General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "$16.50/hour would be min wage if it had kept pace with the rest of the economy" [View all]Cleita
(75,480 posts)They took captives of war and made them into unpaid labor or for other uses. This is what we did to Africans, without the war. We just kidnapped them and forced them into unpaid labor or for other uses. But then there is indentured slavery where the worker willingly gives up their freedom for a period of time to work for nothing or next to nothing. We did a lot of this during the colonization of American. Prisoners in England could buy their freedom by agreeing to work for a master for a number of years with no recompense other than subsistence until they completed the contract. It was still slavery, although voluntary, and that is what we are dealing with today.
There are those who exploit the nationals of other countries, bringing them to this country or maybe another, to work off a "debt" for practically no pay. We have exploited Mexicans and other minorities for centuries in our agriculture, yet I have yet to meet a poor farmer or rancher. What you don't notice that much, unless you look, are the brown people who look after the horses and livestock and who labor in the fields for far less than minimum wage. These people have a choice of stealing, starving or working for bare subsistence.
Then there are the prisoners. That is forced labor and as far as I'm concerned in many places living in conditions that are close to concentration camp conditions. This is what the Nazis exploited as free labor. We all saw "Schindler's List" didn't we? Also, white collar has it's slaves. It's the people who don't get paid overtime and are doing the work of two workers for the price of one and don't get me started on this intern crap that has become institutionalized in the past twenty years.
To sum it up. To me a slave is someone who is forced to work for less than what their labor should be recompensed for and that would be a living wage on the bottom and various pay scales commensurate with education, skills and experience. Sure they may be able to move around jobs theoretically, but we both know it's not possible in an economy that breeds the unequal labor conditions we are dealing with today to begin with.