List of NATLFED entities

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According to a public statement issued by the National Labor Federation in the late 1970s,

The National Labor Federation (NATLFED) is an organization of small worker associations encompassing over 20 organizing drives in various parts of the United States. Organizing drives exist in Oakland, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Orange County, San Diego and Redding, California under the auspices of the Western Service Workers Association, on Long Island and in Binghamton and Wayne County, New York under the auspices of the Eastern Farm Workers Association, in New Brunswick, Princeton, Atlantic City, New Jersey; Rochester, Albany, Buffalo, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; Philadelphia under the auspices of the Eastern Service Workers Association, Medford and Eugene, Oregon under the Northwest Seasonal Workers Association, in Massachusetts, under the Western Massachusetts Labor Alliance and in many other areas. They are dedicated to the organization of the approximately 47 million unrecognized workers in the United States so far excluded from any of the somewhat dubious benefits of the National Labor Relations Act.[1]

The organizations listed below have been reported as the associations (called entities) which comprise NATLFED. The individual organizations have usually been open about their participation in the network.[2][3]

Almost all of the NATLFED entities were listed in the publication Invest Yourself between 1984 and the mid-1990s:

The descriptions of them--there are 38 in all--read very similarly: they are said to be "mutual benefits associations," providing the necessities of life to "the lowest paid strata" of unorganized workers, while applying a strategy of "systemic organizing" to produce "permanent change" in their conditions. They all say as well that volunteers need no experience; they will be trained by professional organizers. [4]

Invest Yourself:A Catalog of Volunteer Opportunities, published by the Commission on Voluntary Service and Action, once listed about forty organizations affiliated with NATLFED.
Invest Yourself:A Catalog of Volunteer Opportunities, published by the Commission on Voluntary Service and Action, once listed about forty organizations affiliated with NATLFED.

NATLFED entities conduct door-to-door canvassing and operate assistance programs for the poor[3]; they have also been called by watchdog groups and government agencies "one of the country's most extreme and controlling political cults."[5]

[edit] Currently Active NATLFED entities

  • Alaska Workers Association [3] (Anchorage, Alaska)
  • Bay Area Alternative Press [6] (Berkeley, California)
  • Berkshire County Fuel Committee[2][7](Pittsfield, Massachusetts)
  • California Committee of Friends and Relatives of Prisoners [8](California)
  • California Homemakers Association [9] (Sacramento, California)
  • Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals [4][7] (Sacramento, California, New York City, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) (publishes Verdict and The Gavel)
  • Coalition of Concerned Medical Professionals [4] (Central Valley/Redding, Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton, California; Bellport, Riverhead, Brooklyn, New York)
  • Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party (Oakland, California) (Publishes The Commemorator) [10]
  • Commission on Voluntary Service and Action[11](New York City, New York) (Publishes Invest Yourself: The Catalog of Volunteer Opportunities) This entity is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
  • Committee for South African Solidarity (San Francisco, Sacramento, California) (Publishes The South Africans Beacon)[10]
  • Eastern Farm Workers Association[3][12](Bellport, Lyons, Riverhead, Sodus, Syracuse, New York)
  • Eastern Service Workers Association[12][13](Boston, Roxbury, Massachusetts; Atlantic City, New Brunswick, South Amboy, Pleasantville, Somerset, Trenton, New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York)
  • Friends of Seasonal and Service Workers[14] (Portland, Oregon)
  • Jackson County Fuel Committee [14][7] (Ashland, Oregon)
  • Mid-Ohio Workers Association (Columbus, Ohio)
  • Midwest Workers Association (Chicago, Illinois)
  • National Equal Justice Association[12][7] (San Diego, San Francisco, California; New York City, Riverhead, New York)
  • Northwest Seasonal Workers Association[14] (Medford, Oregon)
  • Physicians Organizing Committee (San Francisco, California)[10]
  • Western Farm Workers Association[3](Stockton, Yuba City, California)
  • Western Massachusetts Labor Action[2][7] (Pittsfield, Massachusetts)
  • Western Service Workers Association[9] (Anaheim, Oakland, Central Valley/Redding, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Watsonville California)
  • Women's Press Collective[15][12] (South Brooklyn, New York) (Publishes Collective Endeavor) (distinct from the Women's Press Collective of Oakland, California)
  • Workers Community Service Center (Sacramento, California)[7]

[edit] Other names

The following names have been listed as NATLFED-run organizations in the past. Some are alternate names for active organizations and offices, others are likely defunct.

  • Alianza Campesina (Modesto, CA)[16]
  • Ashland Community Service Center[14] (Ashland, OR)
  • Association of Financial Aid Students[4] [7](Dayton, Shaker Heights, OH)
  • Boston Committee for Community Arts (Boston, MA)[8]
  • Carroll Street Properties (New York; owner of NATLFED's Brooklyn Headquarters)[16]
  • Citizens for Migrant Workers [6][7](Northport, King's Park, NY)
  • Citizens Relief Committee (Philadelphia, PA)[16]
  • Committee for Community Health and Safety (Trenton, NJ)[7]
  • Committee of Friends and Relatives of Prisoners [6] (Bellport, Riverhead, NY)
  • Earth Shock Committee (Oakland, Watsonville, CA)[8]
  • Finger Lakes Equal Justice Association (Rochester, NY)[7]
  • National Foundation for Alternative Resources[11] (NY)
  • Gregorio Duarte Memorial Oakland Community Service and Health Center (Oakland, CA)[7]
  • Junior Eason Riverhead Community Service and Health Center[17][7] (Riverhead, NY)
  • Long Island Alternative Press[6][7](King's Park/Smithtown, NY)
  • Long Island Equal Justice Association[6] (Riverhead, NY)
  • New Jersey Labor Defense Committee (Trenton, NJ)[16]
  • Philadelphia Committee on the Community Arts[18] (Philadelphia, PA)
  • Philadelphia Community Service Center (Philadelphia, PA)[16]
  • Shasta County Community Service Center[9][7] (Central Valley/Redding, CA)
  • Shasta County Food Committee[9] (Central Valley/Redding, CA)
  • South/Central Los Angeles Benefits Office (Los Angeles, CA)[16]
  • Suffolk Committee for Community Arts[18] (Bellport, NY)
  • Temporary Workers Organizing Committee[13][7] (New Brunswick, NJ)
  • Texas Farm Workers Union[9][7] (Pharr, Hildago, TX)
  • Vivian Cooper Community Service Center/Trenton Community Service Center[13][7] (Trenton, NJ)
  • Workers Benefit Council (Alameda County, CA; Rochester, NY)[16]
  • Writers and Scholars Institute (Princeton, NJ)[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sociology and the Unregcognized Worker. National Labor Federation. (pamphlet, no isbn, no date, late 1970s)
  2. ^ a b c "Dedicated and Dreamy" The Berkshire Eagle August 3-August 5,1984
  3. ^ a b c d e Bryson, George. "Working It; Volunteers try to build an independent organization supporting low-paid employees." Anchorage Daily News (Anchorage, AK) April 18, 2003.
  4. ^ a b c d Fager, Chuck. "The Edge of Right" City Paper (Philadelphia, PA) October 22, 1983 – November 7, 1983.
  5. ^ Moran, Kevin and Carrie Saldo. "Past cult link dogs aid-for-poor group". North Adams Transcript January 10, 2003.
  6. ^ a b c d e Rosenfeld, Neil S. et al. "Group Raided By FBI Called Harmless Cult". Newsday. February 19, 1984.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Lyles, Jean Caffey. "The NATLFED entities". The Christian Century. July 20 – 27, 1983. p 677.
  8. ^ a b c d Susan G. Angus, ed. (1991). Invest Yourself: the catalog of volunteer opportunities: a guide to action. Commission on Voluntary Service and Action. ISBN 0962932205. 
  9. ^ a b c d e Rauber, Paul Shadow Politics East Bay Express May 18, 1984.
  10. ^ a b c Susan G. Angus, ed. (2001). Invest Yourself: the catalog of volunteer opportunities: a guide to action. Commission on Voluntary Service and Action. ISBN 0962932256. 
  11. ^ a b Lyles, Jean Caffey. "How the Revolutionaries Conned the Bureaucrats". The Christian Century. July 20 – 27, 1983.
  12. ^ a b c d Sansegundo, Sheridan. "The Real Obituary Unfolds" East Hampton Star March 25, 1995.
  13. ^ a b c Ben-Ali, Russell. "Jersey Central to the Revolt that Wasn't" Star-Ledger (New Jersey) November 14, 1996.
  14. ^ a b c d Enriquez, Alberto. "Service Groups with Sinister Ties" Mail Tribune (Medford, OR) 12/1996
  15. ^ Resnick, Joshua. "Service Group Linked to "Cultic" Organization" Williams Record (Williamston, MA). October 3, 1995.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g NATLFED: Locations of Headquarters and Entities, an anti-natlfed website, composed in 1996 and relying heavily on Invest Yourself listings, listed these organizations as NATLFED fronts. Some of these may have never been more than names.
  17. ^ Smith, Don. "Key moves due in health center case" Newsday February 16, 1988.
  18. ^ a b Russakoff, Joe. "Doorway to a Cult?" City Paper (Philadelphia, PA) June 26 – July 3, 1987.