American Rights at Work

American Rights at Work is an organization that seeks to advance democracy in the American workplace by supporting various unions and businesses that have good relations with their unions.

In 2013 Jobs with Justice and American Rights at Work amalgamated.

Mission

On their website American Rights at Work explains its purpose,

Since 2003, American Rights at Work has informed the American public about the struggle to win workplace democracy for nurses, cooks, computer programmers, retail cashiers, and a variety of workers who we all depend on every day. Our vision is a nation where the freedom of workers to organize unions and bargain collectively with employers is guaranteed and promoted. Through coalition-building, research, public relations, policy analysis, and advocacy, we:

• Investigate and expose workers' rights abuses and the inadequacy of U.S. labor law.
• Stimulate debate about the state of workers' rights among journalists, policymakers, advocacy groups, and the public.
• Promote public policy that protects workers from hostile employers and weak laws that impede their rights to form unions and collectively bargain.
• Publicize success stories of profitable companies and public agencies that respect workers’ rights and build innovative partnerships with unions.

American Rights at Work holds that Prosperity should be accessible to everyone, not merely the few. They state that discrimination and harassment based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or physical and developmental ability should be banned. They support the "single-payer" health-care scheme, holding that every individual should have affordable, quality health care. They support investment in the public education system and in initiatives to restore and protect the environment. They are also proponents of keeping abortion as a woman's right protected under law.

Personnel

Board of Directors

Board of Directors as at Jan. 11, 2010:

• Hon. David Bonior - Chair
• Julian Bond - Chairman of NAACP
• The Right Reverend Jane Holmes Dixon - Bishop of Washington, Pro tempore, retired
• Sen. John Edwards
• Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta
• Wade Henderson - Executive Director of Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
• Philip Levine - Poet
• Jack Marco - Treasurer, Chairman of Marco Consulting Group
• Hon. Kweisi Mfume
• Janet Murguia - President & CEO of the National Council of La Raza
• Carl Pope Executive Director of the Sierra Club
• Imam Sayed Hassan AlQazwini Leader of The Islamic Center of America
• Harley Shaiken - Professor & Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at University of California, Berkeley
• Beth Shulman - Author
• Rabbi Alana Suskin
• John Sweeney - President of AFL-CIO
• Bradley Whitford - Actor

International Advisor: Mary Robinson -Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Staff

Staff as at Jan. 11, 2010:

Executive Office:

• Kimberly Freeman Brown - Executive Director
• David Bonior - Chair

Administration:

• Emily Citkowski - Office Manager
• Kimberly Taylor - Finance Officer / Assistant to the Chair

Communications:

• Liz Cattaneo - Communications Director
• Elizabeth Bukey - Communications Assistant
• Beth Handy - Communications and Publications Coordinator
• Manny Herrmann - Online Strategies Director

Development:

• Alicia Daly - Development Director
• Hilary Fry - Development Associate
• Susan Van Dyke - Development Assistant

Research:

• Julie Martínez Ortega - Director of Research
• Erin Johansson - Senior Research Associate
• Nancy Wiefek - Research Analyst

Partnerships & Outreach:

• Jane Norman - Director, Partnerships and Outreach
• Jen Kern - Field Campaign Manager
• Jessica Klonsky - Campaign Strategy Consultant
• Rebecca Wasserman - Government Relations Manager

Socially Responsible Business Program:

• Nikki Daruwala - Director, Socially Responsible Business Program

Professors' Statement on Collective Bargaining

In March 2011, American Rights at Work coordinated an open letter entitled "A Statement by College and University Professors: Do Not Revoke Collective Bargaining Rights for Public Employees". A large number of the signatories were members of Democratic Socialists of America and the letter appears to have been circulated within the DSA academic network. The text of the letter read in part,

"Federal and state elected officials are using fiscal crises as an opportunity to dismantle collective bargaining rights for public employees. As faculty and research staff from colleges and universities in the U.S. and around the world, we are opposed to any efforts to revoke collective bargaining rights for public employees, including home care and child care providers."

Click here for more information and a full list of the signatories of the statement.