If anyone is wondering why the" Harper Government" is so focused on increasing our prison population, they could look at the use of prison labour as a possible reason.
The US uses prison labour to manufacture everything from street signs, park benches , and yes, license plates to office furniture. They have also in the past been used to process online sales orders, including obtaining credit card info from consumers.
Now we learn that Federal prison inmates in the US are making parts for Patriot missiles.They are paid $0.23 an hour to start, and can work their way up to a maximum of $1.15 to manufacture electronics that go into the propulsion, guidance, and targeting systems of Lockheed Martin’sPAC-3 guided missile, originally made famous in the first Persian Gulf conflict.
Inmates also make cable assemblies for the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F-15, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s Cobra helicopter, as well as electro-optical equipment for the BAE Systems Bradley Fighting Vehicle’s laser rangefinder.
Coupled with the destruction of unions and the expansion of the temporary immigrant workers program by the "Harper Government",etc,we see an orchestrated campaign by our corporate masters to deflate wages and create a pool of desperate workers, who will not only work cheaply, but will be compliant and willing to look the other way on safety and environmental abuses.
"They are paid $0.23 an hour to start,..." AND this cheap labour is used to increase the profit margins of arms companies and prop up the US military-industrial complex! Travesty.
ReplyDeleteTravesty indeed, especially when you consider the billions it costs to provide this publicly subsidized labour as well as the social costs of imprisoning so many
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