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The conversation about reparations for slavery entered a new stage earlier in 2021, with the U.S. House Judiciary Committee  to address the matter.

The bill, , has been introduced every Congress since 1989 by U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and John Conyers, . But this year marks the first time that its request to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans has cleared the committee stage. 

Calls to redress the lasting impact of slavery and racial discrimination have been amplified recently because of further evidence of the impact of systemic racism鈥攂oth through the聽 and the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others at the hands of U.S. police.

Disruption of Labor Relations

To many, the question is not so much whether or not reparations are in order, but what kinds of reparations might be appropriate.

Most of the conversation to date has focused on reparations in terms of payouts of some form. Prominent author , in a powerful argument for reparations, said payments must be made by White America to Black America鈥攎uch as  to compensate for the persecution of Jews by the Nazis.

As a , I agree that reparations must have economic substance, because the impact of racism is inherently linked with power and money. But my  for reparations: If one of the most significant aspects of slavery鈥攅ven if not the only one鈥攚as a massive disruption of labor relations, then a crucial part in the reparations discussion could involve reshaping the labor relationship between employers and employees today. 

I believe such a reshaping of the labor relationship would substantially benefit the descendants of enslaved people in the United States. Labor, as my research has argued, has implications for all aspects of life and labor reform would, I believe, address many of the problems of structural racism as well. In addition, reshaping the labor relationship would also benefit all working people, . 

Growing Racial Wage Gap

Labor relations can be considered 鈥渄istorted鈥� when one party profits disproportionally at the expense of another. In other words, it is a departure from a 鈥溾�濃�攁 concept that forms a bedrock demand of the labor movement, alongside good working conditions.

This is not just a matter of money but also of power. Under the conditions of slavery, the distortion of labor relations was nearly complete. Slave owners pocketed the profits and claimed absolute power, while slaves had to obey and risk life and limb for no compensation.

Black Americans continue to be disadvantaged in the labor market today. As CEO compensation , the number of Black CEOs remains remarkably low鈥� just  as of March 2021. In general, the wage gap between Black and White employees . Fueling these disparities, as well as building on them, is the structural racism that reparations could be designed to address.

Unionization can be a tool to rebalance labor relations and can , . But union membership in general鈥攁nd among Black workers in particular鈥攈as . And a weaker labor movement is associated, studies show, with .

Another tool to rebalance labor relations is worker-owned cooperatives, which have a  as  has noted. From early on, she points out, 鈥淎frican Americans realized that without economic justice鈥攚ithout economic equality, independence, and stability 鈥� social and political rights were hollow, or actually not achievable.鈥� Gordon Nembhard鈥檚 work also shows that such cooperatives were often fought and ultimately destroyed because they were so successful in empowering African American communities. 

A 鈥淢ore Permanent鈥� Solution

Some in the labor movement are beginning to link reparations with union rights. Labor  has suggested that the proposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act, a bill before Congress that would strengthen workers鈥� rights and weaken anti-union right-to-work laws, should be viewed as 鈥渁 practical form of Black reparations.鈥� He argued in  that wealth redistribution through union membership is 鈥渕ore permanent and lasting than a check written out as Black reparations, however much deserved, and far more likely to get a return over time.鈥�

While many disagree about the profits employers should be able to make from the labor of their employees, few disagree about the wrongness of practices like outright 鈥攚hich today takes the form of employers not paying part or all promised wages or paying less than mandated minimum wage. Even those who rarely worry about employers making too much profit would for the most part likely agree that wage theft is wrong. Agreement on this matter takes us back to slavery, which might be considered the ultimate wage theft.

Addressing the ongoing legacy of slavery and systemic racism requires not only economic solutions but also improving labor relations and protecting workers against wage discrimination, disempowerment at work, and violations such as wage theft that .

Reparations that fail to pay attention to improving labor relations may not achieve economic equality. The reparations paid to Israel by Germany, for instance, have not helped to achieve economic equality鈥攖he Israeli economy is still, alongside the U.S.鈥榮, among the , with the richest 10% of each country鈥檚 population earning more than 15 times that of the poorest.

Simple monetary payouts are not, I believe, sufficient to solve the problem of racial inequality. Wage theft can again serve as the example here. While repaying stolen wages鈥攁s  by returning $35 million to workers鈥攊s commendable, repaying stolen wages does not in itself change the skewed relationships between employer and employee that enable wage theft in the first place. Greater empowerment of working people is needed to do that.

Benefiting Others as Well

So while redistributing money can be part of the solution, it may not go far enough.

Tying reparations to the improvement of labor relations鈥攚hich can happen through the empowerment of working people or the promotion of 鈥攚ould not only help those most affected by wealth and employment gaps, Black Americans, it would also  in employment, such as women, immigrants, and many other working people. 

Improving labor relations would address systemic racial discrimination where it is often most destructive and painful: at work, where people spend the bulk of their waking hours, and where the economic well-being of families and by extension entire communities can be decided.

This article was originally published by聽. It has been republished here with permission.