Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Rights Day. OHRD’s Human Rights and Climate Justice Fellow Savanha Renald had the pleasure of speaking with Aimée-Josiane Powell-Ingabire, current Board President of the National LGBTQ Workers Center, which fights against sexual and gender discrimination and harassment in the workplace. In this discussion, Aimee provides an overview of Blackness, gender, sexuality and labor. They explore the ways in which Black people have a unique interaction with labor, particularly queer and trans folx, and how formations such as unions, worker centers, and cooperative businesses can create more liberatory options for queer and trans people. 

Thank you for taking some time to speak with me today. I am really hoping to talk with you about how you articulate Blackness and labor, especially Blackness, gender and sexuality. I know your expertise lies in unions, so talk about unions and what they mean for Black folks and how unions relate to other sites of economic liberation including co-ops and solidarity economies.

Yes! All the things I love. I will send you the link to a podcast that I did, which also goes into this topic a little more in depth into some of that history… So, I think we can start with my thoughts on labor and Blackness. So similar to what I shared on the podcast, I think when people think about unions, I don't know about you, but I do not have a parent in the union or a grandparent in the union. That was not a part of my family’s trajectory. So, when I started unionizing that was very unexpected. And I had this sense, based on who I was interacting with in Atlanta, that unions are this very white thing. And I remember at some point maybe like my second year into like, you know, doing full time union organizing, I started talking to other black organizers who were similarly frustrated at just like the racism in the current labor movement. And so we studied together and I got a perspective that I've carried with me ever since. W.E.B. Du Bois first articulated that the labor movement for us really started in the 1860s. With the ways that enslaved people revolted. It made the slave economy unmanageable. Enslaved people built up enough power that the North had to take a position on slavery… the economy got too hard. 

And one of my favorite stories when it comes to that is the story of washerwomen and the ways in which washer women during the 1860s were going on strike. And that it was happening across the South. And I went to Puerto Rico and did a tour there. And they were talking about how the women there were also on strike.

Yeah, when I was thinking more about International Women’s Day and labor organizing, I found some archives about Black women washers who went on strikes. They wanted higher wages and better working conditions. And it worked. White people relied on this work, they were not prepared to go without it. Black people have always been at the center of labor in the U.S. The Atlanta strike shows how Black women also had a lot of pull because they did all the domestic work. 

Anywhere there has been labor, like Black labor, there has been resistance in organizations. And I think that's a much better way to think about unions for me. And I also think of unions as a stepping stone towards the kind of like socialist cooperative economy that I really want. It's important for unions to come with political education and visioning with people. It's like a step for us to actually have some kind of self governance and ownership of the work. I’m very passionate about unions and I don’t think that they’re the end, they’re like a means to the end. The end being owning our labor. 

It's just like an important piece to make because I'm not sure that a lot of people think of it that way. And I think that the corporatization of unions is further institutionalizing supremacy and patriarchy within unions. That is what happens when unions are the end in itself, and not as a means to an end.

I like how you talk about unions as a stepping stone. Because they encourage people to collaborate and come together as a community. 

I’ll tell you a story about the LGBTQ worker center. When we first started out, we were not sure what kind of organization we were going to be. I wanted to create a space for workers who are excluded from being part of the union. There’s a history of excluding certain workforces from being able to unionize, it’s very racist. Farm workers and sex workers were excluded from collective bargaining. Sex workers being paid unfairly is a labor issue. And the only support people have is to leave their industry and do an apprenticeship…become certified in construction or mechanics. Putting Black trans women in dangerous work situations. There is a disconnect between organized labor and queer folks, and trans people. 

I think solidarity economies are better equipped at dealing with those realities. People come with a lot of vulnerabilities, and Black queer solidarity in labor is able to honor those in a way that the greater movement does not. It's important to cooperatize our work. To have an intentional conversation about the division of labor, and costs, and profits. I think that there are a lot of people who are making the connections between cooperatives, economic freedom, and queerness, transness, [and] being a black person in the U.S.

And that is especially true of Atlanta. Thinking about the co-ops here and OHRD’s [cooperative] loan program, it's illustrative of how economics and social justice are in tandem. To do both requires having an intersectional framework and an understanding of how we are experiencing labor. Because then, people are able to talk about ownership beyond exploitation and our current extractive economy. 

Yeah, and what takes its place is something that actually values our labor.

Thank you for your insights Aimee. Talk soon!

Peace.

As we reflect on International Women's Rights Day, Aimée's words inspire us to envision a future where labor is valued and ownership is shared, transcending the confines of exploitation and fostering true economic liberation. Gender justice and Black liberation can arise from economic solidarity. At OHRD, we believe co-ops, and other alternative institutions, are an economic strategy to create a new system, enabling the restructuring of power, resources and wealth in order to protect, fulfill, and sustain human rights and Mother Earth. 

Please visit our website to learn more about our programs and support us in our efforts to create and nourish democratic, non extractive, environmentally sustainable enterprises.


Aimée-Josiane (they/them) is Rwandan-American anti-racist and anti-capitalist organizer, cultural worker, and a certified professional coach (CPC). Their work is rooted in the struggles of Black, migrant, trans, and queer survivors and workers. They have worked in the labor movement and anti-violence movement as an activist, organizer and a trainer for 15 years. Aimée-Josiane is a co-founder of Queer The Land, a founding member of the LGBTQ Workers Center and a board member of the National Black Workers Center and a member of the Black LGBTQ+ Migrant Project. Visit the National LGBTQ Worker Center website to learn more.