Sex, Race & Sacrifice: Union Organizers in the New Labour Movement

Abstract

<p>The rallying cry to 'organize the unorganized' is a key part of the new labour movement's rebirth in Canada and the United States of America. Thus, unions have begun to expand their organizing departments with an eye to hiring organizers that 'match' their target membership. However, an in-depth examination of the experiences of racialized and White women organizers in particular, has not been conducted and taking into consideration that women and racialized workers are key to labour renewal, their experiences as union staff are hugely significant. These experiences serve as an entry point into a larger anti-racist and feminist analysis of new labour.</p> <p>While the new social movement union principles include diversity, worker empowerment and militancy, and democracy and it takes pains to distinguish itself from the old type of business unionism with its hierarchical structures and focus on seiVic8s, the new labour movement conflates the differences between it and the old business union model which masks its undermining of these principles. The new labour movement justifies its inconsistent behaviours in a context of crisis that is defined purely in terms of numbers. The crisis mentality intersects with structural inequalities to further marginalize racialized and White women organizers, who have been 'brought' into the new labour movement on a platform of union renewal, and creates an environment in which such women may self-censor and sacrifice themselves for a perceived common good. This ultimately undermines the union renewal project as a whole.</p>