In November 2013, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce published a Working Paper, The Emerging Role of Worker Centers in Union Organizing: A Strategic Assessment, which examined the complex relationship between worker centers and traditional labor unions, and delineated the extensive funding of the worker center movement by activist foundations during the period 2009-2012. The present essay reviews that analysis in the light of subsequent developments, and, using data from public filings and reports covering the period 2013-2016, brings forward our examination of the mechanisms by which the labor movement and the philanthropic community support this form of organizing...
The Emerging Role of Worker Centers in Union Organizing: An Update and Supplement
In November 2013, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce published a Working Paper, The Emerging Role of Worker Centers in Union Organizing: A Strategic Assessment, which examined the complex relationship between worker centers and traditional labor unions, and delineated the extensive funding of the worker center movement by activist foundations during the period 2009-2012. The present essay reviews that analysis in the light of subsequent developments, and, using data from public filings and reports covering the period 2013-2016, brings forward our examination of the mechanisms by which the labor movement and the philanthropic community support this form of organizing.
