Black
Workers

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Introduction

The effects of a widening wealth gap in the United States are magnified in the Black Community because of the persistence of institutional racism, resulting in constricted labor market opportunities for African Americans. Black communities suffer from the broad impacts of racism, transformed neighborhoods and networks after de-segregation, and rapidly changing demographics in metropolitan areas. While many localities struggle against these forces, few communities engage in campaigns to improve the numbers of jobs and also the quality of jobs held by African Americans. Millions of Black workers toil for low wages, few benefits, little prospects for advancement, and no on-the-job protection. The Black Worker Project at the UC Berkeley Labor Center focuses on job quality issues in the Black community. We are especially concerned with how to support local community organizing with useful tools, including high quality research and leadership training, which can lead to concrete policy solutions that have a real impact on the jobs situation locally and nationally.

Research & Publications

Ken Jacobs,Steven C. PittsandBrenda Muñoz

Labor Center statement on the recent killings of Black people

The Labor Center understands that workers are whole human beings whose lives go beyond their workplace and whose work lives are deeply affected by what happens in their communities. When Black people suffer racist attacks in their communities—whether the attacks come in the form of police and extrajudicial violence, or underfunded public education, or exposure to environmental degradation, or mass incarceration—these are workers’ rights issues.

Sylvia AllegrettoandSteven C. Pitts

To Work With Dignity: The Unfinished March Toward a Decent Minimum Wage

Economic Policy Institute report. This paper examines the context that gave rise to demand for a national minimum wage during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, presents historical trends in the real (inflation-adjusted) value of the minimum wage and the impact on black workers, and discusses some of the contemporary issues surrounding minimum-wage policies.

Program Contact

Danielle Mahones

Director, Leadership Development Program