California

Braiding local organizing into statewide power for working people

The workers and communities who make California run should run California: shaping decisions in city halls and our state capitol, and in our neighborhoods, apartment buildings, and workplaces. To be truly democratic, statewide governance must be rooted in local organizing by working people and communities of color.

The Challenge

Whether it’s worker-led change like raising the minimum wage or corporate “innovations” that undermine workplace rights, what takes hold in California often sets the course for the nation. California has strong labor and social justice movements, but it’s also a place where corporations hold outsized sway. They use their billions to buy our elections; weaponize race, gender, and immigration status to exploit workers; and twist public policy to increase their profits.

After drivers for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other gig platforms organized and won groundbreaking legal protections, the corporations spent $220 million on deceptive ads and bought themselves a carve-out from the law.
Corporate landlords and real estate interests block measures to protect renters, preserve affordable homes, and make big businesses pay their fair share in property taxes for the services we all depend on.
Retail giants like Amazon and Wal-Mart gut our communities: driving out small businesses, bullying local governments, and leaving dangerous and low-paid jobs as the only available option in many Black, Brown, and immigrant neighborhoods.

Our Approach

To build the governing power of working people in California, we’re braiding together local and statewide organizing.

We’re piloting a new model that brings together seven affiliates in counties with two-thirds of the state’s population. By combining our deep coalitions and thousands-strong base of BIPOC, immigrant, working-class people, we’re advancing local fights through state-level issue campaigns, and moving state action for working people through on-the-ground organizing.
Through these reinforcing campaigns, we’re taking on corporations that exploit our land and our labor. We’re showing how local organizing can add up to transformative power for working people — winning better jobs, neighborhoods with clean air and affordable homes, and an economy that benefits all Californians.