Labor: At Last, a Chance for Negroes

Perhaps the most important thing for black Americans is to find more and bet ter jobs; one of the biggest barriers has been raised by conservative labor unions. For years, U.S. building trade unions — notably bricklayers, carpenters and plumbers — have operated like me dieval guilds. Jealously reserving ap prenticeships for sons or friends of members, the construction unions have almost totally excluded Negroes. In many cities, the number of unionized — and highly paid — Negro craftsmen can be totaled with one or two digits.

Last week, after not-so-subtle pressure from Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz, 1 8 building unions agreed to actively recruit Negroes.

The agreement was a major if belated blow to union discrimination. Important as the union pledge was, how ever, it would probably still mean only a maximum of 5,000 jobs for Negroes over the next year, since so few openings occur in any one year.

More meaningful in terms of numbers would be a similar breakthrough for Negroes in white-collar jobs. This will be a much tougher barrier to overcome and, as recent federal hearings in New York disclosed, some of the most progressive companies in the nation are curiously reluctant to go out of their way to hire Negroes for office jobs. “They’re worried about whether a Negro will fit into an office party or whether he can be invited to supper at the boss’s home,” says Clifford Alexander, chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “They’re making social judgments instead of judging whether a Negro will help the firm make a profit, as they should.”