Our Departments
Our five departments bring strong expertise and experience from specialized fields to fold into the strategies of our movement.
Operations
As we all know, Los Angeles is a Union Town with a reputation for mobilizing masses by the thousands and holding some of the largest rallies across the labor movement. But that stage with the booming sound system or the custom rigs holding our displays don’t magically appear. It takes a team of dedicated people to make our ideas come to life. Our operations department keeps our offices and our federation running smoothly, but they are also out taking the streets and providing affiliated unions and organizations assistance for actions, press conferences, picket lines, and everything in between.
Organizing
Local unions and community organizations are grappling with the complexity of organizing new workers and protecting working people in rapidly-changing industries and a fluctuating economy. Our 100 years of experience tells us that unions are the best way to create good, safe jobs. We understand that the right to collective bargaining will not be handed to us, but we are up for the challenge.
Our organizing department uses innovative strategies and fosters strong partnerships to give working people the strength, stability, and freedom that comes with a union contract, creating change in Los Angeles and making waves beyond. And, they pass on their knowledge to empower workers to step up as leaders in their workplace, their union, their community, and the movement.
Political
Workers and union members are experiencing a decades-long siege on their rights with constant attacks on everything we have won as a labor movement such as fair wages, workplace safety, and even the right to be considered an employee.
Our current political climate has shown us the importance of electing pro-union, pro-worker representatives, and the real impacts they have on our day to day lives. The working people of Los Angeles must elect officials who will represent us and our values – those who bring our issues to the forefront and lift up our diverse stories. Then, we must hold them to their promises and hold them accountable when their actions hurt our affiliates and their members. We must also foster the courage for leaders in our movement who seek civic participation.
Our political department has a national reputation for doing just that.
Policy
Corporate elites have long used their resources and wielded their power to pass anti-worker legislation in the name of profits. Just as we need candidates that fight for working people elected into office, we need policies that will allow workers to collectively bargain and have a voice on the job.
Through careful analysis and strategy, our policy department is known for making the impossible possible, passing, and protecting, some of the most progressive legislation in the country.
Communications
The world is changing rapidly around us. As technology evolves, our work evolves, and so does the way we congregate and interact with one another. The impact this is subjecting on our workforce is immense and there is a constant need to evolve our approaches to organizing and telling our diverse stories with modern strategies for modern times.
Our communications department uses the latest best practices to disseminate information across the movement to educate, engage, and inspire the working people of Los Angeles. They build comprehensive strategies and campaigns that move activists from the screen to the streets; and then back again, empowering those activists with tools to spread their message.