For Workers
Programs
Worker Justice Wisconsin has the only Worker Center in the region where non-unionized workers can go when they experience workplace problems.
WJW builds collective worker power through our programs, and by partnering with workers for collective actions and campaigns. Experience has taught us that workers and their allies must act together to create real and lasting change.
Workplace Organizing
Our goal is to educate workers about their right to organize and to give them the tools to organize themselves to pressure their employer into improving working conditions and/or recognize their union.
Worker Cooperative Incubation
We aim to educate excluded workers about cooperatives and help them launch their own, in order to create democratic, fair, and equitable work opportunities, lower the barrier of entry to entrepreneurship, and retain wealth in our communities.
Wage theft Campaign
We educate workers about wage theft and the shortcomings of Wisconsin’s anti-wage theft laws in order to organize workers to recuperate unpaid wages and pressure policymakers to pass stronger laws.
Construction Organizing
We support workers across this sector in their efforts to combat abusive practices, including misclassification and wage theft, in pursuit of industry-wide reforms.
Membership Programs
The membership program is the foundation of all the work that we do because it invites workers to become members of the worker center and participate in governance, strategic decision making, and campaigns.
Only the people can save themselves!
In everything that we do, our goal is to empower workers to act collectively to remake our society into one where all people are valued over profit. To accomplish this, we…
Educate
Education about basic rights and how to organize is crucial for workers to understand their power and the employers’, as well as what it will take to transform our society.
Agitate
Workers respond in all sorts of ways to injustices at work, one of which is righteous anger. Our goal is to help workers cultivate that righteous anger in each other and channel it toward organizing, mutual aid, and community building.
Organize
Organizing, which means deep, intentional relationship building for the purpose of building workers’ collective power, is the best means to usher in a new, democratic, people-first society. We give workers the tools to organize themselves in their workplaces and in the community.
Mobilize
The workers’ struggle is the community’s struggle because the overwhelming majority of us are workers; we sell our labor for wages. That is why we mobilize community members to show up and support workers fighting exploitation.
Our Programs
For workers who want better working conditions
Workplace Organizing
It is your right and your coworkers’ right to organize. But doing so is hard. By joining this program, you will learn how to organize for power in the workplace.
Organizing in theory
Learn the do’s and don’ts of organizing, what the law says, and the steps you and your coworkers will have to go through to organize.
Organizing in practice
You and your coworkers will receive strategic support in envisioning your campaign to increase the possibility of success and decrease the risk of employer retaliation.
For workers who want better entrepreneurship
Worker Cooperative Incubation
Creating a business is hard, but you don’t have to do it alone. In this program we incubate cooperatives, where workers co-own and manage the business democratically and equitably, in order to create sustainable and fair work for excluded workers.
Democracy
We believe that every worker deserves a voice in their workplace. By building cooperatives, we can center power and decision-making in workers who
Equity
We focus on workers who have historically been marginalized and excluded from entrepreneurship, with the goal to uplift those who can benefit the most from cooperatives.
Solidarity
We see ourselves as inextricable to the larger labor movement, and continue to collaborate with organized labor leaders to build an economy that benefits everyone.
For workers whose boss hasn’t paid them
Wage Theft Campaign
If your boss owes you and your coworkers unpaid wages (it’s more common than you think), join our wage theft campaign. We will assist you in recuperating your money and build a grassroots movement of workers to pressure policymakers to criminalize wage theft.
Unpaid wages can take many forms
Simply not getting paid, overtime violations, mileage, forced to clock out for short breaks, discriminatory pay, misclassification–wage theft takes many forms. Come learn how to identify it.
Organizing to stop wage theft
You and your coworkers have the power to stop wage theft. If your employer isn’t paying you, they’re definitely not paying someone else. Learn how to organize your coworkers to get your money and criminalize wage theft.
For workers across the construction industry
Construction Organizing
We educate construction workers, especially those from marginalized communities, on how to organize to improve working conditions in this sector. We support workers in combating misclassification, wage theft, and other abusive practices.
Misclassification
When workers who should be employees are brought on instead as contractors, they run serious risks. We educate workers on the signs of misclassification and what to do about it.
Wage Theft
While a common consequence of misclassification, wage theft can happen to anyone and is particularly rampant in the construction industry. We support workers to recuperate stolen wages through legal and organizing avenues.
Build collective worker power
Become a Member Today!
Community
Join our membership program to become part of the growing WJW community dedicated to bringing about worker justice!
Power
We are many, they are few. Workers have the power to change our society for the many. Join our membership to get support for your campaign and to support other workers in their struggles
The worker membership program is open to all workers, regardless of industry. If you have a boss who buys your labor for a wage, this is for you–even if you don’t require any immediate assistance. By becoming a worker member, you are entitled to attend our membership meetings, participate in decision making, support campaigns, and help lead the organization.
Other ways of getting involved.
Join the Rapid Response Network
By joining the Rapid Response Network, you will receive alerts from WJW about direct actions such as protesting wage theft. The aim is to apply community pressure to employers who have violated their workers’ rights and to show solidarity with workers.
Register for a Group Grievance Session
If you believe that your employer has violated your rights as an employee, register for our biweekly Group Grievance Session. This is an opportunity to be in community with other workers and share your experiences, as well as learn about U.S. and Wisconsin employment law. If we suspect that there has been a violation, we will help you file a complaint with the relevant state agency.
Become a volunteer
If you’re looking to support the work that we do, reach out to us! Volunteers can help with the Group Grievance Session, door knocking for our wage theft campaign, and help give trainings throughout the community.
Hear from Workers Themselves
“Hola! Mi nombre es Jesus. Yo trabaje en Mod Pizza y ellos no me pagdron y yo fui-a Centro de Derechos Laborares y ellos me ayudaron ague me pagaron mi dinero. Esta organizacion es buena para la comunidad no tengan miedo. ¡Vengan! Ya buscar ayuda si experimentan una necesidad. Muchas gracias a todos en el centra.”
Hi! My name is Jesus. I worked at MOD Pizza and they did not pay me. I went to Worker Justice Wisconsin’s Worker Center and they helped to make them pay me my money. This organization is good for the community. Don’t be afraid, go there and ask for help if you need it.