Comment on What is wage theft exactly?
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 11 months agoIt’s not really a political thing
Labor is extremely political.
Labor laws in the US are extremely weak. We don’t have many laws protecting us. We don’t have many unions. All of that has political causes.
Wage theft is not enforced the same way regular theft is. If you walked out of the store with $100 of stuff “you forgot” was in your pocket, you’d plausibly be cuffed and in jail. If your manager steals $100 because “he forgot” to submit the timesheet correctly, what’s going to happen? Probably nothing.
This has been the world for so long it feels normal and intuitive. Like, of course the cops will come and stop a theft! That’s like what they’re there for. But why don’t the cops come and stop “white collar” crime? Why don’t we have anything like that? Political reasons.
And even if you did report that they stole from you, a lot of that burden is on you… Do you know how to find a lawyer and file a law suit? Are you going to just be fired if they find out?
Personally, if I was on a jury for someone who beat the living shit out of their manager for stealing wages, I would nullify.
queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
I think the idea is that “theft is not political”. Labor itself is not inherently political, but the fact that labor often not in a society that itself has unjust hierarchies is now political. The concept of “working at a task” is not political, but it can be.
That said, there’s one major group that cares about labor, cares about getting paid well, and doesn’t like people that steal money. And it’s sure as shit not the right wing.