Labor Pains — Unions, Yes!

The global pandemic transformed work as we once knew it and erupted into the “great resignation.” With pains and opportunities, the shifting landscape of the new ‘un-labor’ force may be a catalyst for jobs with justice. 

Rewind a few decades, Black workers — especially women — overrepresented in organized labor, reaped tremendous gains that raised wages, protected jobs and fueled the Black middle class of the 20th Century. But as Black union membership peaked, private-sector unions would plummet, altering the tenor of the Union Yes! battle cry. This episode explores unions, jobs and race from the perspective of advocates on the frontline of organized labor.