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Political gridlock has stymied federal labor law reform efforts, and decades of Supreme Court preemption doctrine inhibits cities and states from enacting policies that impact the organizing and collective bargaining process. Yet in spite of these challenges, workers, advocates, and policymakers have continued to organize, push for, and win policies at the state and local level that enable workers to build power in meaningful ways.

Several states have passed or proposed constitutional amendments affirming the right to collective bargaining and barring future attempts to enact right-to-work legislation. Over a dozen cities and states have established sector-wide workers’ boards that give workers a seat at the table in determining standards for wages and workplace conditions. Project labor agreements, community benefit agreements, and prevailing wage laws attached to bids for public contracts have helped to support high-quality jobs and strong labor standards. And just last month, Illinois became the eighth state to pass legislation prohibiting captive audience meetings. These are a few examples of the dozens of state and local policies our team has surveyed over the past year. Today, CLJE:Lab is thrilled to share the culmination of our exploration with the launch of Building Worker Power in Cities and States: A Toolkit for State and Local Labor Policy Innovation.

This toolkit is intended to serve as an accessible resource for policymakers, advocates, and others interested in exploring the possibilities for protecting workers’ rights at the state and local levels. In compiling and analyzing pro-worker policies that states and cities have enacted – or attempted to enact – we sought to map the contours of labor law preemption and identify promising areas for further innovation.

Our toolkit contains the following 11 sections, each of which includes background information, objectives of state or local intervention, analyses of preemption risk, and options for state or local action:

• State Constitutions and Public Sector Collective Bargaining Rights
• Workers Excluded from the NLRA
• Workers’ Boards
• Structural Reforms and Strategic Enforcement
• Benefits Administration
• Government Procurement and Spending Authority
• Industrial Policy
• Regulating AI in the Workplace
• ESG and Responsible Investment Practices
• Protecting Unions from Tort Liability and Civil RICO Suits
• Regulation of the Employment Relationship and Miscellaneous Power-Building Policy

This resource was compiled with several key challenges in mind. Under-resourced state and local legislative offices often lack the capacity needed to pursue novel legislation and navigate complex policy landscapes. State preemption of local efforts to pass worker-friendly policies adds another layer of complication for municipalities. In light of these challenges, we sought to ensure that the content of our toolkit is widely accessible and relevant to a broad audience of stakeholders. In the months ahead, we will conduct deep dives into featured policy areas through a new workshop series. We look forward to engaging a wide range of participants – workers, advocates, and policymakers – to strategize together about building a stronger infrastructure for pro-worker policymaking.

The time is now to pursue creative new strategies that give workers a say in their workplaces, protect the right to organize and collectively bargain, and build capacity for robust labor standards enforcement at the state and local levels. In light of the slate of recent Supreme Court decisions further constraining the federal government’s ability to ensure worker protections, the role of cities and states in defending workers’ rights has become ever more critical. We hope this resource may meaningfully inform future iterations of policy solutions to meet the evolving challenges working people face.

You can find Building Worker Power in Cities and States in both interactive digital and downloadable PDF formats on our website, where you’ll also find additional toolkit content including worker testimonies, policy trackers, model legislation, and links to further resources. As we continue to track and analyze policy developments across the country, we encourage you to check back frequently for updates to the toolkit. We look forward to hearing your feedback and suggestions.