LA Weekly

Elizabeth Grossman reports in The Nation that Federal Prison Industries, better known as UNICOR, is using prison inmates at Northern California's Atwater facility to break up electronic parts for recycling. The inmates are working without OSHA-approved safety equipment, they aren't being told about the hazards and they're being trained to do the job in a way that increases their exposure to lead, cadmium and other toxic metals.

UNICOR's computer disassembly process releases so much lead, in fact, that its dust qualifies as hazardous waste. Smith and former staff at UNICOR's Elkton, Ohio, facility say this waste has been improperly handled. "Prison staff were removing the filters that collect the dust from the glass-breaking without wearing respirators, and putting these filters in the general prison trash," says Smith, who showed me photographs of worktables covered with thick layers of pale gray dust.

Five years ago, the New York Times ran an article about how inmates are now making "more than license plates," and earning 25 cents to $7 an hour. It's pretty convenient: A built-in workforce that can't organize and strike, can't complain, and has to eat the food in the cafeteria no matter how bad it is. Supporters call this a "flexible and dependable workforce," but:

To opponents, inmate labor is both a potential human rights abuse and a threat to workers outside prison walls. Inmates have no bargaining power and are easily exploited, the critics say. In one California lawsuit, for example, two prisoners have sued both their employer and the prison, saying they were put in solitary confinement after complaining about working conditions.

--------

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)