Congress to relax federal labor laws for Amish teens

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress is poised to relax federal labor laws to let Amish teenagers work near dangerous woodworking machines -- a plan critics charge might be unconstitutional and would, ultimately, put youngsters at risk.
But the Amish, including nearly 50,000 in Pennsylvania, say the laws threaten the "learning by doing" apprenticeships that have been a hallmark of their culture for generations.
Over the last decade, federal inspectors have fined some Amish wood mills as much as $20,000 for illegally letting teens work in the same building as the dangerous equipment. The new plan, which is included in the massive federal spending bill that the House is expected to approve next week, would exempt Amish teens, aged 14 to 18, from federal child-labor standards -- as long as they do not operate woodworking machines and are supervised at all times.
Apprenticeships
Amish teenagers enroll in apprenticeships -- usually in farming or woodworking -- after they have legally completed their formal education at the eighth grade.
Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., who sponsored the plan with Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., credited Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., with slipping it into the $373 billion spending bill to fund federal agencies in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
The Amish have communities in about 20 states, Pitts said.
Nicholas W. Clark, counsel for the international United Food and Commercial Workers labor union and a vocal critic of the plan, conceded it would probably become law when the Senate passes the spending bill in coming weeks.