SPECIAL REPORT- Japan's homeless recruited for murky Fukushima clean-up

[bananas]

Source: Reuters

Homeless recruited for Fukushima at minimum wages

* Labor brokers skim their pay; charge for food, shelter

* Some say better homeless than going into debt by working

* Little oversight on companies getting clean-up contracts

* Gangsters run Fukushima labour brokers; arrests made

<snip>

Almost three years ago, a massive earthquake and tsunami leveled villages across Japan's northeast coast and set off multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Today, the most ambitious radiation clean-up ever attempted is running behind schedule. The effort is being dogged by both a lack of oversight and a shortage of workers, according to a Reuters analysis of contracts and interviews with dozens of those involved.

<snip>

Only a third of the money allocated for wages by Obayashi's top contractor made it to the workers Sasa had found. The rest was skimmed by middlemen, police say. After deductions for food and lodging, that left workers with an hourly rate of about $6, just below the minimum wage equal to about $6.50 per hour in Fukushima, according to wage data provided by police. Some of the homeless men ended up in debt after fees for food and housing were deducted, police say.

<snip>

"If you don't get involved (with gangs), you're not going to get enough workers," said Sayama, Fujisai's general manager. "The construction industry is 90 percent run by gangs."

<snip>

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/30/fukushima-workers-special-report-pix-grf-idUKL3N0K51ZU20131230

[JEB]

1. The bright future promised by the nuclear industry...

Everlasting pollution, abuse of workers, criminal activities.

[rhett o rick]

2. Good point. There will always be jobs ......... cleanup jobs that is. And you dont have to

worry about supporting the workers in their old age.

[Demo_Chris]

3. You always manage to see the positive :)

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Just when you thought it could not get worse.

It's business as usual.
Japan owes it to the rest of the world to get professional help on Fukishima.

[ArcticFox]

5. seriously doubt such professional help exists

In the world.

[awoke_in_2003]

7. Big money is calling the shots...

here in this country and every other industrialized nation.

[awoke_in_2003]

6. Seems like a cruel way...

to handle the homeless problem. This just goes to show, big money is calling the shots in most industrialized nation.

[christx30]

12. A homeless person

has the potential to be helpful to society. They should send in someone totally useless. Politicians could do the job and there is no chance of wasted potential because of early death.

[awoke_in_2003]

13. I am all for it. nt

[Brigid]

8. Does any of this sound familiar?

[groundloop]

9. The republican party has a strong foothold in Japan?

I never knew that.

Damn, that's a fucked up mess. Not only do their homeless poor get exposed to dangerous levels of radiation sure to shorten their lives they end up paying for the privilege.

[bananas]

14. Abe is a right-wing ultraconservative neocon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism_in_Japan

Neoconservatism in Japan, also known as the neo-defense school, is a term used by Asian media only recently to refer to a hawkish new generation of Japanese conservatives.

<snip>

Notable neoconservatives often include:

Shinzo Abe, current Prime Minister of Japan, the successor of Junichiro Koizumi, an anti-North Korea hardliner

<snip>

[mitty14u2]

10. International Alarms Go Up As Fukushima Alert Level Raised

International Alarms Go Up As Fukushima Alert Level Raised 8/21/13

In the most serious action since the nuclear plant was first damaged in 2011, Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority is on the verge of raising the international alarm—and the official threat level—over the spiraling crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

By elevating the severity status from level 1 to level 3 on the eight-level International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES), the NRA has made a clear indication that the situation is worsening more than two years after the initial disaster and following recent reports of newly discovered leaks of highly radioactive water from several sources.

As Reuters reports, the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday it viewed the situation at Fukushima “seriously” and was ready to help if called upon, while nearby China said it was “shocked” to hear contaminated water was still leaking from the plant, and urged Japan to provide information “in a timely, thorough and accurate way”.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/international-alarms-go-up-as-fukushima-alert-level-raised/5346577

These guys are as bad as Exxon and BP put together for not telling the truth how bad things really are, protecting $$$$$$?

[nilesobek]

11. From Fat Man and Little Boy

to Fukushima...nuclear power, the gift to Japan that just keeps on giving.

[okieinpain]

15. for work that people need to make a living, corps have robots coming out there butts.

But to clean up radioactive waste, they need humans. Lol.