with poor work conditions there and say they are at their "wits end''.

Workers report to the The Royal Gazette that after six years of working in "appalling'' conditions, there is no relief in sight.

"We have stuff there since July,'' one worker said. "The longest period was up to May this year when we were still doing stuff in the summer of 1997.'' The Devon Springs plant was opened as a private facility in November, 1992, and has been plagued by poor operating conditions since; in April of 1994, it fell under public control but issues such as poor heating and cooling have never been resolved.

The recycle workers' saga is compounded by members of the public who carelessly contaminate the bottle and metal recycling stream with paper, food -- even dead and live animals.

The workers say the root of their problems stems from Works and Engineering's original reluctance to take on the recycling programme.

A female worker said ministry officials do not take the concept seriously and would rather the plant and staff just disappear.

She said: "Recycling was an afterthought. OK, they can't put hazardous stuff into the incinerator -- but they can put recyclables there. You shouldn't burn them but you can.'' The workers said although they handle garbage, they are not given yearly physicals like garbage workers, nor are they given vaccinations against disease.

Other long-standing issues include pay commensurate with other government workers in similar jobs, suitable drinking water and training.

In a letter to the Minister last year, the workers said the incoming amount of recyclables is greater than the daily workload of the staff.

They wrote during summer months, the amount of bottles and metal coming in exceeds the capacity of a regular seven-and-a-half hour work day.

And they said management's argument that they get more overtime than other sections is wrong because other departments have enough manpower, and proper equipment and do not need as much extra time.

The letter added: "If other sections did not have the equipment and manpower to cope with their workloads, they would probably end up with the same amount of overtime as the DSRC.'' The workers said that only one of their demands -- proper tools and equipment -- has been dealt with satisfactorily and seven others had not been resolved in three meetings since January.

It was in January that a four-hour walk out resulted in the promise by Government to look into building a new facility.

"As it stands now, we are stalemated,'' a worker said. "We have tried to go by procedures, but there has been no progress.'' He added: "You know it is like Bob Marley said, `who feels it, knows it'. We like what we do. We believe in it. We want it out there so the people know what is going on.'' "Stan Oliver (permanent secretary) told us (to our faces) that what we do are entry level jobs,'' the man continued. "He said the job we do is not worth getting paid what a heavy labourer might get.'' The man added: "We are not being allowed to do our job properly.'' The workers said it was "a shame'' most of the public dutifully recycle, expecting it to be processed quickly like other forms of trash.

"We have seen things go as far as a year,'' the man said. "Then we have to go through it. Contaminated or not, we still have to do it.'' He added: "Whether you call it a recyclable or not it is still part of the waste stream. We still have to lift it and we still have to be exposed to it.'' GOVERNMENT GVT