Justice at Work

1. Economic globalization creates urban inequality and opportunities for justice

"The central position of cities in capital accumulation produces new forms of leverage—potential, actual, and increasingly incorporated into advocacy strategy—for urban justice movements."

Globalization reshapes cities. As economic activity concentrates in urban areas, it creates both stark inequalities and new opportunities for activism. Cities become critical nodes in global networks of finance, technology, and services. This drives gentrification and displacement but also makes cities more dependent on low-wage service workers.

New leverage for justice movements. The urban economy's reliance on place-based services like retail, hospitality, and healthcare gives workers and communities more bargaining power. Unlike manufacturing jobs that can be offshored, these jobs are tied to specific locations. Additionally, the visibility of urban inequality and the concentration of progressive voters in cities create political openings for justice-oriented policies.

Key areas of urban leverage:

• Public investment and development projects
• Land use and zoning decisions
• Municipal contracting and purchasing
• Regulation of local labor markets

2. Economic and racial justice coalitions evolve to address complex urban challenges

"ERJ coalitions emerge from unions and community organizations embracing what they previously shunned: ideological critique, antiracist messages, and demands for transformation rather than negotiation."

Coalition evolution. Economic and racial justice (ERJ) coalitions represent a new phase of urban activism, building on earlier movements like the neighborhoods movement of the 1970s-80s and the living wage campaigns of the 1990s. These coalitions explicitly link economic and racial justice, recognizing their interconnected nature in American cities.

Expanded tactics and goals. ERJ coalitions employ a wider range of strategies, from traditional collective bargaining to policy advocacy and community organizing. They target not just workplace issues but broader urban concerns like housing affordability, public transit, and environmental justice. This approach allows them to build larger, more diverse coalitions and address the multifaceted nature of urban inequality.

Key features of ERJ coalitions:

• Multiracial leadership and membership
• Combine workplace and community organizing
• Focus on policy change at multiple levels of government
• Embrace of racial justice framing and analysis

3. Urban policy entrepreneurs leverage city resources to drive change

"UPEs have the ability to open agenda windows, which they then couple opportunistically with policy ideas."

Strategic policy innovation. Urban policy entrepreneurs (UPEs) are activists, organizers, and advocates who strategically use city resources and political opportunities to advance progressive policies. They adapt the concept of policy entrepreneurship from national politics to the urban context, where they have more direct influence on agenda-setting.

Multifaceted approach. UPEs work across multiple streams of action: problem definition, political mobilization, and policy development. They use protests, media campaigns, and coalition-building to elevate issues, while simultaneously developing policy solutions and building relationships with sympathetic officials. This allows them to create and seize windows of opportunity for policy change.

UPE tactics:

• Framing urban problems to capture public attention
• Mobilizing grassroots support and applying political pressure
• Developing policy proposals tailored to local contexts
• Building networks to share strategies across cities

4. The Fight for $15 transforms urban politics through strategic campaigns

"The Fight for $15 campaign uses a template uniquely well suited to the task of moving policy at the state and local level."

Campaign evolution. The Fight for $15 began with isolated fast-food worker strikes and evolved into a national movement that has successfully raised minimum wages in cities and states across the U.S. Its success stems from a combination of grassroots mobilization, strategic messaging, and policy entrepreneurship.

Replicable model. The campaign developed a flexible template that could be adapted to different political contexts. It used high-profile strikes and protests to generate media attention, while simultaneously building coalitions with community groups and lobbying local officials. As victories accumulated, the movement gained momentum and credibility, making it easier to win in new jurisdictions.

Key elements of the Fight for $15 model:

• Worker-led actions to dramatize low-wage conditions
• Coalition-building with community and faith groups
• Strategic use of ballot initiatives and election cycles
• Nationally coordinated but locally tailored campaigns

5. Targeted hiring policies combat racial disparities in employment

"Targeted hiring represents a renewed platform for challenging the long-term impacts of public investment (and disinvestment) on communities of color."

Addressing structural racism. Targeted hiring policies aim to ensure that public investments and development projects create job opportunities for historically marginalized communities, especially people of color. These policies evolved from earlier affirmative action efforts and community benefits agreements.

Implementation challenges. While the concept of targeted hiring is widely supported, implementation often faces obstacles. These include resistance from some unions and contractors, legal challenges, and the need for robust enforcement mechanisms. Successful programs require strong community organizing, political will, and ongoing monitoring.

Components of effective targeted hiring:

• Clear, enforceable goals for local and disadvantaged worker hiring
• Partnerships with community-based job training programs
• Pre-apprenticeship programs to create pipelines into union jobs
• Regular reporting and transparency on hiring outcomes

6. Work-life policies struggle to gain traction despite growing need

"The problems of paid time off and flexible scheduling by contrast exist more clearly in the law than in the popular imagination."

Invisible challenges. Policies addressing issues like paid sick leave, fair scheduling, and family care support face unique obstacles in gaining public and political support. Unlike minimum wage campaigns, these issues are less tangible and harder to mobilize around, despite their critical importance to workers' lives.

Policy complexity. Work-life policies often involve complex regulations that are difficult to explain and implement. This complexity makes it harder to build broad coalitions and can lead to watered-down policies with limited impact. Advocates struggle to frame these issues in ways that resonate with the public and policymakers.

Barriers to work-life policy adoption:

• Lack of clear, compelling narratives around social reproduction
• Resistance from business groups concerned about costs and flexibility
• Limited public understanding of scheduling practices and their impacts
• Challenges in enforcement and implementation

7. Racial justice framing revitalizes anti-austerity movements

"Labeling austerity, TIF, or any particular development deal, budget cut, or tax arrangement as racist both abstracts from financial particulars in a way that enables coalition building and supplies discreet organizing targets for currently powerful antiracist sentiment."

Strategic reframing. Anti-austerity activists have found new traction by explicitly framing budget cuts and regressive fiscal policies as issues of racial justice. This approach connects complex financial issues to more readily understood concepts of discrimination and inequality.

Expanded coalitions. The racial justice frame allows fiscal policy advocates to build broader coalitions, bringing together traditional economic justice groups with racial justice organizations and community groups. This expanded base can exert more political pressure and challenge the technocratic framing of budget issues.

Benefits of racial justice framing in fiscal debates:

• Simplifies complex financial issues for public understanding
• Connects budget decisions to tangible community impacts
• Mobilizes new constituencies around fiscal policy
• Challenges the perceived neutrality of austerity measures

8. Policy entrepreneurship networks accelerate urban policy diffusion

"Policy entrepreneurship networks provide an answer to these challenges, in the form of the ERJ coalition itself."

Networked innovation. Urban policy entrepreneurs increasingly work through national and regional networks to develop, refine, and spread progressive policies. These networks allow activists to learn from experiences in other cities, adapt policies to local contexts, and build on each other's successes.

Rapid policy diffusion. The networked approach enables much faster policy adoption across cities. Once a policy proves successful in one jurisdiction, others can quickly adapt it, leveraging existing research, legal frameworks, and campaign strategies. This process has accelerated the spread of policies like minimum wage increases and fair scheduling laws.

Functions of policy entrepreneurship networks:

• Sharing model legislation and policy research
• Providing technical assistance and legal expertise
• Coordinating multi-city campaigns on common issues
• Facilitating peer learning among activists and policymakers

9. Cities emerge as laboratories for progressive economic policies

"The current reinvigoration of redistributive and equity-focused urban policy has many roots, including the economic globalization whose inequalities justice movements fight."

Urban policy innovation. Cities have become key sites for developing and testing progressive economic policies. This role emerges from a combination of factors, including the concentration of progressive voters in cities, the visibility of urban inequality, and the relative flexibility of municipal governments.

Scaling up successes. Successful urban policies often serve as models for state and federal action. The Fight for $15, for example, began in cities but has led to statewide minimum wage increases and renewed debate about the federal minimum wage. This dynamic challenges traditional assumptions about the limited power of city governments to address economic inequality.

Areas of urban policy innovation:

• Labor standards (minimum wage, paid leave, fair scheduling)
• Affordable housing and anti-displacement measures
• Local hiring and job training programs
• Progressive revenue policies (e.g., taxing luxury real estate)

10. Justice movements expand beyond workplace to address broader inequalities

"ERJ coalitions' current actions to address the problems of work, home and public goods together act on the understanding that none of these problems can be meaningfully addressed in isolation from the others."

Holistic approach to justice. Economic and racial justice movements are increasingly adopting a more comprehensive view of inequality, recognizing the interconnections between workplace issues, housing, education, healthcare, and other aspects of urban life. This expansion reflects a growing understanding that achieving meaningful justice requires addressing multiple, interrelated systems of oppression.

New policy frontiers. As movements broaden their scope, they are pushing for policies that go beyond traditional labor standards. This includes initiatives like universal pre-K, community land trusts, municipal broadband, and public banks. These efforts aim to create more equitable urban systems and challenge the commodification of essential goods and services.

Emerging areas of urban justice activism:

• Green New Deal policies at the city level
• Efforts to democratize local economic development
• Campaigns to redirect funding from policing to social services
• Initiatives to advance digital equity and data justice

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Last updated: July 25, 2024