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About Bridges Center Labor Policy Research

A number of exciting projects have been completed through Bridges Center research programs. The published research and working papers profiled below have been funded by the Washington State Labor Research Grant. Each summary report includes information directly relevant to policymakers, employers, unions, and others. 

Reports are organized broadly by topic, then by year. To read or print reports, click on the "Read More" links below. 

 

Labor History

  • 2025 | Waterfront Workers History Project
    The 1936 Pacific Coast Maritime Workers' Strike
    This insightful report, authored by Annika Tuohey, an undergraduate senior majoring in History, delves into the 1936 Pacific Coast Maritime Workers' Strike. Less recognized than its 1934 predecessor, the 1936 strike had a profound impact on the labor movement in the U.S. It was pivotal in securing safer working conditions and better wages for maritime workers while solidifying the power of unions (ILWU) along the West Coast. Tuohey examines how the strike, despite its nonviolent nature, played an important role in reshaping the maritime labor landscape and inspiring future labor movements across various industries. Tuohey is now a Research Associate with the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project. Read the full report here.

 

  • 2021 | Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies
    Bridges Center Report Revisits Lessons of Puget Sound's $15 Minimum Wage

    This project presents a broad range of research related to the minimum wage in the Puget Sound region including political strategies for minimum wage policy changes, the implementation and enforcement of wage policy, and the impacts of minimum wage legislation on working people and their families. The report highlights innovative perspectives and methods and contributes to the ongoing debate around the benefits and costs associated with increasing the minimum wage to $15. Read the full report here.

 

Workforce Development and Equity

  • 2025 | Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies - Washington State Labor Research Grant
    Changing Equity, Maritime Labor, and Offshore Wind in the Pacific Northwest 

    Offshore wind has been proposed as a possible clean energy solution to meet the challenges of new energy development. During the Biden Administration, ambitious policies were championed to accelerate offshore wind in the United States, including the waters off the West Coast. Focusing on combating climate change, advancing clean energy, and creating jobs, the Administration aimed to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030. The Administration also adopted a “whole of government” approach to advancing equity for historically marginalized and underserved groups. Read the full report here.

 

  • 2024 | Research Brief
    High Road Training Partnerships

​In this brief, written by research assistant Kait Johnson, we summarize select Washington workforce development programs and approaches, examine how High Road Training Partnerships (HRTPs) have operated in California, and investigate the potential opportunities for and benefits of HRTPs in Washington state. The framework for this research came from initial meetings and collaboration with Ligaya Domingo (Racial Justice and Education Director at SEIU Healthcare 1199NW and member of the Seattle-King County Workforce Development Board), Ana Luz Gonzalez-Vasquez, (Project Director for POWER in the Workforce Development at the UCLA Labor Center), and Sarah L. White (Labor Policy & Research Director, Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis). Read the full brief here.

 

  • 2024 | The Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA)
    Regional Partnerships for Immigrant Integration and Workforce Development in King County
    Bridges Center Research Director, Rachel Erstad, in partnership with Washington Labor Education Research Center's Labor Policy Researcher, Muhammad Javid, developed and conducted interviews and surveyed labor and workforce development leaders in Seattle and King County for a new report, "Regional Partnerships for Immigrant Integration and Workforce Development in the City of Seattle and King County." The report was published by Seattle's Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA) and authored by Glenn Scott Davis. The report focuses on the challenges and opportunities immigrant and refugee communities are experiencing, especially regarding secure and quality career opportunities. Immigrants and refugees are valued community members with increasing representation in our regional workforce.

 

  • 2024 | Research Report - Seattle Office of Labor Standards
    Examining the App-Based Workers Minimum Pay Ordinance
    One of the most active and fastest-growing local labor standards agencies, OLS became a standalone office in 2017 after originating as a division in the Seattle Office of Civil Rights. Cities such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco have similar agencies dedicated to protecting and enforcing workers’ rights, but the practice of having a labor standards office is not widespread. Despite this, a growing number of localities are putting effort into protecting workers, including progressive cities in conservative states such as Durham and Houston, who have both created worker boards. Local labor standards offices, worker boards, and the creation of new and necessary rights for workers through legislation are all ways that local governments advance worker rights. Read the full report here.

 

  • 2024 | Research Report - Casa Latina
    Domestic Workers in King County

Breon Haskett, UW Sociology Graduate Research Assistant, and Kim England, Harry Bridges Chair Emeritus, Bridges Center Faculty Associate, and Professor in the Department of Geography, have recently conducted a demographic and labor market analysis. This report supports the Seattle Domestic Workers Coalition's ongoing efforts to establish portable benefits and Casa Latina's campaigns for improved labor protections for domestic workers in Seattle and throughout the state. You can view and download the full report here.

 

  • 2024 | Research Report - Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies
    Building Futures: Pre-Apprenticeship's Role in Creating Equitable Pathways in Construction and Beyond
    The Bridges Center’s Research Team is proud to release “Building Futures: Pre-Apprenticeship in Construction and Beyond.” In this report, we explore the role of pre-apprenticeship in creating more equitable pathways for underrepresented workers in the construction industry - specifically, workers who identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color, women, and gender non-conforming. Our research includes employment data for Washington state and its construction industry, information and data related to underrepresented workers’ experiences, and survey findings from 12 pre-apprenticeship organizations and 30 pre-apprentices in the Puget Sound region. Read the full report here.

 

  • 2023 | Research Report - Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies
    Examining Wage Equity Among Social Services Workers

A new study by a team of UW researchers, including Harry Bridges Center Faculty Associate Jennifer Romich and former Bridges Center Director Kim England, finds that nonprofit social services workers in Seattle are grossly underpaid compared to other sectors. In fall and winter 2022-2023, researchers at the UW School of Social Work assembled and collaborated with a group of national and international scholars to investigate the extent of the inequity compared with other public and private sector jobs. The study included different methodologies and analytic approaches to investigating wage inequities, and reviewed factors that have suppressed wages in the non-profit human services sector over time, including race and gender discrimination, wage penalties for caring labor, and decisions made by federal and local policymakers. Read the full report here.

 

  • 2022 | Research Report - Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies
    Can Workforce Development Address Income Inequality?

As the ongoing pandemic continues to exasperate existing disparities, can workforce development programs help address income inequality perpetuated by racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia? Workforce development leaders from organizations across Washington came together to discuss how programs offered by their organizations are working to address historic discrimination and bias to uplift workers, and the barriers and opportunities that remain. Watch the full panel here.

 

  • 2022 | Policy Research Brief - Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies
    Measuring the American Families Plan's Impact 

A new research policy brief released by the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, Measuring the American Families Plan’s Impact on Washington State Working Families’ Ability to Meet Basic Needs, demonstrates how four American Families Plan (AFP) policy initiatives targeting families with children could have affected Washington working families. This brief is based on research completed by Annie Kucklick (Research Coordinator, the Center for Women's Welfare), and Lisa Manzer (Director, the Center for Women's Welfare), and funded by a 2021-2022 Harry Bridges Center Washington State Labor Research Grant. Read the full policy brief here.

​Labor and Social Justice

  • 2023 |  Washington State Labor Council
    Abortion Access is a Racial and Economic Justice Issue

Abortion denial and restriction is a direct attack on working communities, especially BIPOC and the working poor. Neither economic justice nor racial justice can be advanced if these attacks on bodily autonomy continue at both the state and federal levels. The Dobbs decision has only emboldened those in positions of power to oppress people who can become pregnant - those who are often working people who depend on their jobs for themselves and their families. For these workers the right to self-determination, already restricted by economic oppression, is further limited by attacks on the right to decide if and when to have a child. Dobbs threatens workers’ decision-making power both in their personal lives and in the workplace. Read the full issue brief here.

 

​Workers' Rights, Health, and Safety

  • 2021 |  Research Report
    Casa Latina: The Powerful Role of Worker Centers for Social Justice  
    This research project documents how Casa Latina—a non-profit immigrant workers’ rights organization in the city of Seattle—has pioneered in day labor organizing since its founding in 1994. The report draws on interviews and oral histories with day laborers, domestic workers, staff and volunteers of Casa Latina, as well as archival research. The researchers focus on three categories of activities that Casa Latina engages in to support migrant day laborers in navigating the informal job market: finding work, creating community, and labor activism. Read More.

 

  • 2021 |  Research Zine
    Unjust Enrichment and the Struggle for State Minimum Wage at the Northwest Detention Center  
    This project examines how prolonged private immigrant detention affects labor rights throughout mixed-status immigrant communities like Tacoma and Seattle. It follows two lawsuits filed against GEO Group—a private, for-profit company that runs the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, WA. Findings demonstrate the role of immigrant detention in Washington state labor dynamics not only as a threat that disciplines workers, but also as an everyday phenomenon that shapes families’ ability to engage in long-term education and labor markets. Read More.