When I think of workers, the labor movement, and labor organizing, I usually think first about the trades. My father was a sheet-metal worker. He was in a union through much of my childhood, when strikes, layoffs, and a certain amount of financial stability were regular parts of my life. The trades and shop floor organizing are important parts of anarcho-syndicalist organizing. But when we talk about the workers, we actually mean much, much more.
Like our politics, our definition of workers and workplaces is inclusive and intersectional. We seek to support democratic organizing by all workers who are not in roles of structural oppression, including service workers, artists, sex workers, other members of underground economies, and incarcerated workers. In this article, I want to highlight work being done to organize incarcerated workers, a project that I believe should be supported by anarcho-syndicalists.
Throughout US prisons, both state and privately owned, incarcerated individuals are forced or coerced to work for between ten and sixty-five cents an hour, often in unsafe conditions. There is no minimum wage for incarcerated workers. There are few safety regulations, and no workers’ compensation for workers who become injured. And healthcare inside the walls, in general, is abysmal.
There is a clause in the 13th amendment of the US Constitution that states: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Slavery is unconstitutional for the general population, but not for those imprisoned. Many corporations profit greatly from this prison labor, including Walmart, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Sprint, Verizon, Victoria’s Secret, Kmart, and Starbucks.
Prison Lives Matter is an inside-outside coalition organizing incarcerated workers. These workers organize within the prison system and provide leadership for advocates on the outside to change legislation and create awareness of prison labor and other issues. They also advocate for elderly prisoners, many of whom don’t get critical medical care—a problem shared by many words.
In NY state, 13th Forward is a legislative coalition of advocates, grassroots organizations, and impacted people working to end exploitation and brutality within our prison labor system. They seek to abolish prison slavery in New York, which will make it the eighth state to do so. This campaign involves organizing on behalf of incarcerated workers.
The IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) has a prisoner-led section called the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC). They work with allies on the outside to end prison slavery and advocate for the rights of incarcerated workers.
For a strong anarcho-syndicalist movement, it is important to support all workers, especially those overlooked or invisibilized by more mainstream movements. Let’s continue to raise awareness of and support the struggles of sex workers, other workers in underground economies, and all incarcerated workers.
For more info and to get involved with these struggles:
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee