WASHINGTON - February 15 - Immigrant workers are in the center of a national debate as President Bush advocates a guest-worker program and Congress pushes for increased border security and patrol. A new Economic Policy Institute report released today adds new insight by profiling the quiet force of worker centers - the fast-growing institution that uses advocacy and organization to assist these workers.  

Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream  - by Rutgers University professor and EPI research associate Janice Fine - looks comprehensively at 140 centers in 31 states to document how these locally-run, grassroots centers assist immigrant workers who face poor pay, bad working conditions, and few prospects to advance to better jobs. Fine profiles how these centers - which provide many services in areas such as workers' rights, labor law, and health care referrals - are changing the landscape of low-wage work and the labor market.

For more on the report, click here.

For the news release, click here.

For more on EPI research associate Janice Fine, click here.

For how to describe EPI, click here.

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