After a long, hot August month, the Worker Justice Wisconsin staff got to wind down at the South Central Federation of Labor’s Labor Fest celebration. We helped bring Spanish-speaking immigrant workers to the forefront of attendees’ minds through the Solidarity roll call, selling homemade horchata and tres leches-churro cupcakes, and newly designed Worker Justice t-shirts. …
This August, I (Cooperatives Organizer, Frida Ballard) was able to attend the ACE Institute conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Along with Charity Schmidt of Madison Cooperative Development Coalition (MCDC), and Rek Kwawer, who is the Executive Director of Madison Worker Cooperatives (MadWorC), I co-presented a brief history of cooperatives in Madison, the organizations and …
Building a Resilient Worker Cooperative Ecosystem in Madison, Wisconsin Read More »
Support WJW with your donations this holiday season! In a just and moral world, all employers would operate in good faith and treat their workers with dignity, fairness, and respect. All too often though, that’s simply not the case. Worker Justice Wisconsin (WJW) has the only worker center in our region where workers can come …
Crushin’ It Apparel Workers Win Union Vote! Previous Next The employees of Crushin’ It Apparel in Madison made their voices heard by winning their election for representation through the NLRB. These brave workers overcame months of exploitation, abuse, wage theft, and threats, and voted 6-0 to become new members of IUPAT DC7 to tell their employer enough is enough! Please …
Apolonio “Polo” Duran comes to the WJW board from the Regional Council of Carpenters/Carpinteros Latinos Unidos. Here, Polo speaks about his experiences as a worker, union rep, and board member. Polo’s parents were agricultural workers as he was growing up, and Polo and his brother often chipped in on weekends and holidays. This experience shaped …
Crushin’ It Apparel workers and WJW staff appeared together for LaborFest’s Solidarity Roll Call. These workers have stayed strong in the face of threats and retaliation from their employer, and at LaborFest they stood in solidarity with organizing workers everywhere. Thank you to everyone who signed our petition in support of these workers! (To read more …
Rabbi Sally Priesand: First American Female Rabbi Ordained 50 Years Ago This Month 50 years ago this month, the first American female rabbi was ordained. She was only the second female rabbi to be ordained ever (the first being Regina Jonas, who later died in the Holocaust) “There would always come a time where some …
Meet Our Staff! Robert Christl, Worker Center Program Director Previous Next A bit about Robert… I was born and raised in a small city called Huntsville in Alabama (you might know it—it’s famous for its work with NASA). As a kid, I gravitated toward history. Although I initially had an interest in ancient Spartan society, …
Wage theft is far more prevalent than often acknowledged. In fact, in recent years, the cost of wage theft has consistently been more than the cost of larceny, robberies, and other types of theft combined. Though this graphic is from 2014, sadly, little has changed in the years since. In 2021, it’s estimated that around …
Wage Theft in the News–Brooklyn Wage Theft Front Read More »
By Rev. Ari Douglas (they/them), FCC (DOC) of Janesville, WI “Often we hear about workers, the poor, and clergy organizing together. Rarely do we hear about clergy being workers, or clergy being the poor. I have been both clergy and a worker and clergy and poor.” Rev. Ari Douglas (they/them) Often we hear about workers, …
Poor People’s Campaign: Clergy, Poverty, Justice, and their Intersections Read More »
