William Lucy helped define the role of African Americans in labor unions when he co-founded the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) in 1972. Black union members gathered in Chicago out of concern for the AFL-CIO’s neutrality regarding the 1972 presidential election between Richard Nixon (R) and George McGovern (D). This was the single largest gathering of Black trade union members in U.S. history and these members raised the alarm that re-electing Nixon would have harsh consequences for working people and the Black community. The call issued from the conference, according to CBTU records, was the following:
“We are concerned that the re-election of Richard Nixon will almost certainly result in four more years of favored treatment for the rich and powerful; continued unemployment; frozen wages; high prices; appointment of additional members of the U.S. Supreme Court who are conservative and insensitive to the rights of workers, minorities, and the poor; more repression and restriction of civil liberties; and the reversal or total neglect of civil rights.”
A steering committee was formed during the conference which included Lucy, who at the time was international secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Other steering committee members were Nelson “Jack” Edwards, vice president, United Auto Workers, William Simons, president, Washington Teachers Union, Local 6, Charles A. Hayes, vice president, United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Cleveland Robinson, president, Distributive Workers of America, District 65.
Lucy, who was the highest standing Black elected-labor official internationally, made a piercing statement about race and the labor movement at the gathering, Sept. 23-24, 1972. He said,
“At the present time, we occupy a very important and critical position in the politics of this nation, both in terms of the trade union movement as well as the political parties of this country. We are in nobody’s pocket, do not intend to get in anybody’s pocket, and we are going to assume a position of full partners. You see, we don’t want anybody to be making decisions for us any longer, because we are quite capable of making decisions ourselves. We don’t want to be a thorn in anybody’s side, but we don’t want to be a pivot for anybody’s heel.”
One of his early assignment as a labor organizers was working in Memphis on the sanitations workers strike, alongside Dr. Martin Luther, Jr. As an international activist, Lucy was also integral to organizing the U.S. Free South Africa movement to help end apartheid in South Africa. He brought South African freedom fighter Mandela to speak to organizers in the U.S. after his release from prison and later attended Mandela’s inauguration as the first Black president of South Africa.
In 1994, Lucy was elected president of Public Services International (PSI), the world’s largest union federation. He became the first African American to hold the position, which oversaw 10 million members from more than 100 nations. The following year, he was appointed to the AFL-CIO executive council, it’s highest decision-making body.
Today, Lucy serves as a member of The National Board of Directors of the NAACP. He’s repeatedly cited by Ebony magazine as one of “The 100 most Influential Black Americans.”