Warehouse Worker Resource Center (WWRC)

WWRC supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement. ^{2 3} WWRC supports the critical race theory-influenced concepts of structural racism and advancing equity ^{4 5} and the far-left concept of reimagining public safety to favor community-based alternatives to traditional policing. ⁶

WWRC received $400,000 from the Weingart Foundation in 2023. ⁷ In 2022, WWRC received $1.7 million from the James Irvine Foundation ⁸ and $240,000 from the Henry Luce Foundation. ⁹

History and Leadership

Warehouse Worker Resource Center (WWRC) originally began in 2009 as a project of warehouse workers, community activists, and Warehouse Workers United, a labor organization, to bring together warehouse workers in Southern California. These participating organizations included groups such as the  UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program, Council on Occupational Health and Safety, the Food Chain Workers Alliance, and the Staffing Workers Alliance. ¹⁰

WWRC formed in 2011 ^{11 1} and received tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service in May 2013. ¹²

Sheheryar Kaoosji is WWRC’s executive director. ¹³ He is also a research analysist at labor union-aligned Change to Win. ¹⁴ WWRC’s board of directors include representatives from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 11, University of Southern California, and University of California, Riverside. ¹³

Activities and Funding

Warehouse Worker Resource Center is a left-of-center labor organization that organizes warehouse workers for companies including Amazon and Walmart in Southern California and the Inland Empire. ¹ WWRC is not a labor union but works alongside labor unions and in partnership with the immigrant rights movement and far-left environmentalist and criminal justice-related movements. ¹ WWRC spent $1,699,162 on state and local advocacy and labor rights-related education for warehouse workers in 2021. ¹⁵

WWRC supports the far-left Black Lives Matter movement. ^{2 3} The organization supports the critical race theory-influenced concepts of structural racism and advancing equity. ^{16 5} WWRC also supports the far-left concept of community-based alternatives to traditional policing, a “reimagination” of public safety. ⁶

WWRC has claimed that the Inland Empire region of California has a history of white nationalism and police brutality. ³

WWRC ran a training event with International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1932 union in 2023 ¹⁷ and was named as an “organization to watch” by the left-of-center Tides Center in 2019. ¹⁸

WWRC’s main programming includes activism and hosting events including educational settings, legal clinics, and health fairs targeting the approximately 200,000 warehouse workers in Southern California. ^{19 20 21} WWRC operates the Worker Power campaign, Justice for Immigrants campaign, and Building a Better San Bernardino campaign. It also anchors the Ontario Justice Center, an eight-member group of labor, immigrant-advocacy, and community-activist organizations. ^{1 22 19}

Through the Justice for Immigrants Campaign, WWRC supports the payment of unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants in California. ^{22 19} WWRC also offers legal services for low-wage workers, ²³ has published reports on Amazon’s working conditions in California, ²⁴ and advocated for changes in warehouse temperature conditions. ¹

WWRC’s official partners include Athena, California Coalition for Worker Power, Inland Empire United, the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, Just San Bernadino, Los Angeles Worker Center Network, PowerSwitch Action, and Safety Net for All Coalition. ²⁵

Funding

Warehouse Worker Resource Center receives funding from individual contributions and grants. ²⁶ In 2021, WWRC reported revenue of $2,439,383 and expenses of $2,079,796. ¹⁵

WWRC’s funders include the Inland Empire Community Foundation, Liberty Hill Foundation, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Rosenberg Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Windward Fund, Workers’ Law Office, Weingart Foundation, California Endowment, United States Energy Foundation, and the Satterberg Foundation. ¹³

In 2023, WWRG received $400,000 from the Weingart Foundation. ⁷ WWRG also received $1.7 million from the James Irvine Foundation ⁸ and $240,000 from the Henry Luce Foundation in 2022. ⁹

In 2021, WWRG received $100,000 from the California Endowment. ²⁷ WWRG received $35,000 from the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) Education Fund in 2020. ²⁸ The organization received $205,554 from the Inland Empire Community Foundation ²⁹ and $20,000 from the Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2019. ³⁰ In 2018, WWRG received $175,000 from the Weingart Foundation ³¹ and $10,000 from the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation. ³²