Working people have been marginalized in our society. Both political parties rely on working- and middle-class support, but both mostly reflect the policy priorities of businesses and the wealthy. This has destabilized American politics to the point that our democratic institutions are themselves threatened and will only be corrected when working people again have institutions and organizations that represent them.

Working people need new organizations to amplify their voices and power. Rebuilding the labor movement is essential for this, but so is imagining and building new organizations including community unions, political organizations, and social movements. Working people have taken the lead in activism around immigrant rights, police abolition, housing rights, and environmental justice. All of these organizing and protest efforts are of interest to the Center for Work and Democracy.

For democracy to survive it is necessary for the economy to be democratized as well. This can happen through unions which give workers a voice on the job, but it can also happen through organizations like cooperatives and worker associations, or through policy interventions like the creation of alternative currencies and increased regulation of monopolistic firms.