Robert Reich: Put Jobless Young People to Work Cleaning Up BP’s Mess and Order BP to Pay

[highplainsdem]

http://robertreich.org/post/670114941/put-jobless-young-people-to-work-cleaning-up-bps-mess

Put Jobless Young People to Work Cleaning Up BP’s Mess and Order BP to Pay
Sunday, June 6, 2010


Friday’s job report was awful. For most new high school and college grads finding a job is harder than ever. Meanwhile, states are cutting summer jobs for disadvantaged young people. What to do with this army of young unemployed? Send them to the Gulf to clean up beaches and wetlands, and send the bill to BP.

Florida’s panhandle beaches are already marred with sticky brown globs of oil. Workers with blue rubber gloves and plastic bags are already losing the battle to keep them clean. Pelicans and other wildlife coated in oil tar are dying by the droves.

It will get far worse. Most of the oil hasn’t hit land yet. When it does, hundreds of thousands of workers will be needed to clean beaches, siphon off oil from wetlands, and rescue stranded wildlife. Tens of thousands more will have to bring in new landfill, replace tarred sea walls, and rebuild shoreline infrastructure.

Yet we’ve got hundreds of thousands of young people sitting on their hands right now because they can’t find jobs. Many are from affected coastal areas, where the tourist and fishing industries have been decimated by the spill.

The President should order BP to establish a $5 billion clean-up fund, and immediately put America’s army of unemployed young people to work saving the Gulf coast. Call it the new Civilian Conservation Corps.

-snip-

[babylonsister]

1. No kidding. Add anyone who can do the work and is unemployed,

and I'm in. Age discrimination. x(

[hlthe2b]

2. Only if they take great pains to provide adequate protection/training

and supervision to make sure these kids don't acquire detrimental personal exposure.

[BeFree]

6. The bad stuff for trained workers

The tarballs can be picked up by nearly anyone.

Then there are the background and support needs. Food, water, etc.

It is clear BP is drowning. We've thrown BP a life vest via the CG and they refuse to stop sinking. All we have left to do the job is real Americans. Put them to work.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[sandnsea]

8. Exactly

I can't believe the number of off-the-cuff suggestions about cleaning up an oil spill. Last week they were bitching because workers didn't have respirators and proper training. This week they think we should just haul everybody down there and turn them loose on the beaches. Argh.

[femrap]

34. When I look at these people

who are dressed in white suits picking up tarballs I think....there must be a more automated, machine-oriented, EFFICIENT way of doing this. Seriously. Fuck...some type of super vacuum. Something.

Did the dispersants cause the oil to form into these tiny tarballs? Or is this just the 'natural' ways of voilcanoes???

[glitch]

19. Absolutely full precautions. Paid for by BP but definitely NOT managed by them.

They have proven themselves incapable.

[MH1]

53. Exactly.

[eleny]

3. There should be work for years

Even if we worry about the safety of the young people working there right now, there could be jobs for years to come cleaning, rebuilding and reviving what's been damaged and nearly destroyed. Flora and fauna will need their energy and enthusiasm.

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. a wonderful suggestion

a long as they provide saftey measures for the workers.

[blondeatlast]

5. My son is on summer visitation with his dad in Prague--but he wanted to go help clean up

the beaches.

He's 13 years old--and he desperately wanted to help.

Is there any cogent argument against Reich's idea? Any at all?

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Yes without trainng in HAZMAT

and adequate protection, base line testing before he goes in, to make sure there is no exposure outside of norms, and a few other problems... there is a problem with it.

Leave the dispersant to the side, google benzene... that is one of the aromatics in crude... and it is just the top of a very nasty iceberg.

If they asked for volunteers and that included all the training (in my case refresher) and equipment, after some soul searching given my current medical status, I might do it. Of course they would have to promise lifetime medical care. I just got a bunch of real and potential medical conditions from being there for a while. Hell, the people living in the gulf where they have that constant smell of crude, well we should start building the medical infrastructure to take care of them, and a few generations to come.

[glowing]

14. This spill is toxic. Shoot, I just live in Tampa, and the air quality has changed

It feels like I'm suffering from allergies, but its not allergies. I have all kinds of phlegm and sinus pressure going on. I am literally doubling my vitamins and alternating between sudafed, mucinex, and Claritin just to breathe. AND I am not a person who suffers from allergies as badly as some do during allergy season. After it rains, its the worst.... Think all that hot water with toxic mess evaporating into the atmosphere, winds blow towards the east, air mass hits with Atlantic air mass, and summer thunderstorms pop down just about every afternoon. On top of that its humid at this time of the year.. so the air is thick with moisture already. I wouldn't reccommend anyone from Northern/ or drier states to travel to this region who know they have respiratory issues... esp persons with asthma, they might actually die from the exposure to the toxic mess.

[madrchsod]

20. ...i know exactly what you are smelling

. i used a good "nose mask" when i was dealing with oil clean up where i worked. i have really bad allergies and i use vicks in my nose, nose spray, but no pills. i hope the pills help you and try nose spray. i suggest you find a good mask if things get to bad.

[femrap]

33. Oh shit....it's going

to be like a miasma of toxic oil, gas, dispersents, and death wafting around.

OMG. Fucking BP and the fucking gov't agents in bed with them.

Is this covered on your local news?

[glowing]

49. No, I have a degree in Marine/ Environmental Science. The Gulf is one of the

most studied regions.. Oddly enough because of the the oil companies, we have loads of data from core samples about what used to be years ago... Anyway, its one of the first things I thought about when the planes where spraying their toxic spew.. When I saw what was in their spray, I knew that it would be rather bad once evaporated and in the atmosphere along with the oil.. Benzene fallout is actually worrying me quite a bit... The heavy metals are hard to rid one's body of.

[femrap]

51. I wish you the best

...documentation is extremely valuable in our Court System.

I don't even want to Google 'benzene' and see how it damages humans and animals.

Was Corexit not only sprayed by planes, but wasn't it dispersed under water as well?

[glowing]

56. Yes they spray at the blowout source.

[peacebird]

7. BUT make sure all workers have protective clothing because we don't want them all

getting sick like the Valdez volunteers did. Apparently working with the crude is toxic and the dispersants they are dumping into the mix....

google "Valdez crud"

http://www.inweekly.net/article.asp?artID=11514

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8368021

[LakeSamish706]

12. You beat me to that, was just going to say how toxic that crap is... Need to make sure they have

proper fax mask and breathing apparatus as well.

[Hello_Kitty]

9. They'll bring in low wage immigrants to do it.

It's another one of those "jobs Americans won't do".

[madokie]

11. Only with proper protective gear

and I don't mean only a paper respirator either. This stuff is harmful to the body and we don't need a to poison our future generation by putting our young out there in harms way. This is going to take many decades if it ever is cleaned up.

[Capitalocracy]

27. Took the words right out of my mouth

What kind of society do we live in where sending out workers WITHOUT respirators and proper safety equipment looks better than sending them with those things?

BP STANDS FOR BALLOT POISON

Pledge not to vote for any candidates receiving campaign donations from BP in 2010.

Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/bp2010/petition.html

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113423272036102

Twitter: @bpballotpoison

[earth mom]

15. I don't think those young people will want to get their hands that dirty.

I'm sorry but I just don't see todays kids behaving the same way the original Civilian Conservation Corps did.

Most of em are just too damn comfy with their cell phones, video games and instant everything.

Most of em aren't hungry enough to work that hard.

[tblue37]

31. When McDonald's or some other corporation offers a few crappy,

poorly paid jobs near blighted areas, hundreds of people line up for hours just for the chance to apply for work.

The notion that unemployed Americans are unemployed because they are too lazy or entitled to work lousy jobs for low pay is a RW meme, and it is nonsense. It's likeek John McCain saying that employers end up having to hirie Mmexican workers because American workers won't do such backbreaking work--even if you paid them as much as $50 an hour to, say, pick lettuce.

People in this country are desperate for work, and they will eagerly do all sorts of lousy work for crappy pay!

[earth mom]

55. Excuse me, but I was NOT spouting a right wing meme!

I'm sure there are tons of people from this country who would do the clean up with no problem. Just like I think there are tons of people from this country who would pick veggies and do other back breaking jobs.

What I am saying is that most young people don't have the maturity or motivation to do the oil cleanup because most have been pampered and don't have a clue what hard work is.

Or in other words, our young working age kids are spoiled rotten.

[femrap]

36. Wearing a suit plus a mask

in humid 95 degree temperatures while being in a constant state of bending...that's some heavy duty back-breaking, heat-stroking kind of work. Work could be done early in the day and late afternoon only, imho.

For Goddess' sake, there must be a more efficient way using some sort of mechanization. Shit.

I'm getting that same feeling when I watch people fill those damn sand bags during floods. Get a damn mechanized funnel system and use gravity! Why are we so damn inefficient?

[sandnsea]

44. Cuz none of them helped after Katrina

:sarcasm:

It's not just the right that lives to hate.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

16. I'll go down their when they provide me a full Hazmat suit.

[bobbolink]

17. Oh, but of course! Ruin the health of young poor folk! Kill them with toxins.

:nuke:

[Hempathy]

18. Shouldn't jobless people with families to support be given higher priority...?

:shrug:

[Name removed]

25. Deleted sub-thread

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[Dappleganger]

37. No.

Why are they more valuable than those without families? Do you have any idea how many benefits people w/out families miss out on because others get first shot at it? The homeless woman I helped just last week is partially in the predicament she's in because she keeps being turned down due to not having children. I don't think that people should get special treatment.

[Hempathy]

45. I was referring to them getting priority over HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS- which is what the OP is about...

:eyes:

[AllentownJake]

21. Enforce OSHA standards

or you are dooming our youth to health problems and children with birth defects.

[Liberty Belle]

22. Hundreds of young people ARE getting jobs to clean up gulf! Check ths out:

Our nonprofit media's publisher, Mark Hanson, organized a job training program to send hundreds of local workers, most of them young people, many who came out of Job Corps or Urban League programs, for cleanup in the Gulf. He is a good person and is committed to making sure they all have the right protective gear to keep them as safe as possible, too:

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/3480

[Capitalocracy]

28. Are you sure they'll let you on the beach?

They don't like respirators down there, apparently.

BP STANDS FOR BALLOT POISON

Pledge not to vote for any candidates receiving campaign donations from BP in 2010.

Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/bp2010/petition.html

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113423272036102

Twitter: @bpballotpoison

[Liberation Angel]

43. Maybe with full body prophylactics and respirators But they should get paid boocoo bucks

BIG money for this work and

yes

BP pays. Salary, housing, lifetime medical, plus retirement, vacation and r&r when they need it.

[Liberty Belle]

48. they are getting full protective gear including respirators,

Haz-mat training, etc. No one with medical issues was accepted for the first round of workers going back, until they can arrive and better assess conditions. This group, at least, is doing everything possible to keep the workers as safe as possible, though all were warned in orientation that the long-term effects of this stuff is unknown--and there are other risks such as snakes, alligators, and hurricanes.

The first group going back includes an interesting mix; from younger people who didn't have other good job prospects (such as kids who have been in prison), to a guy who worked as a military contractor, to some people who are just motivated to go help our country and clean up this mess. One guy is a 51-year-old handyman. The pay is $12 with room and board paid, plus per diem, and if they make it three weeks without quitting, pay goes up to $17. Here in San Diego where there aren't enough good jobs it's hard to find anything over minimum wage, so that's not such bad pay -- but the health risks are a concern. still someone has to do this cleanup, and all of these adults were made aware of the risks.

I'm wondering if this might be an option too for dealing with those early-release prisoners that the courts have ordered here; why not give non-violent offenders an option to get out early and go clean up the Gulf?

[ShamelessHussy]

23. and let them keep the oil they pickup

or the towns who's shores it washes up on, or maybe they can split it?

[Brickbat]

24. Why just young people, Mr. Reich? WTF?

[AnnieBW]

26. Bring back the CCC!

Certainly there's a lot of work that needs to be done in our National Parks, wetlands, etc.

Just make sure that they have hazmat suits and protective gear around.

[City Lights]

29. A better solution is to train the young people to work at BP and let current BP

employees put their health at risk by cleaning up BP's fucking mess.

[Hempathy]

35. yeah...THAT makes sense.

:eyes:

[Dappleganger]

38. Why should they only get the shit jobs?

They didn't cause this mess. Your comments aren't progressive at all.

[Hempathy]

39. And the comment I replied to wasn't sensible at all.

[Dappleganger]

40. If you don't understand why it makes sense

you're probably not on the correct forum for your views.

[Hempathy]

47. So- what BP jobs could high school students be trained to do over the summer?

CFO? Geologist? Oil Platform foreman?

Please- enlighten us all.

[tblue37]

30. But make sure they have proper Hazmat protection!

Otherwise they will end up sick for years and then dead. A good friend of mine, 43 years old next month, suffers from an MS-like degenrative neuromuscular disease, caused by exposure to all sorts of toxic substances in the two Gulf Wars.

Of course, those who cleaned up after 9/11 also suffered and died ecause they were not protected from toxins.

If thesy put our unelmployed young workers to work cleaning up this mess, they must protect their health!

[Uncle Joe]

32. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, highplainsdem.:thumbsup:

[Liberation Angel]

41. I don't know about this: the workers at ground zero have died in droves

I say put the executives to work cleaning the beaches and going out in the mess (with the military (volunteers). Put our young people to work making clean energy so no more drilling is necessary.

Sure if there are safe jobs, employ them --- but taking teens and putting them into that toxic clusterfuck of death and harm is crazy and really not wise.

Bring the 400,00 troops and military contractors home and have them on these front lines rather than in that hellzone halfway around the world.

Of course ANYONE who works, volunteers, or whatever needs full medical benefits and protection. But this is a suicide mission in many respects.

I say those who caused it should go first (as community service and part of their punishment)

Not an easy question, really, but sending teens and young people in to this mess is wrong

[laughingliberal]

42. K & R nt

[prolesunited]

46. I have allergies and asthma

working at a site like that would probably kill me. One less unemployed person, though, I guess.

[laughingliberal]

54. I'm assuming he meant for those willing and able. nt

[Lorien]

50. Teach them proper fucking booming

(using booming terminology) that should be our first line of defense.

[MH1]

52. Well, duh, but I'm sure glad someone with visibility finally said it.