On July 20, people across the country walked off the job, shared a moment of silence, and rallied in the streets, as part of the Strike for Black Lives, a labor mobilization to support Black Lives Matter. Although labor groups have participated variously in the nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism since May, the Strike for Black Lives was a coordinated initiative of about sixty labor organizations and other social justice groups. We spoke with three workers who participated in actions in their communities: nursing home worker Trece Andrews, fast food worker Adriana Alvarez, and adjunct professor Constance Lee.

In other news, we look at a campaign to unionize employees of the Scholars Strategy Network; new research reveals the psychological impacts of working from home; AFL-CIO General Counsel Craig Becker discusses a move by the National Labor Relations Board to crush a Depression Era protection for unions; and Saru Jayaraman of One Fair Wage talks about the stunning pay disparities among tipped restaurant workers in the pandemic era.

With recommended reading on the history of racism in the labor movement, and how bosses and politicians are conspiring to force workers back to dangerous workplaces.

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News

A Persistent Legacy of Slavery: Ending the Subminimum Wage for Tipped Workers in New York as a Racial Equity Measure (One Fair Wage, UC Berkeley Food Labor Research Center)

Pro-Democracy Nonprofit Scholars Strategy Network Hires Union-Busting Law Firm to Fight Staff Union (NPEU)

NLRB to review petition to decertify union at Mountaire plant (Delaware State News)

Trump’s Labor Board Eyes Striking Down FDR-Era Union Protection (The Young Turks)

We’re working an extra ’28 hours per month’ in lockdown (Metro)

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Conversation

Strike for Black Lives

Essential Workers Hold Walkouts And Protests In National ‘Strike For Black Lives’ (NPR)

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Argh, I wish I’d written that!

Sarah: Bill Fletcher Jr., Race Is About More Than Discrimination (Monthly Review)

Michelle: David Sirota, Republicans are forcing Americans to return to dangerous workplaces (Guardian)