About

For nearly two decades, worker centers have been at the forefront of rethinking strategies for addressing economic injustice and building worker power. These labor movement organizations have been engines of experimentation in the realms of worker organizing, narrative change, policy development, and labor-standards enforcement. There is much to glean, and celebrate, from their remarkable body of work. 

The Worker Center Resource Library is a living archive of these efforts, a map of the significant developments and key lessons of the worker center field. The Library collects reports, articles, and other materials that offer analysis of the past and future of the workers’ rights movement with the intent of serving a resource to the workers’ rights field, policy makers, funders, the media and the general public.

Much of what is available in the Library is publicly available and can be accessed through a link on this website. However, most academic journal articles reside beyond a paywall and only the abstracts are included here. 

The Library is a joint project of the UIC Center for Urban Economic Development and the Ford Foundation.

Submit a Report

See something missing? Let us know! Please note this is a curated collection, and not all submissions will fit the remit of the Library.