I’m based in Austin, and as you may know, Texas is not exactly a hotbed of traditional labor unions. Unlike employers in other parts of the country, Texas employers have long enjoyed a degree of flexibility in operations and employee relations that unions can prevent. However, that flexibility can lead to accusations of exploitation, especially in the cases of transitory workplaces (e.g., those in the construction industry) and immigrant workers, including undocumented immigrants. As a result, alternative worker aid organizations have leapt into the void left by the lack of a strong union presence. 
Worker centers
Around the country, hundreds of so-called worker centers advocate for workers. The centers provide an alternative form of worker representation and tend to focus on particular industries. They also advocate on behalf of groups that have often been underserved by traditional labor unions (e.g., immigrant workers). Unions have not put much effort into (or at least have not been very successful in) organizing in fields in which immigrants are concentrated, such as the restaurant and landscaping industries.
One particular worker center, the Workers Defense Project (WDP) in Austin, has proven to be especially effective. Founded in 2002, the WDP reportedly has a budget of $1 million, partly from grants by charitable foundations. It focuses on the Texas construction industry, which employs more than 500,000 workers, many of whom (some suggest as many as half) are undocumented immigrants. The New York Times reported that over the last decade, the WDP has won more than $1 million in back pay on behalf of workers alleging violations of minimum wage and overtime laws. The WDP also prepared a report on purported safety problems that led the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate 900 construction sites in Texas, resulting in nearly $2 million in fines, according to the Times.
Union-like activity
The WDP has demonstrated skill in using media coverage and public pressure to negotiate on behalf of its constituency. For example, last year, the group engaged in a successful campaign for better pay and benefits on behalf of construction workers at Apple’s new operations center in Austin. The WDP had leverage because Apple was trying to get tax breaks in exchange for its promise to create 3,600 high-paying jobs. The WDP was able to convince the Austin City Council to require Apple to hold talks with the group as a condition of receiving the incentives.
In the negotiations that followed, the WDP “bargained” for requirements that Apple’s construction contractors would provide workers’ compensation insurance and pay at least $12 per hour instead of the typical $10 rate. (Texas law does not generally require contractors to provide workers’ comp insurance for on-the-job injuries.) When Apple resisted those demands, the WDP organized a protest outside city hall before the council’s hearing on Apple’s tax incentives. The WDP had a member testify about the injuries he suffered on a construction site and the huge medical bills he had incurred without workers’ comp insurance. Ultimately, the pressure worked, and Apple agreed to almost all of the WDP’s demands. Soon afterward, in conjunction with other groups, the WDP was able to persuade the Austin City Council to require all contractors seeking tax incentives to pay at least $11 per hour.
Another tactic of the WDP is to have workers file a lien for unpaid wages on a building site. That tactic can interfere with other transactions on the property and sometimes causes banks or investors to delay further financing. Not surprisingly, it quickly gets the attention of developers and general contractors, who can then be expected to put pressure on the responsible subcontractors.
Bottom line
The future seems wide open for worker centers as an alternative to traditional unions, which have often had trouble establishing footholds in right-to-work states such as Texas. Recently, the Wall Street Journal called worker centers a “backdoor approach to union organizing.” Worker centers have some advantages over traditional unions
in that they do not have to meet all the requirements of unions under federal law (e.g., financial disclosure). For the time being, the clear trend is that employers may find themselves dealing with worker advocates outside the traditional union/collective bargaining context.
W. Scott McLellan is senior counsel in the Austin office of Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP, and has been board-certified in labor and employment law since 2001. He can be reached at smclellan@constangy.com.
Are you kidding – a $1M budget and the WDP has recovered $1M over a decade? That’s spending $1M annually to recover $100K. They’d be better off just giving the $1M directly to workers.
The fact that a third party had to get involved to ‘recover’ unpaid wages or similar efforts to protect worker’s rights under the law should say something about some employers who are less than diligent
Mr. Shields,
At 500,00 workers, that would be a net of $2 each. Nope, don’t think that’s the solution.