working in these
facilities.
Furthermore, the bill would not prevent children from
operating all machinery that is in these shops. It would also
not protect them from falling boards, not protect them from
carcinogenic fumes, or from fires or explosions.
Between 1988 and 1997, seven deaths occurred among workers
in sawmill occupations who were younger than 18. One was a 17-
year-old Amish youth who was electrocuted. Another a 16-year-
old electrocuted while performing odd jobs and clean-up work. A
17-year-old died after being struck on the head by a large
board. Other children received crippling injuries. One 16-year-
old had his foot amputated by a conveyor belt. A 17-year-old
lost his finger.
Clearly, for safety reasons alone, the proposed regulations
or the proposed bill is a bad idea. However, there are other
reasons for rejecting the bill, most notably that it is
unconstitutional. Both the First Amendment's Establishment
Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause
prohibit legislation that provides one group of persons more or
less protection than afforded other persons simply because of
their religious affiliation.
This bill would grant Amish-owned sawmills and woodworking
firms an exception from child labor laws that are denied
competing firms owned by persons of non-Amish faith. And the
bill would deny Amish children the very real benefits of
government health and safety protections that are afforded non-
Amish children. Congress cannot constitutionally deny Amish
children child labor protections simply because they are Amish.
As stated at the outset, we are sensitive to the desires of
the Amish community to provide employment opportunities for
Amish youth. I myself, like the Congressman, have Amish roots.
My great grandmother was Amish, from Bucks County,
Pennsylvania. We recognize that employment opportunities in
farming which traditionally fulfilled this desire are becoming
less plentiful.
However, it must be recognized that few Amish-owned for-
profit businesses even existed prior to 1970, and that over 30
percent of such firms have been started since 1995. By the time
these firms were started, the laws prohibiting child labor in
sawmill and woodworking operations as well as the abysmal
safety record of those occupations were well- established.
While these firms provide much-needed employment for Amish
adults, they cannot safely or constitutionally serve that
purpose for Amish children. Accordingly, we call on Congress to
reject H.R. 1943 as perhaps well-intended, but an unwise,
unsafe, and unconstitutional proposal.
I wish to close by relating to the Subcommittee the
sentiments of USCW members who are sawmill workers. They said
that allowing children under the age of 18 to work in their
facilities is a very bad idea because the work is simply much
too dangerous for workers of that age. They felt so strongly
about the issue that they asked for an opportunity to write the
Subcommittee about their experience and concerns, and we will
be submitting that letter to the Committee within the 14-day
period.
That concludes my remarks, and I invite any questions that
the Subcommittee may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Clark follows:]
Statement of Nicholas W. Clark, Assistant General Counsel, United Food
and Commercial Workers, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for this opportunity to present the views of working
people on this most important issue of child labor protections for
working Americans. While we respect the desires of the Amish community
to provide employment opportunities for Amish youth that are consistent
with Amish religious and cultural values, there are sound and
compelling reasons for our opposition to this proposed legislation.
First, the proposed legislation would expose Amish children ages
14-17 to working conditions which the federal government has concluded
are ``extremely dangerous'' even for adult workers, and which are
``especially inappropriate for young workers.(1) According to federal
government studies, sawmilling and woodworking are among the most
hazardous occupations for adults, with a death rate that is five times
the national average for all industries, exceeding rates in
construction, trucking and warehousing, and an exceptionally high non-
fatal injury rate.(2) For these reasons, the Fair Labor Standards Act
prohibits any manufacturing employment by children under the age of 17,
and U.S. Department of Labor Hazardous Occupations Order No. 4 (H04)
prohibits any employment of persons under the age of 18 in a sawmilling
or woodworking facility.(3) HO4 was promulgated pursuant to the
Secretary of Labor's statutory obligation to protect children under the
age of 18 from jobs which are particularly hazardous or detrimental to
their health and safety.(4)
H.R. 1943 purports to provide certain safety protections for
children employed in Amish-owned sawmills or woodworking facilities.
However, the federal government has ``carefully examined'' those
proposals and concluded ``after visits to operating sawmills'' that
these so-called protections have ``very serious practical problems''
and would not protect children from serious injury or death from
working in these facilities.(5)
Although statistics on injuries to children from sawmill and
woodworking jobs should be non-existent because such labor is illegal,
sadly some employers have violated the law, with tragic results.
Between 1988 and 1997, 7 deaths occurred among workers in these
occupations who were younger than 18. One was a 17-year-old Amish youth
who was electrocuted. Another was a 16-year-old electrocuted while
performing odd jobs and clean-up work. Another was a 17-year-old who
died after being struck on the head by a large board. Other children
received crippling injuries. One 16-year-old had his foot amputated as
a result of a conveyor belt accident. A 17-year-old lost his finger
while cutting a piece of lumber.(6)
The proposed legislation targets Amish children, and will likely
result in even more mutilating injuries or deaths among Amish children.
For this reason alone, the proposal should be rejected.
However, the proposed legislation should also be rejected because
it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution. Both the First Amendment's Establishment Clause and the
Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause preclude legislation
that would provide one group of person more or less protection than
afforded other persons simply because of the religious affiliation.
H.R. 1943 would deny Amish children the very real benefits of
governmental health and safety protections that are afforded Catholic,
Baptist, Jewish or any other children of non-Amish faith. Further, it
would grant Amish-owned sawmills and woodworking firms an exception
from child labor laws that are denied firms owned by persons of non-
Amish faiths. Amish first came to this country to escape a government
that denied them protections afforded persons o other faiths. Amish
children have benefited from the same child labor protections afforded
children of other faiths for over 60 years. Congress should not deny
them those protections now simply because they are Amish.
The proposal would also require government investigators to
determine whether owners of firms seeking to employ child labor, and
their child employees, are truly Amish. Such determinations would
necessarily entangle the government in the practice of religion, also
in violation of the First Amendment.
As stated at the outset we are sensitive to the desires of the
Amish community to provide employment opportunities for Amish youth. We
also recognize that employment opportunities in farming, which
traditionally fulfilled this need, are becoming less plentiful.
However, it must be recognized that few Amish-owned for-profit
businesses even existed prior to 1970, that 60 percent of all such
firms have been started since 1980, and that over 30 percent of such
firms have been started since 1995.(7) By the time these firms were
started, the laws prohibiting child labor in such occupations, as well
as they abysmal safety record for such occupations, were well
established. While these firms provide much needed employment for Amish
adults, they cannot safely or constitutionally serve that purpose for
Amish children.
Accordingly, we call upon Congress to reject H.R. 1943 as a perhaps
well intended but unwise proposal. We urge that Congress instead act to
strengthen child labor protections by enacting H.R. 3139, the Youth
Worker Protection Act, which was introduced September 23, 2003, and
which would greatly enhance child labor protections while preserving
the existing family farm exception.
Endnotes
1. Letters, U.S. Department of Labor to Congressman Joseph R. Pitts,
10-28-97; 4-20-98.
2. Id.
3. Letter, U.S. Department of Labor to United States Senate, 3-5-98.
H04 may be found at 29 C.F.R. 570.54.
4. Id. According to DOL, ``injury data collected over several decades
has consistently shown that sawmills are particularly hazardous
workplaces for adults, let alone children.''
5. Letter, U.S. Department of Labor to Congressman Joseph R. Pitts, 4-
20-98.
6.National Institute for Occupational Safety an Recommendations to the
U.S. Department of Labor for Changes to Hazardous Order, May 3,
2002; Summary of Accident Investigations Investigated by OSHA,
April 1984-98 (March 2, 1998).
7. D.B. Kraybill & S.M. Nolt, Amish Enterprises: From Plows to Profits
(James Hopkins Press).
______
Chairman Norwood. Thank you, Mr. Clark.
Mr. Burkholder, you are going to be recognized, and I want
to thank you for traveling some distance to be with us.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM BURKHOLDER, C.B. HARDWOOD LUMBER COMPANY,
CENTERVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA
Mr. Burkholder. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Greetings,
Committee Members. Thank you for the opportunity to present to
you our concern regarding well-intended child labor laws and
the adverse impact some of these laws are now having in our
Amish community to our way of life.
As I am sure you are aware, children in our community
finish classroom school in eighth grade, learning the
essentials of reading, writing and arithmetic. While this
learning is an important part of shaping their lives, preparing
them for adulthood, their success with our way of life requires
other skills as well.
Many adult occupations have been learning by doing. Despite
living in a technological world, we have limited ourselves by
choice to occupations that leave time for our faith in God and
for our families. Farming, carpentry, wood and metal shops,
sawmills, harness making, and furniture making are some of the
ways I'm sure you recognize we earn our living.
They are occupations that reinforce self-reliance with our
group or community as well as the work ethic. While many of
your own children might have a computer at an early age to
begin to acquire the skills they will need to thrive in a
modern, fast-paced world, our society requires faith and
tradition to keep itself together to continue to thrive in a
modern world. Again, this tradition is one of our faith in God,
a belief in the importance of our families, of self-reliance
within our group, and hard work. These beliefs and lessons we
share with our children, even at a very young age. They learn
by our example and by doing.
We recognize that child labor laws were made and needed to
correct abuse in the past. These laws still help ensure that
children are not forced into unsafe, exploitive labor. We hope
you recognize that we pursue the same goal as you regarding the
safety of our children.
In 1971, the Supreme Court by its decision in Yoder v.
Board of Education recognized the intent and purpose for us to
educate our children in our own schools. Graduates from our
Amish schools are most often eager to provide for themselves as
hard workers. They turn to farms, shops, or mill owners like
myself to earn an income to get started on a farm or other
business on their own. This is a cycle that has repeated itself
successfully throughout the history of our community in the
United States.
Despite rising land costs, property taxes, income taxes,
school taxes, start-up costs for businesses, buildings,
equipment, and machinery, our young people overcome many
obstacles to start off on their own in our community. Besides a
commitment to hard work to achieve their goals, they also must
rely on their family and business owners like myself to help
them get started.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Burkholder follows.]
Statement of William Burkholder, C.B. Hardwood Lumber Company,
Centerville, Pennsylvania
Thank you for the opportunity to present to you our concerns
regarding the well intended child labor laws and the adverse impact
some of these laws are now having in our Amish community to our way of
life.
As I'm sure you are aware, children in our community finish
classroom school in eighth grade learning the essentials of reading,
writing , and arithmetic. While this learning is an important part of
shaping their lives, preparing them for adulthood, their success with
our way of life requires other skills as well. Many of our adult
occupations have been learned by doing. Despite living in a
technological world, we have limited ourselves by choice to occupations
that leave time for our faith in God and for our families. Farming,
carpentry, wood and metal shops, saw mills, harness making, and
furniture making are some of the ways I'm sure you recognize we earn
our living.
They are occupations that reinforce self reliance within our group
or community as well as the work ethic. While many of your own children
might have a computer at an early age to begin to acquire the skills
they will need to thrive in a modern, fast paced world, our society
requires faith and tradition to keep itself together to continue to
thrive in a modern world. Again, this tradition is one of our faith in
God, a belief in the importance of our families, of self reliance
within our group and hard work. These beliefs and lessons we share with
our children even at a very young age. They learn by our example and by
doing. We recognize that child labor laws were made and needed to
correct abuses in the past. These laws still help insure that children
are not forced into unsafe, exploitive labors. We hope that you
recognize that we pursue the same goal as you regarding the safety of
our children.
In 1971, the Supreme Court, by its decision in Yoder v. (Board of
Education) recognized the intent and purpose for us to educate our
children in our own schools. Graduates from our Amish schools are most
often eager to prove themselves as hard workers. They turn to farm,
shop, or mill owners like myself, to earn an income to get started on a
farm or other business on their own. This is a cycle that has repeated
itself successfully throughout the history of our community in the
United States.
Despite rising land costs, property taxes, income taxes, school
taxes, start up costs for business, buildings, equipment, and
machinery, our young people overcome many obstacles to start off on
their own in our community. Besides a commitment to hard work to
achieve their own goals, they also must rely on their families and
business owners like myself to help them get started.
______
Chairman Norwood. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Pitts, in Mr. Clark's testimony, he raised concerns
about the constitutionality of this legislation, and he
specifically stated that it would violate the Establishment
Clause of the Constitution by favoring Amish youth over non-
Amish youth.
Now I know you well enough to know that you and your staff
probably had a bevy of Constitutional lawyers around when you
were drafting H.R. 1943, so from that I have a couple of
questions. As I read this legislation, it is not strictly
limited to Amish youth, but rather, any individual whose
recognized religious sect or division fits the qualifications
that are set forth in this bill. Do I read that correctly?
Mr. Pitts. That is correct, Mr. Chairman, you're reading it
correctly.
Chairman Norwood. And I understand that H.R. 1943 is
modeled on language that the Supreme Court has already held to
be Constitutional in another context. Am I right about that?
Mr. Pitts. That is correct. The language is based on
language that has been found Constitutional by the U.S. Supreme
Court in upholding religious exemption for the Social Security
taxes.
Chairman Norwood. Is it reasonable to expect this language
would be found Constitutional, as well?
Mr. Pitts. Yes, Mr. Chairman. There have been a couple of
cases, and I'm sure Mr. Blank can cite them, where this has
gone all the way to the Supreme Court, and they have been
upheld in the Supreme Court. He's mentioned it as far as Amish
schools, their education system, and it's true as far as the
Social Security system.
Chairman Norwood. Mr. Souder and Mr. Pitts, I'd like for
you to--I think the Subcommittee needs to hear, frankly, a
little bit of your knowledge as it relates to your constituents
back home as this law has been enforced on your constituents
and what kinds of fines have been levied and what is this doing
to your constituents.
Mr. Pitts. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I mentioned, one
case in Lancaster County had to do with a leather shop, harness
making, leatherworking shop. It's very well-known in my area.
And they have in the front of the shop where the cash register
is, they have all kinds of displays of merchandise, and in the
back, they have machines that actually work on the leather.
This gentleman contacted me, Amish gentleman. He had his
15-year-old daughter in the front of the shop operating a cash
register, learning to use a cash register. He was cited by the
Department of Labor for violating child labor laws because in
the back of the shop, there were some machines that could be
considered hazardous in their case. That was an $8,000 fine.
I have met with a number of Amish from not only my district
but all over the country. The fines have ranged from 8 to 10 to
12 to 15, up to $20,000, in various settings, mostly in
woodworking. A lot of the Amish, since there's not enough
farmland, they're getting into woodworking, making sheds and
lawn furniture, things like that. Because there's a power tool
on the premise, they are being cited and fined, and they came
to me and said, look, we want to be good citizens, but we can't
afford these kind of fines. They asked for some kind of
intervention with the Department.
Chairman Norwood. Just a minute Mr.--I wonder what a
harness would retail for?
Mr. Pitts. Well, I'll ask one of the gentlemen here.
Chairman Norwood. Just ball park. Typically, what might a
harness----
Mr. Blank. Well, our typical driving harness that we use in
our community is between $300 and $400 for a new harness. Now
what the shop that he's talking about, he does a lot of
harnesses for like shows and things like that, and I have no
idea what they might sell for, but they are a lot more
expensive than that.
Chairman Norwood. How long would it take to make a harness?
Mr. Blank. Well, I can't answer that. I'm not really
involved in harness making. I would say one person working a
day.
Chairman Norwood. I guess my--comment?
Mr. Pitts. I just asked any of the other observers if any
of them were involved and knew.
Chairman Norwood. Well, you'd have to work a lot of days to
make enough harnesses to pay the taxes and then pay an $8,000
fine. I wonder if that fine is aimed at putting somebody out of
business. Because you can't live with that very long.
Mr. Souder, what's going on in your district?
Mr. Souder. It's a little different in Indiana. As best I
can tell from the meetings that we've had, that this was
precipitated mostly out of the Philadelphia Labor office. They
came into Pennsylvania, probably had complaints from
competitors or people who were worried about other categories,
didn't understand the religious liberty clause, which clearly
is defined for whether you're drafted, Social Security. There
are all kinds of variables that relate to this.
They didn't understand that the courts already ruled that
they can have their kids leave at eighth grade. What are they
supposed to do from the time they leave at eighth grade until
they get to this age? They don't believe--they believe idle
time is the devil's workshop. What are these kids supposed to
do if they don't have enough farm work? Yeah, maybe they can
milk a cow in the morning, they can do a little bit later, but
if you don't have enough acreage to keep them busy full time,
they need to have work.
Now in Indiana--I believe there's been a little enforcement
in Ohio--but in Indiana, they have not enforced it. The
Department of Labor there has, I believe, had more occasion to
understand what's happening in the Amish community, and we
haven't had that pressure. But we're very worried that the
precedent that was set in Pennsylvania is going to start to
ripple through the whole country, and then we're going to have
lots of court cases trying to define whether these fines are
legitimate or not legitimate, whether these people's minority
rights are protected under the Constitution or not, and this
legislation would help address that.
The problem so far has been mostly localized in
Pennsylvania. But as other people see them as a threat, the
goal here is really not what it looks like--child safety. These
kids in this faith are far safer than anybody else's family,
almost, in America. Here it's really competition, because as
they move from farm labor to other things, people want to shut
them down.
Chairman Norwood. I have many more questions, but I see my
time is up. I yield to Mr. Owens for questions.
Mr. Owens. Your last statement, Mr. Souder, about people
wanting to shut them down, is there any evidence or facts to
back that up? It implies the Department of Labor is part of a
conspiracy to shut down the Amish. I don't think in this great
country of ours anybody really wants to interfere with----
Mr. Souder. The motives of the individual people who are at
the Department of Labor, although I will say in talking with
the Department of Labor, he had never visited an Amish place.
He had no understanding what the Amish religion was, why the
person who made the decision didn't understand the debate. In
my community where we have had Amish do different things,
Mennonites and others, of which I am not Amish. My family left,
and I understand this pressure. They complain all the time that
the Amish don't do this, the Amish don't do that, the Amish
don't that. Yes, it is a huge pressure in the communities
involved.
Mr. Pitts. Mr. Chairman, as far as the double standard is
concerned, your kids, my kids in our schools, English schools
they call them, have lab or shop classes or they can go to vo-
tech school. My son at age 14 made a beautiful coffee table
with a bandsaw. And in his class were 14 other kids, and there
was one teacher. Now that's what our kids do use. They use the
equipment. We're not even asking that their kids can use the
machinery. We just want them in the workplace so that they can
learn the work ethic. They may only glue the lumber, stack
lumber, sweep sawdust, fill out paperwork. But we're not asking
that they use the bandsaws or the power equipment like our kids
do. That is a double standard.
Mr. Owens. I don't think either one of you gentlemen
question the premise of the government and its assumption that
it must protect the children. I don't think anybody would argue
that Amish teenagers are any more mature than any other
teenagers, and that the basic premise here is to protect
children.
There are numerous other religions throughout the country
that ask for exemptions, too, and you'd have a domino effect
here if you start exempting on the basis of the fact that this
particular set of beliefs is such that we ought to honor it by
exempting it. There are some groups that don't want children
vaccinated, and there are some that don't want blood
transfusions under any circumstances. There are numerous other
ways in which various religious groups have asked for
exceptions that this would open a Pandora's Box to.
The constitutionality question is still, it seems to me, up
in the air in terms of--I think your bill says that these youth
would be supervised by Amish supervisors, Amish adults. That
means that no other adults could be hired to do that. That
seems like just a technicality, but once you permit that
technicality in this case, you open the door for it to be also
a precedent for numerous others.
And Mr. Clark, does basing legislation on specific
religious belief instead of naming a specific religion in any
way immunize the legislation from constitutional challenge?
Mr. Clark. No, it doesn't.
Mr. Owens. Can you use the mike, please?
Mr. Clark. No, it doesn't. I think the rulings that were
referred to actually refer to issues other than child labor,
where the government interest is not so compelling. Here we're
talking about a matter of serious injury, even death, for
children. And in that situation, this bill doesn't favor Amish
children; it disfavors them. It says that they and they alone
and not children of other religions can lose the child labor
protections that are in the law for other children.
Mr. Owens. In other words, the whole question of
competitiveness, also, if there is competition which has led
the Amish to use power equipment where they don't use it
normally in their homes, you want to be competitive. If you can
employ children and the other people cannot employ children,
then that means that you get an advantage in terms of
competitiveness also, which is another question in terms of
equal protection under the law.
Mr. Pitts, you spoke of an $8,000 fine at a harness-making
shop. How much was actually paid? And did that employ a paid-up
fine, or was it subsequently reduced? Was this a recent
occurrence, or----
Mr. Pitts. No. This was one of the initial occurrences that
brought this to my attention several years ago, so I am not
sure whether he has paid the fine or if it was reduced or
increased. I know I have gotten lots of other complaints from
other business--these are family businesses basically, small
businesses.
Mr. Owens. OSHA inspectors have so many businesses to
inspect and so few inspectors, would you say that there's been
an inordinate number of inspections of the Amish shops? Have
they been harassed?
Mr. Pitts. They seem to have been targeted.
Mr. Owens. You think they've been targeted?
Mr. Pitts. Yes. They have received visits. And your point
about being disadvantaged, I would say if other businesses
don't want to use electricity or want to use buggies and
horses, let's level the playing field. The Amish are definitely
at a disadvantage when they're competing. They don't use
electricity. They've got to improvise in other ways. They don't
use computers. They don't use automobiles or trucks. They are
definitely disadvantaged.
All they're trying to do is keep their kids and let them
learn a work ethic and be self-sufficient by age 18.
Mr. Owens. Well, that relates to my very last question. Do
you have any written statement from the Labor Department
explaining why the Department cannot proceed administratively
to address this issue?
Mr. Pitts. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Owens. Could you provide it for the record?
Mr. Pitts. We have tried several things. First of all, we
tried a state internship program, because in Pennsylvania, we
have an apprenticeship program approved by our Department of
Education for the 14 to 18-year-olds. We thought, well, maybe
we could have a state internship program. The Department turned
us down because there are no exceptions for the Hazardous
Occupation Order Number 4 or Number 5.
We then tried a proposal to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to
work in a sawmill building as long as they remained 150 feet
away from the sawmill equipment. They turned us down there.
We tried another proposal to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to
work in a physically separate part of the sawmill operation.
They turned us down.
So we have tried other administrative type procedures, and
basically the department has said there's no regulatory or
administrative solution. You have to do it by legislation.
Mr. Owens. And of course this has always been civil
servants, because we've been through three or four
administrations, Republican and Democratic.
Mr. Pitts. Yeah, it's both.
Mr. Owens. So it's not a political, partisan political
issue?
Mr. Pitts. No.
Mr. Owens. Thank you.
Chairman Norwood. In other words, it isn't partisan.
Mr. Owens. It is?
Chairman Norwood. It's not, Mr. Owens. Let me just make
sure I got the record straight here. Now Mr. Owens was
referring to these inspections from OSHA. Is it OSHA that's
coming in, or is it the Labor Department that's coming in?
Mr. Pitts. No, we're talking about the Department of Labor,
labor law, the Wage and Hour Division.
Chairman Norwood. So it's not coming directly out of the
OSHA division?
Mr. Pitts. Not what I am talking about.
Chairman Norwood. Okay. That's important to know that.
And just to comment, the Federal Government, Mr. Owens
says, is responsible for keeping our children safe. And I
happen to believe that there are other people responsible for
that, too. A lot of times it happens to be your daddy or your
uncle, and I'm not so sure the Federal Government can ever do
as good a job as we should do for our own children ourselves.
With that, Ms. Biggert, you are recognized for five
minutes.
Mrs. Biggert. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And thank
you all for coming. This has been an interesting hearing. I
have a question for Mr. Burkholder. You own a lumber yard or
lumber mill?
Mr. Burkholder. Yes.
Mrs. Biggert. Could you just describe what the--well, first
of all, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the agricultural
work is exempt right now. Can you describe what Amish youth
would do under--within agriculture as compared to what they
would do in something like your lumber yard?
Mr. Burkholder. Well, with agriculture, really, I mean,
youths are permitted to even ride a tractor, drive a tractor
and things like that, which I would not permit my child. And in
the lumber industry, I had boys that were--it was a separate
building completely from the mill, and is a grading shed where
they just pile in the lumber, and from the height of this table
onto a cart beside them, they just pulled the board. They
didn't really have to lift the board completely, and pile it on
there. And they said the lumber is too heavy. It's too much
weight for the boys to lift the lumber.
And they had no problem. They could do it probably twice as
good as I could, and for say all day, and other--as far as your
farming, I know, you know, adults that have gotten killed from
riding tractors, and horses run away. I mean, we try to keep
our horses, you know, train them safe so they don't run away,
and they're very obedient. And that is dangerous, too, if you
have colts and so on.
But I think as far as piling the lumber and behind the
mill, is not hard work. It's heavy, but it's still not hard
work.
Mrs. Biggert. How many employees do you have?
Mr. Burkholder. I have around 30 now.
Mrs. Biggert. Thirty?
Mr. Burkholder. Yeah.
Mrs. Biggert. And do you have sons that work?
Mr. Burkholder. I did have. They both moved away, so
neither one of them are working with me now, but they did start
when they was real young, and I didn't realize it, and they
worked with me all the way through until three years ago.
Mrs. Biggert. And do you have other employees who have
their children that are working there?
Mr. Burkholder. I have a few of them that are under--
they're 16. The labor board told me they can work from 16 to 17
on machinery that feeds in with belt or chain or rolls, and
they can stack the lumber with that. But between 16 and 18. But
under 16, no. I had six boys that were fined.
Mrs. Biggert. Was this after they told--or you were fined?
Mr. Burkholder. Yes. Then they come back and looked at the
machinery and everything and then they--this was in the pallet
shop, not the sawmill.
Mrs. Biggert. Do you think that--well, concerns have been
raised about if the Amish youth are permitted to work in the
woodworking, that they might go and work for non-Amish business
or otherwise become unfair competition. Have any of these
wanted to go----
Mr. Burkholder. Not to my knowledge. I have a nephew that
worked on a farm, but other than that, I can't--I don't know,
to my knowledge, I don't know of anyone that----
Mrs. Biggert. Well, it would be really hard under this
bill, wouldn't it? Because it requires that the minor be
supervised by a relative or a member----
Mr. Burkholder. Right. A relative or--yes.
Mrs. Biggert. Is this a big business? I mean, do you have a
big lumber company?
Mr. Burkholder. Well, it's fair size, yeah. We have----
Mrs. Biggert. Thirty employees.
Mr. Burkholder. We cut the lumber and then I do the sales
for the lumber, and then we take what we call the low grade,
and then we make some pallets.
Mrs. Biggert. And where do you sell it?
Mr. Burkholder. There's brokers that buy the pallets and
different companies that buy the pallets.
Mrs. Biggert. So they come and pick it up there?
Mr. Burkholder. No. We have to hire somebody to deliver it.
Mrs. Biggert. So how would you compare safety-wise the
working----
Mr. Burkholder. For safety, I have shop saws in the shop,
but I never--I've always kept all them away from--I have----
Mrs. Biggert. Have you had any accidents? Have you had any
accidents of adults or children?
Mr. Burkholder. Yes, I have had from adults, more adults
than I had from children. I had one child that he wasn't
supposed to run the saw, but he did, and he cut himself a
little. But the adults, I don't know. I still have no idea. He
stuck his hand right in the bandsaw while it was running to
pull a slab out and we've told him shut it down. I mean, he's
been warned and warned. And I don't know why he done it. I have
no idea. He reached right in there and it pulled his hand right
in the blade and----
Mrs. Biggert. Well, under the bill, it says that a minor
may not under any circumstance operate or assist in the
operation of power-driven woodworking machines, so that, you
know, accidents happen, but I think that with the size of the
operations, I think this is a really good bill. And I don't
understand the reason for the Department of Labor coming into
an operation like this when this is such a community that, you
know, is off to itself. And I congratulate both of you for
bringing this bill forward.
Chairman Norwood. Mr. Pitts, did you want to----
Mr. Pitts. Yes, Mr. Chairman, to elaborate a little bit on
Ms. Biggert's question on what they do in agriculture. If
they're in agriculture, they're totally exempt. And as I saw a
few years ago, a 10-year-old boy was driving a team of mules
with disc in the field. And I was visiting his parents, and all
of a sudden, down the highway came a team of mules galloping,
dragging behind these discs. Cars were scattering everywhere.
And they came right in the driveway, right by me, went up to
the barn and stopped. And looked up in the field, and the
little boy waved, and everything was okay.
A ten-year-old can drive a team of mules, and they're
totally exempt. Any kind of agriculture, but not if it's
woodworking.
Mr. Souder. Can I make a safety comment, too?
Chairman Norwood. Mr. Souder?
Mr. Souder. I think it's important to understand the
functioning in the safety side. I think one thing is, is they
really want to be law-abiding, because they believe it's a sin
if you don't obey. Therefore, when there is an investigation at
one or two places, it goes through the budget newspaper and
everywhere else all over the country as to what this means in
behavior.
One of the good benefits of this is, is that they're
finding it clarified as well, too, about don't let the kids on
the machinery, or you could get fined. This bill actually
probably is a step back for many of those woodworking places
that have been expanding in the last number of years.
We've gone through this with milk on Grade A versus Grade B
milk and had to fight the definitions of what they'll do with
milking machines. We've been through this on highways, with
whether the triangle was a mark of the beast. We've been
through this with immunizations. We've been through this with
farm runoff and what kind of farm runoff impacts their
neighbors and how can they have enough flexibility to adapt to
technology to keep their religion so they can hold jobs so they
can protect their kids, when they can deprive health care, when
they can't deprive health care. But the fundamental question
is, if you can't eat, if you can't get jobs to sustain
yourselves and your religion, you abandon the religion or you
abandon the region.
And the question here is, can we keep this safe so these
kids can be in these buildings and yet still be working? Or are
we not even going to let them in the buildings? On the other
hand, the Amish are going to have to be more careful, or
they're going to be fined if these kids get on the machines.
Chairman Norwood. Ms. Majette, you are now recognized, my
colleague and friend from Georgia.
Ms. Majette. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I thank all of
the witnesses for being here this morning. I am new to the
Committee, and I come to this Committee with a little bit of a
background that I'd like to explain to you before I ask the
question.
I am representing Georgia's 4th District, which is an area
that primarily had been farmland, dairy farmers and others, and
it has transitioned to a suburban and now more of an urban
area. So I understand, I think, how things have changed and how
people have to change in order to continue to make a living and
do some things a little bit differently.
And I also have been a former member of the Amalgamated
Meatcutters and Retail Clerks Union. When I was 16 years old, I
worked in a grocery store, and I didn't work in the meat
department, but we did have interaction with that, and I
appreciate the remarks, the comments about the need for
protection of our young people.
I was an administrative law judge with the Workers'
Compensation Board in Georgia and so was challenged with
balancing the needs of employers as well as injured workers and
their families. But my concern is twofold. One, the safety
issue that we've been talking about, and also the
constitutional issue.
With respect to the safety issue, I think I understand some
of the concerns, but I think we need to find a way to be able
to address the need for the Amish people to be able to carry on
their faith and their tradition and their livelihood. And my
son had the benefit of being in a woodworking class and a
construction class when he was 16 years old, and they made
picnic tables and other pieces of furniture after being trained
and passing the safety tests. So I think it is possible for
that sort of thing to take place. And I guess I'm saying all
this to direct my question to you, Mr. Clark. What would you
suggest we do in terms of legislation to allow the Amish people
to preserve their faith and their tradition and their
livelihood, since they can't avail themselves of what our
society provides as a traditional means of learning or having
their young people learn those skills?
I mean, how can you help us with that so that we can
achieve that balance that we need?
Mr. Clark. Well, I think that the starting point is that
the Amish in this country have not just survived, they have
thrived, and they have done so because they are so adaptable in
terms of finding ways of adapting their religion so it can
conform to U.S. laws, and have been very successful in doing
that in a variety of circumstances, some of which have been
talked about this morning.
In terms of the starting point for this particular
legislation is to say first that you can't accomplish this
objective of providing occupational opportunities for Amish
youth by allowing them to work in this extremely dangerous
industry. And where they are most certainly going to be
subjected to an unacceptable risk of death and mutilation. We
are not without experience here. In fact we have decades of
experience, and we have experience from experts in the
Department of Labor, and as has been pointed out, it's not
whether it's the Democratic Department of Labor, it's not
whether it's Republican Department of Labor, regardless of
politics, this is extremely dangerous work.
So what we have to do is start with it can't be this way,
and then we have to look for other ways. And there are experts
far more qualified than I in the Congress, in the Department of
Labor, in the Department of Education, and in the Amish
community, and particularly in the states of Pennsylvania and
Indiana, that can address these issues once they conclude that
they can't do it this way.
You can't take the easy way out when it comes to protecting
children, particularly when we're singling out one particular
religious group that we are going to in fact deny protections
that we give Catholics or Protestants or Baptists or Jewish
children.
So that's got to be the starting point. Now there are
opportunities for education, occupational education, under
Department of Labor rules. And they just simply cannot allow
those exceptions to take place in a production-type atmosphere,
which is what we have here. It has to be in the learning
atmosphere, such as a vocational-type institution.
Ms. Majette. May I just--thank you. Can you be more
specific about what that environment might be that would still
allow for the Amish people to maintain their faith? Is there
something, some kind of program or vocational opportunity, that
would allow for that? Because if there is, I think that would
be important to hear about. If there is not, then I think
obviously this is an issue that has been--we've tried to
address it in the past, but I think there has to be more than
just saying, well, there ought to be some other opportunity,
there ought to be some other alternative. If there is one,
please tell me about that.
Mr. Clark. Well, I certainly--I think it would be
presumptuous on my part to be, in fact, telling the Amish
community how they should best approach this problem. I think
the question is more possibly directed towards the current
administration, the Department of Labor and the Department of
Education, to solve this problem.
I think we simply cannot take the easy way out, which is
legislation that would subject the children to this high risk
of injury. I think the bill itself, as we see, it only
addresses woodworking machinery. It doesn't address the other
machinery that exists in these facilities which is very
dangerous.
So the focus here is on this particular proposed solution,
and we have to first address that and conclude that it will not
work, and then direct these very powerful energies and bright
people towards another solution.
Ms. Majette. Thank you. I see my time is up.
Chairman Norwood. Congressman Souder, do you want to finish
it up with a comment?
Mr. Souder. I spent a good chunk of my life, long before I
was involved in politics, trying to work with the Amish
community so they didn't move out of our area, so friends and
relatives had alternatives, and there aren't just a whole lot,
because in fact one of the problems even in woodworking,
sewing, and other things that the Amish do for the tourist
trade and other types of jobs, that are being driven out like
many others, by the Chinese and others, because they're a
labor-intensive religion. They're not a technology-intensive
religion. And that means that they'll make some adaptations
with technology, but not a lot.
So that the professions that are available to them are few
and far between, which is why woodworking has emerged. Now as
other Amish craft items come, guess what else is one of our big
problems which we're probably going to have to address? There
are cheese companies now, one out of Cincinnati, that claims
Amish cheese, and they don't even have the correct type of
vehicle. They have nothing to do with the Amish, but they've
stolen the Amish name, similar to what the Europeans are
arguing with different things. And so when they do get
successful in a category, somebody comes in, takes it, claims
it's Amish this or that, which is starting to happen in
woodworking, so one of the things we're trying to do is how do
you develop a brand name for their products when they make
product? It's not just a kids question, it's an adult question.
But woodworking, the reason it has exploded in these last
20 or 30 years, is it's a labor-intensive area where there's
still a certain amount of skill to the quality that can be
used, and you can do it with your hands, not just with
technology, and that's the challenge with most of the other job
alternatives.
Ms. Majette. Is there a way that the youth can be trained
outside of a commercial activity? I mean, I suspect as a
practical matter that we have lots of people in our society who
have their young children or younger children, teenagers, young
teenagers, doing woodworking as a craft or as a social
activity, as opposed to producing if for sale. I mean, I know
that that is the case. Is there a way that we can do it?
Mr. Souder. Excellent question, but it has a religious
problem with the question. And that is, is part of the reason,
even getting eighth grade was a compromise. And then having
Amish schools having those teachers being trained outside. But
the reason this bill protects Amish kids from being exploited
by others by saying they have to say somebody in a similar
faith, but it also is a religious separatist provision. And
that is, is the Amish don't believe they should interact other
than minimally with outside communities. And the longer their
kids are exposed to those outside communities, the more likely
they are to leave.
You know, in my area, one of my friends from school who
left in the eighth grade, we don't have tops in the buggies in
my home town area. I said, do you get cold in the winter or do
you kind of get used to it? He said we have colds all the time.
It is not an easy lifestyle to maintain. And so if somebody
says, you know, you can still go to heaven, but you know, you
can have a car which is black, the temptation to leave. So the
longer these kids are exposed to that by outsiders training it
as opposed to their own parents and in their tradition, the
more likelihood that the religion is going to be undermined.
Still, a high percentage of the Amish leave. Because they
have high birth rates, they maintain and slightly increase
their numbers. But probably anywhere from 30 to 50 percent in
an area will leave their faith. And this is their fighting
chance to do that.
So while it would sound reasonable to an outsider, I think
safety training programs is a more viable type of thing,
internally training some of them how they can go around to
their businesses and what they need to do to follow the law, is
a more viable option than actually putting them in outsider
training programs.
Ms. Majette. Well, and just so it's clear, Mr. Chairman,
and I appreciate your allowing me to continue, but I am in no
way supporting having children be engaged in dangerous
activities, and I just question whether or not there is a way
that we can create the balance that it appears needs to be
created in this situation.
Thank you.
Chairman Norwood. Mr. Payne, would you like to question
now?
Mr. Payne. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, let me
say that it's always interesting to be at a hearing. I was here
about five years ago when I heard most of you at that time
discuss this issue.
And I think it is wonderful that a religious organization
does want to preserve its religion. I think that's great and I
think that I wish we had more, you know, more religion in
general, and maybe we'd have less problems in our communities
and in the world. And so I admire the Amish and the Mennonites,
the Quakers.
Many of them are very outstanding, Quakers in particular,
in the fight for abolition of slavery back when that was the
law of the land; the Quakers were very supportive of the
Underground Railroad, and many of my ancestors were protected
by coming up through the Underground Railroad and getting up to
Canada and becoming free men and women by virtue of the
Quakers. So we have a lot of respect for your religion and what
your goals and objectives are.
I worked in a lumber mill. My grandfather worked there, my
father worked there, I worked there for about four years when I
worked my way through college. It was Weyerhaeuser Lumber in
Newark, a very large lumber mill. Lumber ships would come from
Oregon, West Coast, through the Panama Canal to Newark port to
unload timbers and lumber, and I'm sure the work that we did
was a lot bigger than what you do. We used to handle timbers, 4
x 12, 26, 28, 30. It used to be graded and select structure
number one, two, and three, according to knots were, made the
strength of the timber and different processes of Wolmanizing
and creosoting to keep the termites from getting into the wood.
So I am a lumber handler, and I think I did a good job at
grading and so forth. But it's probably one of the--in the
large lumber mills--and I worked in what they called the little
mill. The big mill was even worse. It's probably one of the
most dangerous places that I did work. Of course it was big, it
was commercial. My father lost his thumb on the machine, which
even though it was supposed to have protections, he lost his
thumb. At that time, you know, you got a couple of hundred
dollars and see how quickly you can get back to work.
I worked there from '52 to '56, almost 50 years ago when I
worked in the mills. I'm not a youngster. And I've seen people
injured. I've seen--in a lumber mill you need forklifts. You
have to really concentrate. Forklifts back up; even though
there is usually a beeping sound so that people can be aware,
we had injuries. As a matter of fact, after I worked there, I
worked in a small business. It was family-owned. There were
about 50 workers. In this particular mill, we did machinery on
paper after the lumber was processed, we prepared paper forms,
computer forms at that time. And one way that we were able to
really reduce injuries from the forklift was that we hired a
deaf forklift operator, and everyone knew therefore they had
to--they couldn't yell and say watch out. They had to make sure
that they knew where the forklift was backing up.
So everybody--it was my idea since we hired Leon, who was a
deaf person, we didn't have an injury with the forklift. Before
that, we had one or two, because everybody looked at the
forklift, and it was their responsibility for their safety,
because they couldn't say ``I called out.''
But anyway, the lumber industry is difficult. You can have
all kind of accidents. You can have lumber falling. You can
have forklifts, you have load, and backs can be injured even
though you're not at the machine. Machinery sometimes has a
shrill, and you have the occupational safety if you have over
80 decibels, you need to have ear protection. It's hard for
adults to be responsible enough to keep ear protection in. This
is a big problem in many places where sound is over the
decibels, and you'll find that loss of hearing happens.
With young people, it's more difficult to discipline them,
a 14-year-old. I mean, I was 18 to 22 when I worked there. But
a 14-year-old is not as responsible, and even though, and I
know you're very particular about don't get near the machine, a
youngster is going to wander and a youngster is going to at
sometime they're just more apt to not be as responsible as an
adult. That's why we have even criminal justice that has
different kind of penalties for activities if you're under 18
or now under 16 than if you are an adult.
So I think that it's a severe problem. I can understand
what you're attempting to do. I wonder whether if there could
be some other, non-threatening type of work that could be done,
maybe in fabrics or something that doesn't deal--working in a
lumber mill, when you're cutting wood, you have to have a
pretty tough machine, period.
I just don't think that 14-year-olds are responsible
enough. I don't think that they are able to necessarily follow
the rules, as has been indicated in opposition to the law. I
would hate to see the law change, because then the question is,
would either you, Congressman Pitts or Congressman Souder, and
maybe it's a question, would you support permitting any child
14 years old to work in a lumber mill? Let me just ask you
that, either one of you.
Mr. Pitts. The proposal that we have is very specific that
it has to be a member of a religious sect or division thereof
whose established teaching do not permit formal education
beyond the eighth grade, and that the individual must be
supervised by an adult relative or by an adult member of the
same religious sect or division.
It's tailored specifically for their problem. I do not
oppose our youngsters being able to use power machinery in shop
classes in our schools, which your kids and my kids or kids in
vo-tech schools do. I would not prohibit them from doing that.
But this doesn't even go that far. These kids aren't even
allowed to assist or operate any power-driven woodworking
machines.
Mr. Souder. May I answer the question?
Mr. Payne. Yeah, sure.
Mr. Souder. I don't. But I do--I don't favor Amish kids
working the machinery, either. The question is--and there is a
difference between kind of a large lumber mill, if you mean
should they work in an office of a lumber mill or the types of
things like you said your family worked.
In many cases, quite frankly, we're dealing with relatively
small sized businesses where there isn't the separation that
you would get in a large lumber mill. Therefore, I do believe
that the safety considerations here, and I've met with the
safety committee over in Elkhart County, Indiana, as they're
trying to work for how to provide more safety to the kids on
the farm and other places, because they realize they have
obligations as parents and as a community.
What I do believe however is, is that when you don't have
other options that are apparent, that we have to be a little
more flexible or we shut them down. Much like I am one of--
unlike many of my colleagues, I don't favor the repeal of
affirmative action. I favor different things where different
groups haven't had the opportunity or need a break. I believe
there is a role of government to say this is a special case.
And I believe these people are a special case, and that we are
squeezing them in so many different ways that they're going to
be gone.
Mr. Payne. I certainly would hope that there could be
something found that could fill the void of 14-year-olds.
There's no question about that. I just still have a reservation
about the safety. I think we ought to be thinking since it's
five years ago we came up with the same outcome, a Democratic
administration, even Democrats perhaps even controlling some of
the Committees. It's not even a partisan issue. It's basically
a constitutional issue. It's an issue of safety. It's an issue
that the outcomes, and if you read the testimony from five
years ago, it's the same arguments.
I just think that we should look at other kinds of
industries that really could serve the purpose. In my district
at one time we had half a million people that lived in Newark.
We had all kinds of jobs. When kids would come out of high
school, they could drop out of high school, 16 they could get
work, not in dangerous types, but there were jobs.
We don't have any more jobs. Five hundred thousand people
dropped down to about 215,000 because kids that I grew up with,
their children had to leave Newark because there were no jobs.
It's sad. We saw our city just crumble down and decay and young
people move away. Where they went, I don't know. But they had
to leave there, and that's unfortunate and we suffered from it,
and we now have come up with some solutions of trying to have
service type employment and other things like that to try to
bring--to stop the trend out of our area.
But I think that these are problems that we confront as we
evolve as a nation and as a community, and I am certainly, like
I said, very empathetic with the situation. However, I have to
be truthful that I do think that we should not alter the
Fourteenth and the First Amendment to accommodate this
situation.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your giving me the
extra time, and I'll yield back. Thank you.
Chairman Norwood. Thank you, Mr. Payne. There will not be
another round of questions. I've allowed everybody to run over
the red light pretty good, and I think we've had a really good
dialogue.
I appreciate the Subcommittee's patience and intensity and
questions, and I particularly appreciate the panel and the
effort that you've made. I've just got to ask Mr. Burkholder
one thing. How much--when we're talking about lifting boards,
lifting lumber, what kind of weight are we talking about?
Mr. Burkholder. Probably I would say 90 percent of it would
probably be like 60 pounds and under. And occasionally you will
get maybe a load of lumber that you saw a little thicker, like
six quarter instead of four quarter. I would say 90 percent of
our lumber is four quarter inch thick. And occasionally we get
a six quarter, inch-and-a-half thick, and the boards vary from
8 to 12 inches, 6 to 12, and 8 to 12 feet long.
Chairman Norwood. Well, nothing about any of this is
amusing, but it struck me a little funny when you were talking
about the weight of that lumber. Where was the Labor Department
when I was playing high school football at 14 years old and
they wanted me to bench press 200 pounds all afternoon?
Mr. Burkholder. Right. Right.
Chairman Norwood. I needed them then, not now. Well, I do
thank all of you. Everybody had to lift. Mr. Blank, would you
like to make a comment?
Mr. Blank. Yes, I would just like to make a comment. From
what our concerns are, what we're seeing in some of our
communities, we have some communities where the fathers have
now been working out in non-Amish businesses for the second and
third generation. And industry used to move into that area
because of the Amish work ethic that they had. Now we're seeing
second and third generation of boys that no longer have the
training our fathers had. And the industry is telling me that
they see no difference now between the non-Amish and the Amish
youth.
So that's the point we're trying to make here. We want to
try to pass on to our next generation the work ethics that were
handed down to us. And you made a comment about football. I
don't mean to be derogative about your sports. I think it's
honorable to give the youth something to do. However, we have
in our neighborhood, our local high school just spent millions
of dollars to put in a football stadium for the children under
age 18. They expect those youth to be injured. They always have
to have an ambulance, a doctor or a nurse on duty whenever they
have a football game. And just last week, it was in the local
newspaper where a young boy was injured. He broke his neck. He
came very close to being paralyzed for the rest of his life
because of playing football. It was determined he did make the
tackle correct. However, it was just something that happened.
Now we were talking about double standards here. I heard
more than once in the Committee here they're concerned about
safety for children. Where is the department on these football
games?
Chairman Norwood. Well, and I think probably I ought to
make the record straight. I come from south Georgia and tobacco
country, and when it wasn't football season, all summer I was
flipping 150-pound tobacco sheafs, and nobody--I wanted the
Labor Department to be there then really bad.
Well, we appreciate this. I'd like for you to leave with
some comfort, and I believe actually Congress is going to do
the right thing again for the third time. Anything that I can
help the youth of this country become more self-reliant, which
is what you're trying to teach, is where we need to take
America. We need to be more reliant on ourselves and learn that
from our fathers and less reliant on the Federal Government.
Thank you all for your time. The Committee is now
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:08 p.m. the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[Additional material submitted for the record follows:]
Statement of Herman Bontrager, Secretary/Treasurer, National Committee
for Amish Religious Freedom
Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you about the unique
training needs of Amish youth and preservation of the Amish way of
life. I am interested in testifying on this matter for the following
reasons: a) I was raised in an Amish family and community in Northern
Indiana and personally benefited from the vocational and values
training that is an integral part of the Amish way of life; b) I am
concerned that the United States government unequivocally respects and
supports the freedom of conscience of all its citizens; and c) I work
with the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom.
The National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom was organized to
help the Amish regain their right to educate their own children. The
Committee's most notable achievement was when the late constitutional
attorney William Ball successfully the defended the Amish in Wisconsin
vs. Yoder in the U.S. Supreme Court. Some of the issues related to
apprenticeships of Amish youth in family and Amish businesses are the
same as the religious liberty issues in Wisconsin vs. Yoder.
1. The Amish and Mennonites, stemming from the 1525 Anabaptist
stream of the Protestant reformation, believe that it is essential to
imitate the life and spirit of Jesus and to follow his teachings in all
of life. The Amish community is where individuals live out their faith.
Faith for them is not only a personal belief, it is a corporate
practice nurtured by the community. In the community Amish find support
from fellow followers of Christ, live in harmony and support of each
other, and discern how to relate redemptively to the larger world. In
the Amish way of life the sacred and the secular are inseparably
intertwined.
2. Amish believe that children are a gift from God. Parents,
supported by the Amish community of faith, take seriously their
responsibility to prepare children for life. That formation consists of
wisdom,(which includes character, honesty, humility, long-suffering,
concern for the welfare of others), a work ethic, commitment to quality
and the vocational skills that equip children for useful adult
participation in the community, in the Amish way of life.
3. The Amish way of life is both a religious and social
commitment, nurtured within the Amish community as individuals live out
their faith in everyday life activities. It is important that work be
performed in the context of a supportive ethnic community, in other
words.-at home or as close to home as possible. Passing on the values
of the Amish way of life and teaching the skills their children need
for living in the community are a sacred trust assumed by Amish parents
and the whole community. ``Only Amish persons can model and teach
children to be Old Order Amish .... If the Amish cannot teach their own
children Amish ways, their religious culture will be destroyed''
(Lindholm, 1993: 120-121).
4. The agrarian way of life, farming, is by far the best way to
preserve the Amish way of life. Both parents are present, the family is
together for work and play, children learn life skills by being with
and observing their parents and other family members, children learn
vocations by helping in the real work of their parents' livelihood (on
the job learning, constantly supervised by someone who really cares for
them), and children experience validation by doing work that
contributes to the welfare of the family. Children are encouraged to be
useful but are not pushed to perform tasks beyond their ability.
Teaching by example is the preferred pedagogy of the Amish. Working
together as a family forges a strong sense of identity, family cohesion
and a sense of responsibility.
5. Occupational diversification has increased among the Amish as
farming is no longer available for all. Unavailability of farmland, the
high cost of investment to start farming, and competition with high
tech, corporate farming have forced Amish to adopt other vocations. To
preserve the family as the primary work unit and to retain control over
the work environment the Amish develop small businesses so they do not
need to work in large outside businesses. This emerging adaptation to
keep parents and children working together makes it possible to keep
their young people in a setting where they are supervised by family or
others from the Amish community.
6. Whether it is on the farm or in the numerous other occupations
they pursue through their own businesses and cottage industries, Amish
vocational training is primarily accomplished through apprenticeships
in the context of their extended families. They do not utilize high
schools, vocational schools, technical schools or colleges for
training. Apprenticeships adequately meet the training needs of Amish
young people and help to keep them integrated in the Amish community
during the crucial adolescent years. This system, which provides both
technical training and values transmission in the context of the
family, keeps children off the streets, out of prisons and makes them
contributors to the welfare of the community at an early age.
Apprenticeships are effective for this religious group and do not cost
the state or federal governments anything.
7. Motivated by love for their God-given children and a commitment
to equip them with practical life skills for living in the Amish
community parents take very seriously the task of providing relevant
training and formative experiences for their children. Learning life
skills and developing a sense of responsibility are most effective when
done in the context of real, meaningful work. It is important to the
Amish to train children to do the best they can in their work and to do
it safely. Thus, careful supervision and instruction are provided,
preferably by the parents or another family member. Supervision by non-
family members is also dependable since it is the heartfelt desire of
Amish people to retain their children in the community and to help them
become productive contributors to the welfare of the Amish community.
8. I urge you to enact legislation to amend the Fair Labor
Standards Act in a manner that will make it possible for the Amish and
other religious groups such as Old Order Mennonites Brethren to
maintain their time-tested practice of apprenticeship. A labor code
that makes it possible for the Old Order religious community to provide
for vocational learning in the context of the ethnic community and
family will help to preserve the Old Order way of life. The Old Order
way of life is first and foremost a matter of conscience, based on
religious faith. Apprenticeships, one of the few acceptable means
available to Amish and other Old Order groups to bring up their
children in the heart of the community, are, in effect, a religious
practice for them. Apprenticeships are the means for holistic formation
of Old Order youth, they are not inappropriate child labor practices
that exploit children in large factories to serve the profit motives of
outside investors. It is of compelling interest to the state to assure
that there is adequate provision for these religious groups, the Amish
and other Old Orders, to train and bring up their children according to
the dictates of their conscience and their faith.
9. The relief sought through an amendment to the Fair Labor
Standards Act is to provide flexibility that permits Amish and other
Old Order youth ages 14 to 18 years to learn skills and values by
working in what are the typical and common businesses operated by Amish
and other Old Order groups. It is not to compromise their safety.
Supervision by adult family members or other adults from the Amish
community and certain limitations on activities these youth may perform
are acceptable requirements.
10. Anabaptist faith understands that all aspects of life, whether
spiritual or material, whether worship or work, are to be lived humbly
under the Lordship of Christ. Religious faith is the basis for the
Amish way of life. The U.S. constitution assures liberty for all
citizens to believe and practice their faith as conscience dictates.
The nation's laws need to uphold that religious liberty. Amish
apprenticeships do not present any threat to public health and safety
nor to the welfare of any segment of society.
Wisconsin vs. Yoder set a strong precedent in support of Amish
providing education and training for their children in ways that
preserve their community.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter that is vital to
the interests of the Amish and other religious communities.
Sources
Hostetler, John A., 1980 Amish Society. Third edition. Baltimore and
London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Kraybill, Donald B. (ed.), 1993, The Amish and the State. Baltimore and
London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Kraybill, Donald B., 1989, The Riddle of Amish Culture. Baltimore and
London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Lindholm, William C., 1993, ``The National Committee for Amish
Religious Freedom.'' Pp. 109-123 in Donald B. Kraybill (ed.).
The Amish and the State. Baltimore and London: The Johns
Hopkins University Press.
Nolt, Steven M., 1992, A History of the Amish. Intercourse,
Pennsylvania: Good Books.