BLACK WORKERS' BILL OF RIGHTS

RACISM

Why We Need a Black Worker Bill of Rights

“From warehouses to board rooms, from the Deep South to Silicon Valley, we face discrimination in hiring, promotions, treatment, and pay.”

BLOGGING OUR GREAT DIVIDE

MAY 12, 2022

by Rebekah Entralgo

With Black organizers playing prominent roles in a surge of union drives, a new coalition has come together to fight for policy changes that would also build Black worker power.

The Black Worker Policy Coalition includes We Dream in Black/National Domestic Workers Alliance, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Mothering Justice, local worker centers from Las Vegas to Miami, and other Black-led worker-focused organizations. Their new policy agenda, a Black Worker Bill of Rights, addresses critical issues in the job market and the workplace to ensure that all Black workers have dignity at work with safe, healthy, and equitable job conditions.

“Black workers built this country and have kept it running during the Covid-19 pandemic despite disproportionate risks to our health,” said Tanya Wallace-Gobern, Executive Director at National Black Worker Center, at the coalition launch on May 2. “While employers praise us in the spotlight as heroes and essential workers, they sacrifice our safety and dignity behind warehouse doors to boost their profits.”

The coalition has identified ten rights that must be meaningfully reflected in the law and enforced. While these rights would benefit all U.S. workers, the coalition argues they are particularly critical to address the systemic racism faced by the country’s 20 million Black workers. These rights include:

• The Right to Organize

• The Right to Resources and Information to Address Barriers to Quality Employment

• The Right to Assert Your Rights and Have Your Rights Enforced

• The Right to Equitable Wages and Compensation that is Owed

• The Right to Career Advancement Opportunities

• The Right to Workplaces Free from Discrimination, Harassment, and Other Harm

• The Right to Health, Healing, and Rest

• The Right to Privacy and Freedom from Surveillance

• The Right to Dignity

• The Right to Participate in Democracy

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The primary goal of the campaign is to close the numerous loopholes in anti-discrimination and labor law that allow employers to continue to treat Black workers unfairly. Domestic work, for example, has historically been excluded from longstanding labor protections due to its roots in slavery. Over half of all domestic workers are Black women who earn on average just $12 an hour.