Black Workers
Labor Center Reports
Black Worker Overview
Black Worker Resources
C. L. Dellums African American Union Leadership School
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Nearly forty years after the triumphs of the modern civil rights
movement, much of the black community is in crisis. The disproportionate
representation of blacks in the criminal justice system continues
to worsen – in 2002, blacks made up less than thirteen
percent of the country’s overall population, but 46 percent
of the nation’s prisoners. Income inequality among African
Americans has grown dramatically during the past three decades.
And during the economic expansion of the 1900’s, African
Americans got a disproportionate amount of the low wage jobs
created.
One way to address problems facing the black community is to focus on the experience
of black workers. Though African Americans have significantly higher poverty rates than
whites, blacks’ unionization rates actually exceed those of whites at both the
state and national level. When blacks are able to join unions, the difference pays.
In 1999, African American union members earned about 32% more than their non-union counterparts,
surpassing the union premium for whites of about 15%. These figures and others suggest
that the best anti-poverty program is union organizing.
An emphasis on black workers as a focal point of the black freedom movement is not a
new idea. As blacks left rural areas of the South for urban areas in the North and the
West during the first half of the twentieth century, New York, Chicago Cleveland and
other cities erupted in non-violent direct action campaigns for jobs and justice. Black
unionists were the backbone of civil rights battles in cities such as Detroit, Memphis,
and Winston-Salem. In 1940, A. Philip Randolph, head of the all-Black Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters, formed the March on Washington Movement, which ultimately forced
President Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish the Fair Practices Employment Commission.
A key challenge facing the African American community today is the need to re-capture
this spirit of black working-class activism.
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Facts:
In 2001, the median family income of African American families was only 62.1% of that of white families.
Bureau of the Census, "Historical Income Tables – Families" Table F-2b http://www.census.gov/
In 1975, the richest 20% of black families received 8.7 times as much income as the poorest 20% of black families. In 2001, the richest 20% of black families received 14.5 times as much income as the poorest 20%
See, Erik Olin Wright and Rachel Dwyer, "The American Jobs Machine", Boston Review 25(6)
http://bostonreview.mit.edu/
In 2001, the median weekly earnings of black wage and salary workers who belonged to a union was $603, compared to $464 for workers who did not belong to a union - representing a union premium of 30.2%
Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Union Membership" Table 2
http://www.bls.gov/
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