Our Philosophy…

Fuerza Laboral is a workers’ rights center in Central Falls, Rhode Island whose mission is to shift the balance of power in our economy towards labor by educating, training, and organizing workers to become community leaders; by taking direct action to recover unpaid wages and improve workplace conditions; by forcing institutional changes that will better prevent injustices; and — with our POWER Network Co-op Incubator program — by constructing a network of worker-owned co-ops that will provide living-wage employment instead of the low-wage, exploitative jobs typically reserved for immigrants and people of color.

Fuerza was founded in 2006 by a group of immigrant workers and has been organizing around issues of economic justice. Fuerza is member-led: the organization’s key decision-makers come from the community in which we organize. Our guiding philosophy is that those who directly experience economic and racial injustice must be leaders in the struggle to gain justice. Immigrant workers are themselves experts in labor exploitation and how systemic oppression operates and are thus in the best position to craft solutions.

Our Board of Directors is comprised of our most committed member-leaders who are elected to one-year terms each year by dues-paying members. The Board meets at least once a month to evaluate strategy and finances, make organizational decisions, and ensure our work continues to align with our vision. Each of our campaigns has two co-leaders from our membership who coordinate campaign meetings and facilitate consensus-based decision-making. Additionally, standing committees are each steered by two co-leaders from the membership. These structures provide specific tasks for interested members to take up, and the co-leadership model provides both stability and mutual support.

Fuerza has a transparent leadership-development process in which its members attend educational workshops and trainings where they are empowered to increase levels of involvement, responsibility, and organizational leadership. Fuerza’s members not only participate but also facilitate meetings, lead actions, communicate with media, prepare other workers for actions, make strategic decisions regarding campaigns, and represent our organization to legislators and decision-makers — that is, they take the lead in every aspect of our organization.