Partners

Korean Worker Justice Campaign

Koreans and Latinos stand together for worker and immigrant rights

CWC partners with the Korean American Resource and Cultural Center (KRCC) to outreach Korean immigrant business owners on U.S. labor law in order to raise standards for immigrant workers. See Chicago Tribune report on this important collaboration (11/09/09).

Latino workers confront Korean laundry owner with demands for minimum-wage pay, break-time, a bathroom with walls, among others. These sorts of clashes led to KRCC/CWC Partnership..

Office of Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General

Just Pay for All

Employers who steal wages beware!

Just Pay for All significantly increases the ability of the Illinois Attorney General's Office to investigate and prosecute wage theft, human trafficking, dangerous working conditions and sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. CWC and our partners develop cases on the ground and turn in bad actors to the A.G. for criminal prosecution. We publicize prosecutions and seek to improve protections through new legislation. Coalition partners include Working Hands Legal Clinic, Latino Union of Chicago, ICIRR, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, and KRCC.

A CWC worker explains to Lisa Madigan how her employer forces female workers to have sex with him to keep their jobs at a bakery in Cicero.

"When I informed an employer in Bloomingdale, IL that the A.G. was considering investigating him for paying his workers with bounced checks, he showed up with more than $200,000 in cash to pay back his 45 workers." Tim Bell, Chicago Workers' Collaborative

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has supported CWC's work for the last 6 years. The CCHD is the major anti-poverty, social justice program of the U.S. Council of Bishops.

Labor Unions

CWC collaborates with labor unions to help low-income workers learn their rights and improve their working conditions. United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 881 ; the Illinois AFL-CIO ; and the United Electrical Workers are principal partners among the variety of unions which we collaborate.

Elected Officials