Civil Rights

Working people are diverse. We are different colors, gender identities, religions, sexual orientations and ages. The labor movement has been at the forefront of the struggle for every major civil rights law. We stand strong today in the fight for dignity, life and liberty for every worker at the intersection of economic justice and civil rights. 

America’s legacy of racism, exclusion and injustice continues to obstruct working people’s efforts to act together to build better lives. Since its inception, the labor movement has aspired to include all working people, irrespective of race, gender, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. Unions must mobilize to defeat the prejudices that undermine solidarity.

Segregation, inequality and oppression harm us all. The AFL-CIO remains dedicated to demanding dignity for all working people.

The AFL-CIO Race Commission has put together a collection of activities, suggested readings and videos to spur a discussion about workers' lived experiences, how to identify and discuss the way racial bias operates in everyday life, and ways to disrupt these patterns to build a more inclusive, equitable society. Check out the full toolkit and report. 

 

2019 AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference

Register Today

Join hundreds of social justice professionals, activists and community leaders in Washington, D.C., Jan. 18–21, 2019, to celebrate the legacy and dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and rise up with courage and conviction for economic and racial justice.

Did You Know
Black workers are more likely than workers of any other race to be represented by a union.
Even here in America, people are fighting for civil rights 45 years after the civil rights movement.
  • Ruben Santiago-Hudson

What We’re Doing

Blog

Bayard & Me

To celebrate the life and legacy of Bayard Rustin, the AFL-CIO recently hosted his longtime partner Walter Naegle for a screening of the award-winning documentary Bayard & Me.
Speech

Trumka: Hilda Solis Put The 'Labor' Back in Labor Department

Hilda Solis returned the DOL to its fundamental mission of protecting and providing economic opportunity and security for American workers.

Thirty-three Letters and a Tragedy of Historic Proportions
Blog

Honoring the Life and Preserving the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

By recognizing social and economic justice as one and the same, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood the immense power working people have when they come together. He saw union representation as the clearest path out of poverty and into the middle class, and fought for the rights of all people to have good jobs and a voice at work.
Blog

King's Agenda for Working People Resonates 50 Years Later

Fifty years ago this week, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his final speech in Memphis, Tennessee. In the decades since his assassination, much of the focus on King’s life has centered on his civil rights legacy. But his final days in Memphis are a reminder that he was also a relentless champion for the dignity of work.
Blog

Remembering Memphis

This post commemorates these anniversaries and the historic links between civil rights and worker rights, especially at a time when the right of public-sector workers to unionize is being argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.