Want to learn more about the Washtenaw County Worker Center (WCWC) and other worker centers? Here's a list of resources that you should check out!

• Feldman, Rachel.  Higher Education, Worker Centers and Labor Movement Revitalization: A Case-Study of a University Based Model for Founding Worker Centers. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Residential College Department of Social Science, 2007.
  Rachel Feldman was one of the founding members of the WCWC. In this senior thesis, she explains the different types of worker center models and how the WCWC was founded.

• Fine, Janice. Worker Centers: Organizing Workers at the Edge of the Dream. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006.
  This book gives an in depth overview of worker centers, how they developed, and how they organize at the intersection if ethnicity, race, and class. The relationship between worker centers, unions, and public policy is also discussed, along with the internal structure of worker centers and how they network.

• Fine, Janice.  “Worker Centers – Organizing communities at the edge of the dream.” Economic Policy Institute Briefing Paper, September 2005, 1 – 24.
  This article, an overview of the book by the same name (listed above), talks about worker centers in different states, how they operate, and how to define what a worker center is.  The article also explains organizing in terms of advocacy and economic and public policy.

• Kharbanda, Remy, Ritchie, Andrea, New York City Restaurant Industry Coalition, The Restaurant Opportunities Center-New York.  “Behind the Kitchen Door:  Pervasive Inequity in New York City’s Thriving Restaurant Industry”. January 25, 2005.
  The article “Behind the Kitchen Door” outlines the findings of extensive research on the treatment of restaurant workers in New York City. This article explains the social costs of worker exploitation and suggests alternatives for restaurant owners who wish to take an ethical stance within the industry.  This article is crucial for understanding the basis for ROC’s model for worker advocacy and empowerment.

• Lowenstein, Roger. “The Immigration Equation.” New York Times Magazine, 6 July 2006.
  This article provides and engaging and useful overview of the debate between Professors George Borjas (Harvard) and David Card (Berkeley) regarding how immigrants affect the native-born workforce and the US economy.  Borjas believes that immigrants are a problem for American workers and Card disagrees.

• Moody, Kim. "Immigrant Workers and Labor/Community Organizing in the United States." Centre for Research in Employment Studies, University of Hertfordshire.
  This article explores the scope of immigration and how immigrants have impacted organizing efforts in labor unions and worker centers. The differences between unions and worker centers is also discussed.

• Sen, Rinku.  “A New Window on the World”. Color Lines, January 2007.
  This article discusses ways in which ROC-NY operates in conjunction with restaurant owners and workers to advocate for workers.  It gives a detailed account of ROC's founding, challenges, triumphs, and structure.