Law Panel Explores How Invisible Labor Shapes Workers’, Consumers’ Perceptions

Hosted by the Wefel Center for Employment Law and the SLU LAW Library on March 9, “Invisible Labor” featured a panel comprised of the four editors of the book of the same name, published by the University of California Press in 2016.

The speakers included professors Miriam Cherry, J.D., director of SLU LAW's William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law; Elizabeth Pendo, J.D., SLU LAW's Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law; Marion Crain, J.D., vice provost and Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis; Winifred Poster, Ph.D., and Adia Harvey Wingfield, Ph.D., of Washington University in St. Louis.

Their book Invisible Labor presents a critical perspective on how organizations treat employees who are working at a low-wage, low-level positions, and why many of these workers are often invisible or forgotten about.

The panel explored this ‘invisibility’ in regards to individuals who have physical impairments and disabilities, who are often given menial tasks or are taken advantage of; racial minorities who lack representation in leadership roles in top levels of organizational hierarchy; and individuals obscured by technology, whose existence is often unknown by consumers (such as Amazon or Facebook content moderators or curators), whose jobs are outsourced and located in foreign countries that pay extremely low wages, or who do not actually get paid for their work at all (for example, guest bloggers at Huffington Post).

The panelists pointed out that not only do these practices impact those directly involved, but they alter the perspective of the general public and affect the way workers are viewed.

The event concluded with refreshments and book signings.