What We Do / Advocacy
Advocacy
Our policy work is informed by workers’ experiences on the ground to collaboratively create a shared agenda for legislation and organizing. By listening and understanding what issues are most impacting workers, we are able to successfully pass legislation to tackle those barriers.
CCWP’s policy strategy includes:
Win Structural Transformation and Support Worker Organizing
1
Access
Policies that bring workers into contact with organizations, and vice versa, at scale and in ways that encourage membership/participation.
2
Revenue
Policies that deliver scaled funding to worker organizations that can be used to support organizing.
3
Protection
Policies that defend workers who take collective workplace action & build their organizations.
4
Workplace Standards
Tools workers and worker organizations can use to raise and ENFORCE standards at scale. Improve lives through collective action and sustaining the long-term work of power-building.
Improve material conditions for Black, Indigenous, and Central Valley Workers
CCWP recognizes the need to uplift all workers; especially workers who have historically been excluded from worker protection laws at the federal, state, and local level. Our policy work intentionally aims to include a Black, Indigenous, and Central Valley workers lens in all areas of our policy campaigns.
In California, Black workers are overrepresented in low-wage, unsafe work and as a result:
74%
more likely to be injured at work than white workers
58%
of Black workers in LA County experience overtime violations
7 in 10
work through meals and rest breaks
Fearlessly participate in civic engagement to take collective action and address issues in their communities
Federal attacks in our communities have paralyzed our most vulnerable workers and immigrants from being advocates for change. People are afraid to speak out, to engage in civic engagement, and demand change. But this does not have to be the norm. Through collective organizing and action, workers support one another to resist and build a future they want to live and work in.
Our policy work reflects these values to support workers to fully participate in democracy and build working class solidarity across race, gender, identity, and cultures.
Our Track Record
Fund the California Workplace Outreach Project
CCWP, in partnership with CWOP funded organizations, advocated for additional funding to the California Workplace Outreach Project (CWOP). We shared success stories about their efforts in conducting outreach and education in their regions and why this program is a direct response to the attacks in their communities. As a result of our advocacy efforts, the program received $90 million for the next 3 years in secured funding for CWOP. To date, this program has received $183 million in total state funding and has reached more than 7.75 million workers over the last 5 years.
Codify the California Workplace Outreach Project (CWOP)
The California Workplace Outreach Program (CWOP), California’s unique and highly effective workplace outreach and training partnership between labor agencies and community groups, was launched during the pandemic and expanded in 2023. By educating workers on their rights and providing tools for direct resolution of workplace violations, CWOP has become a critical part of California’s commitment to making good on its promises to workers.
Equal Pay and Anti-Retaliation Act
In 2023, CCWP launched the “Our Voice, Our Jobs Campaign” campaign to protect workers against retaliation at the workplace. The campaign was successful in passing SB 497 (Smallwood-Cuevas), the Equal Pay and Anti-Retaliation Act to shift the burden of proof onto the employer for all retaliation claims filed with the Labor Commissioners Office.
Photo Albums
2024 Worker Power Advocacy
2025 Worker Power Advocacy
2026 Worker Power Advocacy · March 9–10
2026 Worker Power Advocacy · April 22
