{"id":9134,"date":"2022-10-25T17:21:01","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T17:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/?p=9134"},"modified":"2022-10-25T17:21:01","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T17:21:01","slug":"unions-as-trafficking-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/","title":{"rendered":"Unions as Trafficking Prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>What is labor trafficking?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Labor traff<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">icking or forced labor is the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilo.org\/wcmsp5\/groups\/public\/---ed_norm\/---ipec\/documents\/publication\/wcms_854733.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">most prevalent type of human trafficking<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> worldwide. Survivors work in various sectors like manufacturing, construction, mining, agriculture, and domestic work. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/opinion\/commentary\/story\/2022-08-01\/opinion-california-must-stop-labor-trafficking-of-vulnerable-populations-by-predatory-employers\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">disproportionately affects<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> people of color, immigrants, low-income people, and those formerly incarcerated. It is more egregious than just a bad job. The most fundamental <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/23322705.2022.2073095\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">difference<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> between labor trafficking and poor working conditions is that the person cannot leave. Their trafficker may monitor their movements, physically or sexually abuse them, threaten their families, or use coercive tactics like threatening them with deportation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, most cases of labor trafficking are not reported. Workers may not understand their rights or define their experience as human trafficking. If they are immigrants, they may have a language barrier or not know where to turn to find help. Similarly, these crimes are not investigated. Law enforcement officers who work on human trafficking cases may not trained to identify labor trafficking or labor oversight agencies may not conduct rountine inspections. With so many workers falling through the cracks, anti-trafficking professionals must focus on preventing labor trafficking in the first place. The best way to do that is to educate and protect workers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What is a union?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Organized labor, specifically unions, build power for working people. Unions <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/aflcio.org\/what-unions-do\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">work as a<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> collective group to achieve better working conditions, higher pay, and address grievances that arise from workers. Unions make it easier for employees to bring their concerns forward because it doesn\u2019t come from one employee who could be punished; it comes from a representative of the group. This system of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/collective_bargaining\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">collective bargaining<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> gives people power without fear of individual retaliation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another critical aspect of unions is the threat of collective action. If an employer knows union workers could strike back, they may compromise with the workers to improve working conditions. Because of collective bargaining and the threat of collective action unions raise the pay for all employees and virtually <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/general\/workcenter\/union-advantage\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">eliminate the wage gap<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for women of color. Unions also provide members with education on their rights as employees. By educating workers on their workplace rights it takes away power from employers or traffickers who are trying to take advantage. If employees know their rights and have the union to support them they are able to demand better wages, better conditions, and better benefits. Unions also can have a representative partake in routine inspections. This is beneficial for transparency between employers, employees, and inspectors. It also gives the union a voice during inspections about any issues or safety concerns they have that the employer won\u2019t address.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How could increased organized labor respond to and prevent trafficking?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Traffickers target individuals who have unstable housing, lack of employment, or poor access to education and social safety nets. These conditions create a power imbalance between workers and employers. Workers do not have the means to negotiate with their trafficker because they are barely meeting their own basic needs or the needs of their family.\u00a0 Unions can shift <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/23322705.2022.2073095?needAccess=true\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">power back to workers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through educating them on their rights and providing a mechanism for oversight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When unions provide information about worker rights, workers can easily identify if they are being abused and where they can get help. They can also use channels within the union to file grievances against the employer that could prompt an investigation. Unions in the workplace can also act as a deterrent for employers trafficking or exploiting workers. Since unions also increase the pay floor and guarantee a certain salary, it is more difficult to exploit workers. If they don\u2019t pay, or underpay workers, the union has a right to investigate the employer and make an official report of labor trafficking. Official reports can then be investigated by government agencies which could take action against the employer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By increasing worker protections through unions, traffickers have less power to exploit. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilo.org\/wcmsp5\/groups\/public\/@ed_norm\/@ipec\/documents\/publication\/wcms_854795.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As labor trafficking continues to rise globally<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we must do everything we can to prevent future cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is labor trafficking? Labor trafficking or forced labor is the most prevalent type of human trafficking worldwide. Survivors work in various sectors like manufacturing, construction, mining, agriculture, and domestic work. It disproportionately affects people of color, immigrants, low-income people,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[326],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Unions as Trafficking Prevention - Freedom Network USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unions as Trafficking Prevention - Freedom Network USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is labor trafficking? Labor trafficking or forced labor is the most prevalent type of human trafficking worldwide. Survivors work in various sectors like manufacturing, construction, mining, agriculture, and domestic work. It disproportionately affects people of color, immigrants, low-income people,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Freedom Network USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-25T17:21:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Freedom Network Community\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Freedom Network Community\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Freedom Network Community\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b826c148ac80753f64d558680344a7d5\"},\"headline\":\"Unions as Trafficking Prevention\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-25T17:21:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/\"},\"wordCount\":665,\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/\",\"name\":\"Unions as Trafficking Prevention - Freedom Network USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-25T17:21:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b826c148ac80753f64d558680344a7d5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Unions as Trafficking Prevention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/\",\"name\":\"Freedom Network USA\",\"description\":\"Just another WordPress site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b826c148ac80753f64d558680344a7d5\",\"name\":\"Freedom Network Community\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c818a6c1fa43eae6a98b5225c2bf5854f8c8bdfc700bddac8ce7f007ad01a93?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c818a6c1fa43eae6a98b5225c2bf5854f8c8bdfc700bddac8ce7f007ad01a93?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Freedom Network Community\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/author\/freedomnet\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Unions as Trafficking Prevention - Freedom Network USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Unions as Trafficking Prevention - Freedom Network USA","og_description":"What is labor trafficking? Labor trafficking or forced labor is the most prevalent type of human trafficking worldwide. Survivors work in various sectors like manufacturing, construction, mining, agriculture, and domestic work. It disproportionately affects people of color, immigrants, low-income people,&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/","og_site_name":"Freedom Network USA","article_published_time":"2022-10-25T17:21:01+00:00","author":"Freedom Network Community","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Freedom Network Community","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/"},"author":{"name":"Freedom Network Community","@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b826c148ac80753f64d558680344a7d5"},"headline":"Unions as Trafficking Prevention","datePublished":"2022-10-25T17:21:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/"},"wordCount":665,"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/","url":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/","name":"Unions as Trafficking Prevention - Freedom Network USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-10-25T17:21:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b826c148ac80753f64d558680344a7d5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/2022\/10\/25\/unions-as-trafficking-prevention\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Unions as Trafficking Prevention"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/","name":"Freedom Network USA","description":"Just another WordPress site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b826c148ac80753f64d558680344a7d5","name":"Freedom Network Community","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c818a6c1fa43eae6a98b5225c2bf5854f8c8bdfc700bddac8ce7f007ad01a93?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c818a6c1fa43eae6a98b5225c2bf5854f8c8bdfc700bddac8ce7f007ad01a93?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Freedom Network Community"},"url":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/author\/freedomnet\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9135,"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9134\/revisions\/9135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomnetworkusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}