Slave labor.
this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
232 points (97.9% liked)
Work Reform
10012 readers
249 users here now
A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Neat, the two things I’ve wanted to abolish since I was a teen are teaming up.
Slavery and Alabama?
Criminals and inmates?
Fucking abhorrent behavior from the State.
Abhorrent?
Fixing...
I'm surprised I was able to guess that.
In the Nov election California is going to vote on a bill to end involuntary work for prisoners
but who will we feed to the fire gods now
Pretty sure Oregon did something similar but like...what are these people going to do without commissary? Making it not involuntary doesn't really mean prisoners aren't forced to do it so they can have things like shower sandals so they don't get trench foot. Every con is still choosing to work for a pittance because they need it to survive in prison. But it's OK we no longer legally allow slavery.
Eat. The. Rich. Open. The. Doors.
"Wage slave"
Anything and everything to avoid treating people decently.
Of fucking course it's Alabama. I'm staying in this state for a week right now and I gotta tell you, the south fucking SUCKS.
I just found out about the shooting yesterday. I'm going to Birmingham in just a couple days. Now I find out about this fascist bullshit?
Unfortunately there's only one good thing about Alabama and this definitely isn't it
I'm happy to report that voting from overseas is remarkably easy if you're registered in Alabama. A friend of mine had the easiest time. Meanwhile, I am jumping through hoops for Texas to let me vote.
A reminder to please vote.
Best thing I had in Alabama was my sister
Convict leasing was the souths replacement for slavery. You could arrest a black person for anything after the civil war (that's changed right?), including for not having a job or a home. So instead of buying slaves the state created them from freed people by throwing them into prison and then leasing them back to the former slaveholders. It didn't fall out of fashion until the civil rights era. Guess the anti-civil rights era is bringing it back.
Holy fucking shit if McDonald's doesn't terminate all the involved owners' franchise agreements, they're fucking complicit.
Id be pretty surprised if McDonalds doesn't knowingly use prison slave labor somewhere in their supply chain already.
Was going to read the article and explain why this is sensationalized but god damn they take 40% of their earnings at 7.25/hr.
Nobody works for 7.25. They should be required to pay them a competitive rate and nobody should be allowed to take a cut. It should be going towards their own betterment. You cant justify 40% wage cost for transportation to the job.
And if they blow off work for illegitimate reasons then there should never be any kind of punishment other than potential disqualification from further employment there like a normal person.
This is 100% reason enough to raise rhe minimum wage by itself. The prison system is really scary.....
They should be required to pay them a competitive rate
If the system was properly functional without these loopholes, they'd be forced to raise their rates to attract workers. But since they have a captive workforce, they're able to not worry about it
You cant justify 40% wage cost for transportation to the job.
Oh it's better than that: not only do they take a 40% cut of their wages, they charge fees on top of that 40% for transport and washing uniforms.
Not sure about the first item but yeah i read it wrong... they pay fees on top of 40%. Prison reform needs to be a focal political discourse right behind climate change...
Literally everything about this is evil. Not only is it making a slave of someone who is more likely to be falsely convicted at this point (as if it's acceptable truly convicted), but they're also fucking up the job market by keeping a ready stock of "other fish in the sea who will deal with it" despite their lack of "will" in the scenario. Even ignoring all that, do you want a murderer or rapist to have anything to do with preparing your food? Jesus fucking antichrist!
When is it going to be okay to be violent towards the evil people without being sanctioned by my local evil organization?
This is really bad. I'm sure they make sure that the inmates are not dangerous and have a good history of following the rules etc before putting them here.
The reason why inmates don't have to make minimum wage and can't refuse to work is that the work they do in prison is supposed to be part of the justice, after being decided on with due process.
The work they should be assigned is meant to help reform them and get them ready to reintegrate back into society.
But - what due process was used to assign them the torturous work that's a modern USA fast food restaurant? There's literally no benefit at all to the inmate in this situation. How does it make sense to abuse criminal justice loopholes to enrichen some of the world's largest megacorps?