Union de Trabajadores

UdT_logo_1.jpgUnion de Trabajadores/ DC Workers' Union

Since the summer of 2005, DC Jobs with Justice has been involved in supporting day laborers in Washington, DC who gather at Home Depot and other smaller sites around the city.

A day laborer is someone who seeks work on a day-to-day basis, usually without a formal relationship with an employer. Day laborers seek work in a variety of locations and do a wide range of types of work. The largest gathering of day laborers in DC is near the Home Depot store on Rhode Island Ave, NE. However, day laborers are also picked up for work at other locations around the city, including at the corner of 15th and P, NW in the Logan Circle area, at temp agencies such as Labor Ready, in parks around the city, and outside homeless shelters.

Day laborers are among the most vulnerable and exploited groups of workers in our community. Because day laborers do not have formal work arrangements, they are subject to many labor rights violations, including not being paid the minimum wage, not being paid the full amount they are owed, and not being provided with the necessary health and safety protections. Workers who gather outside are unprotected from heat and cold, and often face harassment from police and neighbors. Low English proficiency and lack of knowledge about local, state, and federal laws contribute to situations of exploitation. In addition, because work arrangements are casual and temporary, workers suffer great economic uncertainty that often leads to food and housing insecurity. The recent economic downturn, especially in the construction industry, has greatly impacted day laborers.

DC Jobs with Justice and a volunteer “support committee” of organizations including Foundry UMC, Neighbors Consejo, Laborer's Union, and others helped day laborers form the Union de Trabajadores de Washington, DC as a voluntary association and has been supporting the project since to help build the capacity of workers to build solidarity and win justice.

Since its formation, the Union de Trabajadores has held regular meetings where workers discuss issues affecting them and take action together. It has also organized soccer tournaments and neighborhood clean-ups, created street theater and written songs, and mobilized workers to testify at hearings and speak out at community events.

In January of 2009, members of the Union de Trabajadores de Washington, D.C. launched their first campaign against “Wage Theft,” to address unpaid or under-paid wages, one of the issues day laborers in DC identified as most pressing. Workers spent two months analyzing their own experiences to develop an understanding of the problems and identify a first campaign target: the DC Office of Wage and Hour, which is supposed to recover stolen wages. Workers developed a comprehensive list of demands for reforming the office to make it more effective at protecting the rights of contingent workers and conducted a community education campaign among faith and union allies to gain support for the demands. After a series of actions during the Spring of 2009, workers won a commitment from the Office of Wage and Hour to implement most of their proposed reforms.

During 2010, the Union de Trabajadores launched a Labor Rights School (Escuela de Derechos Laborales) to train Workers’ Rights Promoters (Promotores de Derechos Laborales). A series of three day-long trainings prepared a team of 18 workers to educate other workers about their rights and assist in recovering stolen wages. The Union de Trabajadores continues to take direct action to recover wages, and takes cases to the Office of Wage-Hour in order to monitor how the agency performs and identify on-going problems.

For more information about the Union de Trabajadores, contact Arturo Griffiths, our Day Labor Organizer, at arturo(at)dcjwj(dot)org.

To volunteer to teach English to Day Laborers or help with our rights education program, contact Rachel Sier, our Workers' Rights Education Coordinator, at rachel(at)dcjwj(dot)org.