| WELCOME
EASTERN SERVICE WORKERS ASSOCIATION
ESWA was founded in 1976. We unite service workers, temporary workers and others who are low-income, including disabled, elderly and out-of-work workers, with allies such as students, professionals, clergy and congregations, and all those who want to be part of ending our poverty conditions. We are 100% volunteer run and independent of government funding.
JOIN
THE FIGHT TO
END POVERTY
Illustration by Zachary Pullen
Who Are Service Workers
Service workers labor in restaurants, grocery stores, nursing homes and retail stores, as well as working as childcare providers, security guards, construction workers, landscapers and home health aides. Many of these jobs are “gig” or part-time, requiring multiple jobs to survive. The United States has become a land of service work where factories are staffed by leased labor crews, temporary workers and so-called trainees from dead-end government “workfare” programs that do not offer permanent employment but simply replace the last group of social service recipients with the next.
VOICE OF THE WBC
ESWA Members Take Action Against Attacks on Workers
Membership delegates representing fellow members from the same occupation, worksite or neighborhood attend meetings of the Philadelphia Workers Benefit Council (WBC) to discuss and determine the practical actions necessary to advance their economic and political betterment. The campaigns listed below are examples of actions begun and led by the WBC.
| ELECTRICITY
Campaign for Affordable, Sustainable Energy for All
WBC delegates, ESWA members and volunteers unite with small business owners and professionals to form a strong voice to call on the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to do its job and protect ratepayers from skyrocketing utility rates, which generate enormous profits for PECO investors while low-income families are unable to keep up with their bills and face shutoffs.
| WATER
Campaign for Affordable Water and Stop the Shutoffs
ESWA members and their allies are leading a campaign to achieve affordable water and end water shutoffs plaguing low-income families in Philadelphia.
| SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Campaign for Sustainable Development and Decent, Productive Work for All
ESWA endorses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and demands the government fully implements the SDGs to meet the needs of the people of the U.S. and the world.
Illustration by Shawn Barber
Accomplishments
Yearly: ESWA volunteer advocates have stopped evictions with the assistance of volunteer attorneys.
Seasonally: Volunteer advocates assist dozens of ESWA members preventing shutoffs of electricity and water service, or restoring disconnected power to their homes.
Monthly: Volunteer dentists, doctors and nurses, assisted by volunteer lay advocates, provide free-of-charge non-emergency dental care and preventive medical check ups to members through donated dental appointments and monthly general medical sessions.
Weekly: ESWA members run supplemental food distributions of fresh and non-perishable food items.
Daily: ESWA provides a material manifestation of hope by uniting the most exploited workers along with allies from all sectors of our community through filling emergency food requests, providing organizer training and demonstrating how to fight and win collective victories.
Illustration by Shawn Barber
Accomplishments
Seasonally: Volunteer advocates assist dozens of ESWA members preventing shutoffs of electricity and water service, or restoring disconnected power to their homes.
Monthly: Volunteer dentists, doctors and nurses, assisted by volunteer lay advocates, provide free-of-charge non-emergency dental care and preventive medical check ups to members through donated dental appointments and monthly general medical sessions.
Weekly: ESWA members run supplemental food distributions of fresh and non-perishable food items.
Daily: ESWA provides a material manifestation of hope by uniting the most exploited workers along with allies from all sectors of our community through filling emergency food requests, providing organizer training and demonstrating how to fight and win collective victories.
