Archive of Governmental Good Jobs Resources Archives - Page 2 of 2

The Worker Empowerment Research Network (WERN) is an interdisciplinary network of labor market researchers. This report, “U.S. Workers’ Organizing Efforts and Collective Actions: A Review of the Current Landscape,” is the first research product of network and provides a comprehensive review of the methods U.S. workers are currently using to express their collective voices and assert power in their workplaces. The report explores various the concepts of the “voice gap” and “representation gap,” worker actions—including traditional union organizing, strikes, and work stoppages—the growth of worker centers, and new organizing forms.

The report illustrates how the issues workers care about have expanded beyond traditional wages and hours to include topics ranging from new technologies to protection from workplace abuse. For all stakeholders interested in equitable, productive, and resilient employment relationships, it serves as a starting point for discussion and knwoledge building about the conditons of the US labor movement.

The Job Quality Toolkit is a comprehensive but beginner friendly resource for employers trying to improve job quality and retain their workforce. The toolkit walks the reader through components of job quality and provides strategies and resources for each component: Recruitment & Hiring; Benefits; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility; Empowerment & Representation; Job Security & Working Conditions; Organizational Culture; Pay; and Skills & Career Advancement.

This is part of a collection of resources created by the Department of Labor and other federal agencies, relating to job quality and implementing good jobs priorities through federal investments and beyond. Many of these resources are no longer publicly available on government websites, though they were all at one point public and shared with the intent of preserving these resources for public use.

Please note that we cannot guarantee that information contained in these resources related to specific programs, policies, and processes remains accurate, though many best practices and examples remain useful. In addition, many of these resources link out to government websites that do not exist anymore. You may be able to find these linked resources in the archive itself by searching the Overview document. For more resources, please visit the Data Rescue Project website, at https://www.datarescueproject.org/

This resource, created as guidance for the Department of Commerce Internet for All initiative, provides examples of childcare initiatives, which employers can implement to make their workplaces more accessible for caregivers and attract a diverse pool of talent despite caregiving responsibilities. Examples, with case studies of these strategies being implemented, include: on-site childcare, all hours childcare, grant programs, public-private partnerships, family resources, and subsidies.

This resource guide from the DOL’s Good Jobs Initiative explains key agreements used to organize construction projects, promote good jobs, and include community needs in federal—and other—projects. The guide covers Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), Community Workforce Agreements (CWAs), and Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs).

A PLA is a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement that standardizes the terms of employment, binding all contractors and subcontractors to provisions that include no-strike, no-lockout clauses and grievance procedures, as well as any other agreements the parties make, such as pay standards or preferential local hiring.

A CWA is a specific type of PLA that adds community-oriented commitments related to topics such as equitable workforce development, social justice, and support for small businesses.

A CBA is a contract between employers/developers and community organizations, often including unions, that focuses on broader community priorities such as affordable housing or pollution reduction.

The Good Jobs Principles, developed by the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Labor, establish a comprehensive framework for defining and advancing job quality. The framework is built on eight principles: recruitment and hiring of qualified applicants, especially from underserved communities; providing benefits that promote economic security; ensuring diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA); supporting empowerment and representation through unions and worker input; guaranteeing job security and working conditions that are safe, healthy, and fair; cultivating a positive organizational culture; offering pay that is a stable, predictable living wage; and providing skills and career advancement opportunities.

This report outlines the Biden-Harris Administration’s strategy to strengthening worker power, organizing, and collective bargaining, including a comprehensive list of the executive actions recommended as part of this strategy. The recommendations focus on three core areas: positioning the federal government as a model employer, enhancing transparency and worker education on their organizing rights, and utilizing purchasing power to favor employers with strong labor standards. Key initiatives include strengthening compliance with existing labor laws, improving reporting on anti-union activity, and facilitating first contracts for newly organized units. The report also addresses systemic issues like worker misclassification, advocates for legislative reform such as the PRO Act, and emphasizes the deep, unfulfilled demand for union representation, noting that nearly 60 million American workers would join a union if given the chance. While the report is now outdated in terms of federal policy, it continues to be a useful guide to strategies that could be taken by policymakers, employers, or advocates to overcome decades of declining union density and diminished worker voice, and may be especially relevant for policymakers and the state and local levels who aim to implement pro-worker policies.