American Rights at Work (ARAW) was the advocacy arm of the now defunct left-of-center labor activism group American Rights at Work Education Campaign (ARAWEC). In 2012 it merged with another left-of-center labor organization, Jobs With Justice. ¹

The group is most notable for campaigning on behalf of the “Employee Free Choice Act” (EFCA), legislation backed by organized labor that would have eased unionization by mandating recognition of labor unions under the “card-check” procedure rather than through secret-ballot elections, among other pro-union provisions. ²

History

American Rights at Work (ARAW) was founded in 2003. The founding chairman was former House Democratic Whip David Bonior (D-MI). While it was active, ARAW promoted the work of its sister organization American Rights at Work Education Campaign, through media campaigns. ^{3 4}

The organization later merged with the left-of-center labor advocacy organization Jobs With Justice. Jobs With Justice uses ARAW’s tax ID number. As of October 2020, the ARAW website is still online; however, most reports are inaccessible, and its last updates appear to be from before the merger. ⁵

Employee Free Choice Act

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was initially proposed in 2007 to increase labor union organizing capacity and to increase unionization through mandating recognition of union “card check” among other increased union powers. ⁶  It passed the House, but failed to pass the Senate. ⁷

In November 2008, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) stated that they planned to work with American Rights at Work to create a media fund to help promote the EFCA. ⁸ ARAW promoted the EFCA extensively on their website. ⁹ In 2009 the group spent over $1 million on media campaigns, mostly in support of EFCA. ¹⁰

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. ¹¹

ARAW board member Sarita Gupta became the executive director of Jobs With Justice when the two groups merged. ¹²

1. Gupta, Sarita. “Announcing a New Chapter for Workers’ Rights.” Jwj.org, June 12, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120928233239/http://www.jwj.org/blog/announcing-new-chapter-workers%E2%80%99-rights.
2. “Turn Around America: Enact the Employee Free Choice Act: AFL-CIO.” AFL, November 13, 2008. https://aflcio.org/about/leadership/statements/turn-around-america-enact-employee-free-choice-act.
3. “American Rights at Work: About Us.” AmericanRightsAtWork.org. Accessed October 11, 2020. http://americanrightsatwork.org/about-us/.
4. “American Rights At Work: Our Staff.” AmericanRightsAtWork.org. Accessed October 11, 2020. http://americanrightsatwork.org/our-staff/.
5. “2011 Press Releases.” AmericanRightsAtWork.org. Accessed October 11, 2020. http://americanrightsatwork.org/2011-press-releases-418-418-2/.
6. “Eliminating Secret Ballots.” Center for Union Facts. Accessed October 28, 2020. https://www.unionfacts.com/article/eliminating-secret-ballots/.
7. “Actions – H.R.800 – 110th Congress (2007-2008): Employee Free Choice Act of 2007.” Congress.gov, June 26, 2007. https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/800/actions.
8. “Turn Around America: Enact the Employee Free Choice Act: AFL-CIO.” AFL, November 13, 2008. https://aflcio.org/about/leadership/statements/turn-around-america-enact-employee-free-choice-act.
9. “American Rights at Work – Why Workers Need the Employee Free Choice Act.” American Rights at Work – Home. Accessed October 27, 2020. http://americanrightsatwork.org/why-workers-need-the-employee-free-choice-act-2/.
10. American Rights at Work , IRS (Form 990), 2009, Part IX
11. “David Bonior.” AmericanRightsAtWork.org. Accessed October 11, 2020. http://americanrightsatwork.org/david-bonior/.
12. Gupta, Sarita. “Announcing a New Chapter for Workers’ Rights.” Jwj.org, June 12, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120928233239/http://www.jwj.org/blog/announcing-new-chapter-workers%E2%80%99-rights.