Monday, April 21, 2003

How Low Can You Go?

When California and several other states banned the use of crippling short-handled hoes in the mid-1970's, farmworkers breathed a sigh of relief. But it didn't take long for farm owners to get around the ban. Instead of short-handled hoes, how about no hoes at all -- hand weeding? Pretty clever. Now the United Farm Workers, along with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and the California Labor Federation are urging CalOSHA to ban hand weeding as well. Read about it in the LA Times.