Photo courtesy of National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice.

Since its formation in 1977, Discount has supported non-profit organizations working primarily at the community level to empower low-income and poor urban residents to improve their communities, living conditions and economic opportunities. In the mid-1990s, the Discount Foundation initiated its Making Work Pay program focus, funding efforts to increase wages for the working poor, improve their job prospects and build their political power. Since that time, with the help of Discount and many other funders, grassroots efforts that reward work and generate good job opportunities for the poor have multiplied in number and effectiveness.

Building on our experience and awareness of exciting, new opportunities in developing the power of the working poor to improve their economic status, the foundation decided to focus its grantmaking after 2009 on Organizing for Worker Justice.

Organizing for Worker Justice

The foundation believes that worker organizing represents a crucial avenue for low-wage workers to achieve greater economic justice, including a living wage and decent, safe and humane working conditions. Our commitment is to support collective action on the part of workers through community and faith based organizations, especially those working in collaboration with unions and other types of worker organizations. Such community-labor alliances have proven that they can build sufficient power to secure major economic and other benefits for the poor, including immigrants, low wage workers, their families and their communities.

In support of this program focus of Organizing for Worker Justice, the foundation has established the following funding priorities for its 2009 grants:

1. The Right of Workers to Form Unions

Union organizing and collective bargaining are the cornerstones of the most serious efforts to improve wages and working conditions. Thus, the foundation is interested in proposals from community and/or faith-based organizing groups that:

• Educate and organize the public with respect to policy initiatives that protect and/or expand the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively.
• Represent strong community and labor alliances that support specific union organizing campaigns at the local, regional or national levels. We are interested in increasing the capacity and power of such alliances in particular sectors of the economy and/or in geographic regions

2. Independent Worker Organizing

Union organizing is not always feasible within the “marginalized work force,” where low-wage workers, including immigrants, are vulnerable to violations of fundamental worker rights, including wage theft, discrimination, and insufficient health and safety protections. In response, immigrant worker centers, day laborer centers, interfaith worker centers, and worker associations have emerged. These organizations operate as the first line of defense for these workers' legal and human rights.

Under this priority, the foundation will consider proposals from organizations that:

• Organize these low-wage workers to secure basic labor protections and standards, with a particular focus on preventing wage theft, discrimination, and violations of health and safety laws and regulations. Additional consideration will be given to organizations that also can demonstrate the ability and power to effect policy changes that protect and enhance these worker rights at the state and/or national levels.