LABOR
United Way Bay Area partners with Labor
OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH LABOR
Since 1946, United Way Worldwide (UWW) and the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) have worked together to support workplace fundraising, payroll deductions and to operate the Community Services Liaison Program throughout the United States.
In 2016, this Partnership was reaffirmed and reinvigorated nationally. Together, Labor and United Way develop strategies and programs to reduce poverty, inequities, and inequality in our communities. Union members contribute to United Way’s community impact work here and across the country.
WHAT WE DO
- UWBA and Bay Area Labor Councils assist working families in time of crisis. Together we are currently responding to the economic impacts and hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic on union Works and their families.
- UWBA and Labor share the common goal of an equitable Bay Area. Together, we envision a Bay Area where every member of the community has access to a quality education, fair wages, productive work opportunities, safe workplaces, a path to citizenship and accessible, affordable, quality healthcare.
- The Labor Community Services Liaison program is a comprehensive resource for working families. Labor Liaisons provide information and referral, direct hardship assistance, high-impact workforce programs, community organizing, immigration legal services and civic engagement opportunities. Liaisons are involved in or leading critical public policy work to increase economic security and access community benefits.
- UWBA Community Services Liaison team consists of three Labor Liaisons who work with the San Francisco, San Mateo, and Contra Costa Central Labor Councils.
COLLECTIVE IMPACT
WORKFORCE & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
- Labor supports an overall workforce strategy that addresses the root causes of poverty, reduces inequity, raises job quality, and removes barriers to employment thru training, re training and skill upgrade.
- Labor and UWBA were successful in the passage and implantation of thirty-one Minimum Wage Ordinances in the Bay Area, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
- Labor participates on Local workforce boards and recovery initiatives to create pathways to high road employment.
HARDSHIP ASSISTANCE
- In response to massive COVID-19 related furloughs and layoffs and in partnership local food banks, union volunteers are distributing groceries to 1,600 families a month.
- Labor Community Services provides over $150,000, each year in direct hardship assistance and wraparound referrals to over 350 union members and their families.
- In partnership with UWBA, Labor connects hundreds of low-income Bay Area families to Earn Keep It, Save It, (EKS) tax preparation and filing services each year.
- The Labor Councils combined provided 10,500 COVID-19 Vaccines to union members.
RAPID RESPONSE
- Every year, Labor and workforce partners provide comprehensive information, referral and supportive services to workers facing unemployment.
- In 2020, to help minimize the negative impacts of layoffs due to Covid-19, Labor Liaisons coordinated support services for over 5,000 workers and their families.