logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Groundbreaking NYC Law Facilitates Workplace Donations to Wage Justice Nonprofits

Ruth McCambridge
January 11, 2018
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
By The All-Nite Images from NY, NY, USA (Fight for $15 on 4/15) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

January 9, 2018; New York Times

Workers’ rights organizations that advocate for higher wages across industries and localities are, in many cases, stymied in their attempts to unionize or negotiate contracts workplace by workplace. So, they are looking to other mechanisms to benefit their members, increasingly acting outside the collective bargaining process. The Fight for $15 campaign is one example of this broader, industry-based approach. A challenge, however, is that these organizations therefore do not conform to the traditional definition of unions, and consequently lack a stable source of membership dues. But that may be changing, starting with New York City’s fast food workers.

A hybrid of union dues collection and workplace solicitation programs, crossed with a bit of rage fundraising, has cropped up in New York, where a groundbreaking law passed last year by the City Council allows workers to request that money be taken out of their paychecks and donated to nonprofits that advocate for them. The donations are only authorized once the nonprofit in question signs up 500 participants.

So far, 1,200 fast food workers have signed up to donate $13.50 a month (which is one hour’s pay at minimum wage) to Fast Food Justice, the first nonprofit to sign up for the program. Long an effective grassroots organizing group, Fast Food Justice became a nonprofit only five months ago.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Tsedeye Gebreselassie, chairwoman of Fast Food Justice’s board and a senior staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project, says, “What’s important about this law is it provides for a way for fast-food workers to help sustain a nonprofit organization that’s dedicated to advocating for issues that members say is important to them.”

And the organization has indeed demonstrated its importance. A group of restaurant owners represented by the Restaurant Law Center has filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the law as a violation of their First Amendment rights. “We think this law is a way of trying to get restaurants to fund groups” that “will harass restaurants with money from the restaurants,” said Angelo Amador, the law center’s executive director, apparently forgetting that it is the workers’ money being donated. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Clearly, this is a provision that may be replicated elsewhere across the country where local government supports an increase in minimum wage.—Ruth McCambridge

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: low-wage workers workplace givingNonprofit NewsPhilanthropy

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

NPQ_Winter_2022Subscribe Today
You might also like
Why Social Change Films Matter
Cyndi Suarez and Saphia Suarez
Philanthropy Must Move from Charity to Solidarity
Son Chau
Eliminating Biphobia Through Breath, Brotherhood, and the Arts
H. “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams
Using a Data-Driven Strategy to Advance Racial Equity in Grantmaking
Heather Lenz, Ariel Jordan and Catherine Smith
Protecting Nonprofits That Protect Us During Crises—and Beyond
Aisha Benson and Jen Talansky
Reimagining Philanthropy to Build a Culture of Repair
Aria Florant and Venneikia Williams

Popular Webinars

Remaking the Economy

Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories

Register Now

Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st-Century Social Movements

Register Now

Remaking the Economy

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Register Now
You might also like
Why Social Change Films Matter
Cyndi Suarez and Saphia Suarez
Philanthropy Must Move from Charity to Solidarity
Son Chau
Eliminating Biphobia Through Breath, Brotherhood, and the...
H. “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.