55 Years of Fighting for Racial and Economic Justice

In November 2019, NELP hosted a two-day strategy conference that connected policy discussions to the real change we need to bring about for working people. This national gathering of 300 workers, organizers, and advocates took place in Las Vegas to honor our 50^th anniversary.

Just weeks after our gathering, the first cases of Covid-19 began emerging. The dynamic energy we created together as we developed worker-centered strategies and stronger relationships prepared us for the tumultuous and deadly pandemic that unfolded across the globe.

That’s why this 55th anniversary is so special.

Being in close relationship with hundreds of local, state, and national partners is how NELP was able to develop the transformative legal strategies and policy solutions, research, capacity-building, and communications needed to respond to the compounding public health and unemployment crises.

We learned, once again, that our strength is fortified by fighting alongside our partners and allies every day.

Putting Workers First During the Coronavirus Pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. and the country began experiencing mass unemployment, NELP took action in response to workers’ demands. Our advocacy helped workers secure over $650 billion in unemployment insurance supports at this critical time. With our decades of expertise behind us, we fought for bold solutions to be included in federal legislation such as the CARES Act, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and the American Rescue Plan.

We worked across 35 states, advising and engaging with policymakers, state agencies, and attorneys who were fighting to get unemployment payments into the hands of unemployed workers, plus supporting workers through unions and worker centers to ensure their members could apply for and receive their social insurance benefits.

NELP also responded to the demands of workers deemed “essential” who were required to risk their health and their lives keeping certain sectors of the economy open. We called for anti-retaliation protections for workers who filed COVID-19-related whistleblower complaints, lifted up workers’ demands for robust health and safety standards, and created model health and safety policies for local policymakers that went beyond federal standards.

As the economy began to reopen, I testified at a U.S. Senate hearing urging Congress to ensure corporations are held responsible for the health and safety of workers. NELP pushed for a just recovery that would center workers of color, make it easier for workers to form unions, raise the minimum wage, establish just cause protections, and ensure access to robust unemployment benefits.

NELP’s Growing Impact

Through it all, we continued to partner with allies on campaigns that centered Black and immigrant workers and built worker power. We worked with worker groups as they organized for, and won, new rights for temp workers in New Jersey and Illinois, improving the lives of nearly 780,000 workers. That meant equal pay for equal work, greater safety protections, and increased transparency.

As we continued to call for increasing the federal minimum wage, we helped pass laws that raise the minimum wage, and fought for more inclusive minimum wages, in states and cities across the country. The results are astounding. The Fight for $15 and a Union movement has resulted in more than 26 million workers winning higher pay to the tune of $150 billion, with nearly half of the benefited workers being workers of color.

At the federal level, we advocated successfully for the U.S. Department of Labor to adopt stronger rules to prevent corporations from misclassifying workers as “independent contractors,” which undermines labor and employment protections for workers. With 21 million people who work in misclassification-plagued industries—including construction, trucking, delivery, home care, and agriculture—that’s a win for our economy. We also worked with local organizing groups to win minimum pay standards for over 100,000 app-based workers in New York City, Seattle, and Minnesota.

NELP has always kept a collective ear to the ground, and, with close partners, we have moved in new directions—taking on new initiatives.

We are responding to some of the most pressing challenges in our society today. With a changing climate, 38.7 million people work in industries targeted by climate dangers—including extreme heat, extreme cold, and wildfire smoke. To confront this, we launched a climate justice for workers program in 2023. We’re advocating for workplace protections against heat-related injuries and a right to refuse dangerous work.

We believe that building worker power is essential to ensure a thriving democracy and a good-jobs economy. We’re ensuring immigrant workers can fight workplace abuse by advocating for deferred action for labor enforcement. Building on our long-standing work, we’re creating strategic partnerships between worker centers and the Department of Labor. We’re also calling to expand unemployment insurance to striking workers to support workers taking collective action to shape their working conditions.

Working Towards a Good-Jobs Economy

In 2024, we refreshed our brand and launched a new website. We committed to build a good-jobs economy—an economy where every single job is a good job, everyone who wants a job can get one, and everyone has economic security between jobs.

A key part of a good-jobs economy is ending occupational segregation, because a worker’s race, ethnicity, gender, or arrest/conviction record should not determine their job opportunities. That’s why, moving forward, NELP is focusing on desegregating opportunity to create a future where every job pays a living wage, offers robust benefits, and enables workers to have a say in shaping the rules they work under.

I look forward to building that future together.