Tompkins County Workers' Center

The video above was taken at a joint rally held by the UALE Northeast Summer School for Women in Union and Workers Organizations and the Tompkins County Workers' Center in downtown Ithaca

Help the Tompkins County Workers' Center (TCWC) MOVE for the first time in 19 years!

As many people know, the TCWC has been located on the 2nd Floor of Autumn Leaves Used Books on The Commons in Ithaca for the past 19 years. Because of changes at the Bookstore, Angry Mom Records will be occupying the entire second floor of the Bookstore. The TCWC has found a NEW space @ The Clinton House just a block and a half away! (Suite 301-B, which we'll be sharing with Civic Ensemble) We're also ecstatic that we'll finally be in a location which is fully ACCESSIBLE! We're especially looking for support in this year's Giving Is Gorges campaign both to help with costs of the MOVE as well as with rent (Autumn Leaves Owner, Joe Wetmore, has been VERY generous with rent costs for the past 19 years, in essence, not having raised the rent once).

Continuing to respond to the crisis of the pandemic, in recent months we have:

• working closely with Racker, we're proud to say that Racker certified as a Living Wage Employer, guaranteeing 735 workers in the caregiving industry would make a LW;
• certified Luna's eight restaurants as Living Wage Employers guaranteeing 240 workers in the service industry a Living Wage;
• worked with local Starbucks workers and Workers' United to become the first unionized Starbucks City in the country! Our previous work intimately supporting baristas at Gimme! Coffee, who affiliated with Workers' United, the Sciencenter, and Ithaca Health Alliance gave us the experience to support the whole Starbucks campaign going national from the Rochester Workers' United office;
• played a strong and intimate role with 10 workers at Suicide Prevention & Crisis Services in Ithaca successfully forming a union, affiliating with Communication Workers of America, all of which started as a Hotline case;
• supported over 300 workers through our one-of-a-kind Workers Rights Hotline navigate what they needed to do to get justice in their workplaces, encouraging workers to take action in concert with each other, and/or organize a union;
• assisted over 205 workers excluded from traditional unemployment insurance navigate the application process for the lifesaving $15K Excluded Workers' Fund (EWF being the ONLY such program in the country). One such recipient, a Jamaican immigrant experiencing prolonged homelessness, was able to use the money to reopen his immigration case. As well, the TCWC had helped to create a joint press conference with Assemblyperson, Anna Kelles, in SUPPORT of this legislation just two months prior to the implementation of the Fund;
• supported 45 excluded workers grappling with various work concerns, including Wage Theft, COVID-related absences, and even labor trafficking through our Workers Rights Hotline;

Our work is not possible without YOU! For 20 years, the generosity of our member allies, like yourself, has helped us guide and support the workers who make our community a place to just call home. Your donation keeps our community at the forefront of labor organizing and workers rights. If you are able, please consider giving a monthly/recurring gift to support our work. ANY amount makes a difference!