75 Am. U. L. Rev. 1219 (2026).
Abstract
Black and organized workers increasingly find themselves threatened by two key outside forces: one seeking to stop anti-racism efforts via diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices and the other curtailing employees’ union organizing. This Article argues that a response must be grounded in uniquely local strategies by two specific worker coalitions. One coalition—the New Black Workers Movement (NBWM)—arose from Black Lives Matter civil rights protests in 2020 that captivated the workplace and heightened awareness about anti-Blackness and concerns of systemic racism. The other coalition—the New Labor Workers Movement (NLWM)—developed in 2020 as a workplace response to a global pandemic that reinvigorated concerted employee efforts to pursue comprehensive protections beyond racial justice for rank-and-file workers.
This Article reexamines the anti-DEI narratives that threaten the rights of many Black workers, with a particular focus on the growing legal consequences created by federal government actions and business reactions. To the extent that the federal government and businesses have started to adopt Project 2025’s anti-union agenda, these workers face additional vulnerabilities. The Article proposes that the NBWM and
NLWM use local measures at a grassroots level to protect the interests of these vulnerable workers facing anti-DEI and anti-labor conditions.
Most scholars continue to question the viability of coalitions between civil rights and labor movements due to historical tensions between those groups. This Article disputes those concerns by considering a unique approach focused on specific “locations” where each group may thrive independently or via joint collaborations. These coalitions emerge from a rarely considered application of the interest-convergence principle to address matters of race and develop mass-organizing strategies for Black and organized workers. By capitalizing on each movement, these vulnerable workers can find a path to resistance, protect their livelihoods, and add value to the communities where they work. When the law may not provide the best respite for these vulnerable workers, they must do something to survive. Finding “locations” for successful NBWM-NLWM mergers enhances the opportunities for these workers’ continued advancement.
* Professor of Law, Dean’s Research Chair, and Director, Workplace Law Program, Texas A&M University School of Law. I thank Michael Oswalt, Rachel Moran, Nancy Welsh, Charlie Sullivan, Mario Barnes, Liz Tippett, Shirley Lin, Alex Nunn, Tim Mulvaney, and Vanessa Casado Perez for their insightful suggestions to improve this Article. I also received many fine comments from Sameer Ashar, Christopher Cameron, Angela Cornell, Jade Craig, Ruben Garcia, Llezlie Green, Jeffrey Hirsch, Nancy Kim, Thomas Kleven, Desirée LeClercq, Ariana Levinson, Marty Malin, Gregory Parks, Seema Patel, Larry Pittman, Nicole Porter, Gali Rabi, Joseph Slater, Peggie Smith, Marley Weiss, and Yiran Zhang when I presented an earlier draft at the: John Mercer Langston Workshop, University of Washington School of Law, July 2025; CAPALF Conference on “Transformative Justice in a World on Fire,” University of Hawaii Law School, June 2025; Union Events Speaker Program, Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations, April 2025; University of Mississippi Law Faculty Speaker Series, April 2025; Association of American Law Schools “New Ideas in Workplace Law” Program, January 2025; Labor Law Group Program, Chicago-Kent School of Law, June 2024; ClassCrits XIV Program, Southwestern Law School, February 2024; Critical (Legal) Collective, Duke University School of Law, November 2023; Eighteenth Annual Colloquium on Scholarship in Employment and Labor Law, University of Minnesota Law School, October 2023; and Carl A. Warns, Jr. & Edward Render Labor Institute Keynote Address, University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, June 2023. I am grateful for Texas A&M law school’s support and the exceptional research assistance provided by law student Ian C. Stephens and additional outstanding research support from fellow students Shayla Nguyen, Shane Reynolds, Zaida Morgan, and Kaya Mason. Input from multiple American University Law Review editors has also made this final product so much better.