All Labor Has Dignity
Prisoners Organizing for Workers’ Equal Rights
OSP Call Center, Photo by Joseph Glode, Courtesy of Street Roots
OSP Auto Shop, Photo by Joseph Glode, Courtesy of Street Roots
For nearly 30 years, the State of Oregon has mandated that all Adults in Custody (AICs) in its state corrections institutions “shall be actively engaged fulltime in work or on the job training.” Under the Oregon Constitution, AICs are required to work the equivalent of at least 40 hours per seven-day week in a variety of trades which mirror employment in free society. AICs in Oregon work as carpenters, call center agents, commercial laundry workers, CAD drafters, graphic artists, recovery mentors and substance abuse counselors, bakers, administrative clerks, metal workers, plumbers, electricians, HVAC specialists, maintenance workers, law clerks and tutors, amongst many other trades. Many of these jobs require certification or licensing from other agency’s in the state, as their free-world counterparts require.
Unlike labor in free society, AICs are not afforded the same protections against unsafe work conditions, personal injury, discrimination, fair compensation, or any regulation on overtime hours. In other words, incarcerated workers are not afforded safety or dignity in the work they do.
Incarcerated workers are treated as slaves.
In 2022, however, Oregonians rejected this notion by voting the slavery language out of the constitution.
If incarcerated workers are no longer classified as slaves, how will we regard them instead?
This is what POWER is about.
The mission of POWER is to recognize and respect the dignity of incarcerated labor by expanding the rights and protections of all incarcerated workers in Oregon.