Workers’ Rights and theLanguage of Slavery:

Trafficked and Immigrant Workers in the 21st Century

Maria L. OntiverosUniversity of San Francisco

School of Law

Why this project?

Goals of Project

* To see how advocacy groups, journalists and others in mainstream society are using the language or rhetoric of slavery to describe workers’ issues or fight for their rights

* To analyze what this tells us about popular conceptions of slavery and the Thirteenth Amendment

* To explore links between this advocacy and legal advocacy.

Methodology• Searched non-legal, non-academic online resources (no

cases, law review articles or academic journals)- press releases, newspaper articles, blogs

• Searched for literal language (“slave” and “slavery”); figurative language which a reasonably educated audience would recognize as symbolic markers of slavery (plantation, Jim Crow); and connected language (“trafficking”)

• Looked for breadth, rather than depth (stopped at 25 references per topic). Representative sample, not comprehensive.

• Searched for images in bing using similar terms

Initial Findings (90 data points)• Four recurring phrases:

Slave/Slavery Modern Day Slavery Plantation Jim Crow/Juan Crow

• Six Employment Categories:Trafficking 38% Prison 14%Immigrants, Immigrant or Guest Workers 24%Sports 13% Unpaid Interns 9%Other – adjunct prof., coal miners, etc. 1%

Employment Categories

Percent

Trafficking 38Immigrants 24Prison 16Sports 13Unpaid Interns 9Other 1

Mapping Language with/against Employment Categories

• Slave/Slavery/Modern Day Slavery occurred with all the employment categories

• Plantation occurred with sports, prison and immigrants, immigrant & guest workers

• Jim Crow matched prison labor• Juan Crow matched immigrant issues

Mapping Employment Categories with/against Language

• Trafficking uses slave, slavery, modern day slavery

• Unpaid interns use slave, slavery• Immigrants, immigrant workers, guest

workers utilize the entire gamut• Prisons also utilize all the various

language

Trafficking Examples

Immigrant Workers

Examples of Jim Crow/Juan Crow

Trafficking: the 13th Amendment through the Lens of Labor

• U.S. government focuses on labor plus coercion

• Seen as private, criminal arrangements

Immigrant Workers: The Thirteenth Amendment through

the Lens of Class

• Jim Crow and Juan Crow reflect state-sponsored systems; Plantation reflects private systems, supported by state

• Advocates look at context, history, race and labor

• Seen as systemic problem involving government action

Different Legal Uses

• civil litigation• criminal litigation• support or oppose legislation• support organizing efforts of workers