About

Mission and History

Founded in 1999 the Employee Rights Center has as its mission, offering all San Diego area workers, especially disadvantaged workers without union representation, education and advocacy regarding their workplace issues. It is the only non-profit organization in the area that offers legal services regarding employment and labor law. During 2009 alone, The Center won over $1.5 million in benefits and $250,000 in unpaid wage claims for its clients and has educated thousands of workers about their rights and benefits.

The Center was founded as a program of a local 501c3 organization now named Labor’s Training & Community Development Alliance. Founder Peter Zschiesche brought 20 years’ experience of labor law as a labor union representative to promote economic and social justice among the large population of low-wage workers without unions, the majority of whom are recent immigrants to the U.S.

The two initial $3,000 grants from the San Diego Foundation for Change and UC San Diego’s Civic Collaborative reflected the Center’s mission from the start to reach beyond the unionized workforce that has the protections of union contracts to the many other workers in the San Diego community who lack those protections in seeking workplace justice, such as safe working conditions and the right to report workplace injuries.

Ever since opening the Center has been and remains the only local non-profit organization focused on workplace and immigration rights for all workers.

In recent years, with major support from some California-based foundations and refinement of its fee-for-services model the Center has grown to serve or refer more than 1,500 unique callers a year.  As a founding member of both the San Diego Immigration Rights Consortium (SDIRC) in 2007 and San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) in 2017 we operate as a hub for immigrant families throughout San Diego County. The Center gets regular referrals from the Legal Aid Society, the county Bar Association’s lawyer referral service, Mexican Consulate, local unions, many community partners, and local attorneys. The Center also provides free community workshops with its community partners to hundreds of workers yearly seeking workplace justice.

Labors Training and Community Development Alliance (501c3)

Labor’s Training and Community Development Alliance (the “Alliance”) is a 501c(3) organization funded by grants, private donations and contracts with other entities, whose mission is to provide job-related training to the transitioning labor force and to participate in the development of community projects for the benefit of union members and the general public. Its main program is currently the Employee Rights Center.

ERC Program Description

The San Diego area is home to large immigrant worker populations from three very different parts of the world: (1) Mexico & Latin America, (2) Southeast Asia and (3) East Africa. They all share a common problem of limited access to services and resources even when they qualify for them. They need education and assistance to access benefits like paid family medical leave, state disability insurance, or health related clinical services. Finally, they need education and training about their rights to safe and healthy work and community environments to achieve full integration into their new community.

Since its inception in 1999 the Employee Rights Center has provided the only non-profit outreach to low-income workers in San Diego County who lack union representation to provide them education and advocacy regarding their rights. In 2004 the Employee Rights Center expanded this kind of outreach to include immigration rights through “Labor’s Immigration Program”. In the years that followed Center staff reviewed the policy analysis “Low Wage Injured Workers and Access to Clinical Care” by Glenn Shor, PhD, MPP funded in part by The California Wellness Foundation. Its analysis and recommendations very much fit the Center’s ongoing approach to this issue.

Starting in 2008 the Center established a San Diego site for the Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) in coordination with the Labor Occupational Safety & Health (LOSHP Program at UCLA. This program is sponsored by the National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) and the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC). Through this program the Center brings yearly research and reporting to San Diego workplaces and established regular relations with the Masters in Public Health program at San Diego State University to recruit local students. This research informs the Center and its partners about the connections or the lack thereof between working conditions and workers access to health through local resources.

In 2007 the Center became a founding member of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium creating greater coordination and support for those member organizations advocating for greater immigrant rights and the legalization of those undocumented. The more that immigrants know about their rights to public health benefits the more likely they are to use them. In 2011 it helped organize and operate the San Diego Naturalization Collaborative which seeks to expand and streamline the naturalization process for the large number of eligible immigrants in San Diego. Of course, immigrants greatly increase their eligibility to public health benefits upon becoming U.S. citizens.

Also, for the past four years the Center has helped organize and continues to partner with the United Taxi Workers of San Diego (UTWSD), an association of lease taxi drivers comprised largely (70%) of African immigrant males who seek to improve their working conditions and community through civic engagement. This association seeks to represent the 2,000 local taxi drivers in advocating for safer and healthier working conditions and for better health in their immigrant communities. The Center’s part-time organizer provides ongoing resources for this work, especially her expertise in using social media to communicate with taxi drivers who work up to 12 hours per day, 6 or 7 days per week throughout the San Diego area. Health surveys have become a useful tool in this regard.

Lastly, the Center provides legal services and referrals regarding immigration status, with special emphasis on naturalization, which improves access to public health benefits, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (D.A.C.A.), which legalizes undocumented workers who gain legal work status and subsequent empowerment to claim those benefits that give them access to health care, i.e., workers compensation and state disability insurances. It provides legal services and referrals regarding these workplace rights. Through its Community Health Educator the Center brings ACA enrollers to its clients at the Center, provides case management to residents, and conducts monthly workshops.

Peter Zschiesche, Founder

Peter Zschiesche has a long history in the local Labor Movement and is completing his 8th year as an elected Trustee of the San Diego Community College District, representing the urban core neighborhoods of District E just east and south of downtown. He currently serves as Executive Vice President of the Board for the SDCCD and focuses on connecting the District’s educational resources to community-based development. He also represented Labor for many years on the local Workforce Investment Board.