National Employment Law Project

Earlier this week, we honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy—a vision of justice, equality, and opportunity for all. NELP is ready to meet the challenges of 2025, continuing to fight for real, lasting change. The road may look different than we imagined, but building a #GoodJobsEconomy for all is still our North Star. Read our President and CEO Rebecca Dixon’s blog,?"MLK’s Dream vs. Trump-Era Policies: Advancing Workers’ Rights in 2025,"?to learn how we are pushing forward for systemic change and workers’ rights:?https://lnkd.in/eiq5qy4N Together, we rise.?? #GoodJobsEconomy #1u #Resist #WorkersRights

Last week, the Trump administration ordered the firing of over 1,300 #workers with the #DepartmentOfEducation. The move continues the administration's attacks on agencies charged with enforcing #CivilRights protections. Learn about its impact on workers and the economy at NELP's Worker Policy Watch: https://lnkd.in/eRGYUfyM

Shirley Chisholm’s political career is defined by firsts. In addition to being the first #Blackwoman to serve in #Congress and the first woman to run for #president of the United States, Chisholm was dedicated to lifting #labor standards for all #women as she climbed. She worked to correct the carveout of domestic workers from #labor standards built into the Fair Labor Standards Act. As a New York State Assemblymember, Chisholm got #unemployment insurance benefits extended to domestic workers, and as a Representative, she made sure the 1974 #MinimumWage law raised the wage for #DomesticWorkers. #WHM2025 #WomensHistoryMonth

What inspires you to organize for change? Black women and femmes in #NewOrleans are strengthening community bonds and reasserting their autonomy by hustling outside the formal economy. Watch how they organize against mass criminalization and exploitative, underpaying jobs here: https://lnkd.in/eC2TRsYc. #WomensHistoryMonth #WHM2025

Retirement should be a time of security and dignity — but for too many women and LGBTQIA+ people, it’s out of reach. Our new report highlights how systemic inequities in the workforce, caregiving, and health care compound over a lifetime — leaving many women and LGBTQIA+ people facing economic insecurity as they age.? This isn’t just an individual struggle — it’s a policy failure. Lawmakers must act to address lifelong disparities and their impact on retirement, not slash supports that older people rely on for health care, food, and caregiving. Read more:

The McMaid #workers strike of 1984 was a pivotal moment for movement organizing by Black homecare workers that stressed the importance of participation by rank-and-file #union members and using a diversity of tactics on the picket line to successfully negotiate a first contract. Read more about this slice of #labor history at The Forge: https://lnkd.in/g_S9bMWn #WomensHistoryMonth #WHM2025

The Trump Administration’s demonization of diversity, equity, inclusion, & accessibility efforts is a wholesale attack on our country’s #CivilRights laws. Learn how public servants have been pushing back against these regressive policies at NELP's Worker Policy Watch. https://bit.ly/NELP-WPW

This #WomensHistoryMonth (and always), join a #union! In her #WorkerVoices story, healthcare worker Susie Young of #Washington state shares her career-long journey to win a union campaign so she and her coworkers would be considered employees and get the benefits they deserved. Read her inspiring interview here: https://lnkd.in/ec_TubFZ #WHM2025 #homecare #carework #1u

NELP Health and Safety Director Nicole Marquez and?NELP Legal Fellow Mimi Goldberg presented at the American Bar Association?Workplace Occupational Safety and Health (WOSH)?Midwinter meeting. Their panels focused on prioritizing Black and immigrant worker voices in creating effective #HealthAndSafety protocols on the job.?

In addition to giving the #labor movement one of its most enduring slogans, the Bread and Roses #strike of 1912 demonstrated deep solidarity across ethnic lines. #Immigrant #workers banded together against a sudden reduction in hours, pay cuts, and poor health and safety conditions in the textile mills of Lowell, #Massachussetts. Deep organizing by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the years prior, including by strike leader Elizabeth Gurley Brown, was critical to the success of the Bread and Roses Strike. #WomensHistoryMonth #WHM2025 #1u #LaborHistory