Community

Austin, Texas

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Workers Defense Project

Nash Gonzales grew up in Austin, Texas. His parents were migrant workers/laborers. As Nash was growing up, he personally experienced the sorrow and frustration which, even today, plagues the laborer communities and their families.

Nash would hear about how his parents and their friends would constantly have to fight for fair treatment and justice. After graduating from the Business School of the University of Texas at Austin, Nash decided to go to Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas. He wanted to become a lawyer in order to fight for his local community and help lift that sorrow and frustration that plagues the laborer community.

Nash is consistently in contact with the community through different venues in order to help the indigent and underprivileged who are in need, and fight for their rights. The Workers Defense Project ("the Project") has served as an invaluable avenue for connecting with those Hispanics who have experienced injustice and desperately need help.

The Project was founded in August, 2002, by employees and volunteers of Casa Marianella, a local shelter, to address the problem of unpaid wages for Austin's low-wage workers. Nash has partnered with the Project in order to maximize its impact on the community.

The Project is a worker center and a part of a national movement of organizations that seek to provide low-wage workers with the resources they need to fight and eradicate hazardous and unsafe working conditions. The Project provides a source of power and hope for many low-wage workers who do not have access to resources in order to improve their living and working conditions. It is one of the few organizations in Texas which work to address the workplace abuse faced by low-wage workers. Additionally, the project is the most established worker center in the region.

It is the Project's belief that those who have experienced oppression first hand are the ones who should lead social justice movements because these individuals are intentionally excluded from the decision-making processes that most strongly affects their lives. The Project creates participatory structures where worker leaders, those directly affected by workplace injustice, serve on a board of directors, and where workers themselves make important campaign and administrative decisions. The Project provides a ten (10) week Leadership Development course and periodic advanced trainings for its members.

Nash Gonzales is actively involved with the Project. He helps by representing workers who are injured or have unpaid wages. Nash also donates funds in order to support long-term survival and success of the organization.