Worker Power

When pro-corporate forces run our legal system, working people are left to pay the price. Because the consequences of our rigged legal system fall most heavily on working people, PPP believes that building worker power must be a core aim of our efforts to rebuild our legal system.

PPP has been fighting coercive contract terms, like forced arbitration clauses and non-compete “agreements” since our founding. Our campaigns have led to thousands of workers being freed from forced arbitration clauses, helped build momentum for passage of the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act, and raised awareness about the role lawyers play in using the fine print of contracts to harm workers and consumers.

Through our chapters, we’re building communities that fight the corporate capture of the legal profession. Too often, law students and young attorneys are told that regardless of their values, Big Law is the best place to start their career. By exposing law students to economic justice lawyers, particularly in the plaintiffs’ bar, supporting campaigns to make this work more accessible (e.g., improving loan forgiveness options and creating more accessible information about pro-worker and pro-consumer lawyering), and raising awareness about the harm caused by corporate lawyers, we’re ensuring that law students who enter law school wanting to fight for economic justice leave doing that work.

Current Campaigns

  • Partnering with the AFL-CIO and the Union Lawyers Alliance to make it financially feasible for lawyers with student debt to pursue careers as union lawyers.
  • Supporting campaigns at the state and local levels to increase the enforcement of workers’ rights by both government lawyers and the plaintiffs’ bar.
  • Working with our chapters to raise awareness of the corporate capture of the legal system and to support students in building a pro-worker culture on their campuses.

Past Highlights

Raising awareness about the Supreme Court’s work to advance the power of corporations at the expense of working people

Defending the agencies that fight for workers

Pushing back against anti-worker nominees from any political party

Ending the use of coercive contracts, including forced arbitration clauses

Raising awareness about the harms caused by coercive contracts