Leading Practices

In 2022, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) provided a comprehensive overview with detailed examples of how local governments are protecting workers’ rights by establishing local labor standards offices to enforce workers’ rights laws, establishing worker boards and councils, passing local worker protections laws, setting job quality standards for contractors and internal employers and championing workers issues through local public leadership.

In 2021, Harris County established an Essential Workers Board to advise the county on programs and policies that support essential workers. All members must be “low-income essential workers,” with at least one worker representative from the airport or transportation, construction, domestic work or home care, education or child care, grocery, convenience or drug store, health care or public health, janitorial, food services, hospitality or leisure services, and retail industries. In addition to advising the county on its overall approach to protecting essential workers’ rights and providing a public forum, the board is also tasked with providing feedback on the county’s purchasing and contracting policies; workforce development programs; tax abatement and incentive policies; community benefits agreements; distribution of federal COVID-19 relief and recovery funds; disaster preparedness and recovery programs; OSHA trainings; independent monitoring of local, state, and federal public health and labor laws and inclusive economic development planning.

This national nonprofit works with childcare workers and owners to increase the number of employee-owned childcare businesses and cooperatives, such as the Rose Garden in Buffalo, New York. Workforce and economic development agencies can partner with groups like ICA to create more resiliency, equity and wealth building opportunities in the childcare industry, helping childcare businesses grow and expand to create more spots for working families.

This 1935 law protects workplace democracy by providing employees at private-sector workplaces the fundamental right to seek better working conditions and designation of representation without fear of retaliation.

Good Jobs, Good Business from Pacific Community Ventures has a chapter focused on strategies to strengthen employee engagement and create strong workplace cultures that includes the business case and specific steps to get started.

The Racial and Social Justice Initiative of Seattle, Washington, published this toolkit in 2012 and is advancing a 2022 strategic plan to help city programs and agencies set goals and measure progress to advance specific racial equity goals within government agencies.

In 2020, the CA Workforce Development Board launched the High Road Training Partnership that includes a job quality framework that connects job quality and equity initiatives, highlighting how women and Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color are overrepresented in low quality jobs.

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions is a collaboration of partner organizations that contribute resources, test ideas, collect data and improve public policies and business practices to help all workers succeed and to ensure that employers have the talent they need to compete. The job design framework centers the fund's perspective on equity and inclusion and outlines four key pillars for good jobs: core, support, opportunity and voice.