In 1969, protesters closed construction sites to create more jobs for black unions

In July 1969, a strange scene unfolded outside a building in the 3400 block of Douglas Boulevard: Picketers demanded a construction project be halted, forcing workers to walk off the job. It was a familiar scenario in blue-collar Chicago, but the players weren’t the usual suspects.

Picket signs are usually held by union members protesting a company staffed by non-union workers, “scabs” in labor movement parlance. But in this case, the workers on the project were union members. The signs were held by black protesters who were unable to obtain union cards, without which they could not get a job on the project.

The effort to force unions to recruit more black members continued through the summer. After leading a march of 400 protesters to the offices of the Builders Association of Chicago, Reverend Jesse Jackson said black Chicagoans were in a quandary. “We’ve been challenged to work, but we can’t get a job,” Jackson said.

The July picket was organized by the Coalition for United Community Action. The group also staged a demonstration on the 14th floor of the Chicago Building Council’s office at 130 N. Wells St., vowing to “‘stop all construction in black communities’ until 10,000 internships are filled by Negroes and other minority groups,” the Tribune reported.

On July 30, the Chicago Defender reported that the coalition had made good on its promise by halting six construction projects on the West Side on consecutive days.

“We are willing to negotiate,” said Reverend CT Vivian, coordinator of the coalition, “but it is clear that the unions do not want to negotiate because they have not done so.”

On August 9, The New York Times acknowledged that something important was happening in Chicago: “Twenty major construction projects in Chicago’s black neighborhoods have been halted in the past two and a half weeks as young Negroes marched on the construction sites in support of demands for more construction jobs for blacks.”

Twenty locations were still closed when the coalition called for an end to the protests on September 17. The conflict ended in a draw, with neither side getting what it wanted.

A week earlier, Ald. William Cousins, backed by other black elected officials, made a dire prediction: “We’re sitting on a powder keg,” he told the Tribune. “If something isn’t done in the next few days, this city is going to go up in flames.”

That did not happen, but the bitterness remained. In fact, it was exacerbated by the fact that neither side was able or willing to see the issue from the other’s perspective.

Construction workers confront black youths at the Federal Building in Chicago on Sept. 25, 1969. Black protesters had shut down construction sites the previous summer to force unions to hire black workers. (Michael Budrys/Chicago Tribune)

“As the wife of a union member, I have been through the four-year apprenticeship program on the sidelines,” Norma Knauss wrote in a letter to the editor of the Tribune. She acknowledged the need for jobs among black residents, but added that “their so-called spokesmen want everything the unions have fought for and their members have paid for since the Industrial Revolution.”

White working class members saw no problem in the children of carpenters or electricians being the first to work in those professions. Wasn’t that how it worked?

Colleges and universities often gave preference to relatives of alumni. So why shouldn’t a white working-class kid have “legacy admission” to the carpenters’ or electricians’ union because his father was a member?

Vivian, the boycott’s director, found the answer self-evident. The Tribune reported: “According to his statistics, four of the ten large building unions have only one black tradesman, and two have none. Another with 4,650 members has only four, and one with 800 whites has only three blacks.”

The Chicago construction boycott was inspired in part by Washington’s official decision to take a more aggressive approach to the problem of chronic unemployment in black communities. That strategy was laid out in a Tribune article headlined, “Union Chiefs Fear Federal Control.”

“The federal government has taken steps to eliminate discrimination in hiring by threatening to withhold federal funds and cancel projects where contractors are found guilty of discriminatory hiring practices,” the Tribune wrote. “Chicago is a prime target for the investigation, and labor officials are concerned that adverse findings could lead to nationwide sanctions against unions.”

Assistant Secretary of Labor Arthur A. Fletcher moves through a crowd of construction workers outside a coalition hearing at the U.S. Customs House, 610 S. Canal St., Chicago, on Sept. 25, 1969. (Don Casper/Chicago Tribune)

Two months before the boycott, Plumbers’ Union President Peter Schoemann said the only way to prevent a government takeover of the unions was to actively recruit black people.

But it was too late when union members protested on Douglas Boulevard, a war of words mutating into street fights and sit-ins.

As emotions ran high, threats and violent acts took place in a racially divided city.

“A group of nearly 100 black youths arrived at the construction site of the new $15 million science and engineering building at Polk and Halsted streets shortly after 8 a.m., demanding that workers leave the project and close the site,” the Tribune reported of a clash at the U. of I.’s Circle Campus on Aug. 12 that resulted in seven arrests. “A brief scuffle broke out when police intervened to prevent protesters from entering the site.”

Two weeks later, black protesters, described by the Tribune as “militants,” interrupted the Illinois convention of the AFL-CIO at the Congress Hotel. Meredith Gilbert, the leader of the group, pushed aside the union president and shouted, “This convention is over.”

Meredith was ordered off the speaker’s platform because he was not a delegate. “I am now,” he replied. “Try to unseat me.”

Construction workers confront black youths at the Federal Building in Chicago on Sept. 25, 1969. (Michael Budrys/Chicago Tribune)
Police fight with construction workers at the main entrance to the Customs House, 610 S. Canal St., Chicago, on Sept. 26, 1969. The workers were protesting the unionization of black workers. (James Mayo/Chicago Tribune)

Union leaders had sent a resolution to the convention demanding support for people of color trying to get into construction. The resolution was drafted by Charles Hayes, a black official of the Amalgamated Meatcutters union, who later acknowledged that his efforts were not enough.

“When Hayes, who has worked closely with the coalition and civil rights groups, was informed of the disruption to the convention, he said, ‘Sorry. I’m sorry,'” the Tribune reported. “It wasn’t as strong as I would have liked, but it was a good statement.”

Among those attending the conference was Ralph Abernathy, who had taken over as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. a year earlier.

Mayor Richard J. Daley seemed reluctant to intervene, perhaps because he fell between the cracks: labor unions were prominent in Chicago’s political establishment. But black voters kept him in office.

On September 8, a march at a Circle Campus construction site ended in a brawl when rocks and bottles were thrown at police officers. Among those arrested were Jesse Jackson and Leonard Sengali, a leader of the Black P. Stone Nation, a street gang that was part of the coalition.

“We can’t lose, we got soul power!” Jackson shouted to the crowd as he was led away. Earlier in the day, he had been honored as one of Chicago’s 10 Outstanding Young Men at a Palmer House luncheon.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson stands in the door of a police car and addresses his followers before being taken to jail after violence broke out at a protest at the University of Illinois’ Circle Campus construction site in Chicago on Sept. 8, 1969. Jackson was arrested for alleged criminal trespassing. He was there with others to protest the lack of union jobs for black workers. (Don Casper/Chicago Tribune)

Among the protesters were “at least 10 blacks with German shepherds and Dobermans,” the Tribune reported.

Union activists found it difficult to accept gang members, who reportedly focused on civil rights, as partners in resolving the construction impasse.

On September 18, the Chicago Defender reported that a letter was circulating from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers stating that federal officials advised that it would be “prudent” for the union to do business with individuals associated with the Black P. Stone Nation, Vice Lords and other gangs, or jobs receiving federal funding could be closed.

Earlier in the week, Mayor Daley invited the unions and the coalition to resume negotiations at City Hall. A tentative agreement whose terms called for the immediate hiring of 4,000 black workers for journeyman positions or for apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship training failed to gain traction.

The boycott ended without any concessions to blacks seeking work, and the conflict continued. The unions ignored the suggestion in a Tribune editorial that a reasonable counteroffer might quell the summer’s discontent: “If they prove they are sincere about ending years of discrimination, they will earn the support of fair-minded blacks and the militants will be left screaming in an empty room.”

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