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November 22, 2007 Front Page |
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US Timber Wants To Run Production Line With Prison Labor
By Brian Addison
Powder River Correctional Facility and US Timber are working on an agreement that would employ a prison work crew pulling dry-chain for a much needed, third shift at the private sector company. The US Timber plant in Baker City cites a high employee turnover rate and an inability to find enough workers to fill the minimum wage entry-level positions in order to run three, and sometimes even two production lines. A full work force at the local US Timber would run three production lines with about 48 workers. The local plant is currently able to operate two lines with only 26 workers. A prison work crew consists of one prison inmate supervisor and seven to 10 inmate workers at a price tag of $535 per seven-hour shift.
In 1994, Oregon voters approved ballot Measure 17, the Prison Reform and Inmate Work Act. Measure 17 became part of Article 1 of the Oregon Constitution and mandates that prison inmates work 40 hours per week. The law mandates that inmates “should work as hard as the taxpayers who provide their upkeep.” Measure 17 calls for inmate work programs to operate in a “businesslike fashion to generate revenues for the private sector or to reduce the cost of government.” The measure allows the prison work program to compete with private sector interests, according to Dept. of Corrections informational documents.
Baker County Gives Forest Service Alternative To Road Closures
By Brian Addison
Baker County Commission Chairman Fred Warner, Jr., presented Baker County’s request for an alternative to the proposed blanket closure of over 4,200 miles of road in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (WWNF). The road closures are proposed by the United States Forest Service (USFS) through the national Travel Management Plan to go into effect in late 2009.
Commissioner Warner presented Baker County’s alternative with open road recommendations to Forest Service WWNF Supervisor Steve Ellis. Ellis is given the responsibility of making final decisions on forest road closures as mandated by the Travel Management Rule (Travel Management Rule documented in Federal Register, 1995). When speaking about his responsibility as the one making the decision on road closures, Ellis first mentioned the federal mandates guiding his decision.
As Warner addressed the public, he made several points concerning the county’s position on the proposed road closures in the WWNF.
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