Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee


The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is a prison-led section of the Industrial Workers of the World. Its purpose is 'a union for the incarcerated,' with the goal of abolishing prison slavery, as well as fighting to end the exploitation of working class people around the world.

History

On September 9, 2016, the IWOC helped organize a U.S. prison strike on the 45th anniversary of the Attica uprising. The strike involved an estimated 24,000 prisoners in 24 states, the largest prison strike in U.S. history.
This was followed through with another prison strike on August 21, 2018. The strikers protested against so-called "Prison slavery", of which they made 10 demands. Two notable demands, for example, is that the Prison Litigation Reform Act be rescinded, and that inmates serving their sentences get their voting rights back, alongside pre-trial detainees, and ex-convicts. This strike lasted until September 9, the same day the first prison strike started, and was supported by the ACLU.
Despite the strike ending on September 9, 2018, some prisoners continue to go on strike.

Mission and goals

On July 31, 2014, IWOC released their official Statement of Purpose, which includes five key tenets:
  1. To further the revolutionary goals of incarcerated people and the IWW through mutual organizing of a worldwide union for emancipation from the prison system.
  2. To build class solidarity amongst members of the working class by connecting the struggle of people in prison, jails, and immigrant and juvenile detention centers to workers struggles locally and worldwide.
  3. To strategically and tactically support prisoners locally and worldwide, incorporating an analysis of white supremacy, patriarchy, prison culture, and capitalism.
  4. To actively struggle to end the criminalization, exploitation, and enslavement of working class people, which disproportionately targets people of color, immigrants, people with low income, LGBTQ people, young people, dissidents, and those with mental illness.
  5. To amplify the voices of working class people in prison, especially those engaging in collective action or who put their own lives at risk to improve the conditions of all.