Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream – Janice Fine

New cycles of resistance?

“…Gemeinsam haben wir uns im Sommer 2022 im "Aquarium" am Kottbusser Tor in Berlin-Kreuzberg versammelt, um die Idee eines worker center zu diskutieren. Diese sind vor allem in Nordamerika verbreitete Strukturen, die sich mit lokalen Zentren an Arbeiter*innen vor Ort wenden und dort eine Mischung aus Beratung und Organizing praktizieren (Fine 2006). Einige von uns hatten schon von worker centers als einer Taktik des Organizing gehört sowie von Versuchen, sie auch in Deutschland aufzubauen (Initiative Zivilcourage München 2016;Rakowitz 2012Rakowitz [2005).…”

Day-Labor Worker Centers: Advancing New Models of Equity and Inclusion in the Informal Economy

“…Day-labor worker centers are immigrant-serving, communitybased organizations that function as labor market intermediaries in the informal economy. They emerged in the late 1990s in response to widespread violations of employment law in the residential construction industry and the need to develop mechanisms for regulating contingent work (Fine, 2006;Gonzalez, 2015;Gordon, 2005;Theodore, 2015). Over the course of several decades, declining union density in residential construction and the fissuring of employment relations opened new opportunities for small construction contractors, many of which rely on a labor force of undocumented immigrants who routinely endure violations of employment standards (Doussard, 2013;Erlich & Grabelsky, 2005).…”

“…To contest the spread of substandard conditions, day laborers have self-organized to establish workplace standards and, over the past several decades, their regulatory strategies have evolved to include the creation of worker centers. Operating as sites of rulemaking in the informal economy, worker centers counteract the spread of degraded work through a combination of regulatory interventions, including setting minimum wages, recovering unpaid wages, providing safety training, advocating for proworker public policies, and launching direct-action campaigns against unscrupulous employers (Fine, 2006;Gordon, 2005;Theodore et al, 2009;Visser, 2017;Visser et al, 2017).…”