February Compassion Offering: Worker Justice Wisconsin

Worker Justice Wisconsin (WJW) is a Madison-based nonprofit that builds collective worker power together with faith and labor allies. Our worker center educates and empowers employees who do not have a union. We help them file complaints with state agencies, incubate worker-owned cooperatives, and train workers to organize their coworkers. With a mostly bilingual staff, WJW pays special attention to the Spanish-speaking, immigrant working class. In 2022, WJW trained 140 workers, helped recover $121,560.11 in previously owed but unpaid wages, organized two job sites, and incubated three cooperatives. Of the 200+ workers who opened cases in 2022, over 90% were immigrants, and 89% were Latinx. 

February’s Compassion Offering will be deposited in the WJW Solidarity Fund. The Fund encourages workers to engage in job site organizing by providing a basic financial safety net. If a worker is retaliated against or fired by their employer for engaging in legally protected organizing activity, or if a workforce decides to go on strike, they can receive up to 50% of their income from the fund (so long as funds last and up to two months). The Fund is crucial to bolstering workers’ bargaining power. It is not charity. It is a direct contribution to workers’ struggle to overcome structural inequality.

You can make a donation by check, on the memo line, please write “compassion” and mail to ORUCC, 1501 Gilbert Road, Madison, WI 53711, or donate online from our website. The link is https://orucc.org/contribute/support/