*SMLR-Net, the source of selected news on labor and employment relations and Human resource management*

Title: Entering a New Stage of Growth and Development Author: Janice Fine Source: Project Muse

*Date:* May 12, 2016

*Summary:* Worker centers—community-based organizations that engage in a combination of service, advocacy, and organizing to provide support to low-wage workers—play an indispensable role in helping low-wage immigrant workers navigate the world of work. They are vehicles for collective reflection, voice, and action, and the vast majority of these centers serve predominantly or exclusively immigrant populations. However, there are a few centers that serve primarily African-American populations or bring immigrants together with African-Americans. In the largely nonunion service economy—lowend construction, meatpacking, light industry, and what’s left of the garment trade—worker centers are calling attention to exploitative industry practices and pioneering creative strategies, especially in the context of widespread subcontracting. Hyper-competitive labor market conditions—once thought to be confined to industries like agriculture—are characteristic of many other sectors, thus the strategies worker centers are using to target sub-contractors, joint employers, and independent contracting arrangements have much broader application.

*Link:* bit.ly/1s0pUFZ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eugene McElroy, Library Associate James Carey Library, School of Management and Labor Relations Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey 50 Labor Center Way, New Brunswick NJ 08901 848-932-9513 smlrlibrary@work.rutgers.edu http://smlr.rutgers.edu/carey-library