The Miami Workers Center (MWC) is a left-of-center labor advocacy organization funded by George Soros’s Open Society Network. ¹ MWC was founded by Tony Romano and Gihan Perera, left-wing professional labor organizers. ² In These Times, a socialist news organization, has described MWC as one of the “most mil­i­tant orga­niz­ing efforts” in the country. ³ Aside from engaging in direct labor advocacy, MWC is a member of the radical South Florida Racial Justice Table, which calls for mass wealth redistribution to African Americans as compensation for “oppression.” ⁴

MWC advocates for left-wing welfare expansions, expanded tenant privileges, increased government-subsidized housing programs,⁵ environmentalist policy,⁶ and the end of the alleged exploitation of minority communities. ⁷ The Center claims the foremost modern social issues in the United States are “gender oppression,” poverty, and racism. ⁸ MWC also advocates for expanded access to abortion, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),⁹ increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour, and extensive unionization. ¹⁰

Background

The Miami Workers Center opened in 1999 to organize in favor of left-of-center welfare expansions. After the Miami government proposed eliminating two government-funded housing projects, the Center shifted its priorities to align with a broad left-of-center agenda, instituting left-wing organizing education programs to oppose capitalism as a whole on the grounds that it is “oppressive.” ^{11 12}

The Center has claimed that the federal election of 2000 was “criminal” due to the alleged suppression of minority voters and has called the election a furtherance of centuries of harassment. MWC has alleged without evidence that the state of Florida purged eligible African American voters from voting rolls and disqualified one out of three votes cast by African Americans, totaling 26,000 votes. ¹³

In 2017, MWC sued the state of Florida because its Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) required applicants to participate in in-person interviews, which MWC alleged was discriminatory against the elderly and disabled. The court ruled that the state must allow telephone interviews for pre-registered elderly and disabled D-SNAP applicants. ¹⁴

Criticism of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

The Miami Workers Center joined a protest calling on the Miami mayor to close the ICE field office in Miami. Other attendees included left-of-center advocacy organizations such as Rise UP, Friends of and Miami Dade Detainees, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, United We Dream, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and Women Working Together. ¹⁵ MWC also organized left-of-center organizations to issue a travel alert for immigrants due the potential passage of Senate Bill 168 and House Bill 527, legislation which would require local police to cooperate with ICE detainer requests for illegal immigrants. ¹⁶

Subsidiaries

The Miami Workers Center has two related entities, Low Income Families Fighting Together (LIFFT) and Miami en Accion. These groups focus on community organizing to promote left-of-center government housing policies and to increase voter turnout among ethnic minorities. ¹⁷

Affiliations

South Florida Racial Justice Table

The Miami Workers Center is one of nine members of the left-wing South Florida Racial Justice Table, a group of African American advocacy organizations seeking increased funding to eliminate a purported funding gap from South Florida philanthropists. The organization has claimed that the “only wealth attainable in this country is gained on the backs of Black people and on the stolen land of indigenous people.” The South Florida Racial Justice Table has further alleged that wealthy white people have denied African Americans human rights and oppressed them for centuries for their own benefit, demanding the immediate mass redistribution of wealth to African Americans as the solution. Other members of the Table include Fanm Saj, the Power U Center for Social Change, the Black Collective, S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective, the Community Justice Project, the Circle of Brotherhood, YWCA of Greater Miami-Dade, and the Maven Leadership Collective. ¹⁸

Black Lives Matter

The Miami Workers Center is closely aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement and has featured its co-founder, self-proclaimed Marxist Alicia Garza, at MWC events. ¹⁹ Garza was a keynote speaker for an MWC event designed to energize left-of-center voters. ²⁰

MWC joined the Black Lives Matter Broward Alliance in a march to highlight African-American women’s accomplishments and mobilize the community in support of left-of-center political issues and candidates. Other members of the march included the pro-abortion Southern Birth Justice Network, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and New Florida Majority. ²¹ MWC also partnered with Black Lives Matter in a Miami march to support Planned Parenthood and other causes impacting African-American women. Other participants included Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida; Power U Center for Social Change; the Community Justice Project; the Florida Latina Advocacy Network; and Sisters Leadership. ²²

National Domestic Workers Alliance

The Miami Workers Center is an affiliate of the left-of-center National Domestic Workers Alliance. ²³ MWC formerly employed National Domestic Workers Alliance co-founder Andrea Cristina Mercado, who now works as executive director for New Florida Majority. ²⁴

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

The Miami Workers Center is a member of the left-of-center Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ). GGJ has called for the abolition of ICE and all immigrant detention facilities, alleging that ICE agents systematically perform sexual crimes against and torture illegal immigrants, African Americans, LGBT individuals, and indigenous peoples for financial gain. ²⁵

1. The Open Society Foundations. COMMUNITIES AGAINST HATE. The Open Society Foundations, 2017. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/30fc518e-d1da-4306-8578-8afb39c37a42/communities-against-hate-front-line-organizations-20170313.pdf.
2. “History.” Miami Workers Center. Accessed November 16, 2020. http://www.miamiworkerscenter.org/index.php?page=history.   
3. Bacon, David. “No Quiero Taco Bell!” In These Times, April 12, 2012. https://inthesetimes.com/article/no-quiero-taco-bell.  
4. Project, Community Justice. “South Florida Philanthropy Fails Black Led Orgs-Do Better.” Medium. Community Justice Project Miami, September 9, 2020. https://medium.com/communityjusticeproject/south-florida-philanthropy-fails-black-led-orgs-do-better-a8759d599e08.   
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6. Stewart, Ian. “Building For An Uncertain Future: Miami Residents Adapt To The Changing Climate.” WLRN, August 11, 2020. https://www.wlrn.org/2019-03-31/building-for-an-uncertain-future-miami-residents-adapt-to-the-changing-climate.
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8. JOSH. “Miami Workers Center Website Launch.” Design Action Collective, November 9, 2010. https://designaction.org/miami-workers-center-website-launch/.  
9. “GGJ Call to Action to Support Women’s Bodily Autonomy and Close the ICE Detention Camps.” Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, September 30, 2020. https://ggjalliance.org/updates/ggj-call-to-action-to-support-womens-bodily-autonomy-and-close-the-ice-detention-camps/.
10. Staff. “RELEASE: An Agenda for Florida’s Workers: Florida AFL.” CIO, June 27, 2018. http://flaflcio.org/release-florida-workers-agenda/.
11. History – Miami Workers Center. Accessed November 2, 2020. http://www.miamiworkerscenter.org/index.php?page=history.
12. WARREN-WHITE, JOSH. “From the Base: Revolutionary Left Community Organizing in the U.S.” LeftRoots, March 1, 2016. https://leftroots.net/from-the-base/.
13. “Take Back the Vote Campaign: Excerpts from Miami Workers Center’s Report: Left Turn – Notes from the Global Intifada.” Take Back the Vote Campaign: Excerpts from Miami Workers Center’s Report | Left Turn – Notes from the Global Intifada, February 1, 2005. http://www.leftturn.org/take-back-vote-campaign-excerpts-miami-workers-centers-report.
14. Sayre, Wilson. “Qualified Applicants Will Get Phone Interviews For D-SNAP As Suit Continues.” Health News Florida, October 27, 2020. https://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/qualified-applicants-will-get-phone-interviews-d-snap-suit-continues.
15. Oppenheimer, Lily. “’People’s Lives Need To Get Disrupted’: Protesters Block Intersection Near Miramar ICE Field Office.” WJCT NEWS, July 18, 2018. https://news.wjct.org/post/peoples-lives-need-get-disrupted-protesters-block-intersection-near-miramar-ice-field-office.
16. Taveras, Melissa. “Coalition of Civil Rights and Immigrants’ Rights Organizations Issue a Statewide Travel Alert in Florida.” ACLU of Florida, April 8, 2019. https://www.aclufl.org/en/press-releases/coalition-civil-rights-and-immigrants-rights-organizations-issue-statewide-travel.
17. Phelan, Joseph. “Miami Takes Back the Vote.” Colorlines, April 18, 2015. https://www.colorlines.com/articles/miami-takes-back-vote.
18. Project, Community Justice. “South Florida Philanthropy Fails Black Led Orgs-Do Better.” Medium. Community Justice Project Miami, September 9, 2020. https://medium.com/communityjusticeproject/south-florida-philanthropy-fails-black-led-orgs-do-better-a8759d599e08.
19. Steinbuch, Yaron. “Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Describes Herself as ‘Trained Marxist’.” New York Post. New York Post, June 25, 2020. https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-co-founder-describes-herself-as-trained-marxist/.
20. “A Femme Agenda, By Us and For Us.” New Florida Majority, September 8, 2019. https://newfloridamajority.org/a-femme-agenda-by-us-and-for-us/.
21. Erblat, Austen. “Organizations Will Lead March from Old Dillard Museum to African American Research Library for Early Voting.” sun. South Florida Sun-Sentinel, December 12, 2018. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-cn-fort-lauderdale-march-old-dillard-museum-african-american-research-library-early-voting-20181031-story.html.
22. “The Florida March for Black Women.” Planned Parenthood Events. Accessed November 2, 2020. https://plannedparenthoodevents.ngpvanhost.com/ngpvanforms/36008.
23. “National Affiliates: National Domestic Workers Alliance.” National Affiliates | National Domestic Workers Alliance, 2020. https://www.domesticworkers.org/national-affiliates.
24. “Andrea Cristina Mercado.” New Florida Majority, February 25, 2019. https://newfloridamajority.org/4242-2/.
25. “Members.” Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, February 6, 2020. https://ggjalliance.org/about/members/.