Omidyar Network Commits $35 Million to Give Struggling Workers More Power

The Omidyar Network on Wednesday said it would commit $35 million over three years to help give workers more leverage and a stronger safety net as they struggle to stay afloat during the Covid-19 crisis.

The commitment is part of an effort the Omidyar Network previously launched to rethink capitalism, a cause taken up by several major foundations and donors in recent years.

The philanthropy outlined some of its plans to help increase the ability of workers to organize, whether through traditional labor unions or in new ways that give employees a say on wage and employment decisions.

The pandemic has thrown a spotlight on low-wage workers who often must choose between maintaining their livelihoods and protecting their health, said Mike Kubzansky, Omidyar’s chief executive.

“This choice is actually not an accident,” he said. “It’s the way the current balance of power and economy designed it to be, particularly for people paid low wages. When you systematically roll back labor law and strip workers and their organizations of power, this is what you get.”

The philanthropy’s Reimagining Capitalism program began making grants last year. In addition to supporting workers, the program supports efforts to ensure the market system benefits a broader cross-section of society and engages in impact investing, where social benefits are considered alongside financial returns.

Empowering Workers

The Omidyar commitment accompanies a report by the philanthropy that outlines a range of policy and technical approaches to improve workers’ positions. Among other things, Omidyar will support the ability of workers to engage in collective bargaining across a business sector, like delivery drivers for example, rather than at the employer or job-site level.

The report also suggests that corporations make space for workers on their boards and that data on the impact of the coronavirus on employment, wages, and pensions, is tracked and collected.

The commitment comes in addition to $2.5 million in emergency grants Omidyar announced in early April during the initial phase of the coronavirus pandemic. The philanthropy directed that money to support the general operating expenses of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and provide cash support to caregivers and house cleaners. It also went to establish a fund to support worker advocacy.

Other grant makers have also increased their support for workers amid double-digit unemployment rates and as the crisis has laid bare the danger faced by low-wage employees who provide essential goods and services. In April, eight foundations and individual donors pooled $8.1 million to create the Families and Workers Fund, which will make emergency grants to workers and support longer-term policy change. Contributors to the fund include the Ford, JPB, W.K. Kellogg, and Open Society foundations.

Before the pandemic, the precarious position of workers in society and the concentration of power and wealth among corporations and their shareholders had prompted a deeper investment among foundations to develop changes in corporate governance, labor law, and the perception of workers.

A survey conducted for Omidyar by Data for Progress suggested that Americans across the political spectrum supported strengthening workers’ rights. Over all, for instance, 80 percent of the 1,181 likely voters who were surveyed said it should be illegal to fire workers for protesting health and safety standards. Nearly 80 percent of those who backed the right to protest were Republicans and 90 percent were Democrats.