Justice for Migrants at Work and in the Community 

Abstract

This is the introduction to the symposium presentation, not an Abstract] I want to thank Fran Ansley for reigniting a fire within me to return to my workers’ rights roots by inviting me to participate in this symposium. My talk will focus on themes from today’s conversation that intersect with my most recent law review article, Essentially Unprotected. This article examines how systemic and structural racism, biased racial narratives, and the treatment of workers under racial capitalism led to a disproportionate number of COVID-19 infections amongst low-wage Black and Brown “essential” workers during the pandemic. While the pandemic disproportionately impacted all low-wage workers across the United States, Essentially Unprotected focuses on the meat-packing industry to highlight how decades of racism, inadequate oversight, and a culture of profits over lives led to astonishingly unsafe working conditions for some of our most “essential” workers–the ones who were feeding the nation. The meatpacking industry is often viewed as a “periphery” labor market. It is known for employing workers who are marginalized from the “mainstream” job market due to immigration status, lack of education, criminal records, or other characteristics that create barriers to obtaining high-paying, secure jobs, with benefits and other workplace protections.