POLICY & ADVOCACY
ECONOMIC CHANGE FROM THE MOVEMENT TO THE page
Our policy, research and advocacy work stems from the experiences and expertise of directly impacted people and communities. Our organizational members participate in a Worker Policy and Research Committee to set priorities and strategies to move our vision for economic justice forward.
Raising Standards & Protections
Living Wage Watch
News and research on the New Orleans living wage and whether it is being provided through city contractors and independently through private employers. Compare with Saving Wages that go beyond living and surviving and include the human need for leisure and retirement.
Know Your Labor Rights
We educate workers on their rights and how to get them enforced. We help tip-based workers, gig workers and cultural workers to understand wage theft & overtime, family & medical leave, discrimination, job safety violations & extreme heat protections.
Evacuation Rights
Pushing to protect New Orleanian workers from retaliation if they need to take leave from work to care and prepare their family for evacuation after a declared emergency due to a hurricane or other disaster. Contact us if you have been impacted in the past!
Removing Barriers to Opportunity
Driver’s License Access Reform & Better Job Options with Transportation Access
This policy campaign is ongoing and stems from a need demonstrated by our annual Warrant Clinic attendees. Fees through the Office of Motor Vehicles remain an often insurmountable barrier for Louisiana residents to achieve meaningful transportation access. The fees are often unrelated to good or poor driving, but instead relate to income and wealth where people are unable to pay insurance on their vehicles and get fined by the state.
Ban the Box
Ensuring previously incarcerated or arrested applicants are not discriminated against due to their past when it is not relevant to the position. Stand with Dignity, a former project of the Workers’ Center, helped win a Ban the Box policy for the city of New Orleans.
Confronting Discrimination
Supporting workers to either make formal complaints and/or organize to demand changes to their workplace when faced with discrimination related to race/ethnicity, national origin, language, and/or gender.
Policy wins
Reform of OMV Payment Plans
Louisiana Act 710 (2026)
Related to our Driver’s License Access Reform campaign, we proposed a change to State Law that passed to help people who are in Payment Plans with OMV. If you miss a payment, you cannot be given a late fee (up to 3 times) and you won’t be at risk of having your license suspended. If you have questions about whether this new law applies to you or someone you know, get in touch.
Labor Audit of City Contractors
Transparency & Enforcing Living Wage Laws in New Orleans
NOWCRJ successfully pushed for and won funding for a review of our city labor laws in conjunction with the Big Easy Budget Coalition. Recommendations for the Labor Audit included reviewing payrolls from city contracts over the past several years to ensure the implementation of the Living Wage, as well as to aggregate statistics on local hiring and DBE. Labor Audit is set to be released to the public and presented to City Council by the end of 2026.
Language Access for the City of New Orleans with Big Easy Deal
New Orleans City Budget
The Workers’ Center won a Language Access Program at the City Government level for Spanish and Vietnamese speakers in 2024 through American Rescue Plan funding. Despite a productive 2025, the long-term future of the Language Access program has been put in doubt due to New Orleans City Budget cuts in 2026. Stay connected to find out more or get involved.