The Case for Prisoners’ Labour Unions
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From: Solidarity Beyond Bars
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Chapter Six takes up the question of prisoners’ unions in more detail and looks to actual examples/past experiments in unionization. This chapter discusses the successful unionization of prisoner meatpackers in the Guelph Correctional Centre in the late 1970s, more recent attempts by prisoners to assert themselves as employees and to unionize during the 2010s, how the prison system conceals prisoner labour under the veil of "rehabilitation," how the courts have avoided recognition of prisoner workers under all federal labour boards, and what can be learned from past experiments and struggles.
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Contributors
Jordan House
Jordan House is an assistant professor in the Department of Labour Studies at Brock University. His research focuses on prison labour and prisoner-worker organizing, new forms of worker organization and labour movement renewal. His work has appeared in several publications, including Labour / Le Travail, Labor Studies Journal, Rankandfile.ca, Canadian Dimension and Jacobin. He previously worked as a labour organizer and union researcher and is a long-time prison justice activist.
Asaf Rashid
Asaf Rashid went from being an aspiring scholar in environmental studies to a community agitator and campaigns coordinator of the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group. He is a lawyer, based in k’jipuktuk/Halifax and a board member of the Halifax Workers Action Centre, a member of the Canadian Prison Lawyers Association and supporter of the East Coast Prison Justice Society. Rashid has also been a union organizer and labour rights activist, among other social justice activities.