Blacks and the Unions

...Over the last fifty to sixty years the relationship between black labor and the union movement has changed drastically...

...It cites Bureau of Labor Statistics figures showing that nonwhite electricians accounted for 1.5 percent of employed electricians in 1960, while blacks accounted for 3 percent of employed electricians in 1970 and 4.8 percent in 1980...

...Michele M. Hoyman and Lamont Stallworth, "Participation in Local Unions: A Comparison of Black and White Members," Industrial and Labor Relations Review 40(3): 323-24, 330, April 1987...

...In 1987, black union workers earned an average of $387 per week, 51.8 percent more than black nonunion workers, who averaged only $255 per week...

...By the end of the decade, substantial change had begun...

...Black workers must continue to increase their union participation and help disseminate labor's agenda for economic justice in the black community...

...3 Michael Emerson Howard III, "Black Hardhats and the Elite Craft Trade Unions," Crisis 93(8):26, October 1986...

...5 Larry T. Adams, "Union Membership of Wage and Salary Employees in 1987," Current Wage Developments, vol...

...Because they were excluded to a considerable degree from the unions by racial practices, both black leaders and the masses of black workers had little use for the labor movement...

...This has been shown by a 1987 regression model analysis of the impact of right-to-work (RTW) legislation on the relative employment position of blacks...

...With the white baby boom generation now of working age, the black population is considerably younger than the white...

...And the proportion of blacks living in poverty jumped between 1986 and 1988 from 31.1 percent to 33.1 percent, while the percentage for whites during the same period declined from 11 percent to 10.5 percent...

...The study concludes that the positive relative employment impact of RTW laws for blacks is not large enough to compensate for its negative relative wage impact...

...The real income of single-wage-earner families was down about 5 percent and real hourly wages declined by 7 percent from 1979 to 1987...

...But these are usually low paying and nonunion jobs that provide little employment security...

...James L. Stern, "A Look Ahead at Public Sector Unionism," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol...

...New York: Basic Books, 1984) from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey...

...And the declining rate of unionization is one of the factors responsible (a decline in turn partially attributable to such administration actions as the appointment of antilabor members to the National Labor Relations Board and the firing of PATCO strikers...

...106, November 1983, pp...

...Consider the fact that in November 1988 in Mississippi black U.S...

...473, May 1984, pp...

...Also, consider the fact that in the presidential campaign, Mike Dukakis was unable to make headway until— too late—he began to orient his campaign around the traditional Democratic issues that have brought together working-class blacks and whites with the more liberal-minded section of the middle class in a winning coalition...

...Even this article, however, notes gains in these trades...

...Blacks must be disturbed about the fact that under the Reagan administration they lost economic ground relative to whites...

...That is only 56.1 percent of the average white family's income, the lowest percentage since 1967...

...Those conducting the study hypothesize that as racial barriers come down, blacks first participate in the informal activities and that as they gain benefits, they move on to the formal ones...

...At this point in our history black and white workers are both hurting, only blacks more so...

...For the chronically employed underclass, more than the availability of education is needed to break the cycle of unemployment...

...This, they conclude, may represent the same barrier to the top that blacks face in business and politics...

...500 • DISSENT...

...Blacks serve as secretary-treasurer in two unions: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and Transport Workers Union of America...

...representative Mike Espy was reelected with 66 percent of the vote and 40 percent of the white vote...

...Even into the 1960s exclusionary practices based on race were common in these unions...

...It should be stressed that these programs were carried out in cooperation with, not against the wishes of, both the AFL-CIO and individual unions...

...The gain is greater than might appear at first glance, since the 1960 figure is for all nonwhites while the 1970 and 1980 figures represent only blacks...

...Rapid and deep structural changes in the economy are occurring...

...In the broadest sense, it means that the interests of black workers are less and 498 • DISSENT less hostage to racial discrimination and more and more entwined with the well-being of organized labor as a whole...

...The change can be said to have begun with A. Philip Randolph's successful work, starting in 1925, in organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters...

...A 1987 report shows much more black participation in local unions than previously supposed...

...In subsequent years, as an expansionary climate gave way to a decline in labor demand, affirmative action plans may have helped to keep this change intact.' The great majority of craft unions cannot, of course, claim to have eliminated racial discrimination so early, but a 1979 study of minorities in New York City construction unions concluded that "the growth of participation by minorities in union-sponsored apprenticeship programs in the construction industry has been rather dramatic...

...For unions to thrive they must take into account the large number of unorganized black workers and the growing percentage of blacks in the future work force...

...473, May 1984, p. 97...

...Integrating Craft Unions A recent study of one large (unidentified) craft union apprentice program found that disparities in acceptance rates for black and white applicants were eliminated as early as the end of 1969, following demonstrations and negotiations...

...Minority group participation in the programs, which was negligible in the mid-1960s, had increased to 19.7 percent in 1973 and to 29.5 percent in 1978...

...25-27, 31, 32...

...Markley Roberts, "The Future Demographics of American Unionism," Annals of the American Academy of Political Science, vol...

...the corresponding figures for nonminority graduates are 61.2 percent and 84.8 percent...

...Since RTW legislation has been shown to curtail union growth, which in turn has a negative effect on relative black wages, the issue becomes whether such legislation benefits blacks by creating relative employment gains...

...These are precisely the jobs that historically have been the vehicle that brought working people into the middle-income mainstream of American life...

...but among 1978 graduates, minorities averaged 2.1 percent more weeks of such work than nonminorities from the time they received their journeyman cards to July 1979...

...We must also press for a national commitment to excellence in education FALL • 1989 • 499 and for federal programs in vocational and job training...

...Furthermore, the 1977 survey shows a good satisfaction rate among black union workers — 69 percent reporting "somewhat satisfied," 14 percent "very satisfied," and only 24 percent reporting "not too or not-at-all satisfied...

...On the other hand, four of the AFL-CIO's twelve regional directors are black...

...8 For a discussion of future trends, see Howard N. Fullerton, Jr...

...9 Bernard Anderson, "The Changing Workplace: Implications for Black Workers," in A. Philip Randolph Institute, The Changing Economy and Unions: An Analysis and Program for the Black-Labor Alliance (New York, 1987), p. 18...

...At the political level, unions should work in coalition with other organizations to lobby the federal government for action against economic and social ills...

...6 The FALL • 1989 • 497 converse, of course, is that unions raise relative black employment levels as well as relative black wages...

...Second, the number of low-skill jobs in the service sector has increased...

...One more dimension of the black-union connection should be examined and that is the extent to which blacks play an active role within organized labor...

...Unions will have to work hard to meet the reasonable expectations of these poorly paid workers for continuing wage increases and to secure part-time workers at least partial health care and other benefits...

...The South is the most promising region and it is in the South that blacks are the highest proportion of the population...

...According to a 1988 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report, Still Far from the Dream: Recent Developments in Black Income, Employment and Poverty, in 1987 the income of the typical black family was $18,098...

...The data show that black union members participate about as much as white members, with blacks tending to participate more than whites in informal activities while whites participate somewhat more in the formal ones...

...Privatesector service industries such as health care will be a prime area for unionizing, and here, too, blacks are significantly represented...

...and John Tschetter, "The 1995 Labor Force: A Second Look," Monthly Labor Review, vol...

...By the early 1960s organized labor was the staunchest institutional supporter of civil rights legislation apart from the civil rights movement itself, and it was also working to eliminate discrimination within its own ranks...

...It also examines a wider range of measures of union participation, including past or present service as an officer or bargaining committee member, participation in union elections, strike and contract votes, reading the union paper, and such informal participation as involvement in union political activity and educational programs and in strike activity...

...This finding was reported by Richard Freeman and James Medoff in What Do Unions Do...

...Looking Ahead Since blacks play such a large—and growing— role in the labor movement, the unions are the most appropriate place within which to press for an agenda for change...

...In 1978, blacks accounted for 59 percent of the minorities...

...Blacks in the Postindustrial Job Market What is the significance of the fact that blacks are increasingly enjoying the benefits of union membership...

...Overall, black workers are much more positive about unions than white workers...

...165, 167...

...Also, 1987 figures show that 22.6 percent of employed blacks are union members, compared to 16.3 percent of whites...

...But the union movement gives the lie to this view...

...Doubtless, specifically antiblack policies such as lax civil rights enforcement and the defunding of social programs largely account for this relative shift...

...Because of this and the higher black fertility rate, the black labor force should increase at almost double the white rate in the immediate future...

...4 Much of the progress recorded by blacks in the craft unions has been attributed to federally funded programs in the late 1960s that involved cooperation between black-oriented organizations and the unions themselves...

...White union workers averaged $458 per week, 35.5 percent more than white nonunion workers, who averaged $338 per week...

...This can happen at the political level, too...

...They point to so-called white flight from the Democratic party as their prime exhibit...

...Some 69 percent of nonwhite workers not represented by unions favor a union in their workplace, compared to only 29 percent of white workers...

...First, this helped to create a more positive attitude toward unions within the black community...

...As economist Bernard Anderson has observed, of the 5.1 million adults who lost manufacturing jobs between 1979 and 1984, 600,000 were black...

...Funded by the Department of Labor, these programs have involved three organizations: the Recruitment and Training Program (RTP) initiated by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin and associated with the Workers Defense League and the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, the Labor Education and Advancement Program (LEAP) operated by the Urban League, and the Human Resources Development Institute operated by the AFL-CIO...

...Second, the admission of the Brotherhood into the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1928 gave Randolph a base for attacking racial discrimination within the union movement—an opportunity that Randolph used persistently...

...Since industrial labor was easier to replace than the more skilled labor of the AFL craft unions, the common interest of black and white workers was unmistakably clear, and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) organized millions of workers without regard to race...

...As indicated by the Economic Policy Institute's 1988 report, The State of Working America, living standards for wage earners regardless of race stagnated during the Reagan administration...

...Among 1977 graduates, nonminorities averaged 14.3 percent more weeks of union sector construction work in 1978 than did minorities...

...These shifts in the labor market jeopardize further black progress...

...Asked why he won so much of the white vote, Espy pointed to his record on economic issues and said: "If people are thinking about their pocketbooks, they often forget about their color...

...For Hispanics, the differential was 52 percent...

...40, February 1988, p. 8. 6 Paul W. Grimes, "Right-to-Work Legislation and the Economic Position of Black Workers," Review of Black Political Economy 15(4):79-88, Spring 1987...

...In addition, blacks are at the head of five national unions: Associated Actors and Artistes of America, the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees, and the Federation of Professional Athletes...

...Overall, in the early 1960s fewer than 2 percent of federally registered apprenticeship trainees were nonwhite, while today the percentage is 19.7 percent...

...First, technological developments such as computerization have created high-skill, information-based professional jobs for which these black workers are not educationally qualified...

...And the black-labor alliance must continue at the political level as the core of any progressive coalition...

...There are major black officeholders in the United Steelworkers of America, the Service Employees International Union, the Communications Workers of America, and the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, among other national unions...

...Hill, op...

...Unlike earlier studies, this one includes rank-and-file members as well as leaders...

...9 Two types of jobs have increased in number, but neither has been of much help to blacks displaced from manufacturing...

...Some cynics say it can't be achieved, arguing that when blacks enter an organization, whites leave...

...More and more, though, blacks are being hurt by the same problems that hurt other modest and low-income Americans...

...Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that in 1987 blacks accounted for 2.445 million of the nation's 16.9 million union members, or 14.5 percent of the total, although blacks constituted only about 11 percent of the general population...

...Recent data show how far blacks have progressed...

...For minority graduates, 76.5 percent of the 1977 class and 92.9 percent of the 1978 class obtained such work...

...This does not mean that black workers no longer have any special concerns...

...Results were obtained through a 1980 survey of two thousand randomly selected members of a public-sector union at various sites who work for an Illinois state agency...

...The great drive of the 1930s to organize semiskilled and unskilled workers into industrial unions played a crucial role in reshaping the black-union relationship...

...cit., p. 39...

...4 Norman Hill, "Forging a Partnership between Blacks and Unions," Monthly Labor Review, vol...

...8 And the best prospects for union growth are in geographical and occupational areas in which blacks are found in large numbers...

...3 (Presumably, "elite" connotes the highest paying crafts...

...But these ostensible allies took advantage of the racial rift within the work force to use blacks as a cheap alternative to white labor and as scabs to break the strikes of lily-white unions...

...The change is most striking in the case of the craft unions...

...Another major factor transforming the relationship of blacks to the trade unions was the civil rights movement...

...Often the jobs are part-time and offer no health care or opportunities for advancement...

...Black and white workers link up effectively within trade unions because their common economic interest is so clear...

...The only discovery that concerns the authors is that blacks serve significantly less often as local union president...

...In fact, it appears that these laws have a negative relative impact on black employment levels...

...Minorities were statistically overrepresented among the 1977 and 1978 (the years cited in the study) program graduates who received work in the union sector of the New York construction industry...

...The agenda should include fairtrade policies to halt the hemorrhaging of manufacturing jobs...

...But it is crucial to understand that this problem, while hurting blacks severely, has had a great effect on many workers of all races and must be tackled not as a race issue but as an economic issue affecting millions of Americans...

...Be that as it may, it is clear that by the bulk of relevant indices, blacks play a greater role in the trade union movement than in just about any other major institution in America that is not specifically black oriented...

...Just what should that agenda be...

...What are the prospects for the achievement of such an agenda...

...This, combined with the impact of technological advances, has eliminated millions of well-paying manufacturing jobs, most of which had been covered by union contracts...

...Money and creativity will have to go into social programs to attack homelessness, family dissolution, crime, and other social problems associated with the underclass—and these are not only the problems of blacks but of all the poor...

...Blacks also appear to benefit more from union membership...

...Minorities accounted for 15.5 496 • DISSENT percent of the apprenticeship program graduates in 1973 and 29.9 percent in 1979...

...473, May 1984, pp...

...Some 100,000 minority apprentices were placed, with an extraordinarily high retention rate of 80 percent (The normal rate is 50 percent...

...and Alan Kistler, "Union Organizing: New Challenges and Prospects," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol...

...110, August 1987, p. 39...

...some regarded employers as their best allies...

...New Black Union Status Today blacks are statistically overrepresented in the union movement...

...In the face of intense foreign competition, many American industrial enterprises have gone out of business or moved abroad...

...2 Ruttenberg, Friedman, Kilgallon, Gutchess & Associates, Minority Gains in New York Construction Jobs: Employment in the Unionized Sector of the Construction Industry by Members of Minority Groups Residing in New York City (Washington, D.C.: 1979...

...Russell K. Schutt, "Craft Unions and Minorities," Social Problems 34(4):388, 397-98...

...At the national level, three of the AFL-CIO Executive Council's thirty-five members are black—an underrepresentation of blacks...

...Unions will have to gear themselves to organizing and representing a rapidly growing number of workers in low-paying, low-skill, boring, and frequently part-time jobs in the service sector...

...The black presence in the union movement can be expected to grow...

...2 A 1986 article in the NAACP's journal, the Crisis, cites continuing discrimination in what it calls "the elite mechanical and precision craft trade unions of electricians, plumbers, sheet metal workers and elevator workers...

...5 Unions improve the overall relative economic position of blacks because they not only reduce the wage disparities but also reduce the racial disparity in employment levels...