Work for the Dignity of Workers

Based in Washington, DC, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank working for the last 30 years to counter rising inequality, low wages and weak benefits for working people, slower economic growth, unacceptable employment conditions, and a widening racial wage gap. We intentionally center low- and middle-income working families in economic policy discussions at the federal, state, and local levels as we fight for a world where every worker has access to a good job with fair pay, affordable health care, retirement security, and a union.

Based in Chicago, UNITE HERE Local 1 represents more than 15,000 hospitality workers in Chicago and Northwest Indiana. Members work in hotels, O’Hare and Midway airports, restaurants, school cafeterias, stadiums, convention centers like McCormick Place and Navy Pier, and casinos. It is a union of housekeepers, lunchroom attendants, cooks, bartenders, bellmen, servers, and dishwashers whose members are predominantly women, immigrants, and people of color. Local 1 is an affiliate of UNITE HERE, which represents approximately 300,000 workers throughout the United States and Canada and is among the fastest growing unions in the nation.

Based in Immokalee, Florida, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is a worker-based human rights organization internationally recognized for its achievements in the fields of social responsibility, human trafficking, and gender-based violence at work.  Built on a foundation of farmworker community organizing starting in 1993, and reinforced with the creation of a national consumer network since 2000, CIW’s work has steadily grown over more than twenty years to encompass three broad and overlapping spheres: The Fair Food Program, the Anti-Slavery Campaign, and The Campaign for Fair Food.