The Consortium for Worker Education (CWE) is a nonprofit job training organization operating in New York City. The consortium partners with AFL-CIO, the largest association of labor unions in the United States. The CWE claims to provide training and employment services to more than 60,000 workers in a variety of industries such as retail, education, transportation, construction, and healthcare. The consortium also provides its services to government employees. ^[1]

The CWE has partnered with New York authorities on job training programs designed to keep inner city young adults from becoming involved with organized crime and drugs. ^[2] It also partners with local educational institutions to produce studies and reports. ^[3]

Selected Initiatives

The CWE runs numerous initiatives in addition to job training. These include partnerships with labor unions, a program to help parents apply for government child care subsidies, and an “immigrant defense project” to promote left-progressive immigration enforcement policies in the city and in the rest of the country. ^[4]

During the summer of 2020, the CWE deployed “census organizers” to encourage city residents to fill out the census. The consortium issued a statement claiming that immigrants and minorities were “often undercounted” and that the organizers would help increase “recognition” for these groups. ^[5]

In May 2021, the CWE partnered with The New School, a private university based in New York City, to publish a report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers in the neighborhood of Astoria in the borough of Queens. The consortium found that lockdowns and other pandemic-related economic disruptions resulted in more than 30 percent of workers surveyed for the report to lose their jobs, and that less than 40 percent of those laid off had returned to work. In total, more than 60 percent of survey respondents reported either losing their job, taking a pay cut, or having to work reduced hours. More than 75 percent of households making less than $50,000 per year reported what the study referred to as “negative employment impacts.” ^[6]

In July 2021, New York City authorities announced that they would engage the CWE to provide job training and placement services for inner city young adults in neighborhoods with high rates of gang- and drug-related criminal activity. The training and placement would be part of a city program to provide jobs for approximately 2,400 young adults in an attempt to keep them from becoming involved with organized crime. ^[7]

Leadership

Joseph McDermott is the executive director of the CWE. In 2019, he had an annual salary of $290,000. The consortium also has two assistant executive directors, Glenda Williams and Beverly O’Donnell, each of whom receives an annual salary of approximately $160,000. In addition, the CWE employs two deputy executive directors: Craig Walker, who oversees administration and finance and has an annual salary of $215,000, and Debora Buxton, who oversees the consortium’s educational initiatives and has an annual salary of $166,000. ^[8]

Financials

In 2019, the CWE received over $24 million in contributions and grants. More than $7.7 million, or nearly one-third of total revenue, went towards staff compensation. ^[9]

One of the consortium’s job education programs, which provides training for employment in the public and private transportation sector, is funded by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the international financial giant of the same name. ^[10]