Is Christianity Inherently Supportive Of Slavery And Misogyny?

[The Grand Nudger]

Deducting wages from farm labor for lodging or food is covered under section 3m of the FLSA. If a producer wants to claim a credit to wages, they have to demonstrate-

Lodging must be regularly provided by the employer or similar employers;
The employee must voluntarily accept the lodging;
The lodging must be furnished in compliance with applicable federal, state, or local laws;
The lodging must primarily benefit the employee, rather than the employer; and
The employer must maintain accurate records of the costs incurred in the furnishing of the lodging.

If the rent would entirely match the pay, it's kosher, but there's no state in the us where that pans out or where a court would uphold such an arrangement. At 500 in rent, and ten an hour, that means you could get 50 hours of labor as a credit to wages. The other 150 (and 200 labor hours per month is absurdly low, 320 is the harvest average, 160 offseason @ 9.62-15.00/hr) would have to be paid. There are producers who try to pull a straight trade, ofc, and who try to rake their employees over the coals, for sure. They're not well regarded by the dol or other producers or labor. It's seen for precisely what it is. The low end of pay is from n. carolina. A straight trade in the off season would suggest a rent of 1500, and in harvest 3000. Take a look at single bedroom apartments for rent in that range and see if that's how you imagine on farm housing. Spoiler alert, nowhere near. In general, farm labor housing is either a communal bay or shared rental units offsite, the price being split amongst the occupants, and lower than the entire range. Even (or especially) an unscrupulous producer would far prefer that they stay elsewhere, officially. Alot of the time those arrangements break occupancy rules which would invalidate their claim, so the producer will only claim a single occupant as a credit to wages under 3m. Leading to twenty migrant laborers in a single bedroom apartment or trailer or motel room, every one of them getting paid - because any single one of them is due wages in excess of any reasonable cost for lodging.

Long intro, more info than you probably wanted, but the question of whether or not the arrangement would be ethical or legal is answered by the fact that it was so common, and so commonly unethical, that we made it illegal by federal law. A section of law which protects farm labor and in home employees, mostly - two historically disadvantaged and exploited classes of labor. The guys who pick the crops outside, and the ones who serve the mint juleps inside. The initial tactic of the post civil war souths plantations was precisely this. Former slaves would just so happen to owe all of whatever happened to be the market rate for their labor, if anyone were interested in paying them - which no one was. It continues in a limited form and against federal law to this day. Chiefly among people who have (or believe they have) no legal recourse.

-and this, this is where you went...in defense of christianity, seeking the hypocrisy of others. Industry best practice for wholesale producers is to offer the going rate and a per unit modifier to incentivize productivity through competition between teams. Lodging (as a perk) is both legally tricky and an unnecessary complication to a man interested in harvesting crops. Farmer, not slumlord. In point of fact, "farms" that operate in the manner suggested are almost entirely in the business of human trafficking, using farm status for visas. A far cry from the situation and worldview advocated for in magic book because, frankly, the people who came up with that religion did not share our ethics our laws or our situation. All of it pointless, in effect, as the simple answer to biblical slavery and modern servitude or exploitation, from a christian apologists viewpoint... is that people, and not a god, got/gets that part wrong.