Indentured service is often colloquially conflated with slavery, as the legal protections are removed and so too usually the freedom of association.

Where is the hyperbole? Is a question: where is the line to start calling it slavery. Obviously, for you far. Not for me.

If we want to go the pedantry way, this is the definition I found: “a condition of having to work very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.”

Emphasis in proper mine.