Worker centers are
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
community-based mediating organizations that organize and provide support to communities of low wage workers who are not already members of a
collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...
organization (such as a
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
) or have been legally excluded from coverage by U.S. labor laws. Many worker centers in the United States focus on immigrant and low-wage workers in sectors such as restaurant, construction, day labor and agriculture.
Purpose
Worker centers are non-profit institutions based in the community and led by their worker-members, which deliver support to low earning workers. In order to best assist in improving working conditions and necessary wages, many centers include services such as English language instruction, help with unpaid wage claims, access to health care, leadership development, educational activities, advocacy and organization. Many centers also take the role as defender of rights for immigrants in their communities.
Effects
''Day Laborer Worker Centers—''Worker centers support employment of day laborers in three primary ways. First, they provide a minimum wage rate. Second, they supply a distribution process for job opportunities, and third, they maintain wage standards through their support to workers victimized through wage withholding from employers.
''Other Worker Centers—''Worker centers that are not specific to a type of worker such as a day laborer can perform support their worker members in a wide variety of ways. Many centers offer workers rights & immigrant rights trainings. They will also address specific workplace grievances of their worker members and use the legal system, community pressure and workplace organizing to change conditions.
Origins of worker centers
According to
Janice Fine's study, worker centers developed in three stages.
The first worker centers emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, founded by black worker activists in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
and
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
, immigrant activists in New York City’s Chinatown, the Texas–Mexico Border in
El Paso
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
, in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
among Chinese immigrants. They grew out of a response to
neoliberal
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
policies that resulted in declining working conditions in
manufacturing
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...
, factory closings and an increase in low wage
service sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
jobs. Worker centers were also created in reaction to “disparities of pay and treatment between African American and white workers as well as exploitation within ethnic economic enclaves and in the broader economic (including informal sector) were also major catalysts”.
From the late 1980s to early 1990s, the second wave of worker centers appeared as large groups of new Latino immigrants, some fleeing civil wars in
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
, arrived in suburban and urban regions, as well as Southeast Asians immigrants, all searching for economic opportunities. These worker centers were established by numerous individuals and institutions such as "churches and other faith-based organizations, social service and legal aid agencies, immigrant nongovernmental organizations (
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
), and
unions."
The last wave of worker centers began in 2000 to the present. Many worker centers are expanding not only in the city, but into the suburbs, rural regions, and southern states where there is a large concentration of Mexican and Central immigrants working in the poultry, service, agriculture, and meat-packing sectors. Not only that, more worker centers are emerging among
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
,
Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
,
South Asian
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...
and
African immigrants, and they have a higher connection to faith-based organizations and unions.
Features of worker centers
What is unique about worker centers, and makes them unlike
unions, is that they operate outside of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and therefore do not have to have a specific organizational model, strategy or structure. They emerge as “community-based mediating institutions that provide support to and organize among communities of low wage workers”. As such, they use diverse strategies, tactics and approaches to serve the needs of their individual communities.
Worker's centers are not considered labor organizations, and therefore are not restricted by the same laws under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and Labor Management and Reporting Disclosure acts that govern traditional unions. The NLRA restricts primary picketing activity, bans any type of secondary activity, including pickets or boycotts, of business connected to the primary target. Worker centers, on the other hand, are allowed to picket businesses, can participate in secondary boycotts and interact with press in a way that makes them uniquely threatening to business interests.
Common features of worker centers include: a hybrid organization, providing necessary services, and engaging in advocacy; possess a broad agenda, approach the world with a global perspective, democracy-building, they build coalitions and have small and involved memberships. Though the vision of most worker centers is change on a systemic scale, they do meet and bargain with individual employers to improve conditions for workers. These meetings will often happen even if only a few workers in a workplace are involved. Under Section 7 of the NLRA, employees have "the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection." Mutual aid or protection has been broadly interpreted to include any action (excluding criminal actions) that workers take in response to any of change in the workplace that has to do with the conditions of employment, not simply those covered by employment law. This means that even a few worker members of a worker center have the right to challenge their employers regarding working conditions and not be terminated as a result. This coverage allows great flexibility for worker centers to address everything from stolen wages and hourly pay to conditions such as high temperatures in warehouses or widespread sexual harassment in a workplace.
Despite diverse strategies, most centers do similar types of work. This includes helping workers combat
wage theft
Wage theft is the failing to pay wages or provide employee benefits owed to an employee by contract or law. It can be conducted by employers in various ways, among them failing to pay overtime; violating minimum wage, minimum-wage laws; the miscl ...
through filings claims, collaborating with governmental agencies to assure enforcement of labor laws and wage theft claims, launching "direct action campaigns against specific employers and sometimes across particular industries, and engaging in leadership development and
popular education
Popular education is a concept grounded in notions of class, political struggle, and social transformation. The term is a translation from the Spanish educación popular or the Portuguese educação popular and rather than the English usage a ...
." Since they define themselves as dedicated to systemic change, many worker centers also play a role as policy partners in passing laws such as a higher minimum wage, mandatory paid sick days, and domestic workers bill of rights. Their worker base mobilizes not just in actions against individual employers but in broader social movements such as immigrant rights actions.
Some centers are founded by previous union organizers, or have affiliations with unions, however, as previously stated, they are not unions. Worker centers exist to meet the demand for services that unions could or would not give. Many worker centers are established for immigrant and minority groups that work jobs where they are left out of the formal labor market and do not have the right to NLRA protection, such as day laborers, domestic workers and agricultural workers. Others have organized around groups, such as restaurant workers (Fight for 15, ROC United), that traditional unions have ignored as being too difficult to organize. In order to establish a union in a workplace, the union must get union cards from at least half the workers or have a majority vote for the union in an election. This is a great challenge in workplaces such as fast food jobs that suffer from high turnover, or in industries such as contracted cleaning companies, where even figuring out the number of employees and where they are located can be extremely difficult.
Networks
Nationally, there exist at least four networks that link worker centers together:
:1. The
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) is an American organization whose mission aims at improving the lives of day laborers. This organization was founded in Northridge, California, in July 2001, and is based in Los Angeles, Califor ...
(NDLON) that works with approximately 30 day labor centers.
:2.
Interfaith Worker Justice
Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) was a nonprofit and nonpartisan interfaith advocacy network comprising more than 60 worker centers and faith and labor organizations that advanced the rights of working people through grassroots, worker-led campaign ...
(IWJ), which connects 34 worker centers that have strong ties to religious communities.
:3
National Black Worker Centers(NBWC), which connects a network of Black Worker Centers focused on issues affecting Black working people in their communities.
:4. The
Food Chain Workers Alliance
The Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA) is a national coalition of 31 worker-based organizations of workers in many sectors of the food chain, including agriculture, processing, selling, and serving. Its program areas include strategic campaigns, ...
has 17 members, 12 of which are workers centers that work with workers in the entire
food system
The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients ...
. The workers are included in the following core food industries: production, processing, distribution, retail, and service.
In August 2006, NDLON announced a new partnership with the
AFL–CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...
: "The AFL–CIO and NDLON will work together for state and local enforcement of rights as well as the development of new protections in areas including wage and hour laws, health and safety regulations, immigrants' rights and employee misclassification. They will also work together for comprehensive immigration reform that supports workplace rights and includes a path to citizenship and political equality for immigrant workers – and against punitive, anti-immigrant, anti-worker legislation."
["AFL-CIO & NDLON Enter Watershed Agreement to Improve Conditions for Working Families," press release, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, August 9, 2006.]
This partnership stemmed from the AFL–CIO's decision to embrace immigrant workers, a change from the federation's policies in the 1980s and 1990s.
Notes
References
"AFL-CIO & NDLON Enter Watershed Agreement to Improve Conditions for Working Families." Press release. National Day Laborer Organizing Network. August 9, 2006.* Fine, Janice. ''Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream''. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2006.
Fine, Janice. "Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream." ''EPI Briefing Paper #159''. December 14, 2005.* Gordon, Jennifer. "Immigrants Fight the Power: Workers Centers Are One Path to Labor Organizing and Political Participation." ''The Nation''. January 3, 2000.
* Hollens, Mary. "Workers Center: Organizing in Both the Workplace and Community." ''Labor Notes''. September 1994.
* Levine, David. "New York Workers' Centers: Creative Response to Growth of Modern Day Sweatshops." ''Independent Politics''. July/August 1995.
* Ten Eyck, Tiffany. "Workers Centers Increasingly Are Forging Alliances with Unions." ''Labor Notes''. January 2007.
The Food Chain Workers Alliance. "The Hands That Feed Us: Challenges and Opportunities for Workers Along the Food Chain." June 6, 2012.*
External links
InterFaith Worker JusticeNational Day Labor Organizing NetworkThe Food Chain Workers Alliance{{Organized labor
Non-profit organizations based in the United States
Labor relations
Activism
Community organizing
Workers' rights organizations