Achieving Economic Security Through the Labor Movement

In celebration of Labor Day, the Congressional Black Caucus will be hosting a Special Order Hour today about the labor movement. Led by Reps. Hakeem Jeffries and Steven Horsford, the CBC will have the second hour after the final vote around 8:30 p.m.

Tune in here.

Did you know …

• Historically, the path to the middle class for African-American workers was through a union job. Today black workers are more likely to be union members than were white, Asian or Hispanic workers.

• In 1925, A. Philip Randolph established the first African-American labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He would later become one of the key organizers of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

• Martin Luther King Jr. often spoke about uniting the labor and civil rights movements. In his 1961 speech to the AFL-CIO, King said, “The two most dynamic and cohesive liberal forces in the country are the labor movement and the Negro freedom movement. Together we can be architects of democracy in a South now rapidly industrializing. Together we can re-tool the political structure of the South, sending to Congress steadfast liberals who, joining with those from Northern industrial states, will extend the frontiers of democracy for the whole nation. Together we can bring about the day when there will be no separate identification of Negroes and labor.”

• Black workers who belong to a union have a “union premium” of $2.60, earning them about 17.3 percent more than black workers who are not organized.
• Unions have partnered with the NAACP and civil rights groups to combat voter supression and ensure all working people can participate in our democracy.