As we lament the financial meltdown, Bas reminds us that disadvantaged communities face a perpetual recession.
The Executive Director of EBASE demonstrates, through concrete personal stories, how the basic concepts of the living wage, the community benefits model, and expanding the pie are pathways to a green and sustainable inclusive jobs movement.
Bio
Nikki Fortunato Bas
Fortunato Bas has been a strong advocate for worker rights and social justice for nearly 20 years in the Bay Area. As Executive Director of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy and as a board member of the national Partnership for Worker families, she is among the new generation of leaders who are connecting strategic organizing and cutting edge public policy to building a broad movement which will reshape the economy and urban environment for workers and communities.
EBASE and its sister organizations across the nation are winning specific Community Benefits Agreements and broader public policies such as living wage ordinances, affordable housing policies, environmental clean-up and emission standards, and job quality and access standards. Prior to joining EBASE, she was the Executive Director of Sweatshop Watch, where she led numerous campaigns, which resulted in a landmark sweatshop reform law in California and millions of dollars in back wages to garment workers from major corporations.