This post is an excerpt from “Unite & Win: The Workplace Organizer’s Handbook.”
Labor organizing is based in solidarity, and racism undermines solidarity. Unfortunately, workplaces, like the rest of American society, are affected by racism. But whether from management or from co-workers, racial divisions serve the interests of the boss and weaken your collective power. Bosses know this and use every tool they can to sow division.
Identifying Racism at Work
So, it’s important to identify racism and fight it. Analyze structural racism in your workplace: Who gets hired? Who doesn’t? What jobs are they hired into? Who gets promoted? Are there wage gaps within similar jobs? Are bosses — overtly or subtly — racist?
Look at instances of division such as: a restaurant whose personnel consists of white waitstaff and Latin-American kitchen workers who make less and don’t share the language or culture with the waitstaff; a warehouse where Black workers are assigned the heaviest, most dangerous jobs; a lunchroom where workers self-segregate.
The Organizing Committee
From the start, your organizing committee (OC) should reflect the diversity of the workplace. Find and recruit leaders from every ethnic group. If they are reluctant to get involved, you need to find out why. Fear? Prejudice?
Privileges? Cultural differences? Language barriers? Immigration status? Leaders can explain how unifying benefits everyone.
Your OC should discuss which issues could unite workers across divisions and address issues that arise in specific groups. Building a campaign around universal and specific grievances creates a stronger basis for solidarity and lasting unity. If language is a barrier, it might be necessary to create literature in multiple languages or find someone to serve as interpreter.
Building Trust
A good way to develop trusting relationships and shared understanding is by organizing social get-togethers such as picnics, cookouts, and sporting events. Choose an event location that will encourage the most reluctant group to come.
The OC can’t avoid the subject of racism. You must talk about it, even at the risk of misspeaking. Organizers should listen to their co-workers and be willing to admit mistakes. The campaign must take principled stands against workplace racism, even if some co-workers object.
Fighting Racism and the Boss
Unions can be a powerful institutional check on interpersonal racism and fight to remove double standards in discipline policy and job classifications. Ultimately, fighting for fairness on the job will unite a majority.
When workers organize across ethnic and racial lines, everyone benefits. Wages of unionized workers are higher than those of non-union workers, and Black union workers earn higher wages than their non-union peers irrespective of race. When workers organize, they find they have a lot in common with each other — and that is what bosses fear.
Get your copy of “Unite & Win: The Workplace Organizer’s Handbook” to learn more about organizing your workplace.
