Black Workers Inside the House of Labor

• Author: William B. Gould
• Published date: 01 May 1973
• Date: 01 May 1973
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271627340700107
• Subject Matter: Articles

78

Black

Workers

Inside

the

House

of

Labor

By

WILLIAM

B.

GOULD

ABSTRACT:

While

both

construction

and

industrial

unions

have

made

some

efforts

to

remedy

racial

discrimination

in

em-

ployment,

their

failure

to

come

to

grips

with

systematic

prac-

tices

of

discrimination

has

made

the

federal

judiciary

the

main

forum

for

the

resolution

of

such

disputes.

Institutional

prac-

tices

that

can

have

a

discriminatory

impact

upon

black

workers

and

racial

minorities

remain

in

effect.

Contrary

to

public

belief

about

rank

and

file

and

local

union

resistance

to

national

union

policies

that

promote

civil

rights,

it

is

the

official

policy

of

the

American

Federation

of

Labor

and

Congress

of

Indus-

trial

Organizations

(AFL-CIO)

not

to

alter

such

procedures

which

are

negotiated

in

the

collective

bargaining

process—and

which

screen

out

blacks

disproportionately

to

whites.

Even

unions

with

a

substantial

black

membership

continue

to

have

lily-white

executive

boards

at

the

national

level.

More

blacks

are

moving

into

leadership

positions—especially

in

the

United

Auto

Workers

(UAW)

and

some

of

the

public

employee

unions.

However,

in

the

interim

the

phenomenon

of

black

workers

in

white-led

unions

is

bound

to

produce

discontent,

black

worker

organizations,

and,

in

some

instances,

industrial

strife.

William

B.

Gould

is

Professor

of

Law

at

Stanford

Law

School.

A

former

Consultant

to

the

Equal

Employment

Opportunity

Commission,

his

report

to

the

Commission

on

seniority

and

racial

discrimination

formed

the

basis

for

the

Commission’s

Guidelines

on

that

subject

as

well

as

for

subsequent

federal

court

decisions.

He

is

Chairman

of

the

Law

and

Legislation

Committee

of

the

National

Academy

of

Arbitrators

and

arbitrates

labor

disputes

in

both

the

private

and

public

sector.

He

is

the

author

of

the

forth-

coming

book

Black

Workers

and

the

Labor

Movement:

The

Role

of

Law

and

Private

Initiative.

Counsel

to

plaintiffs

in

employment

discrimination

litigation,

he

has

also

written

numerous

articles

on

labor

law

and

employment

discrimination

for

the

Manchester

Guardian,

the

London

Economist,

the

New

York

Times

and

other

journals

and

periodicals.