Saturday, October 31, 2009

Young children working on blueberry farm, is this the U.S.?


The Adkin Blue Ribbon Blueberry Farm located near South Haven, MI were fined for violating federal migrant-housing & child labor laws. What a shame! The Adkin co. claim they are unsure why there were children working on their blueberry farm and are investigating the issue. They claim it may be because the workers did not have adequate child care. Is that really an excuse? Funny, they didn't see the children as young as 6 years old carrying around the 5-gallon buckets and picking blueberries? What has this country come to? We have adults out here who can't find jobs and they are working young children. I swear, some people have no morals and will do anything to make a buck, no matter how wrong it may be. That sounds like a story you would hear about in another country. But, not in the United States. The Adkin farm is one of largest blueberry companies in Michigan selling their blueberries to grocery food chains, such as; Kroger, Meijers & Walmart. The Adkin Farm paid only $5,500 in fines. In my opinion, that isn't enough. They should have been fined a lot more. The workers were also found to be living in unlicensed migrant camps with no hot water, a faulty septic system leaking near the living quarters, the living units were infested with bugs and rodents, and untreated water waste spilling out of broken pipes. I would hate to say it, but this is one of the problems with hiring seasonal migrant workers.

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