this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
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Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
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The 13th Amendment allows for forced labor in prisons. This is how Trump and the GOP will reinstitute slavery in the USA.
It's been a feature of the US prison system since the end of Reconstruction. This isn't something Trump invented.
Bright Blue California rejected a measure to ban prison slavery just a year ago.
They weren't suggesting Trump invented it. They were suggesting Trump plans to expand it, nationalize it, and institutionalize it.
According to the AP article it isn't forced per say, but it is highly leveraged onto inmates using early release/parole as a carrot.
I would say threatening someone with more prison time absolutely counts as "forced".
I'm not justifying or agreeing with it, but I think accuracy is important to minimize holes people can poke in discussions when you bring things like this topic up. It isn't precisely being threatened with more time than the initial sentence, it is being threatened with not successfully getting a shorter time through parole.
Again though, for the sake of accuracy, that's still Force. Saying you won't be eligible for something that you should be eligible for normally, taking away that opportunity via a threat is absolutely Force. Especially when that's something is your freedom.
I'm not here to argue on the situation. What I am saying is that if you discuss this with somebody neutral or opposed to you, it matters to make sure you position yourself well. Otherwise you can get completely sidetracked over words, as we are currently.
If you say "prisoners are being forced to work", that can turn into a losing discussion quickly when you have to get into an extended discussion about how prisoners aren't actively being dragged to work against their will. Actively being dragged out of their cells and put to work would be the initial connotation, as I've even seen in this thread. Once that connotation is shown not to be what's happening, you'll lose people quickly.
If right out of the gate you say prisoners are being coerced to work with the threat of an unfair parole hearing, you are on a much stronger foundation that people can't truthfully pick at.
I get the feeling you feel so strongly about this that you might not care about what other people initially think initially or that you don't want to give ground on what qualifies as forcing something, but if you want to get your message across, making it more bulletproof helps it.
When you say sidetracked do you mean something like what we're doing right now because you continue to inaccurately describe the use of force? Cuz that's what's happening right now. You are misusing the word and it has caused the conversation to derail.