A Racial Reckoning in Industrial Relations

Traditional industrial relations theories of organizing, employment relations, and economic democracy are cloaked in the language of color-blindness, with conceptualizations of justice and class identity viewed through the lens of dominant social identity groups. This has led to theoretical distortions and incomplete notions of worker justice--consistent with systemic biases that reinforce and perpetuate discrimination.

This research volume takes a different approach. Through the counternarratives of our contributors--artists, activists, union organizers, and scholars with academic and lived expertise within the world of work--we bring forth a racial reckoning in industrial relations theory and praxis. Specifically, the collection of voices presented here embrace the traditions and tenets of critical race theory and intersectionality (CRT/I) to acknowledge and deconstruct the false realities that thrive in traditional identity-neutral approaches to understanding industrial relations systems and the greater social systems that govern the relationships between actors.

Consisting of traditional chapters, commentary pieces, dialogues between practitioners and scholar-activists, and art and graphic illustrations, this volume challenges the traditional hierarchies of knowledge production in academia. It uplifts the diversity of voices and possibilities for storytelling and issues concrete calls to action to the industrial relations academic and movement power brokers (gatekeepers). At a time of historic racial uprising, innovative labor contestations, and global crises amplified by structural oppressions, it offers a path forward with crucial implications for the future of work and worker mobilization.

Contributors: Vicko Alverez, independent author; Valery Alzaga, Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum; Nicole Burrowes, Rutgers University, Department of History; J. Mijin Cha, Cornell University, Occidental College/Worker Institute; Sheri Davis-Faulkner, Rutgers University, Center for Innovation in Worker Organization (CIWO) and Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations; Harmony Goldberg, Grassroots Policy Project

Haven Media, Inc.; Tamara L. Lee, Rutgers University, Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations; Austin McCoy, Auburn University, Department of History; Javier Morillo, Rutgers University, Center for Innovation in Worker Organization (CIWO) Fellow; Kasi Perreira, Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO; Danielle T. Phillips-Cunningham, Texas Woman's University, Multicultural Women's and Gender Studies; Sanjay Pinto, Cornell University, The Worker Institute; Salil Sapre, Michigan State University, School of Human Resources and Labor Relations; Erica Smiley, Jobs With Justice

Maite Tapia, Michigan State University, School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, WILL Empower; Naomi R Williams, Rutgers University, Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations; Larry Williams, Jr., UnionBase.org