CAMPAIGNS:

Worker-Owned Cooperative Business Incubator

We support workers in taking control of their own labor by forming worker-owned cooperatives. We build cooperatives in exploitative industries to show that another way of doing business is possible—a way that is just, dignified, and sustainable.

Ending Wage Theft

Our goal is to drastically reduce the incidence of wage theft in Rhode Island through targeted direct actions focused on changing industries, exposing subcontracting as a way of facilitating wage theft, and passing legislation and introducing procedures that increase the penalites on employers committing wage theft.

Popular Education

We facilitate workshops year-round on labor rights, immigrant rights, leadership development, as well as job readiness skills including accessing and using technology.

Justice for Immigrants

We organize our community to stand up against hate and xenophobia, and to demand a society that treats all people with dignity. We work in coalition with other grassroots organizations because we know that in unity, there is strength.

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About Us

MISSION

Fuerza Laboral builds the power of workers. Based in RI and founded in 2006, we are an organization of workers who organize to end labor exploitation. We educate and train workers in their rights, we develop new community leaders, and we take direct action against injustices to achieve concrete victories. We work together with state and national coalitions in order to create a larger impact.

BUILDING SHARED, LASTING POWER

Fuerza Laboral works to create an environment in which people who share a common problem can work together to solve it. Our members and staff inspire workers to expand their horizons. We ask probing questions, use storytelling to relate successes and challenges, and role-play new experiences so that workers feel thoroughly prepared for whatever task, be it a direct action, a press conference, or an interaction with the police.

ACTION IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF FUERZA

Shel Trapp, co-founder of National People’s Action (NPA) and a mentor to Fuerza Laboral, once said: "Out of every hundred people, maybe five will be ready to move into direct action. I go where those five want to go."

Not only does taking action lead to victory, but the victories that come from those actions inspire and embolden others.

Who We Are

Member Leaders

First and foremost, Fuerza Laboral is its members. We are a community-based organization, and seek to develop local leadership in everything we do.

Worker-Owned Cooperatives

As a Worker-Owned Cooperative Incubator, Fuerza Laboral trains and supports workers to build their own cooperative business that operate with justice and fairness. We also assist existing businesses in transitioning to worker-owned co-ops. We link all of these co-ops together in a supportive network to shift the way business is done in our communities. We call it the Solidarity Economy. The following co-ops are part of our network (click on the names or the icons below for website links):

LUNA Community Care, CERO Cooperative, Inc., RI Birthworker Co-op, White Electric Coffee Co-op, Heartleaf Books Co-op, Four Buds Floral Studio, Nuts and Bolts Nursery, PVD Flowers Co-op, CommonPlace, 3D Anatomy Studios, Break the Cycle Cooperative Hub, Sol Power

We are currently in the process of building a construction finishing trades (drywall, painting, flooring) co-op that will be a union signatory with IUPAT DC 11 Painters’ Union.