November 2019 Newsletter
Day Labor Center staff and worker leaders gather to reflect on 2019 victories and plan for the year ahead.
Day Labor Groups Gather, Reflect, & Plan

Worksafe's Nicole Marquez-Baker recently teamed up with Centro Legal de la Raza and Street Level Health Project to lead a daylong retreat for the Northern California Day Labor Coalition – a group of regional day labor centers, legal aid advocates, and public health practitioners who are working together to advance the interests of day laborers through organizing and policy advocacy. 
Participants gave local updates and reviewed recent policy achievements – including the passage of new wildfire smoke protections and AB5 – before diving into strategic planning for 2020. The group also received a short training on labor and sex trafficking survivors' rights from Dolores Street Community Services. The retreat was held in Spanish, as is all business of the Coalition, to increase accessibility and center the input of worker leaders.  
Huge thanks to staff and workers from Monument Impact, the Day Worker Center of Santa Cruz, the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, and the Graton Day Labor Center for making the day great. And a big shoutout to advocates from the UC Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network who also contributed so much. Worksafe's involvement with this network is one of our top priorities because it aims to grow and leverage the power of low-wage and immigrant workers.
Hitting the Road for Worker Health & Safety
Labor & Employment Conference: Worksafe attorneys recently traveled to New Orleans for the 13th Annual Labor and Employment Conference. Jora Trang and Nicole attended seminars, workshops, and meetings with labor and employment attorneys from across the nation to discuss current issues in the field. Nicole moderated a panel on "Recent Developments at OSHA," and Jora represented labor on a panel about the ins and outs of OSHA inspections.
Attending this annual conference helps Worksafe attorneys stay abreast of current legal trends that affect worker health and safety. Although California has some of the strongest worker protection laws in the nation, legal shifts and changes at the federal level or in key states have the potential to impact worker power here at home.

NELP Strategy Conference: Also this month, Nicole and Augustin Eichwald-Romero headed to Las Vegas to attend We're All In, a national strategy conference hosted by the National Employment Law Project (NELP). Nicole presented in a breakout session, "Fighting Forward and Winning on Worker Safety," which taught attendees how to describe job hazards, write an effective OSHA complaint, and develop an advocacy strategy to win safer conditions. Big thanks to NELP for hosting this informative and inspiring event!
Nicole and Jora hit the Big Easy to chop it up with fellow Labor & Employment Attorneys
Tim and Veronica from WWRC strike a pose at the NELP conference with Nicole and Augustin
Worksafe Welcomes New Legal Fellow

We are so excited to introduce you to the newest member of the Worksafe crew: our Legal Fellow, Karín Umfrey. Read Karín's full bio here.
What brought you to Worksafe?  I was introduced to occupational health while assisting Spanish-speakers in the Baltimore area access healthcare resources. My interest grew when I was introduced to a Latino and immigration advocacy-and-assistance organization and learned more about quality of life issues facing workers. Because Worksafe was the only California legal nonprofit specifically focused on ensuring that workers' health and safety rights are protected, it was the perfect match between my interests and career goals as an attorney. 
What issue are you particularly interested in?  If I had to pick just one, it would be workplace violence in healthcare and how intersections of race, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity impact this serious issue. I am also interested in how to effectively educate stakeholders on recognizing health and safety as a core value instead of seeing it as a burdensome regulation. I'm eager to conduct trainings to assist workers in organizing and advocating for their health and safety.
Read Karín's full Q&A here.
ICYMI: Explore Chemical Exposure Risks Faced by CA Working Women

A new online tool – Working Women at Risk – helps researchers and advocates to visualize the exposures to chemicals that might be putting California’s working women at risk for breast cancer. Users can search data on over 1,000 chemicals, sorted into 24 chemical groups, by occupation, ethnicity/race, and age.
The tool is part of a project exploring working women’s risk of breast cancer that is funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program at the University of California, and supported by occupational health experts at the Public Health Institute, the California Department of Public Health, and the University of California San Francisco. We invite you to learn more and explore this innovative new tool.
What We're Reading
Remember Worksafe this Giving Season

When you donate to Worksafe you help expand legal protections for California workers and train hundreds of workers and advocates about health and safety rights. We couldn't do this work without your support. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far!
We're Raising $20k by 2020 to Protect CA Workers!
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