The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a farmworker organization with roots in Florida's tomato fields.
The NLRA explicitly excludes agricultural laborers from forming unions, as they are not technically employees. Despite the exclusion, Florida farmhands begun organizing in 1993 and went on month-long hunger strikes to demand higher wages, according to the CIW website.
In the early 2000s, CIW staged farmworker boycotts and hunger strikes to pressure Taco Bell into improving wages and working conditions for the farmers that grew tomatos and other produce for the chain. The organization has since lobbied other businesses, like McDonalds and Chipotle, to guarantee protections for farmers that make produce for the chains as part of the Fair Food Program.
Like farmers, domestic workers are explicitly written out of union protections under the NLRA. Domestic workers, many of whom are immigrant women of color, are paid just over $11 an hour on average and have few legal protections against workplace abuse, as MONEY Magazine's Jennifer Calfas reported.
The National Domestic Workers Alliance has worked to get these employees better pay and protections since 2007. NDWA has lobbied local and state governments into passing the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, a set of standards that guarantee overtime and sick pay and protect against harassment.
After passing the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in states like New York and Illinois, Senator Kamala Harris and Representative Pramila Jayapal introduced the bill into Congress this July.
Uber and Lyft drivers might be leading one of the country's most visible labor movements.
Like agricultural and domestic workers, gig workers can't legally unionize under the NLRA. Workers like Uber and Lyft drivers are not technically employees but "independent contractors," or people performing work for a company at-will without getting benefits like healthcare or overtime.
The Independent Drivers Guild is a union-affiliated worker organization that represents 65,000 for-hire drivers, including Uber and Lyft workers, in New York City. The organization successfully lobbied the city government to pass a $15 minimum wage for gig drivers, making New York the first municipality to guarantee fair pay.
Restaurant workers and those in food-preparation make up the largest bloc of low-wage earners in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Other issues like mental health and harassment are also commonplace in the food service industry.
The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United represents low-wage restaurant workers around the country. The group works with restaurants to help them establish fair wages and better workplace protections for staff. They also inform consumers of which restaurants treat workers fairly through its Diners Guide program.
The ROC settled a lawsuit with Mario Batali after the organization alleged he violated overtime pay rules at his Manhattan restaurant. The group also filed a class action lawsuit against Capital Grille's owner for alleged racial discrimination.
While some Walmart workers can get union coverage with the United Food and Commercial Workers, OUR Walmart is unaffiliated with UFCW. Instead of getting money from dues, the group is funded by grants and worker donations.
In 2015, OUR Walmart staged a number of illegal "wildcat" protests, or those without union approval, in cities like New York and Chicago on Black Friday to advocate for better pay. Walmart eventually raised base pay from $7.25 to $11 an hour in 2018.
The group now affiliates with United for Respect, an umbrella non-union organization that represents all retail workers.
In 2018, teachers in West Virginia made headlines for defying their union and going on a "wildcat," or not union-supported, strike. The NLRA deems wildcat strikes illegal, and employers can fire workers who engage in them.
Teachers went on strike over pay, as West Virginia ranks as one of the worst-paying states for educators. The strike inspired teachers in states like Oklahoma and Arizona to start a nationwide movement to raise wages.
Not only was the illegal nature of the West Virginia teachers strike shocking, but these teachers also successfully organized in a "right to work" state, one that doesn't require workers to pay union dues, thereby weakening organized labor's financial power.
The Trump administration supports "right-to-work" laws and has made an effort to kill unions, but the West Virginia teacher strike showed successful bargaining can still occur without unions.
Somos Un Pueblo Unido is a worker-founded, New Mexico-based organization that advocates on behalf of non-union employees in the area.
Since 2012, Somos Un Pueblo Unido's advocacy has successfully bargained for laws that protect against wage theft and workplace harassment for low-wage workers in Santa Fe.
In 2015, longtime New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse detailed how Santa Fe immigrant workers in car shops, hotels, and restaurants were leading the way in successful non-union organizing.
Workers Lab, a fund that invests in experimental worker organizations, has invested in many new-wave labor groups like the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
They've recently invested in Cooperation Jackson, a co-op comprised of workers in Jackson, Mississippi. Cooperation Jackson is similar to Somos Un Pueblo Unido in that the two are made up of low-wage earners from different industries but within one community.
The co-op helps build worker-owned businesses to create jobs and ensure wealth is spread among the entire community.
Cooperation Jackson primarily hosts job training and skills sharing sessions, and helps workers start and finance their own co-ops.
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