Workers Are Building Power Together

In a good-jobs economy, workers build power to collectively shape working conditions and influence the rules and structures of work so that their communities can thrive.

When Workers Have Power, A New Economy Is Possible

Workers hold the knowledge to make decisions that affect their lives inside and outside the workplace. When workers have power, they drive the systems change needed to build a good-jobs economy.

Corporations with too much power are eroding a century of gains made by the labor movement, but workers are fighting back. Through unions, worker centers, and other movements, workers are organizing to build power to shape their rights, protections, and benefits at work.

Workers Are Demanding More Power at Work

1 in 4

U.S. workers say they would speak up more on the job if they had stronger legal protections against unfair firing and discipline.

539,000

workers across the U.S. demonstrated their power by walking off the job to participate in work stoppages in 2023.

48%

of workers in the U.S. without a union would vote to join a union if they had the opportunity.

NELP’s Strategies for Building Worker Power

We support the following strategies to help workers build power:

Collective bargaining rights: We support the expansion of legal protections that support workers to bargain with their employer.

Worker center support: We provide legal, research, and strategic communications support to worker centers.

Just cause and anti-retaliation protections: We fight for policies that ban unfair firings and protect workers from retaliation.

Coalition building: We build and participate in coalitions and community-based movements to advance change.

 

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