Employers and workers often approach employment from vastly different perspectives. This paper will explore the complexity of unions in American in a social, political and economic context, with specific emphasis on the relationship of African American and unions.
Business owners and corporate America have often opposed unions and perceive them as an intrusion. “Labor Unions are the worst …show more content…
A hypocrisy that unfortunately still exists today. In 1902, because of racism and discrimination black people made up scarcely 3 percent of total union membership. Most were in segregated, Jim Crow locals. The journey of A. Phillip Randolph’s effort to organize the first black union in the country speaks to the complex relationship between black Americans and the labor/union movement. Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters(BSCP) in 1925. The BSCP met resistance from the Pullman Company, which was the largest employer of black Americans at the time and Pullman had its’ own company controlled union. Randolph also encountered resistance from the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1886, the AFL allowed local affiliates to bar African Americans from membership and the national leadership did not intervene. However, with support from progressive socialist organizations Randolph and the Pullman porters battled on. With The passage of The Wagner Act , a piece of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation the BSCP won membership into the AFL, making the BSCP the first African-American union in the United