Fair Workplace Collaborative

The Fair Workplace Collaborative (FWC) is a coalition of dedicated community members, organizations, labor attorneys, and small business leaders committed to combating wage theft and labor violations by connecting with the community, providing free legal aid, hosting worker and business employment/labor trainings, and legal clinics.

The Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) was created by the Board of Supervisors in 2017 to address the problem of wage theft in Santa Clara County. OLSE partnered with the Fair Workplace Collaborative and the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center to launch a community engagement campaign across Santa Clara County with the mission of informing businesses and workers about their rights and responsibilities, as well as providing individualized support and services to those seeking assistance.

Working Partnerships USA serves as the Fair Workplace Collaborative coordinator and provides labor and workplace rights training for workers, and other relevant services in English and Spanish. Working Partnerships USA is a community labor organization advancing the movement for a fair economy in Silicon Valley by bringing together public policy innovation and the power of organizing. Working Partnerships USA builds the capacity of working people, low-income neighborhoods, and communities of color to lead and govern. Working Partnerships USA addresses the root causes of inequality and poverty by leading collaborative campaigns in four program areas: good jobs, housing and transportation justice, healthy communities, and making democracy work for everyone.

The Day Worker Center of Mountain View is a non-profit organization that connects the day worker community with employers in a safe and reliable environment in addition to offering various programs for workers and community members such as providing healthy meals, ESL classes, technology classes, workshops about worker’s rights and much more. Their vision is a world of diverse communities where day laborers live with full rights and responsibilities in an environment of mutual respect, peace, and harmony. Serving Mountain View and surrounding communities since 1996, Day Worker Center of Mountain View offer help with a wide variety of jobs.

Step Forward Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides specialized legal services to low-income communities, specifically in family, immigration, and employment law. Based in Morgan Hill, Step Forward partners with organizations across the county to provide legal training and clinics. They are our lawyers, they are the ones in charge of the toll-free lawyer advice line that we also refer people to. Ruth Silver Taube, Of Counsel at Step Forward, is an experienced employment attorney who has practiced employment law since 1993. She has been the Supervising Attorney of the Workers’ Rights Practice at the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center at Santa Clara University School of Law for 20 years and is an Adjunct Professor who teaches a labor and employment/workers’ rights class at Santa Clara University School of Law.

The Pilipino Association of Workers and Immigrants (PAWIS), founded in 2002, is a worker-led grassroots organization fighting against the social and economic injustice faced by Filipino workers and immigrants in Santa Clara County. PAWIS recognizes the need to collectively support the community to strengthen the voice of Filipino workers and oppose any form of abuse and exploitation through providing education, resources, and training to its members.

The Vietnamese American Roundtable (VAR) envisions a strong and unified Vietnamese American community that works towards improving our quality of life. To this end, VAR focuses their mission to organize, advocate, and educate their community. We accomplish this through mobilization, advocacy, and education – mobilization through events and coalition building, advocacy through empowering and strategy, and education through panels, works.

Economic justice is Enterprise Foundation’s bedrock. Thanks to the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Clara, SBA, and NorCal SBDC, the Enterprise Foundation has helped thousands of diverse small business owners in Santa Clara County gain access to millions of dollars of grants and loans during the past decade. The Enterprise Foundation, founded in 2007 is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Its mission is “to foster self-sufficiency through self-employment and to promote, support, and encourage the advancement and development of micro-enterprises and small businesses of Santa Clara County.” The Enterprise Foundation provides small business technical assistance services to small business owners at no cost and in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and other languages. The Enterprise Foundation is the program operator for a Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program operating in Santa Clara County since 2011.

Prosperity Lab was created in the heart of Silicon Valley by a group of dedicated leaders and business owners. Prosperity Lab creates and facilitates programs and initiatives that uplift and empower women, micro enterprises and organic communities towards business growth and advancement. Every member of their team devotes their talent and skill to serving clients. The Mesa Redonda (Round Table) program offers special training, certifications, and individual assistance tailored to the specific needs of foodservice providers and restaurateurs. Clients of Mesa Redonda may also access Prosperity Lab’s full suite of services to gain maximum benefits for their business.

The Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center provides free legal services for low-income individuals with consumer, immigration, and workers’ rights matters.  Law Center services include community education and outreach, advice clinics, brief services, and in limited instances, representation.  If you have a question about your rights as a worker, please call the Law Center to learn more about their services and to see if they can assist you.
Call to make an appointment: (408) 288-7030 • Monday-Friday, 9:00-4:00 pm