An L.A. Story: Unions Show Signs of Life

In a pilot program in a Canadian city, the working poor were given monthly cash supplements to their income. The recipients did not stop working and were able to access opportunities to make a better living long term.

An ambitious plan for the 69-acre Regent Park neighborhood is disrupting entrenched notions of class, race and religion, at a time when concerns over income inequality and immigration are growing.

Two years after the fall of the Rana Plaza killed more than 1,000 garment workers, “More than 200 clothing brands have pledged to make their source factories safer under two international agreements called the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and the non-binding Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.” The accident also led to the government employing more safety inspectors, and an increase in unions.

Jane Cavarozzi, an entrepreneur and activist, started Dirty Girl coffee to “support economic development and women’s advancement in the small, depressed villages around Appalachian Ohio.” She lives in the town of Glouster and is respected for living local and working local, as opposed to being an outsider problem-solver. Though her coffee company is just one small step forward, she works closely with community groups to move economic development initiatives for the region forward.

A community organization in Indiana called Cultivate "rescues" food from local caterers, hospitals, casinos, and businesses to then be packaged into take-home meals for students at Woodland Elementary School that come from food-insecure homes. Cultivate is in its second year of existence, has three staff and 400 volunteers, and hopes to expand beyond their pilot program to reach all 21 schools in the district.

From North Carolina to California, states and cities are taking a new approach to fines and fees – people are having their charges dismissed, warrants for minor offenses cleared, and many municipalities are actually saving money by spending less on collections. With a system that was built because it provided cities and states with revenue, there has been a realization that it disproportionately targets communities of color and often keeps people stuck in cycles of debt. With this national awakening, resources and networks are being created so other places can implement the same change.

The Child Tax Credit included in the coronavirus relief package provides a guaranteed income for families with children. The merits of guaranteed income have been established in multiple countries as well as local programs in the United States. Results have shown that cash payments allow people to focus on whatever their basic needs are. Poverty rates in places like Alaska have dropped drastically due to cash payments from the government.

Unite Here, a 300,000-member labor union of hotel and restaurant workers, has organized mass protests to pass voting rights legislation. In 2020 they ran a huge door-knocking operation with 500 full-time paid canvassers. The weekly salary helped canvassers, many of whom were hotel workers that lost their jobs due to the pandemic. And the well-organized ground campaign that encouraged over 48,000 infrequent voters in Arizona to vote for Biden, likely helped push Biden to a narrow and surprising victory in that state.

Liberty Cleaners co-created a curriculum to train immigrant women workers about tech education, green cleaning, and workers’ rights. As the first women-led workers’ hub in the country, the group is organizing and enabling its members with skills that can ensure they receive the fair wages, opportunities, and respect they deserve but are often denied.

Several companies are beginning to lean into the four-day workweek. It is also being seen as a new recruiting tool that resonates with a younger generation that prioritizes work-life balance. There are even nonprofits like 4 Day Week Global, that are coordinating pilot programs across the globe to encourage more companies to adopt a 32-hour workweek with no cut in pay.