Model and Strategy
United for Respect (UFR) is a national organization that is building a democratic, worker-led movement to rebalance our economy by effectively pushing back against the retail industry’s overreach and exploitative practices. A 501(c)4 social welfare organization, UFR partners with its 501(c)3 sister organization, United For Respect Education Fund, to win fair pay and better working conditions, and to advance pro-worker public policy. In this fight, UFR centers the experiences and leadership of those most impacted by the retail sector’s extractive practices: women and Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC).
With 16 million workers, the retail sector is the largest private-sector employer in the United States. Retail workers span the spectrum of political ideology, race, gender, geography, religious identity and age, although they are disproportionately female and BIPOC. Across these apparent divides, retail workers share one commonality: most of their employers continue to pay substandard wages, forcing even full-time workers to rely on multiple jobs, public assistance and food pantries to get by. UFR unites these workers and builds solidarity across differences to achieve shared goals of economic power, autonomy, health, safety, and dignity.
In an industry characterized by a high degree of corporate concentration, UFR focuses on industry drivers like Walmart, Amazon and Wall Street (private equity owned retail) to effect change in the entire retail industry. Its organizing model utilizes tried and true, high-touch grassroots organizing combined with emerging digital strategies to connect workers with information about their rights and with each other. UFR uses direct action, strategic communications, corporate and public policy advocacy, corporate pressure campaigns, and popular education to empower people working in retail, and to connect workers with a network of peers to democratize workplaces and improve material conditions inside and outside of work. Among UFR’s strategic priorities for the next 1-2 years are:
- Movement Building. Collaborate with existing and new partners to develop a research and campaign hub that will effectively contribute to the movement for economic justice. By coordinating actors across wide networks and coalitions, UFR seeks to increase the capacity and integration of campaign strategies and resources to challenge corporate power.
- Advance State and Federal Public Policy. Increase retail worker participation in legislative activities, political education and training, and direct action and mass mobilizations. Policy priorities in 2024 include the right to organize, guaranteed severance pay, and worker productivity quotas and workplace surveillance.
- Expand Worker Organizing and Leadership. Grow UFR's worker base and committees nationally and key geographies that include CA, GA, MI and a focus on expansion in the Southern U.S.
- Narrative Change. Develop effective messaging to support UFR’s work and the work of our partners by increasing testing and distributing messaging via online ads, research reports, educational materials.
Impact
Over the course of its existence, United for Respect has redistributed over $3 billion to low wage workers across the country. During the pandemic, UFR amplified the voices of essential workers on the front lines, winning nearly $30 million for retail workers laid off in the wake of private equity driven bankruptcies.
Since 2020 UFR has grown its base of supporters by 52%, to more than 359,000 people spread across every state and territory. They have reached over 45.2 million users, mostly low wage retail workers, with dynamic digital content providing messaging to engage, educate, and organize. Their leaders have been featured in 130 publications over the last two years, leading the national narrative on the economic precarity frontline workers are experiencing.
UFR members have testified on wages and working conditions in front of Congress, bringing frontline workers to the forefront of policy making and resulting in increased funding for the National Labor Relations Board, and the Securities and Exchange Commission adopting new rules requiring the private equity industry to operate with more transparency. UFR was a key player in passing the nation’s first state law for guaranteed severance pay in New Jersey, creating a standard to pass similar laws in New York and Michigan.
Highlights from 2023 include:
- Growing a 40-associate worker committee at Amazon facility ATL6 near Atlanta, GA that delivered a petition to facility management asking for a $5/hour raise, filed Unfair Labor Practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board for retaliation, and convened a town hall with state officials to discuss working conditions.
- On the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, UFR worker-leaders talked with Members of Congress about UFR’s new report, Disabling: How Amazon Fails Associates with Workplace Accommodations. The worker committee submitted over 20 forms to the Senate HELP Committee detailing issues with disability accommodations inside warehouses.
- Continuing to advocate with President Biden, the National Economic Council, and administrative offices to ensure public funds further the public good as part of our ongoing work for federal contracting and procurement standards that protect workers.
- In Michigan, in partnership with Detroit Action and Fund Michigan Future, hosted 3 statewide town halls/roundtables featuring worker leaders. At least 25 local groups and unions have joined together in support of more worker protections.
- In California, UFR member leaders and staff have been active in the California Coalition for Worker Power and have lead roles in both the policy and organizing committees, where their work helped with pass into law anti-retaliation legislation.
Leadership
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Bianca Agustin
Co-Executive Director
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Terrysa Guerra
Co-Executive Director