The Working for America Institute

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter visits a successful health care training program created by District 1199C of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (AFSCME) in Philadelphi. The union s partners include major health care employers who are placing program graduates in higher skilled jobs for which there is great demand.

The AFL-CIO Working for America Institute (WAI) is a union-sponsored, nonprofit organization dedicated to creating good jobs and building strong communities.

Created in 1998 as the successor to the AFL-CIO Human Resources Development Institute, WAI has made significant progress in articulating a vision of a high road economy—an economy that competes in today’s global marketplace on the basis of innovation, quality and skill rather than on low wages and benefits.

The “high road” is the path the Institute believes America must take to ensure that economic growth benefits workers, employers and their communities—not just the bottom line.

Working with labor leaders, employers, community activists, government officials, educators and workforce development professionals, the Institute has become a national leader in helping create high road partnerships—relationships in which workers obtain higher skills and better pay, employers become more successful and communities become better places in which to live and work.

What Makes Us Unique

With more than 30 years of experience in the field of job training and workforce development--and with close ties to unions representing more than 13 million workers—the Institute is in a unique position to help employers become more competitive and workers achieve greater job security and a better quality of life.

The Institute’s team of regional coordinators and sector field specialists work closely with program staff in Washington, D.C. to provide technical assistance and support to labor leaders, community activists, public officials and workforce and economic development practicioners.

In addition to offering expert advice in content and program development, the Institute also provides support in three key areas: research, communications and fiscal administration. In each area, WAI staffers are skilled in providing technical assistance to better serve union leaders and workforce development professionals.

“As we discovered in Milwaukee, everyone benefits from high road partnerships — the CEOs, the mayor, the labor leaders, the workers, the community, everyone.”

Robert Milbourne, Executive Director of Columbus Tomorrow, a new Ohio business group modeled after the Greater Milwaukee Committee, which Milbourne led for 17 years

The Institute receives financial support for its workforce and economic development programs from the federal government, private foundations and the AFL-CIO, and through sales of its products and services.

What We Do

Speaking Out About Our Mission