Labor unions are proven to have a large impact on the political attitudes of workers. Today, unions are the largest mass membership organization for people of color, and they contribute to economic inclusion. Yet until now, little attention has been paid to the dynamics between union membership and racial identity politics. How does union membership impact the racial attitudes of white workers? Does the intergroup contact from working toward collective goals change the perspective of workers, or do unionized workers hold greater racial resentment?
In this study, Paul Frymer and Jacob M. Grumbach set out to answer these questions about the relationship between union membership and racial attitudes. The authors adjust for demographic factors and use survey answers to generate a racial resentment index to gauge workers’ attitudes toward Black Americans. With this information, the authors measure the impact of union membership on the racial attitudes of white workers from 2010 to 2016.
Key findings
- White union members have lower levels of racial resentment than their nonunion counterparts. On the racial resentment index, white union members are 4.7 to 6.3 percent less racially resentful than white nonunion members.
- Joining a union reduces racial resentment among white workers by between 4.1 and 5.5 percent on the racial resentment index between 2010 and 2016.
- Previous union members are less racially resentful than their nonunion counterparts, by between 2.0 and 2.5 percent on the racial resentment index. These attitude effects from group membership decay over time, as previous union member rates are half that of their unionized counterparts.
- White union members have greater support for policies that specifically benefit Black Americans. These policies include affirmative action, racial preferences in hiring, fair employment, and government action to improve the social and economic position of Black Americans.
- Union members are more supportive of affirmative action by between 4.2 and 6.4 percent (on a scale from 0 to 100 percent).
Policy and practice implications
WorkRise recommends the following implications for policy and practice:
- Workforce developers, practitioners, and racial justice advocates should consider unions as a method for cultivating cultures of tolerance and shared understanding. Unionization presents opportunities to reduce racial resentment among white workers, increase support for policies that benefit Black Americans, and build more collaborative workplaces.
- Employers and organizations should actively promote racial tolerance. By not opposing unions, companies can provide members of the white working class with opportunities to form new sociocultural identities, reform their racial attitudes, and impact civil rights policies. Less racial resentment between coworkers can foster a healthier and more productive work environment.
- Researchers should explore the added value of modern unions. While unions today look different than they did in the past in terms of membership rates and member demographics, it is important to expand our understanding of the importance of unions and union contributions in the modern context.
- Researchers should further investigate how racial attitudes differ across various types of labor unions. This analysis only looks at white union members and does not divide respondents by union organizers (e.g., the American Federation of Teachers or the Service Employees International Union). There is also room to extend this analysis into the realm of worker centers and alternative labor forums to understand how these alternative mechanisms impact racial attitudes.
In times of heightened political and racial polarization, institutions that promote shared understanding and acceptance are increasingly important. Not only do white union members have lower levels of racial resentment, but higher rates of union membership reduce racial resentment even further. This work further solidifies the importance of unions on workers and worker attitudes in today’s society.