Frontline Season 21 Episode 9 A Dangerous Business

In season 21, episode 9 of Frontline titled "A Dangerous Business," the investigative team uncovers the hazardous working conditions facing workers in the United States who manufacture America's top-selling car, the Toyota Camry. The program explores the practices of the temporary staffing companies that hire low-wage workers for Toyota's biggest factories, located in Kentucky and Mississippi. These workers are often denied benefits and subject to dangerous working conditions. The episode reveals how Toyota has used this labor scheme to maximize profits while avoiding liability for accidents and injuries at its factories.

Frontline takes a hard look at who benefits from this system and the price that employees pay for manufacturing the popular car. The team investigates the dangerous conditions and the lack of job security and protection, providing a detailed view of the work environment and the workers on the assembly lines. Viewers will learn how the temporary staffing companies rely on a revolving door of overworked, underpaid employees, many of whom are injured on the job and then abandoned by both the manufacturer and the staffing agencies.

The series provides an in-depth look at the pressures placed on workers to maintain fast assembly times. For instance, temporary staffers who clean the plants report preventing themselves from urinating by wearing adult diapers to avoid taking time away from their work. Viewers will see how workers endure grueling hours of standing and doing repetitive motions, which can lead to severe injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator cuff tears, tendinitis, and more. And yet, in spite of these realities, non-stop production continues, with Toyota executives enjoying soaring profits while outsourced workers struggle to keep up.

Frontline reveals the shocking lack of responsibility Toyota takes for the harms its workers suffer and exposes how the carmaker simultaneously benefits from outsourced labor, while keeping a distance from the associated risks. The episode raises crucial questions about employers' accountability and the breaking of labor laws, particularly in light of the industry's ongoing push for gig work and contractor positions.

Overall, season 21's "A Dangerous Business" is a riveting investigative report, taking viewers inside Toyota's manufacturing plants, lifting the veil on the temporary staffing industry, and revealing how worker exploitation is rampant throughout the car manufacturing industry - and may extend far beyond. Touching on issues of economic disparity, gender and race inequities and even regional politics, Frontline's "A Dangerous Business" provides an extensive look at one of the most significant car manufacturers in the world and the human cost involved in producing their products.