Director of Worker Organizing and Policy

Current Opening: Make the Road New Jersey (MRNJ) is seeking a full-time staff person to direct the worker and economic justice organizing initiatives of the grassroots, immigrant, and workers’ rights organization. The position is based in northern and/or central New Jersey and requires the ability to work, read and write in Spanish & English. It is ideal for an experienced community and/or labor organizer interested in building worker organizing to win enforceable workplace rights, help build campaigns to holder employers accountable and pass pro-worker legislation and help transform the power dynamics of our economy.

About Make the Road New Jersey Make the Road New Jersey builds the power of Latinx and working-class communities to achieve dignity and justice through community organizing, legal services policy innovation and transformative education. Founded in late 2014, MRNJ is headquartered in Elizabeth, NJ and we also organize and provide services in Passaic, Perth Amboy and Newark, NJ. Our members have won multiple groundbreaking campaigns for pro-immigrant and pro-worker policies and engage in organizing to impact change on the local, state, and federal level. For example, in 2019, we won a $15 minimum wage, the strongest anti-wage theft law in the country and the nation’s first guaranteed paid severance law. During the pandemic we helped to win a landmark worker safety executive order to protect the health and wellbeing of all New Jersey workers and the first ever Excluded New Jerseyan Fund to provide direct cash relief to workers left behind from federal aid. Our legal services and education teams serve thousands of immigrant families annually through direct representation in immigration matters, Know Your Rights trainings, and ESOL and worker safety classes.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Oversee Make the Road New Jersey’s workplace justice and economic justice organizing work
• Coordinate a team of organizers, member leaders, trainers, and attorneys to develop and implement a vision for building workplace power through innovative equivalents to collective bargaining, worker center-style organizing, legislative and policy campaigns, training & education, and enforcement strategies.
• Supervise and support organizers who staff the multi-sector worker committee within Make the Road New Jersey’s multi-issue organizing model.
• Build resilient long-term alliances with coalition partners in order to coordinate city, state, regional and national campaigns.
• Engage multiple stakeholders involved in workplace justice issues in order to build MRNJ’s program – including member leaders, elected officials, labor and community allies, funders, and the media.
• Create and facilitate leadership development approaches, curricula, and activities. Work with experienced organizers and advanced leaders to chart plans for their next phase of growth in the work, and support them in taking on new leadership.
• Supervise MRNJ’s OSHA and workplace safety training program to provide workplace safety trainings that build the power of our membership

 Qualifications:

We are looking for a strategic organizer and creative thinker with exceptional management skills and the ability to lead complex campaigns and build and sustain long-term strategic coalitions. The new hire will work primarily in MRNJ’s offices in northern New Jersey with travel to Trenton and across New Jersey as well as some domestic travel required. The position is currently virtual as MRNJ has closed our offices during the pandemic. The successful candidate must have:

• At least 3-5 years experience in community organizing and/or union organizing (ideally both);

• A deep commitment to growing democratic base-building organizations and to building worker power in the US Economy;

• The proven ability to move workers or community leaders and activists through fear and develop their leadership;

• Proven ability to lead winning campaigns;

• Prefer experience with supervision or lead organizer experience;

• Proven coalition coordination skills and excellent ability to build relationships of trust with longterm allies;

• Strong interpersonal and communications skills with an emphasis on navigating coalition dynamics, supporting member / worker leadership, and supervising staff;

 • The ability to work and supervise staff in both Spanish and English;

 • The ability to lead and support others’ leadership within a multi-racial organization that has made concrete commitments to elevating the leadership of frontline communities at all levels of organizational leadership.

Requirements:

• Eligible to work in the U.S
• Required to be fully vaccinated with a FDA approved COVID-19 vaccine prior first day of employment.
• College Degree

Compensation: Starting compensation is based on a salary scale and will depend on factors such as experience and education. MRNJ offers a generous package of vacation, personal, sick days, paid parental leave, excellent benefits coverage and flexible work schedule. The work environment is team oriented, dynamic, fast-paced, experimental, and supportive.

How to Apply: Please submit your cover letter and resume at the Make the Road New Jersey career center.