Black Workers & The Unions

...The NALC grew out of the discussions of black trade unionists at the 1958 and 1959 NAACP conventions and was strengthened by a well-publicized debate between A. Philip Randolph and George Meany at the 1959 AFL–CIO Convention...

...These seniority arrangements were not caused entirely by unions, of course, but collective bargaining formalized such arrangements, and white CIO members vigorously resisted their elimination...

...They came also from liberal and Left intellectuals...

...Black trade unionists have been particularly influential in internal union affairs in such places as New Orleans, Memphis, and Miami, where there are local Randolph Clubs...

...no one could say exactly how many Negroes should be hired or admitted to unions...

...Their experiences certainly have been more useful in this regard than those of black professionals or businessmen who apparently are at least as biased against manual workers as most middle-class whites...

...In his famous Atlanta Exposition address in 1895, Washington advised Negroes to shun politics and acquire the necessary skills to meet the competition of white workers...

...It will, however, be extremely difficult to translate the Randolph Institute's philosophy into an effective national program that would make possible an effective coalition...

...The white workers likely to show the greatest resistance to blacks on the job are those who feel their work should have higher status than generally accorded by public opinion...

...Yet a cooperative relationship between the CIO and the Negro community soon proved mutually beneficial...

...The most viable black labor organizations have been those working within the labor movement, such as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, formed originally by A. Philip Randolph and a group of Socialists in 1925...

...For example, while most white workers are apparently convinced that people should not be economically disadvantaged solely because of race, they clearly disagree with Negroes over the extent to which racial discrimination is responsible for the black workers' economic disadvantages...

...With few exceptions, such as A. Philip Randolph, the black press rarely gives much attention to black trade union leaders...

...Despite this neglect, black unionists are in an excellent position to provide economic and political leadership...

...Nor do we know the extent to which the mood of union members differs from that of white nonunion workers...

...They know only that manual jobs have lower status than professional occupations and therefore should require little formal preparation...

...Black professionals also are prepared by their own experiences to exaggerate racism in the labor movement...

...Blacks hold elected positions at almost every level in these unions and often exercise considerable influence in internal affairs, even if rarely in proportion to the black union membership...

...Third, many of the frustrations of various racial and ethnic groups are based on fear...

...But the most serious problem for Negroes in the CIO was that of segregated seniority lines which restricted Negroes to menial and disagreeable jobs...

...At this writing, neither the Philadelphia Plan nor the "hometown" plans have been greatly successful...

...To some extent, intellectual and middle-class whites are likely to exhibit stronger biases against white workers than they do toward blacks, from whom they are largely insulated...

...Indeed, the election of blacks to political office on a scale unprecedented since Reconstruction and the growing political power of blacks have had a perceptible impact on Southern politicians...

...Conflict over this concept resulted in part from its lack of operational precision...

...While emphasizing that it was good unionism to organize regardless of race, creed, or color, he finally decided that it was better to organize blacks and whites into segregated locals than not to organize at all...

...There is little doubt that the social and economic problems confronting manual workers in general, and poor workers in particular, will require concerted national programs...

...In order to appeal to the large numbers of Negroes in the mass production industries, the CIO adopted an equalitarian policy at the outset...

...Neighborhoods in transition also seem to be characterized by high rates of crime, inflicted to some degree on the families of white workers although blacks themselves clearly bear the heaviest burden...

...The TULC therefore sought to strengthen the influence of black trade unionists, to increase union support for civil rights objectives, and to promote union causes in the black community...

...When white workers use the term "racism" or "discrimina tion," they are likely to mean specific overt acts...

...One such local organization was the Trade Union Leadership Council (TULC), organized in Detroit in 1957 and strongly influenced by black leaders within the United Auto Workers...

...Historically, labor unions have mainly been controlled by whites, with a few exceptions such as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and some black locals in the Carpenters, Longshoremen, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Laborers, and Musicians...

...A major cause of conflict between white union members and black workers has been union control of jobs...

...The Randolph Institute programalso will RAY MARSHALL depend on the black trade unionists' ability to gain support within the black community...

...One of the most important controversies over preferential treatment in the building trades came in the summer of 1969, when the Department of Labor issued a plan for government contractors in the Philadelphia construction industry requiring builders to "set specific goals of minority manpower utilization...

...Indeed, it probably requires a high level of abstract sophistication to feel a personal sense of guilt for racial discrimination...

...In view of widespread union discrimination, it was perhaps natural for such Negro leaders as Booker T. Washington to ally themselves with powerful employers who were willing to cooperate with them to obtain a steady supply of cheap, nonunion labor...

...By World War I Negro–AFL relations were, to say the least, strained...

...The CIO's efforts to gain support among Negroes included financial contributions to such organizations as the NAACP and Negro churches and newspapers...

...The Southern Negro community also produced its own civil rights organizations and business and professional leaders, and while in general Negroes were relegated to inferior occupational positions, they had some good jobs at least within the Negro community...

...The merger was accompanied by increasing tensions between blacks and the labor movement, not because of a deterioration of the position of black trade unionists (the AFL– CIO's civil rights position was much stronger than that of the CIO had been, and two Negroes were elected to the AFL–CIO Executive Council), but because the black community grew more and more impatient with discrimination...

...Public officials and other opinion molders can moderate conflict between black and white workers by recognizing a number of realities...

...Union leaders argued that the PhiIadelphia Plan would not guarantee jobs for blacks in the construction industry because it would be possible for contractors merely to meet their requirements by moving black workers from nonfederal to federal projects...

...The tendency to blame white racism for the Negroes' plight has therefore generated hostility among whites who might concede that blacks face institutionalized segregation but who nevertheless do not consider themselves personally responsible...

...Moreover, some CIO locals barred Negroes from membership, and others permitted segregated locals...

...This position, however, did not go unopposed within the black community...

...All this remains to be done...

...Community race sentiments, as reflected in legislation, influence the attitudes of white union members toward race relations within unions...

...but it was convinced that such pressure as that imposed by the Philadelphia Plan was necessary in order to get unions and contractors to adopt so-called voluntary plans...

...Historically, these white-dominated unions have been used to ration scarce job opportunities to particular groups of white workers, and the black unions were successful where there were already large numbers of black workers before the unions came on the scene...

...Ideologies — Conflict over Civil Rights Policy The AFL–CIO merger coincided with ideological attacks on unions from a number of quarters...

...The concept of "affirmative action" to be undertaken by government contractors was a particularly important source of conflict...

...In turn, this growth of black political power created leverage with which black leaders could accelerate racial changes in the South that, in the long run, might be even more important than those in the North...

...Therefore, unless training enables blacks to meet job qualifications, a tight labor market will not necessarily help unemployed black workers...

...In some ways, the 296 Negro's position was worse in the North...

...degrees, while condemning electricians for requiring four years, mostly spent at work, for apprenticeships...

...Ironically, however, no black leader in the CIO could match A. Philip Randolph's stature in the Negro community, even though his union was affiliated with the AFL...

...There was some apprehension among Negroes in the CIO that the new federation would be dominated by white AFL leaders...

...Nor did these attacks come entirely from labor's traditional enemies on the Right...

...Black leaders were not much impressed with the argument that many Negro workers preferred segregation, since corruption and Communism would not have been permitted just because local members preferred it...

...antiunion sentiments were deeply embedded among the black bourgeoisie...

...Black union leaders were reminded by the Negro press that the AFL–CIO admitted unions whose constitutions restricted membership to whites...

...Although unions had RAY MARSHALL played a vital role in the passage of civil rights legislation, they have been critical of some of the ways this legislation has been implemented...

...This, however, is not an argument against special programs making it possible for blacks to meet the same entry-level qualifications and performance standards required of all workers...

...For example, union members on the whole were slightly more favorably inclined than Percent Percent in Non- in Union unionists (3,214) Members (575) Yes 59.4 63.8 No 32.4 27.5 Not Sure 8.2 8.7 BLACK WORKERS & THE UNIONS 297 others toward passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as indicated by the Gallup Poll of December 31, 1963, which asked, "Would you like to see Congress pass the Civil Rights Act (1964...

...It is therefore not surprising that many young Negro males resorted to militancy and revolutionary rhetoric in order to protest their conditions and assert their manhood...

...The extent of this resistance will be determined by whether programs developed to equalize job opportunities for blacks recognize the fears and interests of whites...

...From the inception of the AFL in 1886, Samuel Gompers and its other leaders were committed to organizing without regard to race or religion...

...White unionists can naturally be expected to resist measures that threaten their job security...

...Since, according to this view, the labor movement openly supports the capitalist system, it also helps sustain the racism that is part of that system...

...Following this principle, unions, contractors, and civil rights organizations in Chicago and other cities developed the socalled hometown plans, based on outreach and voluntary negotiation concepts...

...Antiunionism has been encouraged by the black press, which tended for the most part to be economically conservative and nonunion...

...Good trade unionism requires equality of all workers on the job, while a strong neighborhood attachment can mean trying to keep outsiders with a different culture from encroaching on community institutions and undermining property values...

...For its part, the Labor Department did not object to such plans and, indeed, seemed to have a preference for them...

...It is equally important for unions to build programs that prevent employers' playing off black and white workers against each other...

...For example, many white workers have considerable investments in their homes and feel that neighborhood integration would cause a deterioration in real estate values...

...At the time of their merger in 1956, the AFL probably had at least as many black members as the CIO...

...Unlike AFL craft unions, the CIO's unions had no control over employment and therefore had to organize black employees if they wanted to succeed in collective bargaining...

...A number of developments caused relations between many black trade unionists and the AFL–CIO to improve markedly during the early 1960s...

...AFL–CIO affiliates in the skilled trades barred Negroes from membership by informal means or permitted blacks to be organized into segregated locals...

...White workers cannot build lasting economic security at the expense of black workers, and lasting economic security for blacks cannot be built at the expense of white workers...

...At the national level, A. Philip Randolph and other black trade unionists organized the Negro–American Labor Council (NALC) in 1960 to pursue objectives similar to those of the TULC...

...During the 1960s radical blacks attacked black leaders who were attempting to work within the labor movement...

...Black and white trade unionists therefore consider union-blackliberal coalitions to have increasing promise in the South, as the Republican party gains power and splits the white vote along economic lines...

...298 RAY MARSHALL But the implications of this problem are not limited to the class or status feelings of white manual workers...

...Indeed, even such otherwise excellent sources as The American Negro Reference Book, edited by John P. Davis, have almost no reference to black trade unionists or the role of unions and collective bargaining in advancing Negro interests...

...These leaders reject black separatism as unworkable...

...The lessons learned to date, however, make it clear that the outreach concept—whereby special organizations recruit, tutor, and place minorities into jobs or training positions—has been the single most successful way of getting blacks into construction jobs...

...Although there is no way of knowing its current intensity, the black middle class, historically, has had strong anti-union sentiments...

...The transformation of the Negro population from rural Southern to urban Northern is one of the most significant developments in Ameri can history...

...The success of the Randolph Institute's program will depend in part on its ability to organize black trade unionists into a political force with sufficient power to produce tangible changes in the lives of black people...

...When the AFL–CIO merger was being discussed in the mid-1950s, black trade unionists BLACK WORKERS & THE UNIONS held a number of meetings in major cities to exert influence on the civil rights policies of the new organization...

...Our needs are identical with labor's needs—decent wages, fair working con ditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community...

...and the service of its leaders in such organizations as the NAACP and the National Urban League...

...To some extent, this is a problem of semantics...

...even civil rights organizations were more under the control of white liberals than was the case in the South...

...There are probably between 2.5 and 2.75 million black union members in the United States, about half of whom are concentrated in the South...

...I am persuaded that it was entirely correct to give priority to black employment problems, because this was and is our most disadvantaged group...

...And while white workers also were extensively used to break strikes in these industries, Negroes, seeming far more conspicuous, were far more resented...

...This occurs because different sets of forces determine behavior in each circumstance...

...In the construction industry it is much more important to be attached to the labor market than to a specific job...

...This, in turn, caused many unions and white workers to conclude that the federal government was determined to give Negroes preferential treatment over whites...

...What is not clear is the extent to which these attitudes were racially inspired or were a reflection of economic forces...

...Tensions among blacks, intellectuals, and white workers are infused with considerable class prejudice in that the conflict over job equality is partly a conflict over job status...

...Because of attachments to their neighborhoods and their unions, some ethnic groups have demonstrated what seems an inconsistent pattern of strong pro-Negro attitudes on the job and in the union and strong anti-Negro attitudes in neighborhoods...

...Finally, it seems fairly certain that black political power will increase, even though blacks rarely will be effective in separatist movements...

...Although it is difficult to generalize, black union leaders rarely seem to have high status in the black community...

...For blacks racism often means institutionalized behavior patterns that make it difficult for blacks to upgrade themselves...

...In contrast to only 12 percent in 1910 and 26 percent in 1930, by 1970 over half of all American Negroes lived outside the states that had made up the Confederacy, and over 90 percent of employed Negroes worked outside agriculture...

...Although some observers claim to see evidence of "backlash" in white worker attitudes, the opinion polls give mixed results...

...Since both Abraham Lincoln and many of these employers, espe cially in the North, were Republicans, it was equally natural for black leaders to be Repub licans, creating another source of conflict with the predominantly Democratic unions...

...To cope with this problem, those entrusted with enforcing equal opportunity provisions of government contracts often implied that employers and unions were expected to meet racial quotas...

...A high point came when Martin Luther King, Jr., said at the 1961 AFL–CIO Convention: Negroes are almost entirely a working people...

...Intellectuals are inclined to romanticize blacks, much as they romanticized workers at an earlier time...

...John L. Lewis's United Mine Workers had long had a favorable reputation among Negroes because of its steadfast refusal to sanction discrimination...

...Its philosophy is that Negroes need the help of large sectors of the white community, especially of the unions, in order to bring about the kinds of institutional reforms that will make a difference in the lives of most blacks...

...The black trade unionists' successes in the South undoubtedly are largely the result of growing black political strength in that region and of the fact that Southern black unionists operate in political climates where liberal forces have been weak and unstructured, thereby giving greater influence to any well-organized group...

...Washington and other Negro leaders were convinced that the profit motive and economic productivity would overcome racism and gain respect for Negroes...

...The latter were concerned about what they considered the decline of black union influence in the UAW after Walter Reuther consolidated his leadership...

...Because it had broader social objectives and less economic power than the AFL, the CIO also needed Negro support for its legislative programs...

...Even when it contains inadequate enforcement powers, civil rights legislation is important because it establishes a positive influence for racial equality...

...which might have influenced attitudes on the speed of racial progress...

...The urban environment, North and South, raised the Negro's aspirations and caused him to demand equal education, civil rights, and job opportunities...

...In the South, the targets for civil rights groups were fairly open and easily understood, whereas in the North, institutionalized racism was more subtle and more difficult to combat...

...Such special programs can do a great deal to overcome the effects of institutionalized discrimination...

...But whether this is possible or not, efforts should be made to avoid appealing to the racist attitudes of blacks or whites...

...There is no denying the political potential of the black trade unionist, especially in the South...

...They were also very much concerned about neighborhood integration, especially in the North...

...The rationale behind this concept was a conviction held by government officials and some black leaders that the mere elimination of overt discrimination would lead to relatively limited advances by Negroes...

...Not only have Randolph and the BSCP worked within the union movement to advance the interests of black workers, but it exercised an influence far out of proportion to its numbers...

...The difference, of course, was Randolph's record in fighting for Negro rights and the fact that his organization was made up almost exclusively of blacks, making it possible for him simultaneously to promote Negro and trade union objectives without alienating his constituency...

...And many blacks, in this last decade of militant assertiveness, were convinced that union leaders were not doing all they could to eradicate racism within their organizations...

...On race questions the black community is united, but when it comes to economics, splits are likely to develop...

...As a consequence, black trade unionists have organized themselves within unions in order to get blacks elected to union positions, to overcome discrimination, and to promote Negro and union objectives...

...Getting blacks registered is not the same as getting them to vote or electing candidates who will fight for programs to really improve the workers' lot...

...There is much evidence of a sense of frustra tion among white workers but we do not know the extent to which this mood is produced by racial factors and the extent to which it has other causes...

...300 Black and white trade unionists now are brought closer together by the rapid growth of black political power in the South, which has resulted from voter registration drives and the Voting Rights Act of 1965...

...Academic whites often see no inconsistency in demanding four-year requirements for B.A...

...The transition to political action will require black and white leaders who are able to move from protest to programs...

...The Negro's sense of frustration and powerlessness in the ghetto produced a resurgence of black nationalist feeling, especially among Negro males suffering from unemployment, underemployment, and unjust welfare systems...

...The AFL-CIO Merger When the AFL and CIO merged, race relations in America were in considerable ferment, caused largely by the results of the black migration out of the rural South...

...All this is not meant to imply that CIO units automatically followed equalitarian policies while all AFL locals discriminated against and were shunned by Negroes...

...It is therefore too simple to brand the white worker a racist because he is concerned about adequate protection or the value of his house...

...Some left-wing critics considered discrimination to be closely related to the labor movement's other defects...

...Workers are more likely to be concerned with concrete circumstances than with abstractions...

...In the North, on the other hand, Negroes controlled very few institutions...

...The Institute has organized 50 local Randolph Clubs in 30 states and is in the process of strengthening these affiliates and of organizing new ones, especially in the South...

...Although law does not automatically change conduct, it undoubtedly causes a shift toward the sentiments expressed by the legislation...

...Tight labor markets operate much faster to change the demand conditions than to generate supplies of labor in order to meet the demand...

...But public programs for the disadvantaged erred in not considering the legitimate concerns of white workers...

...The extent to which Negroes were used as strikebreakers probably has been exaggerated, but blacks did play an important role before the 1930s in meat packing, steel, coal and ore mining, automobiles, and railroads as strikebreakers...

...Percent in PerPer-Union cent in cent in Mem- Percent in TeamTotal bers AFL-CIO sters Too Fast 61 69 63 66 Too Slow 9 6 6 4 About RightNot Sure 20 10 18 6 24 6 11 19 These figures suggest that many union members who favored the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also thought that Negroes had tried to "move too fast," although this too is far from conclusive, because the responses are not controlled for other factors (income, education, region, etc...

...In the South most of the strongest local unions—those in printing, railroad, and construction crafts—were controlled by whites, even though blacks have had some locals of craftsmen in the travel trades, laborers, and longshoremen...

...Although Negroes had inferior status in the South, they were able to develop institutions—schools, churches, professional and fraternal organizations, and unions—which they controlled within the limits imposed by institutionalized segregation...

...others, on myth...

...The leaders of black opinion have been primarily preachers, professionals, and sometimes businessmen catering to the black community...

...Much depends on whether people are able to take advantage of job opportunities as they become available...

...Randolph has been instrumental in establishing a variety of black labor organizations formed for such diverse purposes as saving the jobs of railroad workers threatened by discriminating unions, promoting black civil rights interests, and leading the March on Washington movement which forced Franklin D. Roosevelt to create the first Fair Employment Practices Committee...

...Militant white racists were, at the same time, attempting to counteract labor's support of Negro organizations and programs...

...the adoption of equalitarian racial policies...

...Negro Labor Organizations By now, there is a long history of black workers organizing themselves to promote their interests within the labor movement...

...For one thing, few other leaders of any other American institution, including universities and churches, have experienced as close a relationship with whites as have black unionists...

...Relations between unions and blacks were also strained by differences over the enforcement of civil rights measures...

...Contractors were therefore required to take "affirmative action" to ensure that Negroes were recruited for jobs or upgraded into positions from which they had previously been excluded...

...A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Norman Hill formed a new movement in 1964 to organize black trade unionists in the A. Philip Randolph Institute...

...This is one reason for the resistance to blacks by craft unions in the building, printing, and railroad crafts...

...Moreover, getting blacks organized into unions is not the same as negotiating good contracts...

...White Workers At the beginning of the 1970s, many white trade unionists were hostile to racial quota or "goal" systems and other such programs...

...Middle-class critics are convinced that it does not take four years to become an electrician, although few of them know much about the jobs they are criticizing...

...The second is that programs must be built which pay careful attention to the legitimate interests of the various groups while counteracting demands that are racially motivated...

...Moreover, the pervasive influence of the ghetto had a debilitating effect on blacks, unmatched by the simpler problems of the rural South...

...Regardless of short-run consequences, this kind of "preferential treatment" will in the long run perpetuate inequality...

...Randolph demanded that the AFL–CIO take action against unions that permitted segregated locals...

...Nevertheless, I am persuaded that a number of conclusions would survive careful documen tation...

...Perhaps the myths can be overcome by presenting factual evidence...

...Some of these had backed unions during the 1930s but became disenchanted because of what they saw as the labor movement's willingness to accept the "establishment...

...The first of these is that hostile racism, whether black or white, must consistently be challenged...

...This is particularly likely to be true where demands are made for quotas or preferential treatment—especially if these cause Negroes with less than minimal qualifications to be hired ahead of qualified whites in order to compensate for past discrimination...

...And these programs are not likely to be adopted without racial unity among all workers...

...The positive role of law will be undermined if it is incompatible with underlying political reality or fundamental concepts of justice...

...One of the main influences of law is to fix moral authority for various practices...

...Some of these organizations have been made up of local craftsmen in a particular industry—such as construction, the railroads, and longshoring—where white-controlled unions would not accept black workers on equal terms...

...After 1935 the CIO challenged AFL affili ates, causing them to relax some of their racial restrictions...

...There are pitifully few Negro millionaires and few employers...

...Negroes are therefore likely to make their greatest progress during periods of tight labor markets...

...This urbanization increased the Negroes' po litical power, especially in the North where they had the right to vote and could maneuver within the two-party system...

...Neither of these movements gained more than local support, though the black separatists were able to form a few dual unions in isolated places, and some trade unionists were drawn to George Wallace during the 1968 election...

...This is not to argue that a tight labor market would be a sufficient cause for black economic progress...

...However, a later poll taken by Louis Harris (April 15, 1968) found that union and nonunion workers responded as follows to the question, "Have Negroes tried to move too fast...

...Local black construction workers' organizations currently exist in a number of major cities...

...How important is race in the constellation of factors that produce dissatisfaction in white manual workers in general and union members in particular...

...It is extremely shortsighted, in my opinion, for higher income groups to think they can solve the nation's domestic problems by playing off one group of workers against the other...

...The program advocated by the Randolph In stitute seems to me to be soundly conceived, even though it is far from certain that it will succeed...

...The two most dynamic and cohesive liberal forces in the country are the labor movement and the Negro freedom movement...

...I say "apparently" because the role of black trade unionists in the black community is a matter that needs much greater exploration than it has received...

...Although the Department of Labor declared that these specific goals were "not intended and shall not be used to discriminate against any qualified applicant or employee," the Philadelphia Plan was widely criticized by contractors and unions as requiring quotas and preferential treatment...

...While the NAACP and the NUL remained skeptical of the AFL even during the 1930s, their leaders urged Negroes to join the CIO...

...Blacks are likely to give heavy weight to discrimination, while whites assign more weight to "qualification...

...Ideologically Gompers never abandoned his opposition to excluding Negroes from AFL unions, but during the 1890s he apparently surrendered to the reality of racial discrimination...

...Meany defended the admission of the ILA and the "right" of blacks to maintain their own unions...

...The underlying issue was the priority to be given civil rights and trade union objectives, but the formal issue was the admission of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) to the AFL–CIO in spite of ILA's record of segregation...

...The first is that there is likely to be BLACK WORKERS & THE UNIONS very little resistance by whites to further advances by blacks on the job...