Black history is labor history. And our union is living proof that when Black workers lead, organize, and stand together with all workers, the entire labor movement moves forward.
This Black History Month, Teamsters Local 2010 honors the generations of Black workers whose courage on the job and in the streets built the rights every member relies on today — from the right to organize, to protection against discrimination, to the power of a union contract.
From early Black labor organizers who struck for shorter workday in the 1800s, to trailblazing Unions like the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, to Black trade unionists who helped lead the March on Washington, Black workers have always stood at the heart of the fight for dignity, fair wages, and democracy on the job. Black workers have also shaped this nation through innovation and skill. Like Charles Drew revolutionized modern medicine through blood plasma. Garrett Morgan invented the gas mask. Miriam Benjamin created the first version of the airplane call button still used today. And Bessie Coleman broke barriers as the first African American and Native American women to earn a pilot’s license.
That legacy is not a distant history. It lives on in Local 2010 today. Our members — overwhelmingly women and people of color — have organized, taken action, and won historic contracts that raise standards across California’s higher education system.
We also know that there are powerful efforts right now to erase Black history, deny racism, and downplay contributions of Black Americans to this country and to the labor movement. As Teamsters, we reject these attacks. Every time we tell the full truth about how black workers built this economy, organized in the face of violence and exclusion, and fought for civil rights and workers’ rights, we defend labor history, or union and our future.
For Local 2010, honoring Black history is not a once a-year ritual. It is a living commitment to building a union where racial justice and worker justice go hand in hand. That means standing against racism, sexism and discrimination on our campuses and worksites whether in pay, discipline, or daily treatment. It means bargaining contracts that lift up those pushed to the bottom and protecting the gains our members have fought to win.
This Black History Month, we honor those who came before us and commit to their work. When we defend Black history, we defend the labor movement. When we fight for racial justice, we make our union stronger. And when we stand united as Teamsters local 2010, no matter our race or color, we carry forward a powerful truth: When working people lead, organize, and stand together, we continue to win for working people everywhere!
In Solidarity,
Jason Rabinowitz
Secretary—Treasurer
Teamsters Local 2010
Catherine Cobb
President
Teamsters Local 2010
