Prisoners hired in oil relief efforts, trained for hazardous materials work

[nashville_brook]

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/prisoners_hired_in_oil_relief.html


Prisoners hired in oil relief efforts, trained for hazardous materials work

By David Ferrara
May 29, 2010, 6:15AM

MOBILE, Ala. -- More than 200 prisoners are among the people hired for work related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

All are working for SG & S Oil Recovery Product LLC, which is based in Baldwin County, according to Brian Corbett, a spokesman with the corrections department.

At least 75 of the inmates were trained in Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response, also known as HAZWOPER, on Dauphin Island between May 13 and 16, while another 73 are being trained this week, Corbett said. Another 59 inmates in Loxley are making boom, he said.

The facility in Loxley is a Department of Corrections work-release center.

SG & S owner Jay Graddick, who launched his new business after the leak, said he has been using work-release inmates for two years on construction sites. He said he placed an ad in the Press-Register several weeks ago, looking for oil relief help, and offered $8 to $10 per hour, but "didn't get a single phone call for somebody looking for a job."

He said the work-release inmates are reliable.

"It's almost impossible for them to steal anything," Graddick said. "They're not walking around talking on cell phones. They're orderly, because repercussions are harsh. I've had less problems with these guys than when I've hired just normal people."

Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier and the town's police chief, George Goodwin, said they were not notified when the inmates were sent to training classes at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Collier said a call to the chief would have been "appropriate."


(more at link)

[flyarm]

1. Trying to Help, Hearing Nothing: A Gulf Coast Diary

Trying to Help, Hearing Nothing: A Gulf Coast Diary | The Seminal

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/51498

snip:

Since my reason for coming down here was to help personally in cleaning up oil, last Friday I went to the hazmat training center in St. Bernard Parish. I need the training in order to work on the cleanup.

At the office, they told me that to be trained at this facility, I needed to be either a St. Bernard Parish resident or already be hired by BP. At an office next door, I could fill out an application to work for BP. So, realizing this would be the only way I might be able to work on the cleanup, I went by. As I sat just outside the office, I watched one fisherman after another come in and ask the BP representatives for checks. Some had no problem getting checks, while others left empty-handed for yet another day.



snip:

Thursday I attended a press conference on the beach at Grand Isle that put the previous incident into perspective. The organizers asked the press where they would want to set up in order to get the best shot. Just a day before, this beach was empty, aside from sheriffs on four-wheelers. But now, workers were all over it. I wondered if they’d been sent here for the sole purpose of providing us with a photo opportunity.

On Friday, Obama is supposed to visit the very beach where we observed the Guards discarding the boom. With that in mind, the National Guard has been busy placing and replacing more boom on that beach than any other site I have visited in Louisiana. So much of what makes it to our televisions is just a show, a bit of theater to keep us all happy. I, for one, don’t want to be entertained by the news. I want to be informed.

[nashville_brook]

5. i'm aware that the rejection of volunteers has been a concern up there, that's why this

news struck me as odd, and a staggering example of Disaster Capitalism.

[KamaAina]

2. No mention of "equipped for hazardous materials work"

Sounds like something China would do. :grr:

[napi21]

3. I agree a phone call would have been apropriate, but I also

think hiring the inmates is a good idea too. Especially if his ad received NO responses.

[Dr.Phool]

14. Do you want to work in the hot sun, with hazardous chemicals for $10 an hour?

Which is why he probably offered such a low wage.

The inmates are probably getting less than $1 per hour. They're usually paid in cents.

[jp11]

4. Yeah hazardous materials work, who knows the health risks, who knows if BP will be made to pay at

all for health issues if/when they happen all for a whopping $8-10, I'm shocked, shocked I tells ya that the phone wasn't ringin' all night long. I could make a bit more than that sitting in an air conditioned mall twiddling my thumbs and smiling at customers seeing if they needed help finding anything when I wasn't fixing up displays about 10 years ago.


SG & S owner Jay Graddick, who launched his new business after the leak, said he has been using work-release inmates for two years on construction sites. He said he placed an ad in the Press-Register several weeks ago, looking for oil relief help, and offered $8 to $10 per hour, but "didn't get a single phone call for somebody looking for a job."


Average salary 39,000, this guy roughly 20,000, say the real salary for hazmat cleanup is 30k he's still off by 10k, I can guess there are no benefits and it is a temporary position.

Average salary of Hazardous materials cleanup jobs:
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-hazardous+materials+clean+up

He's even under the 'low' mark.
http://www.payscale.com/af/calc.aspx?af=2385&src=SH1&job=hazardous%20materials%20clean%20up&city=&state=

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

6. Are they chained together like they do on the roads when they pick up trash?

[undeterred]

7. Damn those normal people.

They might even try to form a union or something.

[The Straight Story]

8. What did he put in the ad, cannot find one so far looking over the last month there (nt)

[The Straight Story]

9. Here is one I found

Oil Clean Up Laborers

Source: Press-Register
Employer:
Company Confidential
Location: Mobile, AL United States
Last Updated: 05/25/2010

Free training
Must be MS resident and
pass drug test and physical.
Must be willing to work long
hours if needed. Apply ASAP
@5601 Nevius Rd Mobile, Al
Or call 251-661-1755

No mention of pay

http://jobs.al.com/careers/jobsearch/detail?searchType=resuts&networkView=main&kAndEntire=oil&location=&jobId=26213844&viewType=main&networkView=main&offset=

[jp11]

10. That is a staffing agency, maybe he didn't place an ad, but he isn't the only one out there

tossing out low wages for that kind of work plenty of jobs posted on Craigslist out there near his range, some more and some even requiring hazmat certification.

[flying rabbit]

13. Good thing they are drug testing

wouldn't want any potheads fouling our beaches.

[suffragette]

11. I found some related info and posted in an OP I wrote about the

conditions for laborers, but haven't had a reply yet.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8444883

[JoeyT]

12. His comments can pretty well be translated into

"Slave labor fucking rocks!"

Funny how he claims no one responded to an ad offering them shit wages for godawful work so some profiteering asshole could skim as much as humanly possible off the top. Most of these "Will help you get certification" companies are scams. There's been a huge problem with them holding people's certifications and refusing to give them to them while billing them for the class unless they agree to work for their pay on their terms (which aren't disclosed until AFTER the class), some of which are illegal. One example was a company that, after everyone was trained for their $15 an hour job, informed them they were going to be making $8 an hour, and weren't going to get overtime no matter how many hours they worked. The phrase that's a dead giveaway in this article is "launched his new business after the leak".
It's long past time for the state and federal AGs to start busting some heads.