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Author:Whitney Benns

“Free” Labor: The systemic implications of prison labor

May 29, 2015 Whitney Benns

This is Part Four of the four-part series “Free” Labor. The past three posts have introduced the concept of prison labor, tracked the historical roots of prison labor to the present day iterations, and explored the law as applied to incarcerated workers. This post will examine the broader implications of prison labor in the context […]

“Free” Labor: The Law of Prison Labor

May 28, 2015 Whitney Benns

This is Part Three of a four-part series. Part One gave a description of a recent prison uprising at Willacy County Corrections Center in south Texas. The event provided a platform for introducing the concept of incarcerated workers and the intersections between different areas of law that apply to incarcerated workers. Part Two provided a […]

“Free” Labor: Past and present forms of prison labor

May 27, 2015 Whitney Benns

This is Part Two of a four-part series. Part One gave a description of a recent prison uprising at Willacy County Corrections Center in south Texas. The event provided a platform for introducing the concept of incarcerated workers and the intersections between different areas of law that apply to incarcerated workers. Part Two will provide […]

"Free" Labor: An Introduction

May 26, 2015 Whitney Benns

This post is the first in a four-part series. On the morning of February 20, 2015, a large number of inmates at Willacy County Correctional Center, a state prison facility at the southern end of Texas, went on strike. Inmate workers refused to go to work at their assigned jobs in protest over the facility’s […]

May 12, 2015
News & Commentary

Whitney Benns

A study reveals rampant wage theft in the Massachusetts construction industry, The Boston Globe reports. Many of these workers are immigrants hired by subcontractors as “independent contractors,” in an attempt to skirt “overtime and health insurance rules and to avoid payroll and insurance taxes.” According to Tom Juravich, a UMass Amherst labor professor and the […]

April 28, 2015
News & Commentary

Whitney Benns

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka delivered a speech today stating that labor is not ready to endorse a candidate for the 2016 presidential election, a message that has been characterized as a “memo to Hillary” by Politico. Trumka said that working men and women are looking for a candidate that can deliver on the “American Promise,” […]

April 14, 2015
News & Commentary

Whitney Benns

In the wake of merger negotiations between Boston Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center, SEIU Local 1199 is working to unionize the “1,000 Tufts workers in service, clerical, and technical jobs, from housekeepers to surgical technicians,” The Boston Globe reports. The Local already represents workers in similar positions at BMC. The union is using the […]

McDonald's to Raise U.S. Workers' Hourly Wage to $10

Apr 1, 2015 Whitney Benns

McDonald’s announced today that it plans to raise U.S. workers’ hourly wage by $1 per hour and increase benefits by the end of 2016, The Wall Street Journal and Time report (note that the WSJ article is behind a pay wall). The changes will affect workers in roughly 1,500 U.S. restaurants. The new benefits will […]

March 31, 2015
News & Commentary

Whitney Benns

Fast food organizers driving the Fight for $15 campaign say they are expanding the scope of their campaign to other low-wage workers, including workers in airports, on college campuses and domestic workers laboring in homes across America, AP reports. The Fight for $15, which has been extensively covered here, started in 2012 with a battle […]

Young v. UPS: A Backgrounder and Case Review

Mar 25, 2015 Whitney Benns

Today, the Supreme Court announced its ruling in Young v. UPS, coming down 6-3 in favor of former UPS employee Peggy Young. The question at the center of the case was whether the Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires employers to offer accommodations to pregnant workers if they already do so for non-pregnant workers with similar limitations […]

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OnLabor

Law. Workers. Organizing.

OnLabor is a blog devoted to workers, unions, and their politics. We interpret our subject broadly to include the current crisis in the traditional union movement (why union decline is happening and what it means for our society); the new and contested forms of worker organization that are filling the labor union gap; how work ought to be structured and managed; how workers ought to be represented and compensated; and the appropriate role of government — all three branches — in each of these issues.

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“Free” Labor: The systemic implications of prison labor

“Free” Labor: The Law of Prison Labor

“Free” Labor: Past and present forms of prison labor

"Free" Labor: An Introduction

May 12, 2015

April 28, 2015

April 14, 2015

McDonald's to Raise U.S. Workers' Hourly Wage to $10

March 31, 2015

Young v. UPS: A Backgrounder and Case Review