Trade unions recently have expressed concern that prison work schemes could cost jobs during a recession The Amalgamated Workers’ Union told The Press that about 130 workers have lost their jobs in the concrete industry over the last few years as private companies lose out on business to prison labour.

Union head Ray Bianchi told The Press that was only the tip of the iceberg as prisoners worked in 140 different industries. While the minimum wage is $12 an hour ($12.50 from April) prisoners are paid between 20c and 60c per hour. Howard League for Penal Reform advocate Diana Taylor said that they were concerned prisoners who refused “voluntary employment” were being punished, including with solitary confinement or loss of allowances. EPMU leader Andrew Little commented;

[W]e don’t begrudge prisoners having the opportunity to become work ready and develop work habits, the real issue is when prison labour is used to compete with the private workforce.

The issue is likely to become even more of a concern as New Zealand moves toward privately run prisons. A 2001 article from the Centre for Research on Globalisation noted;

For private business, prison labor is like a pot of gold. No strikes. No union organizing. No unemployment insurance or workers’ compensation to pay. No language problem, as in a foreign country.

As of November last year, 51 per cent of New Zealand’s prison population of more than 4000 prisoners was employed or in training, producing a $2.5 million surplus over the past two years. Prisoners make agricultural machinery such bale feeders, and silage spreaders among other things. The Otago Corrections Facility even has its own dairy farm, established July 2007, producing about 130,000 kilograms of milk solids a year. The dairy industry is a massive part of New Zealand’s economy, and its underwritten by prison labourers paid sweatshop wages.