Your industry can simply be defined as the type of work you do. Retail, education, and construction are all examples of different industries.
Most work can be broken up into two sectors: the private and the public. The private sector includes privately owned companies – Target, Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart, etc. The public sector comprises most city employees, public school teachers, government agency workers, etc.
Knowing what your industry is and whether you are a public or private sector employee helps define what laws you can use to your advantage as a worker. A good rule of thumb is that as a worker, you use these laws to your advantage; you don’t let the laws use you.
This means that regardless of legality, there is always a way to organize, collectivize, educate, yield your power as a worker, and encourage those around you to do the same. Use these laws as a foundation to build upon instead of seeing them as limitations for action or as a way to legitimize exploitation. In other words, don’t let these laws fool you into believing that things at work should not or cannot be improved simply because your employer is doing a good job of “following the law” (although most rarely do). There are many ways outside of laws that people are overlooked and exploited, and many workers are not formally protected by federal or state labor law. Collective action does not always have to look like taking legal action against an employer under the precedent of these laws.
Let’s be real; as long as your labor is being extracted for profit, you’re being exploited. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s okay, especially if you enjoy your work. But redefining our relationship to our work helps us create healthy boundaries to live by and helps combat common tactics our bosses may use to get us to overwork or intimidate us into accepting treatment that we know is wrong.
Work is work and should never interfere with your ability to live life outside of it. Of course, this is easier said than done but can look a lot like: refusing to answer texts or emails outside of your defined workday, intentionally not overworking when asked, grifting, or making sure to hold your boss to the same standards they hold you, and once again, using labor law to your advantage in your workplace.
Identifying your role, your relation to the work you do, what laws you may use to your benefit, your relationship with your boss, and the dynamics of your workplace/industry are good first
steps at breaking down what issues may be happening at work or what standards may exist in your industry already, and even better: how you can change it.
If you take anything away from this, let it be that regardless of the industry you’re in, whatever kind of work you do, collective action is one of the most effective tools you have as a worker against the exploitation that’s inherent, if not imperative, to the function of capitalism.