American Rights at Work Education Campaign

History

ARAWEC was founded in 2003 and worked in conjunction with its sister organization American Rights at Work (ARAW) to promote left-of-center labor policies. However, while ARAW merged with Jobs with Justice in 2012, ARAWEC did not complete the merger with Jobs with Justice Education Fund (JWJEF) at the same time. In fiscal year 2013 the organization transferred most of its assets to JWJEF and stated that it intended to dissolve in the near future. ^{1 2}

Policy

While it was still functioning, ARAWEC supported increased unionization across the labor market and issued a variety of reports and commentaries on labor issues. For instance, the group issued reports calling for unionization of Walmart, attacking organizations that argued in favor of right-to-work laws and free trade, and touting the workplace benefits of unionization. ^{3 4 5}

Leadership

The founding chairman of the board was the former House Democratic Whip David Bonior (D-MI). He took a leave of absence from the organization from 2007-2008 to work as the national campaign manager for John Edwards’ presidential campaign. ⁶