Workers Defense Project

In North Texas, Workers Defense Project (WDP) helps Texas workers improve conditions in the construction industry. Through direct services, Workers Defense provides workers with legal services to win back their wages that have been withheld from bad employers who cut corners. WDP fights to keep employers accountable and to ensure that working conditions are safe for Texas workers.

Workers Defense improves conditions for North Texas' essential workers and immigrant/undocumented families through three core programs:
1.) Employment & Legal Services (ELS) helps low-wage workers directly address serious workplace problems through legal services and direct action
2.) Organizing uses education, advocacy, direct action, and leadership development to empower WDP's worker-members to effect systemic change
3.) Better Builder® & Policy (BBP) improves conditions for working and immigrant families across Texas by advocating for higher standards in the construction industry and beyond

In 2020, Workers Defense Project made great progress for our community. Some of our greatest accomplishments include:

- Recruiting more than 409 new members to join Workers Defense Project and reactivating more than 1,800 members to re-engage with Workers Defense Project, growing our total membership base of essential immigrant/undocumented workers to almost 4,000 statewide!

- Providing more than $3,000,000 in direct financial assistance to 3,000 of Texas' immigrant and undocumented families in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

- Pivoting our organizing tactics and community base-building strategies in response to COVID-19 from in-person to digital, reaching 63,000 low-wage, immigrant/undocumented and essential workers via primarily Spanish-only Facebook Live videos focused on labor rights, including paid sick me, paid family leave, occupational safety measures, stay-at-home emergency orders, and how to collect unpaid wages, as well as the 2020 Census

- Making a total of 33,395 calls to encourage immigrant families in Austin and Houston to fill out the 2020 Census

- Advocating for, and winning, $30 million of Emergency funds in Houston and Austin to support those left out of the CARES Act

- Advocating for, and winning, 60-day delayed evictions policies in Dallas and Austin

- Advocating for, and winning, safety standards to protect construction workers from COVID-19 in Dallas, Austin and Houston

Our Needs

Workers Defense Project's funding priorities in 2022 include:

DEFENDING OUR FAMILIES: In addition to suing the state of Texas to stop the show-me-your-papers law, SB 4, WDP has provided 29,000+ immigrants with vital Know Your Rights training and working with partners to operate an emergency hotline serving immigrant families.

EMPLOYMENT AND LEGAL SERVICES: Helps victims of wage theft and workplace injuries regain the pay or compensation that is rightfully theirs. This year, the program aims to recover at least $50,000 in judgements/settlement agreements for 25 WDP members who have experienced workplace abuses.

ORGANIZING: Provides workers' rights education and OSHA-certified safety training, serving more than 2,000 low-wage Latinx workers per year. This year, the program aims to recruit 300 new members to join WDP; graduate 25 new leaders from WDP's Leadership Institute; recruit 25 members to participate in worker committees; provide at least 1,000 individuals basic workers' rights education; graduate 35 individuals from WDP's OSHA-10 and OSHA-30 safety training courses; educate at least 15,000 individuals about the 2020 Census.

BETTER BUILDER AND POLICY: Aims to improve the lives of working people across Texas by advocating for higher standards in the construction industry and beyond. This year, the program aims to provide at least 5,000 construction workers with better, safer jobs as a result of the Better Builder program's local, state and national advocacy efforts.