As we look ahead to a busy and productive year, I’m writing to you today to talk a little more about the work we’re doing at NCLEJ. One of our priorities as an organization is to expand rights and protections for America’s low-wage workers.
America’s low-wage workers face innumerable structural disadvantages. Here are some of them:
Minimum wages, stolen wages, lack of good benefits, and a dysfunctional social safety net keep far too many working people in a constant struggle to stay economically afloat.
Institutional racism in education, employment, and benefits systems leave Black and Brown communities behind.
And employers and the government continue to undercut the right for workers to organize for better pay, safer workplaces, and expanded protections.
The status quo isn’t working for millions of people. We’re fighting to change that.
Last year, NCLEJ filed a complaint against the New York State Departments of Health and Labor for their role in perpetuating the unconscionable levels of wage theft suffered by home health aides in the state who are forced to work grueling, 24-hour shifts for only 13 hours of pay. These aides, who are overwhelmingly women of color, are just one example of the workers that NCLEJ supports in their fight to win back justice and dignity. Through continued efforts like the SWEAT Coalition, NCLEJ helps workers get back their stolen wages and turn the tide against worker exploitation.
2023 will provide new opportunities to expand rights and protections for low-wage workers. NCLEJ will be fighting in the courts and on the ground with our community partners to help make it happen.
In the weeks and months to come, we will continue to speak truth to power and demand that our country does better to support the people who are responsible for so much of the daily functioning of our economy. We hope you will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in this fight.
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice advances racial and economic justice through ground-breaking impact litigation, policy advocacy, and support for grassroots organizing. We have provided legal representation and support since 1965.
