The Effects of the expected Janus ruling on African American Wage and Job Inequality. In 1968 Black sanitation worker in Memphis, went on strike. The workers where predominantly Black men, represented by AFSCME Local 1733, who went on strike for sixty days in an effort to demand dignity and recognition as “men” using the famous slogan “I Am a Man” as strike, mantra. The strike was a civil rights effort Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis to support when he was killed (Yulolovitch, 2018). The black sanitation workers were fighting to receive wages of more than 65 cents an hour and over life-threatening work conditions that took the life of one of their Co-workers. 50 years later that fight continues when it comes to African Americans working …show more content…
The vast decline in unionization has also contributed to wage inequality and widened the Black and white wage gap (Klekamp,2013). Additionally, many black union Black union workers are women working in the public sector. Due to Even with union decline, the union-affiliated workers still enjoy higher wages, health insurance, and retirement benefits than non-union workers. “Black union workers on average earn 16.4 percent higher salaries than non-union Black workers." Most also have a retirement plan. Affiliation with a union helps Black workers without education in low wage jobs. "Black union workers on average earn $24.24 per hour, compared to $17.78 for non-union Black workers (Buckner 2018)." Negotiation and Wage increases Blacks risk losing under …show more content…
Fifty years after the historic Kerner Commission identified “white racism” as the key cause of “pervasive discrimination in employment, education, and housing. Reports show little progress in how African Americans fare in comparison to white unemployment, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute. In some cases, EPI found “African Americans are worse now than before the 1960 civil rights movement (Jones et.al,