The Worker Center Handbook : A Practical Guide to Starting and Building the New Labor Movement / Kim Bobo, Marien Casillas Pabellon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bobo, Kim, author.

Casillas Pabellon, Marien, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Community centers--United States--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Community centers.

Labor unions--Organizing--United States--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Labor unions.

Labor movement--United States--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Labor movement.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Worker centers are becoming an important element in labor and community organizing and the struggle for fair pay and decent working conditions for low-wage workers, especially immigrants. There are currently more than two hundred worker centers in the country, and more start every month. Most of these centers struggle as they try to raise funds, maintain stable staff, and build a membership base. For this book, Kim Bobo and Marién Casillas Pabellón, two women with extensive experience supporting and leading worker centers, have interviewed staff at a broad range of worker centers with the goal of helping others understand how to start and build their organizations. This book is not theoretical, but rather is designed to be a practical workbook for staff, boards, and supporters of worker centers.Geared toward groups that want to build worker centers, this book discusses how to survey the community, take on an initial campaign, recruit leaders, and raise seed funds. Bobo and Casillas Pabellón also provide a wealth of advice to help existing centers become stronger and more effective. The Worker Center Handbook compiles best practices from around the country on partnering with labor, enlisting the assistance of faith communities and lawyers, raising funds, developing a serious membership program, integrating civic engagement work, and running major campaigns. The authors urge center leaders to both organize and build strong administrative systems. Full of concrete examples from worker centers around the country, the handbook is practical and honest about challenges and opportunities.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Worker Center Background and Vision

PART I. Starting a Worker Center

2. Surveying Your Community

3. Recruiting a Leadership Planning Team

4. Holding Initial Planning Meetings

5. Raising Start-up Funds and Donations

6. Hosting Workers' Rights Training Sessions

7. Creating Early Programs and Actions

8. Hiring Great Staff

9. Doing the Legal Stuff

PART II. Building the Work

10. Reaching Workers, Building Leadership

11. Mastering Direct Action

12. Organizing a Wage Th eft Campaign

13. Focusing on a Sector

14. Organizing around Health and Safety Issues

15. Working with Faith Communities

16. Partnering with Unions

17. Building Multiracial Organizations

PART III. Building the Infrastructure

18. Being Mindful of Opposing Forces

19. Taking Fund-raising Seriously

20. Managing Money Well

21. Using Data for Growth

22. Nurturing an Awesome Board

23. Fostering a Strong Staff Team

24. Developing a Communications Program

25. Buying Your Own Property

PART IV. Taking the Work to Scale

26. Combining Services and Organizing: Functional Organizing

27. Building Membership Structures

28. Helping Workers Organize Work-site Committees or Unions

29. Partnering with Lawyers

30. Engaging and Honoring Ethical Employers

31. Integrating Civic Engagement

Appendix A Books and Articles

Appendix B Worker Center Networks

Appendix C Worker Centers

Appendix D How Worker Centers Can Keep 501c3 Tax Exempt Status, by Brian Glick

Appendix E Popular Education Training Resources

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2016.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9781501706448

1501706446

9781501705892

150170589X

OCLC:

957137994