Working for America Institute

The organization receives grant money from the federal government and operates a multi-year contract valued at approximately $11 million with the U.S. Department of Labor to fund the organization’s intermediary programs that aim to expand the utilization of apprenticeships in the United States. ²

In addition to workforce training, the organization touts the ability for labor unions to engage in left-of-center activism on issues such as eliminating religious exemptions on LGBT issues, creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and overturning “institutional racism” that it claims has historically infected American society. It also opposes the adoption of voter identification laws. ³

Founding and History

The Working for America Institute was founded by the AFL-CIO in 1969 as the Human Resources Development Institute. Since its inception, the organization has worked with labor unions and the U.S. Department of Labor to promote union-approved workforce training and apprenticeship programs. The organization holds a contract with the Labor Department to act as a multiple-industry intermediary, promoting training and apprenticeship programs across various industries that are heavily influenced by labor unions, such as manufacturing and hospitality. ⁴

Organization Philosophy

The Working for America Institute does not shy away from the fact that its efforts at labor organization are tied to left-of-center political activism and electoral success. For example, a report on young workers and the “next generation of work” emphasizes “race and gender justice” and claims that labor organizing will stop what it considers to be “anti-democratic policies” like voter ID laws and loose campaign finance rules. It also touts union activism to end what it terms “religious freedom loopholes” in LGBT-promoting laws, promote changes to immigration law, and change incarceration policy that it claims is the result of “institutional racism.” ³

Political Activity

Despite not reporting any lobbying activity, the organization promotes various state and federal public policies around workforce intermediary groups and supports increased public funding for workforce training programs. One publication from the organization lists several state-level programs that provide funding to union-backed training organizations and includes left-of-center recommendations for expanding such programs to be used by policymakers. ⁵

In 2022 the U.S. Department of Energy launched a $5 million education program to train workers for the lithium battery industry after a successful lobbying campaign by the AFL-CIO. The government press release explicitly states that the program was launched in partnership with the AFL-CIO and is referenced on the Working for America website. ⁶

Programs

The institute also works at the state and local level to establish workforce intermediary partnerships between employers and labor unions and encourage the adoption of union-backed training programs by employers. The organization has helped broker agreements between restaurant and hotel workers in Boston and Los Angeles and their local unions, as well as an agreement between Kaiser Permanente and its employees’ union. ⁷

The institute organizes the Industrial Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship Program, its flagship program that is backed by the U.S. Department of Labor. The program provides 18 months and 3,000 hours of training to workers on how to assemble, operate, monitor, and control production equipment. ⁸

Funding

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, the Working for America Institute reported revenue of $1,423,678, of which the entire amount was derived from grants and contributions. It reported $2,341,798 in expenses, of which $658,341 was spent on salaries and compensation. It ended the year with a deficit of $918,120, and net assets of $855,912. ⁹

The Working for America Institute has received several millions of dollars in federal grants and contracts awarded since 2016. ² The organization received a grant from the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration in March of 2020 that totaled $6 million to fund the Institute’s work. ¹⁰

In addition to other smaller federal grants, the organization has held a contract which was last renewed in 2016 with the Department of Labor to expand the use of workforce intermediary groups. As of 2020, the contract had a potential value of $11 million, with over $5 million already having been allocated since 2016. ¹¹ The organization has stated that the grant was meant to expand apprenticeship programs in the manufacturing and hospitality industries. Through the contract, Working for America Institute has collaborated with other left-of-center, union-affiliated groups, such as the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, and local groups including the Boston Education Skills and Training Corporation (BEST), the Los Angeles Hotel Training Academy (HTA), and the Pennsylvania Keystone Development Partnership (KDP). ⁴

In July of 2022, the Ford Foundation provided a $250,000 grant to the institute in order to provide core support to the AFL-CIO Technology Institute and help launch its research on the effect of technology on various employment fields. ¹²

Leadership

As of January 2024, Amanda Ballantyne was the director of the Working for America Institute, a position she had held since July of 2022. She was also the director of an AFL-CIO in-house think tank, the Technology Institute, focused on labor and technology issues. She was previously the director of Main Street Alliance, a left-of-center small business network, and has been involved in left-of-center organizing activities for over two decades. ^{13 14 15}

Liz Wiss is the executive director of the Working for America Institute, a position she has held since January of 2023. She has a long history of involvement in left-of-center labor activism. She was on the District of Columbia Council’s Committee on Labor and Workforce Development and also worked in the Obama administration at the Department of Labor. ^{16 17}