Home - Workers Center

Who We Are

The Workers’ Center of Central New York (WCCNY) is a grassroots organization focused on workplace and economic justice.

It grew out of a nation-wide movement of innovative workers’ centers and formally incorporated in 2013. It is based in Syracuse, NY and organizes with low-wage predominantly immigrant workers throughout Central NY and into the North Country.

Through community organizing, WCCNY facilitates worker empowerment and leadership development through trainings related to workers’ rights and occupational health and safety, orchestrates campaigns to combat wage theft and to promote employer compliance with the law, and engages in organizing and coalition-building to push for policies that will increase wages and workplace standards and promote human rights.

Follow us on Facebook for the latest

Workers' Voices

Antonio Salinas

“Hello, my name is Antonio, I’ve worked in New York for six years at a dairy and I’ve also worked at an apple farm. I’ve worked with tractors, cut trees, fed and milked cows and taken care of calves.

…I dare to raise my voice today because this is how I can help improve things for other farmworkers. So that the leaders of New York do something to make the injustices stop, because we are not animals. We are human beings, and we need dignity and respect.”

Paige

Paige was working at the front desk at a hotel in Oswego. When she decided to leave her job due to poor treatment of workers by management, she was told that because her plastic name tag was missing, she would lose her entire last paycheck. Paige fought back.

“I knew that what they were doing was wrong and there had to be something that could be done. It wasn’t even so much about the money – just that it’s not fair. I didn’t do anything to deserve that.

…Know that there is someone out there who can help you, and if you feel that something is wrong, it probably is. Don’t do it out of spite, but because it’s right. You should be treated with respect.”