Furthermore, the coming of the Negroes to the North in such large numbers and their employment in trades and industries hitherto closed to them brought to the front the old problem of the Negro and the labor unions. With few exceptions, the Negroes have generally been barred from membership in the unions on account of race prejudice; and this has especially been the case in the North where the unions are oldest and most powerful and influential in labor affairs. Here white union laborers have manifested their prejudice by repeatedly refusing to work with Negro employés. This naturally prevented employers from utilizing Negro labor, and the outcome of this policy was to exclude the Negroes from the better paying positions and to push them almost wholly into those avocations which are unskilled or unsettled.[119] The Negroes have thus been forced into positions where generally they must work for less pay than the unionists, and because of this the latter have branded Negro laborers as "scabs," notwithstanding the fact that the doors of the unions were closed to them. Unwilling to bear this stigma, which made them an object of contempt in the eyes of trades unionists, Negro workers made efforts to organize themselves and drew up petitions requesting admission into the unions. These efforts, however, have been again and again made fruitless by the local labor unions which discriminate against men on account of race and color. When this matter has been referred to the national and international councils these latter bodies have held that their constitutions recognize no such discriminations, but at the same time acknowledged their inability to control these local unions. These locals, therefore, have been a great obstacle to the unionization of Negroes.[120]
Evidently this decree of the American Federation of Labor was not obeyed by all its affiliated internationals, because at its next annual meeting, held in Montreal, Canada, June, 1920, the question of Negro admittance to membership in unions figured as a conspicuous part of its proceedings. On this occasion the discussion of this question arose out of allegations made by delegates, mainly Negroes from Northern States, which accused the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks (whose constitution provides for white membership only) of having refused membership to Negro freight handlers, express and station employees. At the same time, demands were made to the effect that the Federation should change this state of affairs. The tense moments of the convention were reached when the Organization Committee, to whom the matter had been referred, submitted a non-concurrence report, taking the position that the Federation had no authority over the constitution of an affiliated union. This report naturally evoked a very heated controversy between the Negro delegates and their white sympathizers and those whites who were opposed to giving Negroes membership in the labor unions. The Federation, however, rejected this report, and for the first time in its history threatened the autonomy of an affiliated union by first demanding, by several motions, that the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks abolish the color line in its constitution or forfeit its charter in the Federation. None of these drastic motions prevailed. Finally, a modified motion, requesting, rather than demanding, this brotherhood to eliminate from its constitution the words "white only" and give the Negro freight handlers, express and station employees full membership, was carried. Following the adoption of this motion, Chairman Duncan spoke thus, "This, I believe, will settle the Negro problem in our organization for all time. Our affiliated unions must now understand that the color line is abolished."[121]
This second act of the American Federation of Labor is, indeed, another step forward in its efforts to settle the problem of the Negro and the unions; but that it will settle this problem for all time is very doubtful. Certainly, there are great obstacles in the way of an early solution of it. Chief of all these obstructions is the force of racial prejudice, which has demonstrated again and again that in spite of laws to the contrary it is powerful enough to devise and put into effect plans whereby its desires may be accomplished. Furthermore, when one considers the structure and foundation of the American Federation of Labor he wonders whether it has authority over its affiliated unions sufficient to compel them to abide by its decrees. The American Federation of Labor is a loose federation of national and international unions—a federation of independent unions. Each national or international, though it receives its charter from the federation, is autonomous, free to withdraw from the federation, and it possesses all the machinery necessary for an independent existence. To this end, it is self-governing, having its own constitution which grants it vast powers. Local unions and other subordinate organizations are created by it. By means of charters and constitutional provisions it actually determines membership and membership conditions and privileges, the functions of locals, their officers and duties, the discipline of the members, and the general conduct of the affairs of the local. Thus, while theoretically the local union is the economic unit of unionism, practically the national or international is the unit, for it and not the local is of primal importance in the American Federation of Labor.
On the other hand, the powers of the American Federation of Labor, though very broad and potent, do not seem to have scope and force enough to permit this body to interfere with much effect in the local affairs of the national or international unions, because of the large degree of sovereignty possessed by these organizations. These bodies, therefore, are at liberty to do things which often are detrimental to the best interests of trades unionism. Here, then, it is seen that the great obstructions to Negro membership in the unions are not the locals but rather the national or international unions, because the locals are entirely responsible to the latter bodies, which are in turn accountable to the Federation. The American Federation of Labor is, therefore, confronted with the difficult task of compelling its nationals or internationals which discriminate against Negroes to change their constitutions and grant Negro laborers full membership in their unions. Can it or will it exert sufficient pressure on these organizations to bring this to pass? Its most potent coercive measure is the revoking of a union's charter, and the question is will it have the courage to employ this weapon to secure economic justice for the Negro, or will it hesitate to do so? By its action at its last annual meeting, when it preferred to request the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks to eliminate racial discrimination from its constitution and give the Negroes membership in its unions, rather than demand it to do so or forfeit its charter, the American Federation of Labor indicated that either it was doubtful of the extent of its authority over its affiliated international unions or that it is as yet unwilling to deal sternly with them.
Despite these difficulties, the Negro laborers are not giving up the fight for their admittance into the unions. In various ways they are still opposing these forces which are barring them from these organizations. In the meantime they are availing themselves of the aid of certain Negro social agencies which have undertaken to supply the Negro workers with that industrial leadership which they lack by being outside the labor unions. These agencies are the Young Men's Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Association, and the National Urban League. These bodies function through their respective industrial secretaries in cities of the North and West. These agencies aim to serve the Negro laborers by investigating and cultivating new avenues of employment, to stand as a buffer between them and the white unions and furnish the leadership usually exercised by trades unionism by taking up the Negro's grievances directly with the management. That these objects may be accomplished these organizations have adopted certain methods of procedure. Most of them operate free employment offices through which from several hundred to two thousand laborers are placed per month. The Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh branches of the National Urban League, and the Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Columbus Y. M. C. A. branches render still broader service by studying the demand for labor and by endeavoring to persuade employers to use Negroes in new capacities. They try also to aid men to make good on the job by appealing to race pride, by holding noon shop-meetings, and by stimulating the companies to cultivate friendly relationship between labor and the management. These bodies, by acting as mediators in labor disputes, moreover, have been successful in averting or settling a number of minor strikes.[122]
Finally, if by some means the American Federation of Labor should succeed in compelling its affiliated unions to abolish the color line in their respective constitutions and admit the Negro to full membership in their unions, the Negro will be granted a right long denied him, the right of working on terms of equality with the other race, if he can demonstrate his competence to do so. It will give him a chance to enter all of the skilled and therefore better paid trades and the opportunity to be judged on his merits in them. If this barrier of race discrimination is thoroughly broken down, moreover, there will be open to the Negro paths long closed to him, the effect of which cannot fail to elevate to an appreciable degree his status in the industrial world. Then, by enjoyment of this right, the Negro will no longer in effect be excluded from the higher type of occupations and pushed into those commonly regarded as menial and held in disdain.[123]
FOOTNOTES:
[107] Haynes, G. E., Survey, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.
[108] White, W. F., The Crisis, 19: 113, Jan., 1920.
[109] New Republic, 7: 213, July 1, 1916.