[Itenv] Shut Down Toxic E-Waste Prison Sweatshops

[Soenke Zehle]

Date: 	Fri, 20 Oct 2006 08:43:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: 	Computer Take Back <alerts at computertakeback.com>

*Tell Alberto Gonzales to Shut Down Toxic E-Waste Prison Sweatshops *

It's another dirty secret of the electronics industry. Some of the most
dangerous and poisonous dismantling of electronic waste takes place in
American prisons. In these recycling plants, prison staff and inmates
are exposed to harmful levels of toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium,
barium and beryllium where computers are broken apart by hammers.
Inmates have reported illness, respiratory problems, and skin rashes.
Prison employees are exposed and take contaminants home with them on
their clothes and skin, further exposing their families. The winner in
all this is the public corporation UNICOR, operated under the Dept. of
Justice which uses captive prison labor in a range of industries,
including dismantling of e-waste. By paying workers as little as 23
cents per hour, UNICOR undercuts viable recycling companies who ARE
protecting their workers.

Tell Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Take UNICOR Out of E-Waste
Recycling.
<http://action.computertakeback.com/action/index.asp?step=2&item=10212>

The Computer TakeBack Campaign has just released a new exposé on
problems in e-waste recycling facilities inside several federal prisons.
In "Toxic Sweatshops: How UNICOR Prison Recycling Harms Workers,
Communities, the Environment, and the Recycling Industry," prison
inmates and staff speak out about deplorable health and safety
conditions within UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries). Click here to read
the report <http://www.computertakeback.com/docUploads/ToxicSweatshops.pdf>.

*I would leave this out, but if you really want it in, it should go here.*

Here are some examples of what prisoners have told us about the
conditions inside UNICOR:

*Safety hazards *
	

/"When the glass breaking room was operating, shiny pieces of metal were
floating in the air all around the factory." ///

*Injuries to prisoners *

/"We are required to scrape the labels off the CRTs but we aren't given
scrapers to do it with. We are told to use or make sharp knife-like
objects [out of monitor parts] and to use them to scrape the labels off
the CRTs. Many inmates lacerate themselves while following these orders." /

*OSHA can't make surprise inspections *

/"We were told that a guy would be coming in to do some tests. The day
before we cleaned up real good." /*//*

*Retaliation against prisoners *

/"[Prisoner 1] was being messed with by UNICOR staff for talking with
the man from //Washington // about safety issues." /

While we aren't against prisoners having jobs inside, we strongly oppose
the use of captive labor for anything so dangerous as e-waste recycling
as long as the prison workers don't have the same kinds of health and
safety and whistle blower protections as workers in other companies do.

Tell Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Take UNICOR Out of E-Waste
Recycling.
<http://action.computertakeback.com/action/index.asp?step=2&item=10212>