Obama's
Unicorn UNICORE jobs creation plan.
Here is yet another example of that Obama flavored version of job growth. Take away from the private sector and expand the government sector at a greater cost to the taxpayer. Of course the other part of Obama's plan is to dramatically reduce the American military, therefore, eliminating the quantities of these uniforms. Even though the prison industries version will cost the American taxpayer $5 more per unit to provide.
So....the bottom line, Obama wants to put convicts serving prison sentences to work and lay off honest law abiding citizens who have jobs. Is mainstream media getting any of this? Do they really care?
I think not on both counts.
Two
southeast companies that make U.S. military uniforms are shedding
hundreds of jobs, as the government looks to federal inmates for the
fatigues.
American Power Source makes military
clothing in Fayette, Ala., but its government contract expires in
October. Federal Prison Industries – which also operates under the name
UNICOR will snag the work, and leave the task to inmates. FPI has the
first right of refusal for U.S. Government contracts, under a 1930
federal law.
American Apparel, the Selma,
Ala., based military clothing manufacturer closed one of its plants and
continues to downsize others due to the loss of some of its contracts to
FPI. According retired Air Force colonel and spokesman Kurt Wilson, the
company laid off 255 employees and cut the hours of 190 employees this
year alone. So private workers end up losing their jobs to prisoners.
"The
way the law is – Federal Prison Industries gets first dibs and
contracts up to a certain percentage before they have to compete against
us," Wilson, the executive vice president of business development and
government affairs, said. "The army combat uniform, for instance, is an
item that they take off the top. As a result American tax payers pay
more for it – but the bottom line is each soldier is paying more for
their uniform."
American Apparel charges $29.44 per uniform, but the FPI uniform costs $34.18 – a 15 percent difference.
FPI
has been around since the 1930s. It provides training, education and
employment for inmates in federal custody. With more than 13,000
inmates, FPI operates in about 80 factories across the United States.
The company is not allowed to sell its goods to the private sector --
and the law requires federal agencies to buy its products, even if they
are not the cheapest.
"It has been going on for
some time," Wilson said. "Unfortunately what comes to bear now is, as
demand for uniforms begins to decrease, budgets decrease and the problem
gets bigger for us. Therefore we have to lay people off."
FPI officials were unavailable for an interview, but the company does offer a number of statistics which dispute the criticism.
"It
is important to note that FPI produces only 7 percent of the textile
garments purchased by DLA. The other 93 percent are produced by other
entities," Julie Rozier, an FPI spokeswoman said in a statement to Fox
News.
"FPI's percentage has remained fairly
consistent over the past decade, with slight declines. FPI is a program
that directly protects society by reducing crime and preparing inmates
for successful release back into society to become law-abiding citizens;
FPI does not receive a congressional appropriation for its operations,"
the statement said.
Inmates working for
UNICOR or FPI are 24 percent less likely to reoffend and 14 percent more
likely to be employed long-term upon release, according to the
government company's website. More than 40 percent of Unicor's supplies
were purchased from small businesses in 2011.
The battle between the two has caught the attention of lawmakers in Washington.
Representative
Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., is sponsoring a bill which would reign in the
ability to take work from private companies.
"We
all have seen those terrible statistics, forty-plus months of 8.1
percent unemployment. We know the actions the government has taken it
doesn't look like this is going to get better any time soon," Huizenga
said. "Here we are having a prison population coming in and taking jobs
away from the private sector - why in the world we think this is OK. I
can guarantee you if this were a Chinese product with Chinese prisoners
making that - we would be outraged."
Huizenga went on to say the outrage amongst his constituents is palpable.
"It's
just this outside entity called UNICOR or Federal Prison Industries
coming in and saying sorry - that work is now ours. We are going to
having prisoners doing this," he said. "Of course they are outraged, of
course they are frustrated. They are angry, they're hurt frankly that
their own federal government would come in and do this to them at a time
when their watching their friends and neighbors struggle with $4
gasoline and they're trying to keep their mortgage in check."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/16/american-prison-labor-means-longer-unemployment-lines/#ixzz26j5gngOV
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