Day Laborer Collaboration
The Collaboration seeks to improve the labor standards in an industry which exploits between 300,000 and 500,000 temporary workers in Illinois. Overseen by a committee of Day Labor worker leaders, the Collaboration has brought the plight of temp workers to public eye through a series of investigative reports on English-language television and the filing of lawsuits on behalf of 7,000 workers. The Collaboration has also initiated a campaign with the support of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to overhaul and strengthen the laws regulating the day labor industry in Illinois.

Chicago Workers’ Legal Clinic
The Clinic provides workers with representation from Pro Bono attorneys in the labor-related legal matters such as workers compensation, wage violations, and discrimination. The clinic organized more than 30 suits during 2004 including major precedent-setting litigation against two day labor agencies.

Chicago Workers’ Cooperatives
Because permanent jobs are virtually impossible to find for low-wage workers in the present market, day laborers decided to form a committee to investigate the feasibility of generating their own permanent, Called the Chicago Workers’ Cooperative, the committee recently received $15,000 in seed money to start a worker-owned enterprise. Presently the group is formulating a business plan and hopes to initiate their first cooperative by July 2005.