Organization and Structure

The Washtenaw County Worker Center (WCWC) is lead by our Executive Board. The Executive Board has three committees:

 The Programming and Organizing Committee is in charge of community outreach efforts, worker trainings, planning our membership meetings, and developing our campaign goals and strategies.

The Executive Board

The members of the Executive Board are chosen annually at a monthly Workers' Rights Committee meeting, which are open to all members of the WCWC. Board members are nominated and approved by members.

The Executive Board is a diverse group of community and university members that fill many roles including functioning as volunteer staff, trainers, advocates, and researchers.

We cannot work alone. We draw upon the resources and advice of local allies and organizations such as ROC-Michigan, the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, the University of Michigan’s Labor Studies Center and National Center for Institutional Diversity, the Lecturers’ Employee Organization (LEO), the Graduate Employees’ Organization (both of the University of Michigan), and United Auto Workers Local 849 (Ypsilanti). 

We also work with national organizations such as Domestic Workers United, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the Interfaith Worker Justice network of workers’ centers, and the AFL-CIO.

Please see our Partners page for brief descriptions of, and links to, these partner organizations.

Executive Board Member Bios

Maya Barak began working with the WCWC as a volunteer doing surveys with workers. She was later hired and worked as lead organizer coordinating general operations and the Household Worker Organizing Project (HOP). She stepped down from her position in the fall of 2010 in order to focus on her Masters program in Criminology at Eastern Michigan University, but has remained involved with the WCWC as a board member.

Jason Kosnoski has been on the WCWC Board since 2007.  He is currently Co-Chair of the Executive Committee.  He is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan—Flint, where he teaches political theory and labor studies.  Prior to this he taught political science to both college students and working union members in community colleges, labor education programs, and four-year institutions.  He helped to found COCAL (the Coalition for Contingent Academic Labor), an organization dedicated to advocacy for part-time faculty.  He has worked closely with the Hotel and Restaurant Worker’s Union (HERE) on organizing and community campaigns in New York City and California.  In the past, he has been active in JFREJ (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice), Jobs With Justice, and was a participant in the Union Summer Program of the AFL-CIO.  He holds a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research.

Rev. Rey Mondragon has been serving as the associate Pastor at the Ypsilanti First United Methodist Church since July of 2008. Originally from Mexico, Pastor Rey has a big heart for and is very passionate about social justice. He joined the Board of Directors in early 2011.

Lynn Nybell has been on our Board since the Spring of 2009, and currently serves on our Organizing Committee.  She is professor of Social Work at Eastern Michigan University.  She has an M.S.W. and a Ph.D degree in Anthropology and Social Work from University of Michigan. She has served on the Executive Committee and Negotiating Team of the EMU-AAUP, which serves as the bargaining unit for EMU faculty.

Ian Robinson has been involved in the WCWC since its formation in 2006.  He is Co-Chair of the Executive Committee, and also serves on the Organizing and Fundraising committees. He has worked for many years with U.S., Canadian and Mexican academics and union activists who seek to build stronger, more democratic unions and labor movements.  Ian is a Lecturer and Research Scientist in the Residential College’s Social Theory and Practice program and in the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan.  His degrees are from Queen’s University in Canada (B.A.), Oxford University (M.Phil.), and Yale University (Ph.D.).  He helped to organize and lead the Lecturers' Employee Organization (LEO) -- the union of nontenure-track faculty at the university -- and is currently the Chair of its Solidarity Committee and a member of its Bargaining Committee.

Joe Walls has been on the WCWC Board since April 2010, and has been the WCWC's Treasurer since July. He teaches in the Business School of the University of Michigan. Joe has been active in UM's union of nontenure-track faculty (LEO) since its formation, serving as Secretary on LEO's Union Council for two years, and on all three of LEO's bargaining teams. Joe is also active in his church, the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Ann Arbor. For the last five years, he has served as Treasurer on the church's Board of Trustees.

Staff Bios

Jasmine Franco has been involved with the workers’ center for a long time: first as a member, then as volunteer and is now a community organizer. She recently graduated from Huron High School and is now attending Washtenaw Community College. Her family used to work in the area and attend WCWC meetings and is very excited to be involved with us. She grew up in the immigrant community and wants better laws to protect them. She hopes to become a pediatrician and help children all over the world. Read more about Jasmine at: http://www.annarbor.com/news/homeless-after-parents-deported/.

Marisa Huston began work with the WCWC in the summer of 2010 and is now lead organizer. She recently graduated from Beloit College with a B.A. in Anthropology and Religious Studies. She spent a semester studying abroad in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. She is passionate about social justice and immigrant rights. She hopes to attend graduate school sometime within the next few years to study human rights.

Yesenia Pineda is our newest staff member. She became involved with the WCWC through our summer ESL classes. She was interested in the work of the WCWC and began volunteering her time doing outreach and collecting household worker surveys. She has recently moved to Ypsilanti with her family and is excited to become more connected to her new community!