GMAT Reading Comprehension

Home > GMAT Test > GMAT Reading Comprehension Questions

Next steps

Source: GWD

Level: 3

In the 1930's and 1940's, African American industrial workers in the southern United States, who constituted 80 percent of the unskilled factory labor force there, strongly supported unionization. While the American Federation of Labor (AFL) either excluded African Americans or maintained racially segregated unions, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) organized integrated unions nationwide on the basis of a stated policy of equal rights for all, and African American unionists provided the CIO's backbone. Yet it can be argued that through contracts negotiated and enforced by White union members, unions—CIO unions not excluded—were often instrumental in maintaining the occupational segregation and other forms of racial discrimination that kept African Americans socially and economically oppressed during this period. However, recognizing employers' power over workers as a central factor in African Americans' economic marginalization, African American workers saw the need to join with White workers in seeking change despite White unionists' toleration of or support for racial discrimination. The persistent efforts of African American unionists eventually paid off: many became highly effective organizers, gaining the respect of even racist White unionists by winning victories for White as well as African American workers. African American unionists thus succeeded in strengthening the unions while using them as instruments of African Americans' economic empowerment.

Question List: 1 2 3

The passage is primarily concerned with

  • A demonstrating that unions failed to address the concerns of African American workers during a particular period
  • B arguing that African American workers' participation in unions during a particular period was ultimately beneficial to them
  • C contrasting the treatment of African American workers by two different labor organizations during a particular period
  • D giving reasons for the success of African American unionists in winning victories for both African American and White workers during a particular period
  • E questioning one explanation for the attitudes of African American workers toward unionization during a particular period

Show Answer

Previous       Next