The Results of Migration 159 



fied in feeling that a dispute between the American Federa- 

 tion of L,abor and management is none of his affair because 

 there are very few local unions which admit Negroes. Ex- 

 ceptions to this are to be found in scattered trades such as 

 the hod carriers, paving men's and teamster's locals. In 

 these occupations there are so many Negroes that the union's 

 hold on the trade is materially weakened if they are not in 

 the organization. The longshoremen and packing-house em- 

 ployees present the only cases of perfect unionization of 

 colored labor, and their organization in these trades has been 

 accomplished almost wholly under the War Labor Board 

 rather than under peace time labor leadership. In other 

 cases a few colored men are admitted to the union for the 

 sake of appearances and these are the last to be sent out 

 on jobs by master tradesmen. These complaints are wide- 

 spread among colored men in close touch with the in- 

 dustrial situation and among the laborers themselves. 



Just before many strikes there have been eleventh hour 

 efforts to get colored tradesmen into the organization. In 

 one or two instances it leaked out that the naive plan was 

 to get the colored men in, call the strike, then make one of 

 their demands that no more colored men be employed. 

 This strategy has succeeded in several instances, notably 

 in the strike of Chicago waiters in 1912. As a result, 

 when white union men strike it means that by doing so 

 they give the colored laborer the first opportunity which 

 he has had to fill a job for which he is trained, but from 

 which he has been previously barred by the very union 

 which accuses him of being a scab. In other words, in case 

 of a strike, the Negro is presented with the alternative of 

 being loyal to an organization which has discriminated 

 against him or of exercising his first and perhaps only op- 

 portunity to employ His full degree of skill. This puts a 

 different aspect on strikebreaking. 



But in cases where Negroes are in the union they play the 



