Worker Center Alliances: The Austin Example

by James Parks, AFL-CIO (reposted)

Mon, Jul 2, 2007 6:55PM

Monday, July 2, 2007 : Last week, we reported that Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, Calif., was the first local worker center in the Golden State to affiliate with a local AFL-CIO central body.

Paul Sherr, a retired officer of the Texas State Employees Union-CWA Local 6186, wrote to tell us that Proyecto Defensa Laboral ( PDL ), the Workers Defense Network in Austin, Texas, has been working through the Austin Area AFL-CIO Council for about six months and says the partnership is a huge success.

PDL has helped in several efforts for workers to join unions by consulting on how best to contact and work with immigrant workers and by participating directly in organizing drives. PDL also has raised the profile of the union movement in Austin's minority communities, Sherr says, and the labor council has joined with the worker center to advocate for immigrant rights and helped recover back wages owed to immigrant workers.

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For more information: http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/07/02/worker-c...

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