ILPC 2026

 This paper explores two American labor unions, both with majority black and Latino members, whose recent efforts to address racial injustice issues have gained visibility. In 2014, starting with the uprising in Ferguson that sparked protests around the country, the conversation about race in the U.S. began to shift substantively. Two years later, Trump’s presidential campaign increased visibility of white supremacist groups, bringing America’s race problem into sharp relief once again. In the face of white working class racism and the impending assault on labor, some unions have entered the fray, taking actions to incorporate race in union work and engage in a broader racial justice movement, including participating in black lives matter rallies, forging alliances, endorsing criminal justice reform, allocating resources to train and hire people of color, and addressing racial disparities through contract language. Through interviews with union staff, this paper explores the motivations, both ideological and practical, for incorporating race in union work. Certain union insiders see them as imperative to supporting members, deeply linked to economic justice, essential for building alliances that will strengthen the labor movement, and vital to addressing the racial tension and the lack of diversity among union staff. However, these efforts have often been stalled and thwarted. This paper delves into obstacles, including practical barriers like lack of resources, employers’ restrictions, and conflicting goals with partner organizations, and argues that conversations about race have lead to considerable tension inside progressive unions and locals, particularly between staff and white members. Further, this paper highlights the motivated actors’ strategies for navigating conflict and constraints, including engaging in political education with members and making explicit connections to workplace organizing campaigns. Where staff have pushed this agenda successfully, they have done so through trial and error and careful deliberation, developing “best practices” for methodically incorporating racial justice, which include targeting particular locals to test controversial programs, bringing in “experts” from outside organizations to consult on trainings, and, perhaps most importantly, being proactive about talking to white members about race and listening to, rather than ignoring, their anger. The extent to which unions have incorporated race and engaged meaningfully in a broader racial justice movement is due, at least in part, to key motivated union insiders.