ABOUT

CBTU REGION III

Founded 1972 · Chicago, IL

The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists consists of members from seventy-seven international and national unions with forty-two chapters across the country. CBTU seeks to fulfill the dream of those Black trade unionists, both living and deceased, who throughout this century have courageously and unremittingly struggled to build a national movement that would bring all our strengths and varied talents to bear in the unending effort to achieve economic, political and social justice for every American.

OUR OBJECTIVES

Improve economic development and employment opportunities for Black workers.
Work within the framework of the trade union movement to provide a voice and vehicle for greater Black and minority participation.
Increase union involvement in voter registration, voter education, and voter turnout projects.
Organize the unorganized.
Actively support civil rights and civic groups working to improve living and working conditions in the Black community.
Increase effective political alliances between labor, churches, and the general community.

FOUNDERS

CBTU was founded in 1972 by a determined group of Black trade unionists who answered A. Philip Randolph’s call for an organized voice within the labor movement.

Nelson "Jack" Edwards — UAW
Charles A. Hayes — UFCW
Cleveland Robinson — District 65 UAW
William "Bill" Lucy — AFSCME
William Simons — AFT

REGION III LEADERSHIP

Rev. Terrence L. Melvin

CBTU International President

AFSCME · Washington, DC

Mike D. Payne

Region III Representative

ILA · Region III

“At the banquet table of nature, there are no reserved seats. You get what you can take, and you keep what you can hold. And you can’t take anything without organization.”
— A. PHILIP RANDOLPH