The Black Lives Matter movement is sweeping the country, bringing with it a new intolerance for racism and discriminatory practices in the workplace. A new generation of workers is discovering a powerful ally in this effort, according to Refinery 29: unions.
Unions are powerful tools for fighting injustice and making collective change. Refinery 29 suggests a few steps to get you started, and they include building relationships among workplace colleagues, choosing a diverse organizing committee that is representative of the working body, and being prepared to receive and tackle pushback from management.
The value of a union is not only about the now, it’s also about the future. “You’re doing this not just to lift up yourself and your colleagues now,” says Molly Katchpole, an organizer with the Writers Guild of America, East, “but for everyone who is going to be working there in the future.”
Read more in depth about how unions have historically helped workers gain economic justice here.