With only 1,500 federal Wage and Hour investigators and newly enacted large minimum wage and labor laws, there is a clear need for more employer accountability monitoring. Community groups, local leaders, grassroots organizers, and city governments have been working together in cities like San Francisco and Seattle which have enacted some of the newer worker protection laws. Workers are more likely to report violations to a community group they’re comfortable with rather than a government agency.
See "Washington has failed to enforce labor rights. Can cities step in?", Amy B. Dean, August 3, 2015