Black Brotherhood

Almost axiomatic with Left-wing labor leaders is the belief that the U. S. labor movement will fail inevitably unless it includes Negro workers. William Z. Foster, generalissimo of the 1919 steel strike blamed the failure of his great drive directly on Negro labor. Some 85% of Negro labor is unskilled. Not only do Negroes work for less money than whites, but Negroes, particularly if raised in the South, are more impressed by demonstration of civil authority, more easily cowed by tough company tactics. Moreover, Negroes, having been barred, openly or tacitly, from many an old line union, have little incentive to stand by white strikers, although C. I. O. has embraced Negroes more willingly than A. F. of L., which frequently carries discrimination to the point of segregating them in "Jim Crow unions" affiliated with its regular craft unions. The only Negro-controlled international union in the U. S. is the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

Last week in Manhattan's Harlem, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters staged a "victory" mass meeting. The victory was a contract signed in Chicago with The Pullman Co., and the meeting was a triumphant welcome by the Harlem porters for the returning Brotherhood president, A. (for Asa) Philip Randolph who brought back some $2,000,000 in pay increases. Minimum wage for train porters was hiked from $77.50 per month to $89.50. For maids from $75 to $97.50.* A basic 240-hour month was established, time-and-a-half for overtime provided after 260 hours, working rules & regulations agreed upon.

President Randolph's contract was the product of a twelve-year campaign. Born in Crescent City, Fla. in 1889, the son of a Methodist preacher, he made his name as founder-editor of the crusading Negro Messenger. For his opposition to U. S. participation in the War, he was officially branded as the "most dangerous Negro in America." Once he received a threat on his life in the form of a bloody human hand, mailed from Louisiana.

In 1925 Asa Philip Randolph began organizing porters. Having been duped in the past, many of them were suspicious. Other Negroes fought the union for a price. By 1929 the union had gained A. F. of L. Federal charters, but recognition from Pullman was not forthcoming. President Randolph carried his case to the old Board of Mediation, to the Interstate Commerce Commission, to a Federal Court. First success came in 1934 when the Railway Labor Act was amended, outlawing company unions, guaranteeing collective bargaining and--at the behest of President Randolph--bringing porters within the scope of the law. Membership jumped, and the next year when the National Mediation Board held an election the Brotherhood beat a reorganized company union, 6,000 to 1,400. Subsequent conferences with Pullman bogged down, requiring intervention of the Mediation Board. Last year the Brotherhood was granted its international charter, and last month, after five months at the conference table, the contract was finally signed. Diplomatic President Randolph declared last week: "The Brotherhood and The Pullman Co. are now enjoying the most cordial relations. . . ."

*Tips currently average another $75 per month.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.