End Wage Theft: Stop the Billion Dollar Swindle

[Excerpt] In 2010, the National Employment Law Project found that nearly $1 billion was stolen from low-wage workers every year in New York City alone.1 Despite the strongest laws on the books, all evidence indicates that rampant wage theft continues in our state. Wage theft harms taxpayers across the state: employers who fail to pay minimum wage or overtime are also notorious for failing to pay taxes, workers’ compensation insurance, or unemployment insurance. Law-abiding employers cannot compete when the competitor down the street is undercutting them by stealing workers’ wages. When we fail to make wage and hour protections REAL by enforcing the laws on the books, we are SUBSIDIZING bottom-feeder employers. Responsible employers deserve a fair playing field

Beyond Neutrality: Navigating challenges and leveraging opportunities of staff unionization in social change nonprofits

Union organizing campaigns at Starbucks and Amazon have been making headlines, but there is another, less publicized increase in unionization that has broad implications for social change: Employees of social justice nonprofit organizations have been unionizing in record numbers.While very few organizations in this sector were unionized ten years ago, it is now considered commonplace for groups like Planned Parenthood, Working Families Party, and Sunrise to have collective bargaining agreements with their staff.This crucial development has the potential to reshape the relationship between nonprofit workers, leaders, and organizations in a sector seeking new approaches to workplace democracy, organizational equity, and justice. It also has the potential to help seed a resurgent and more progressive labor movement in this country— historically a bedrock for social change movements.This is a moment of opportunity for organizational leaders to go beyond neutrality and partner with their staff to transform the work environment and fuel mission impact. However, pain points and dissonance have emerged from these efforts, revealing gaps in information, resources, support, and preparation for both employers and unions