Ours is usually very hard work. Negroes as a whole do not like hard work. They instead very often prefer employment where they can get along at their own gait or in their own way, especially working in gangs.
National and international unions which had Negro members in appreciable numbers reported the following facts:
Sixteen had Negro officers or organizers.
Twenty-three reported that relations between the races in the unions were undisturbed by race prejudice.
Thirty-three stated that Negroes had belonged to the union for the following periods:
| Number of Unions | |
|---|---|
| 2 years or less | 12 |
| 2 to 4 years | 8 |
| 4 to 6 years | 1 |
| 6 to 8 years | 2 |
| 8 to 15 years | 4 |
| 20 years | 4 |
| 25 years | 1 |
| 35 years | 1 |
2. UNIONS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
There are a number of unions[76] not affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, of which the most important are: the four railway brotherhoods—Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Order of Railway Conductors of America—Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America; Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.). The four railway brotherhoods exclude the Negro by constitutional provision. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the Industrial Workers of the World admit the Negro and make special efforts to organize Negro workers. The I.W.W. has its main foothold in the lumber, mine, and textile industries and does not have any strong unions in Chicago.
Disregarding the classification of nationals and internationals based upon affiliation with the American Federation of Labor, a review of the figures presented above shows that 104 national and international unions admit the Negro, and that twelve exclude the Negro by written provision.
The outstanding fact with reference to these twelve organizations is that, with the exception of the Wire Weavers, they are all connected with the transportation industry: seven are members of the American Federation of Labor Railway Department and the other four constitute the big "railway brotherhoods." The latter are sometimes referred to by members of the unions as the "aristocrats in the labor movement." All of these unions, except the Masters, Mates, and Pilots, have been organized more than twenty years. None of the unions formed within the last twenty years, except the Masters, Mates, and Pilots, excludes the Negro.