An Ongoing Demand for Los Angeles: A Bright Future Requires Organizing More Black Public Sector Union Workers

REPORT RELEASE: The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Advancement Project California and the Los Angeles Black Workers Center, as well as six member unions of the LA Fed, recently collaborated on a survey and report. Those unions are AFSCME 741, AFSCME 2325, AFSCME 3090, AFSCME 3947, SEIU 721, and SEIU 1000.

This study confirms that Black workers and Black middle-class communities would disproportionately be affected by actions against both unions and the stable, well-paying jobs that they have been able to create in public sector shows that unionized public sector jobs have formed the bedrock of Black community health and wealth and that Black workers and their communities stand to lose enormously from threats to those unions.

Los Angeles is celebrated for its diversity. It is known today as the cultural, political, and economic center of Southern California. Black workers, in particular, have a deep and important history in Los Angeles. From the City’s founding onward, Black workers have been integral to the cultural and economic structure of the region and have helped to create the rich social fabric that Los Angeles has shared. But the diversity and dynamism Los Angeles are known for are under siege. For LA’s Black community, which had a 2017 poverty rate of 20.4 percent, public sector unionized employment has long been an avenue to join the middle class. In the face of new federal threats to union employment—such as the Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) decision—it is more important than ever to understand how public sector employment impacts Black workers.

Read the full report, here.