At the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in Chicago in August 2006, the AFL-CIO and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) signed a national partnership agreement to support the rights of day laborers. Victor Narro, project director for the UCLA Labor Center and NDLON advisory board member, facilitated a series of meetings over the summer between AFL-CIO officials and the leadership of NDLON, culminating in this historic agreement. With a membership of over thirty day-labor worker centers, NDLON is the largest network of worker centers in the country.
“Day laborers in the United States often face the harshest forms of workplace problems and this exploitation hurts us all because when standards are dragged down for some workers, they are dragged down for all workers,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “Through this watershed partnership, we will strengthen our ability to promote and enforce the workplace rights for all workers—union and non-union, immigrant and nonimmigrant alike.”
The AFL-CIO and NDLON will work together for state and local enforcement of rights as well as the development of new protections in areas including wage and hour laws, health and safety regulations, immigrants’ rights, and employee misclassification. They will also work together for comprehensive immigration reform that supports workplace rights and includes a path to citizenship and political equality for immigrant workers.
“Worker centers will benefit from the labor movement's extensive involvement and experience in policy and legislative initiatives on the local, state, and national levels,” Sweeney said. “This partnership will also benefit AFL-CIO unions and local labor bodies by establishing channels to formally connect with local worker centers in order to expose abuses and improve workplace standards in various industries to the benefit of all workers.” |
