In true David and Goliath fashion, workers recently achieved a major win in federal court against the Starbucks corporation. After several team members were allegedly terminated for participating in union organizing, the National Labor Relations Board filed an injunction petition to have terminated employees reinstated- and won!

Oftentimes fear of retaliation prevents workers from embracing their collective power and organizing with their colleagues. It is not uncommon for employers deploy all manner of scare tactics, including slander, lawsuits, and threats, to prevent workers from fighting against unfair labor practices.

Thankfully there is strength in numbers, and united nothing can slow the progression of justice.

Starbucks Workers United’s (SWU) success in Buffalo has inspired workers across the country with baristas in Arizona and Tennessee pursuing collective organizing. When workers recognize and amplify their collective power through unionizing, not only are they able to unite to protect their labor but they are also able to hold companies accountable for unfair labor practices.

Organizing is a threat to companies that eschew worker safety in exchange for their bottom lines. Allegedly, in retaliation for SWU’s success, Starbucks has fired pro-union employees in Buffalo, Arizona, and Memphis. Now that a collective bargaining unit exists to protect these workers, SWU is able to file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to fight on behalf of their reinstatement. The NLRB petitioned a U.S Federal Court in Western New York for “a nationwide cease and desist order” to stop Starbucks from taking further action against pro-union employees.

“We are asking the court to swiftly grant the injunction so that the unlawfully discharged workers can return to work and effectively exercise their right to engage in union activities, including collectively bargaining a union contract,” said NLRB Region 3-Buffalo Regional Director Linda M. Leslie. The petition asked that the court require Starbucks to “halt their [anti-union] efforts” at all of its U.S. stores, including offering benefits to non-union stores, threatening reprisals for employees who support unionization, refusing to bargain with stores that have voted to unionize, and temporarily or permanently closing stores.

“We had a good deep breath that we could finally take because of it,” said Angel Krempa, pictured above, a former Starbucks employee in Buffalo who alleged she was fired for her involvement in union organizing. “It’s exciting to see that the NLRB is taking action for us finally. And we’re just hoping that this continues to move forward in the way that it should be.”

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With graduation season underway, students across the country are preparing to launch into the “real world” with an eye toward using their talents to build better futures. And they are not going to let student loans hold them back.

America’s massive student debt crisis has left 44 million people across all demographics scrambling to pay nearly $2 trillion dollars in debt. This student debt crisis hurts everyone, but with compounding effects from prohibitive housing prices, low wages, rampant inflation, and back-to-back recessions, young people are experiencing even greater challenges grasping their slice of the American Dream. In an effort to protect the prosperity of their future, students and young worker leaders are fighting to pursue their dreams without the specter of debt.

• The Alliance for Youth Action’s “Dreams not Debt” campaign is organizing students across the country to engage their representatives at the local level and drive policy change around student debt, including putting pressure on the Biden Administration to keep its debt cancellation campaign promise.
• In 2006, a group of recent college grads who were fed up with the status quo of Colorado politics started New Era Colorado, with a mission is to engage, educate, and train a new generation of active young leaders in Colorado. Their “Broke AF” campaign spurred the passage of Colorado’s Student Loan Equity Act which protects borrowers by outlawing common lender practices like robo-signing, auto-defaults, and harassment of family members after the death or disability of the borrower.
• San Francisco Rising has developed a school-to-organizing pathway that equips students with strategic, culturally-relevant organizing skills to help communities of color advocate for their interests. Summer Rising Fellows across the bay area are learning how to engage the community to demand free public college for all and student debt cancellation.

These organizations are just a few examples that demonstrate young peoples’ determination to impact policy-making, spread awareness, and garner community support around reforming a higher education system that’s failing their generation. Join us in encouraging and celebrating this important work that aligns with our efforts to ensure shared prosperity for all.

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Paid labor is how most of us support ourselves and our families; and as a nation of workers, we our scrutinizing our relationship to work. This includes interrogating what we should expect in exchange for our labor, whether that be basic but critical safety precautions and equipment, freedom from harassment, flexibility to work remotely, time off to care for family (or just have fun and recharge) or formal structures to have agency in determining our compensation and work conditions.

We are at a major decision point. Will we ReImagine work in a way that makes it equitable, sustainable and dignified for all workers? Or will we succumb to deeply ingrained narratives that inequities, burnout, workplace harassment and exploitation are inherent features of American life?

Workers across the country have been rising up and courageously organizing for their safety, their family’s needs to survive, and the dignity they deserve. Employers are struggling to fill open positions. Policymakers seek to address our flawed labor market, but the usual levers aren’t resulting in meaningful change.

If it taught us anything, the pandemic revealed how bifurcated our labor market is, with some (disproportionately white) workers having the privilege of being able to work from the relative safety of their homes, while others (predominantly workers of color) do not have that luxury. It also shone a brighter light on the ways that child care, housing, affordable health care, and public transportation are not separate issues from employment. Without access to these basic needs, vast numbers of workers simply can’t make it to work.

To ReImagine work, we need to look more closely at the ways that the current labor market is broken and creating huge inequities. At the same time we need to look at our inadequate social support systems, and find ways to strengthen access to child care, housing and affordable and reasonably short commute times.

To that end, we proudly shared the launch of our new interactive data tool, the State of Bay Area Workers, in our March newsletter. The feedback and responses we received were incredible and we are even more encouraged by the many ways in which this tool has the potential to impact the lives of Bay Area worker, and to ReImagine work in a way that serves us all.

It’s important to us that we hear your thoughts on ways that you are utilizing it and ways that it might be improved. Explore more of this tool on our website, and let us know what you think.

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We are excited to announce that Rework the Bay’s Equity at Work Council (EWC) partnered with the Bay Area Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink to create the first-ever “State of Bay Area Workers” data tool! This new interactive resource provides community leaders, organizers, policymakers, funders, and others data to explore, learn from, and use to spark conversation and make informed decisions that lead to the change we need.

The most talked-about indicators, like unemployment rates, only tell a fraction of the story, and can often obscure the reality that the majority of working people face, especially women and people of color. So, charged with the task of providing a clearer view of how working people are faring in each Bay Area county and the region as a whole, the EWC and PolicyLink developed a set of data indicators that tell a more nuanced story.

For example, earned income has grown by nearly 70% for very high-wage Bay Area workers in the last 30 years and shrunk by 9% for very low-wage workers. And only 43 percent of Black and 38 percent of Latinx full-time working people in the region are paid enough to cover the cost of living, compared to nearly 70 percent of their white counterparts.

Disaggregating data by wage level, race, and gender helps us understand who is benefiting from the wealth generated by the Bay Area’s booming economy–and makes a case for why a return to normal in the Bay Area is the last thing working people need.

Please check out the State of Bay Area Workers and tell us what you think!

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Meet Our New Team Member, Brianna Rogers!

Brianna Rogers recently joined ReWork the Bay as an Associative Initiative Officer. While our small and mighty team tends to do a little bit of everything to support our work, Brianna’s primary focus will be leading our efforts to implement three projects underway and soon-to-launch:

• Building Worker Power through Workforce Development
• Improving Job Quality for Frontline Workforce Providers
• Community-Centered Economic Planning

She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this role and we’re thrilled by all the possibilities that her presence will bring to our work.

We sat down with Brianna to get to know her more and have the chance to introduce herself to you—in her own words. Be sure to watch Brianna’s “Meet the Team” video and learn why she loves the Bay Area, what influences her approach to work, and why the Bay will always be home.

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What excites you most about joining the ReWork the Bay team?
If I had to pick one or two, it would be just the fact that I’m joining a smaller team of people who are really doing the work. After grad school, I said that I was no longer going to be taking jobs where I was exchanging time for money. It has to be meaningful. The ReWork the Bay team is really doing the real work to make sure that good quality, sustainable jobs are available in the Bay Area, and that we have access to those jobs. So, I’m excited to bring my efforts to the ReWork the Bay team and join the efforts of the larger initiative.

What led you to this career?
Being a system-impacted Black woman living in the Bay Area led me to this career. The sector of philanthropy where you have access to power, big decisions, and big funding that can make a big impact in the world is everything to me. In my grad program, I had an opportunity to be a National Urban Fellow. They placed me in a fellowship in New York City with the Andrus Family Fund and that’s where I got my first taste of philanthropy. I wanted to start my career in philanthropy here in the Bay Area, and I knew that I wanted to come specifically to the San Francisco Foundation. So, when I got the job offer, I immediately took it.

I always knew that I was going to vow to serve others to help others in some capacity. I studied rhetoric at UC Berkeley and public policy at Georgetown University. I always knew that I was going to be using the power in my voice, to empower other groups of people that didn’t necessarily have access to the language. And, so, philanthropy and working for Rework the Bay is a great intersection of both. And I’m excited to be here.

If you could write a book about your life, what would the title be and why?
If I was to write a book about my life, it would probably be a series. The title would be: “Keep Your Fork, the Best is Yet to Come.”

Just think about your family dinner, right? Your granny comes from the back and she’s like, “Baby, keep your fork.” Now, when your granny told you to keep your fork, you knew something better was coming. My life has always been one that was useful whenever I kept my fork because I knew something better was coming. You look at my life now and think, “Oh, my god, she seems so amazing.” And I am. But, there’s so much that I come from and so many experiences that I’ve dealt with. Everything from being born into a low-income household with a single parent to experiencing the foster care system in high school to experiencing being incarcerated to formerly incarcerated. And then pressing restart and starting at Berkeley City College, transferring to UC Berkeley and Georgetown, and now at The Foundation. So, the title of my book would be “Keep Your Fork, the Best is Yet to Come”. Because there’s always something coming.

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ReWork the Bay envisions a Bay Area economy that centers the voices, power and needs of working people. We believe it should be possible for everyone to live full lives with security, dignity and agency in our work, home and communities.

We are so grateful to our Equity at Work Council, leaders actively working to make that a reality. They drive ReWork the Bay’s programmatic strategy, generate policy and systems change recommendations, and model deep cross-sector collaboration. It is a deep honor to build with them.

As a new Equity at Work Council cohort begins, we thank our alumni for all of their contributions: Andrea Dehlendorf of United for Respect, Eric Flores of California Workforce Association, Kris Stadelman of NOVAworks and Lisa Countryman-Quiroz of JVS.

In this newsletter, we take a moment to recap a few of our successes for 2021. But first, I would be remiss to not take a moment to honor the late bell hooks, who once said:
“To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us to behave in ways that perpetuate domination.”

Shared prosperity is everyone’s job. We look forward to continuing to do this work with you in 2022.

-bell hooks

In Solidarity,
Rob and Kayla

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“Cash Crops” is a new series of work by Bay Area artist Cheryl Derricotte that considers the six major American agricultural crops that motivated the transatlantic slave trade from the 1600’s to the 1800’s – tobacco, sugar cane, cotton, rice, coffee and wheat – and the enduring role they play in today’s world. The history of American cash cropping is considered a parallel account of our nation’s economic might and racial inequity. Cash crops were instrumental in building the American economy despite being excruciatingly labor-intensive to produce. Visit re.riddle gallery

As we move into the season of gratitude, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who take an interest in how ReWork the Bay strives to envision an equitable Bay Area where everyone has access to quality, empowered jobs that allow them to benefit from and shape the region’s growing economy.

We believe envisioning an equitable future requires imagination and creativity, and it also demands a truthful understanding of our past. One way ReWork helps bring that understanding to our partners in philanthropy is through our Racial Capitalism Community of Practice (CoP).

What is Racial Capitalism?

The term “racial capitalism” is a concept originally proposed by Oakland-born Black political scientist Cedric J. Robinson to describe the extractive way America’s capitalist economy derives social and economic value from another person of a different racial identity. If you would like to take a deep dive on the way the American economy was designed, take a look at this interactive timeline, “To what extent was our economy designed to be fair?” by Take on Wall Street.

Our Community of Practice, a partnership of ReWork, Liberation in a Generation and Christina Garcia Consulting, offers grantmakers an opportunity to learn about the ways racial capitalism has created our current conditions, and take concrete actions to contest its’ influence in their work. Over the course of 6 months, participants:

• Reflect on racial capitalism, how it impacts and shows up in grantmaking, with grantees, and in the community.
• Explore why and how racial capitalism matters in advancing toward an inclusive economy, and how a deeper understanding of the principles can inform more community-centered grantmaking practices and transformative funding strategy.
• Translate knowledge and intention into action through projects tailored to each individual philanthropic institution.

Building on the success of our first Bay Area cohort, we are now partnering with Funders for A Just Economy at Neighborhood Funders Group to bring the program to their national funder audience–that cohort just kicked off this week!

If you are a funder (or know one) with an interest in and commitment to increasing their awareness and practice of anti-racism in solidarity with communities of color, please reach out to me to connect on joining ReWork the Bay. We will be offering our members another Bay Area Community of Practice cohort in Spring 2022. It’s going to take all of us to make much needed change!

I hope you are all able to enjoy your friends and family as we start the holiday season.

Rob Hope

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We are proud to uplift the work important work being done by Equity at Work Council member, the California Domestic Workers Coalition. On September 27, 2021, SB 321, the Heath and Safety for All Workers Act was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. SB 321, which was co-sponsored by the CA Domestic Workers Coalition. It creates guidelines- for the first time- for the health and safety of domestic workers in California. Domestic workers, a group of over 300,000 workers mainly comprised of immigrants and women of color, were excluded from the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, and now the exclusion of these workers from Cal/OSHA protections can come to an end.

They aren’t stopping there.

On October 26, the CA Domestic Workers Coalition will be launching its “Access to Paid Time Off” campaign in San Francisco. You can learn more at this event and join the CA Domestic Workers Coalition in introducing the San Francisco Access to Paid Time Off ordinance. This ordinance would create a portable benefits system that would allow domestic workers to accrue sick time and paid time off from all their different employers. While domestic workers are legally entitled to paid sick leave, they have not been able to access this right. The ordinance will serve as a necessary first step for San Francisco to guarantee domestic workers the safety net benefits that they deserve and that other workforces in the city already enjoy.

Protecting workers has to be a priority for lawmakers. In this month’s newsletter, we highlight Governor Newsom’s signing of AB 701, a bill written by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), in the article ‘We’re Going to Protect Workers” in Community Updates. Gonzalez says of this bill, “This is a first step. We’ve got to do more.” And, we do. Congrats on this amazing achievement, CA Domestic Workers Coalition!

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Workers at Popular Chinatown Restaurant Win $1.61 Million in Massive Wage Theft Settlement Twenty-two restaurant workers were served a slice of justice as they fought for and won a three-year battle for a settlement to recover stolen wages, tips, penalties, and interest owed to them by Z & Y Restaurant.

This is a major victory for many reasons, but most notably because it brings heightened awareness to a practice of undercutting and exploiting immigrants and black and brown workers with seemingly no expectation of consequence. This settlement is a step in the right direction toward ensuring accountability and fair and equitable treatment of people that supported us as essential workers through the pandemic, at the risk of their own health and wellness.

The hospitality industry has largely rejected the notion of labor unions for years, even though these are the very organizations that may have offered protections for the workers in this scenario. As a result worker centers were created and have been instrumental in winning rights and raising standards for workers employed in low-wage industries. I encourage you to visit the link below to learn more about the history of Worker Centers and the powerful impact they continue to make.

We are proud of the role the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA). played in this enormous victory. CPA, a member of ReWork the Bay’s Equity at Work Council, is a nonprofit organization that has remained committed to the empowerment and education of the low-income and working-class immigrant community in San Francisco since the 1970s. CPA’s Tenant Worker Center programs include wage theft case support, hospitality job training program, community education and outreach, grassroots leadership development, and policy advocacy.

Read more about Worker Centers here:
Worker Centers: Past, Present, and Future by Laine Romero-Alston, Sarita Gupta

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The past 18 months have called for people, organizations and systems to focus onresponding….to changing health guidance, urgent community needs, rapid unemployment, re-employment, wildfires, toxic air, rolling blackouts, water shortages, the list goes on.

Now, as the state and federal government are poised to invest generational sums of money to kickstart the economy, modernize education and infrastructure, many of us in philanthropy, public systems and community organizations are turning our attention to responding to these funding opportunities, desperate to not miss out on leveraging public dollars to benefit our communities.

At ReWork the Bay we are grappling with a fundamental question:

When is the time to shift our focus from responding to preparing?
Because while we have unquestionably endured what feels like a perfect storm of societal and economic challenges in 2020-21, the reality is that wildfires, droughts, and rolling blackouts now happen nearly every year; never in history has the U.S. gone more than eleven years without a recession; and if our inability as a country to effectively manage COVID is any indication, pandemics are likely to become a much more common occurrence.

In the video above, Equity at Work Council’s North Bay Jobs with Justice helps bring awareness to the significant challenges faced by the Indigenous, Latinx and undocumented farmworkers that rely on the wages earned during the Sonoma County grape harvest season to support themselves and their families. Perilously, the harvest season now coincides with California’s now annual fire season, exposing this community of workers to significant physical and economic vulnerabilities.

If we know all of these challenges are coming back around, whether it be in 12 months or 10 years, what prevents us from planning for the next one, rather than just continuing to respond to our current challenges? How much better organized and coordinated could we be to respond next time, if we used some of the energy and resources that are being mobilized today to prepare for tomorrow? Can we move from rapid response to proactive preparation?

To be clear, we are not talking about those communities on the frontlines who take the brunt of these challenges–we see their heroic efforts to keep critical systems online, keep their residents fed and housed, healthy and safe. But as a region, as a movement, can we take stock of the infrastructure we wish we would have had to better respond to the many challenges of 2021-22, and start building them now, for next time?

Below is an opportunity to take action by signing a petition in support of farmworkers on the frontlines, learn more about the impact of the wildfires on farmworkers, and check out a jobs plan that offers practical solutions to start preparing for tomorrow’s challenges, rather than just responding to today’s.

Sign the Petition: Farmworkers Deserve Safety and Respect in Sonoma County by North Bay Jobs with Justice, an Equity at Work Council member.

Graphic via North Bay Jobs with Justice

• California Climate Jobs Plan in partnership with Jobs with Justice SF, an Equity Work Council Member
• ‘We’re not animals, we’re human beings’: US farm workers labor in deadly heat with few protections by Michael Sainato
• Wildfire smoke linked to thousands of coronavirus cases on West Coast by Kurtis Alexander [Paywall]

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