Building Worker Power Through Workforce Development final 10-4-2024 - Flipbook - Page 4
PROG RAM
OV E RV I E W
In October 2021, Rework the Bay initiated a project to investigate
and pilot strategies to improve economic outcomes for workers by
incorporating workers’ rights education and job quality standards
into the programming of a diverse set of Bay Area workforce training
providers. To build our understanding of the system’s current
approaches to job quality and equitable economic development,
we partnered with UC Berkeley Labor Center to survey workforce
development organizations across nine Bay Area counties.
S U RV E Y
UC Berkeley Labor Center (the Labor Center)
carries out research on topics including job
quality and workforce development issues,
providing an important source of research and
information on unions and the changing workforce for students, scholars, policymakers and
the public. The Labor Center designed, implemented and analyzed a survey aimed to provide a snapshot of the ways area workforce
development organizations currently address
workers’ rights training and job quality standards, to gain insight into barriers to the use of
these mechanisms, and to identify potential
solutions to increase their uptake. Seventythree (73) organizations across the nine-county Bay Area participated in an interview or
online survey between February and May 2023.1
Respondents self-selected into the survey and
do not represent a statistically valid random
sample of Bay Area workforce development
agencies. One survey per organization was
completed by one staff member representative whose role varied across respondents.
Photo credit: Joyce Xi
PI LOT PROJ ECT
The pilot project sought to increase the number of quality,
empowered jobs in the Bay Area by building power among systematically excluded workers of color who can then be job
quality change agents as they navigate their careers. This pilot
brought together four worker organizations and workforce
development programs from various counties in the SF Bay
Area. Together, we collaboratively designed and implemented
a pilot project that integrated workers’ rights education into
workforce training programs and CBOs, community colleges,
and/or Workforce Boards.
This pilot project built on the learnings of a 2019 Chicagobased initiative that integrated worker rights education into
workforce programs, led by the Chicago Jobs Council and the
University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations,
with support from the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance.
The Chicago initiative produced a curriculum that served as a
template for the development of our uniquely tailored workers’
rights education curricula.
1
Programs providing workforce development services (pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship, classroom or work-based learning, skills development, recruitment and placement
in employment, career exploration and job readiness, connection to degree or certi昀椀cate training for employment or advancement, skills upgrade training, incumbent worker
training, rapid-response or re-employment support, supportive services for employment, wage-subsidies to employers for placement or advancement, etc.) in Alameda,
Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma counties were eligible to participate.
3
B U I L D I N G W O R K E R P O W E R T H RO U G H W O R K FO RC E D E V E LO P M E N T
