OUR WORK
Worker Power draws on the best traditions of union organizing and non-violent direct action to execute electoral and policy campaigns that have a decisive and national impact on issues affecting our lives.
We recruit and train workers and young people as agents of political change in their communities. These leaders are building a movement that will elect and support public officials who fight for working people.
Leadership Development
The greatest strength of Worker Power is our ability to educate, mentor, and train ordinary working people to affect positive socio-economic change on a local, state, and national level.
Our current and former staff include grassroots organizers, elected leaders, and social justice advocates.
At least five women – four women of color – who started their organizing and advocacy careers with us currently serve in senior staff and executive-level positions in partner organizations. Athena Salman, who is serving her fourth term in Arizona’s House of Representatives, and Betty Guardado, who has been a leading member of the Phoenix City Council since 2019, were key leaders in Worker Power before running for office.
Voter Engagement
Over the last fifteen years, Worker Power has conducted the largest voter engagement field campaigns in Arizona. In 2020, we expanded our operations to other areas of the country, and in 2022 alone, Worker Power knocked on nearly 1,000,000 doors, turning out voters for pro-worker candidates in Arizona, Georgia, and California.
In Arizona, Worker Power helped Democratic candidates win races for U.S. Senate, Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General. In addition, our canvassers helped defeat two voter-suppression Propositions, 128 and 309, and elected two Democratic State Legislature candidates in Republican districts.
In Georgia, we knocked on over 300,000 doors and helped re-elect Senator Rafael Warnock in the U.S. Senate runoff election. In Orange County, California, we joined workers from Disneyland hotels to help elect two community allies as Mayor and a City Council Member in Anaheim, sending a message to a city government previously embroiled in corruption scandals involving hospitality industry corporations.
Looking forward to the 2024 cycle, Worker Power will continue to build on our electoral work in State and Federal races to ensure Democratic victories and that workers' voices are heard loud and clear.
Democracy & Voting Rights
Our democracy is at risk. Over the past decade, 48 U.S. states introduced more than 400 voter suppression bills ranging from harsh voter registration compliance deadlines, strict voter ID laws, early voting restrictions, and polling place reductions. These bills continue to disproportionately affect people of color and their communities.
Worker Power is leading the fight against these tactics, using community education and grassroots advocacy to protect voting rights. In 2021, we campaigned for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the For the People Act, and the Freedom to Vote Act.
Elevating those most affected by these voter suppression attacks, Worker Power organized community forums; freedom rides to Washington D.C.; acts of civil disobedience at Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office; public letters of support; and op-eds in local, state, and national media outlets. In addition, we mobilized over 15,000 voters to call and 17,000 voters to email Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, urging her to reform the filibuster to pass federal voting rights legislation.
Worker Power continues to invest our resources in defeating voter suppression. In 2022, we defeated two voter suppression referendums, one of which would have allowed the Arizona Legislature to overturn the results of a successful citizens’ ballot initiative. The other would have required date of birth and voter identification number for mail-in ballots and eliminated two-document alternatives to photo ID for in-person voting.
Economic Policy
Worker Power fights for a fair and just economy that benefits all community members. We educate communities of working people through phone and in-person conversations. We mobilize low-wage workers who are priced out of their neighborhoods due to the rising housing costs to testify at public meetings and other forums where their voices need to be heard. This advocacy has led to quality jobs, higher minimum wages, and increased safety measures for thousands of service workers in the Phoenix metro area.
A primary focus of Worker Power’s advocacy efforts has been to challenge the misuse of GPLETs (Government Property Lease Excise Tax) by local municipalities. GPLET is a tax abatement program used to spur development in Arizona cities. While these developments purport to bring new jobs and additional tax revenues to aid the economy, GPLETs can add up to hundreds of millions of dollars not spent on local schools and other community needs over time. In addition, GPLETs can contribute to gentrification, exacerbate the deepening housing affordability crisis in our cities, and push low-wage earners out of town.
Worker Power engages workers and their families to take action on the issues that matter to them. We change the conversation about economic development and challenge elected officials to build economic policy on a foundation that centers the interests, needs, and opinions of everyday working families in a way that will create an economy that works for everyone.
Where We Work
Click on a state to learn more about our work around the country.
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