Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)

Background

The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee is a labor union organizing campaign aligned with more radical-left elements of the labor movement.  ^{1  2}

EWOC was created in 2020 by former staffers on the 2020 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who were reported as saying that they “didn’t want to stop organizing.” ² Its parent organizations are the left-wing Democratic Socialists of America political organization and the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) labor union, which is widely considered to be further to the political left than most other major labor unions and has historical ties to the Communist Party USA. ^{1  2  3  4}

EWOC shares office space in Brooklyn, New York with the socialist-leaning Teamsters for a Democratic Union caucus, the labor union internal-governance group Association for Union Democracy, and labor media group and advocacy organization Labor Notes. ⁵

It promotes a concept known as “solidarity unionism,” in which employees theoretically self-organize and collectively bargain with their employer without the involvement of a parent union attempting to organize a local union at the workplace. ²

Its organizing training programs include online toolkits, self-directed training sessions, single-session online training courses, and a six-week fellowship program that provides more-advanced organizing techniques for disaffected workers. ⁶

When EWOC-trained activists are successful in organizing a workplace, the resulting union frequently becomes a local of a larger international labor union. For instance, the EWOC-supported organizing of a “Drunk Shakespeare” party theatre troupe in Chicago with the workers joining the Actors’ Equity Association. ⁷

In its early phases, EWOC took advantage of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to promote unionization among food, retail, and other workers in roles that remained active during shutdowns. ⁸ In one example, EWOC-trained employees of Chicago’s Field Museum launched a public pressure campaign against the museum’s CEO that highlighted his annual $796,000 salary after the museum implemented 10-percent pay cuts and laid off some employees whose roles were not needed during the shutdowns. ⁹

EWOC coordinates with the Restaurant Organizing Project, which is also a project of the DSA’s National Labor Committee. ¹⁰

In 2026, EWOC was listed as an endorsing partner of the Socialism 2026 Conference, a four day event in Chicago that holds discussions and workshops on Marxism, labor organizing, social movements, decolonization, abolition, working-class history, and other left-of-center political issues. ¹¹

Anti-ICE Training Program

In addition to its training resources for would-be labor union organizers, the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee also offers a training program for opponents of federal immigration law enforcement titled “Resisting ICE in Your Workplace.” ¹²

EWOC issue a demand to employers that it designate spaces such as kitchens or breakrooms as “private,” claiming that this would force Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other federal law enforcement officers to obtain either the employer’s permission or a judicial warrant to enter the space in search of workers violating federal immigration laws.  ¹² It also encouraged the video recording of ICE agents and asking agents to produce identification.  ¹²

Financials

The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee is fiscally sponsored by the UE Research and Education Fund, a nonprofit organization associated with the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) labor union. In its annual filings with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the fiscal year ending June 2025, the group reported spending $541,388 on its “Emergency Workers Education Program” operations, which include the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. ¹³ Donations to EWOC are received by the UE Research and Education Fund. ¹⁴