WORKING PARTNERSHIPS USA

Since its founding in 1995, the aggressive economic development vision of Working Partnerships USA (WPUSA) has dominated the California labor scene. Working Partnerships focuses its activities through strategic planning on targeted work issues, including contingent work.

History

Following the appointment of Amy Dean as the executive director of the South Bay Labor Council in 1994, the council initiated an intensive exercise in participative strategic planning. As a result, WPUSA was established in 1995 as a nonprofit research, education and public policy development institute. The WPUSA has been critical to building sustained labor-community alliances with religious groups and Hispanic and immigrant communities. Its research has contributed to Labor Council initiatives to organize an Interfaith Coalition for Social Justice, a Community Economic Blueprint Project, a Workers' Rights Board and reforming economic development policy.

WPUSA's aggressive research agenda has led to a series of widely publicized reports. Growing Together, or Drifting Apart? (1998) exposed how Silicon Valley generates inequality and social distress for working families and the expanding immigrant population, along with its more widely recognized technological breakthroughs and entrepreneurial fortunes. Shock Absorbers for the Flexible Economy (1996) is the basis for the WPUSA initiatives aimed at transforming the temporary employment industry by improving wages and working conditions and building career paths. Walking the Lifelong Tightrope (1999) highlights the increased insecurity and instability for working families in the new economy.

Goals

• To conduct quality regional economic research and policy analysis leading to legislative action;
• To build alliances with community and business groups;
• To provide economic education to labor and community leaders;
• To directly address the needs of temporary workers;
• To support high-performance work system redesign;
• To provide union-based career opportunities for low-income workers.

Activities

WPUSA assists Santa Clara County and the city of San Jose and their unions with modernization, and serves as a contractor to the Northern California Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

• WPUSA assists women transitioning from welfare to nontraditional residential plumbing jobs.
• The Labor-Community Leadership Institute with WPUSA's labor-community economic education program, targets 100 community leaders a year with a nine-week course.
• WPUSA links schools, unions, businesses and the Private Industry Council to provide low-cost training in multimedia fields.
• WPUSA created the Working Partnerships Membership Association and an employment agency, Working Partnerships Staffing Services, to provide living pay standards, health care and training for temporary workers.
• Job quality and environmental standards for economic development, code of conduct for temporary agencies on wages, benefits, training and administrative process.

Results

• In 1995, Santa Clara County adopted wage, benefit and environmental standards for public economic development investments, and payback provisions for instances in which standards are not met.
• WPUSA research reports generate widespread attention from the media and within state and local government, giving voice to worker and family concerns about the wider economy.
• WPUSA provided policy analysis for the San Jose Living Wage campaign, which led in 1998 to the highest living wage in the nation, worker retention and labor peace provisions.
• By the end of 1999, approximately 400 workers had become part of the staffing services project, receiving training and employment opportunities with wages and benefits.
• Ongoing alliances have been established with community, ethnic and religious organizations.
• WPUSA activities and resources expanded the capacity of the South Bay Labor Council. It has helped the South Bay Labor Council engage thoughtfully and strategically in an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to economic development and the regional economy.