In May, more than 300 workers, union and worker rights leaders from across California gathered on the UC Davis campus for a first-of-its kind “Worker Power Assembly.” The two-day event provided participants with an opportunity to come together to discuss common challenges and strategize about how to build worker power in the state.  

for large corporations to exploit workers in new ways. Among the biggest problems: wage theft; employer surveillance and retaliation against workers for exercising their basic rights; and, hazardous working conditions, from warehouses to farms to restaurants and beyond, that result in high rates of illness and injuries on the job.  

Unions, worker centers, and other advocates have joined together in the past to tackle these issues, but CCWP is taking collaboration to the next level. The coalition came together during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, just as companies like Amazon and Walmart made billions in profits while frontline workers faced new health risks and longer hours, while others laid off workers without safety nets or right to get their jobs back.  

Sheheryar Kaoosji, CCWP co-president and executive director of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center in the Inland Empire, was moved by the broad interest in the coalition among worker advocates at the time. “A lot of people were feeling overwhelmed, but they were also excited to be in a Zoom space with other groups and talking about a larger strategy that would help all of us get where we want to go,” he said. 

In four years, CCWP and its members have notched several critical wins for California workers. This includes protections from retaliation for workers, $30 million in new state resources for worker outreach and education – important for growing the labor movement, and new investments in state labor law enforcement. Kaoosji said working within a statewide coalition to advance these and other policy solutions is especially helpful for smaller organizations in the Inland Empire and areas beyond Los Angeles and the Bay Area. “CCWP is a way for groups like ours to reach Sacramento,” he said. 

A Focus on Worker Organizing

Collaboration on policy has been a priority, since workers face barriers to organizing and enforcing their rights, but CCWP is also focused on strengthening worker organizing across industries and regions beyond policy. Its first move was to create a training program for lead organizers, now called the California Center for Labor Organizing (CCLO). 

“Some of this is about figuring out where our strengths are and what are the next best interventions we might want to support to scale up organizing across the state,” said Kaoosji. “We are already doing a lot, but we know we have a lot more to do.” 

Shifting Power 

Matsumura said the focus on organizing reflects a recognition that long-term structural change cannot be achieved without a powerful worker movement to empower workers. “We need organizations to have the capacity to get into workplaces and talk to workers, because when more working people know their rights and when they are organized, that is what changes the power dynamic” she said. She added that CCWP’s vision is to become a powerful force for supporting unions, worker centers, and other partners across California to adopt and experiment with innovative organizing methods and tactics.   

Suh noted that CCWP is serving another important purpose: strengthening relationships and building more solidarity among workers and their allies across California. “One of the most exciting, if invisible, aspects of this coalition is that it’s weaving together our movement,” Suh said. “Between the relationships we’re building, and our shared analysis of issues and opportunities and where we want to go, there’s no limit on what we can achieve by working together.” 

Masthead photo credit: California Coalition for Worker Power