In the mid-20th century, many New York City unions divided their members into subunits according to their ethnicity, doing so openly and explicitly. The unions that engaged in this practice included the three largest garment unions -- which together constituted the largest component of New York's labor movement -- as well as the Actors and Artistes of America, the Meatcutters, and the Typographers. Other unions constituted themselves racially, though generally they denied that they did so. In 1945, the New York State Anti-Discrimination Act made it illegal for unions to exclude members on the basis of race or national origin. In 1964 federal law also outlawed the practice. Nonetheless, some New York unions continued to openly operate on an ethnically-constituted basis into the mid-1970s, while covert racial categorization and discrimination continued well beyond.
This paper will consider the ethnic and racial categorization of workers by their own organizations, and how such groupings served to enhance and undermine solidarity in an era of massive demographic change. This labor experience raises questions about the meaning of community and solidarity. It also raises questions about the changing definition of ethnicity, an issue which arose in complex and unexpected ways during the civil rights era, as ethnically-constituted unions found themselves under attack. Finally, the paper will consider the similarities and differences between ethnic and racial categorization in the labor movement, and the relationship of labor practices to societal norms.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: History, Ethnicity
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.