In December of 2005, after
the floodwaters of Katrina devastated the New Orleans community, the
New Orleans Worker Justice Coalition came together as a gathering
of local and national organizers, experts and groups to address
the problems that they were seeing among new workers arriving to
help rebuild, as well as survivors who were suddenly facing
huge barriers to employment. The coalition mobilized 200 law
school students to gather the stories of over 1000 workers,
and authored a report entitled "And Injustice for All: Workers’ Lives in
the Reconstruction of New Orleans." Released with the
Advancement Project and NILC, it remains the most comprehensive report on race
and labor after Katrina.
The coalition created the New
Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice
in August 2006. The
Workers’ Center still collaborates closely with the original members
of the coalition, which include the Advancement Project, Common
Ground, Gillis Long Poverty Law Center, Hope House, Latino Health
Outreach Project, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, NILC, New
Orleans Students United for Worker Justice, and Safe Streets /
Strong Communities.
The Workers’ Center strives to organize
workers across the color line to fight for a just
reconstruction of New Orleans and surrounding areas; to
advance racial justice; and to build a city that protects human,
civil, and immigrant rights. The Workers’ Center is dedicated to:
(1) organizing workers across race and industry; (2) advancing
racial justice; (3) building grassroots worker leadership, power and
participation; (4) forging powerful multiracial alliances; and (5)
fighting for a just reconstruction.