Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores’s (CCT) members represent a variety of countries, backgrounds, and speak different languages but, as suggested by our name, we strive to enhance the immigrant working experience through community building and organizing. We are unique among Massachusetts immigrant workers’ centers in that our staff and leadership are drawn exclusively from the immigrant worker community we serve.
CCT has a Three-Pronged Approach:
CCT provides workers with support in situations of workplace injustice. We do so through a three-pronged approach, which includes education, organization and taking action:
The education that CCT provides relates to workplace rights. In the past we noticed that in many instances workers came to CCT to report a problem and we later realized that there was a long list of issues that needed to be addressed. We realized that the first step to a just working environment is to provide workers with the necessary tools for workers to identify when their rights are being violated. We therefor offer workers “Know your rights” trainings and make space for them to discuss current cases during our weekly meetings. We believe it is important for workers to learn from each other as they work to resolve disputes.
If our members recognize a violation to their rights, CCT assists them in reaching a resolution. We believe that in order to secure worker’s rights, workers must have some level of organization. This could take many different forms such as developing a workers committee within a company that will commit to speak out against abuses, or workers might organize formally and seek to join a Union. At this stage, CCT provides the space for workers to discuss how they want to organize and the network of allies who can support them and help them solve specific issues. Additionally, we provide different types of leadership trainings to strengthen worker leaders.
Women workers protest work-place sexual harassment in Fall River, rallies offer the workers tangible proof of ally support.
If necessary, CCT assists workers to take action to resolve any rights violations. We assist workers in taking legal and direct actions; where a direct action involves communicating concerns directly with the company in an attempt to resolve a dispute, and legal action are instances where a case is taken to court with the help of our allies in the legal sector.
Above: City employees visit CCT to discuss community concerns. Weekly meetings at CCT allow workers to talk about their concerns both in the workplace and their communities.
Ultimately, we seek to effect long-term changes that will empower and dignify immigrant workers. We believe in creating a space where the members our community can further develop community-organizing skills while discussing the issues we find important.