Resurfacing Dignity as a Tool for the Unionization of African American Lower-Tier Workers

Selected lower-tier occupational sectors were defined as essential during the early phase of the Covid crisis. Accordingly, that period provided an opportunity to explore whether certain African American lower-tier workers might have acquired a greater sense of dignity and value for their work. By drawing from the author's earlier research on low-income African Americans and a recent study of such workers, this essay explores how considerations of value and dignity in the workplace during early Covid inform about the prospects for organizing such lower-tier workers for union participation.