Blue Solidarity: Police Unions, Race and Authoritarian Populism in North America

Abstract

With a focus on police unions in the United States and Canada, this article argues that the construction of ‘blue solidarity’, including through recent Blue Lives Matter campaigns, serves to repress racial justice movements that challenge police authority, acts as a counter to broader working class resistance to austerity and contributes to rising right-wing populism. Specifically, the article develops a case study analysis of Blue Lives Matter campaigns in North America to argue that police unions construct forms of ‘blue solidarity’ that produce divisions with other labour and social movements and contribute to a privileged status of their own members vis-a-vis the working class more generally. As part of this process, police unions support tactics that reproduce racialised ‘othering’ and that stigmatise and discriminate against racialised workers and communities. The article concludes by arguing that organised labour should maintain a critical distance from police unions.

Solidarities In and Through Work in an Age of Extremes

“…Despite all being in and through work, each one is not necessarily evidence of a nascent form of trade unionism in the waged workplace, as with the case of volunteer workers (O'Toole and Calvard, 2019; this issue) and social factory cultural activists (Strauß and Fleischmann, 2019;this issue). Even if there is trade unionbased solidarity in the waged workplace, it is not necessarily socially progressive in content and purpose, as is commonly the case with police trade unionism (see Thomas and Tufts, 2019;this issue).…”

“…It also possesses the potential to be regressive by being exclusionary and used as a divisive weapon by the powerful and to protect their interests against the less powerful. Thomas and Tufts (2019) explore the building of a 'blue solidarity' (aka blue lives matter!) movement in recent years by North American police unions primarily to counter the large and influential American Black Lives Matter movement that uncovers and opposes police violence against people of colour.…”

“…This in turn assists police unions in their quest to produce a more privileged status for their members in terms of gaining extra resources, greater powers and leniency towards police violence and illegality. Thomas and Tufts (2019) highlight how police unions adopt or support campaign tactics that use racialised 'othering' to stigmatise and discriminate against workers of colour and their communities.…”

“…Their conclusion is that the example of blue solidarity demonstrates police unions are not like other labour unions by virtue that police officers are not ordinary 'workers in blue' but, members of the state's front-line coercive force for defending the status quo against all manifestations of combative working-class resistance to inequality and injustice, not least by organised labour. Not surprisingly, Thomas and Tufts (2019) conclude by calling for other labour unions to keep police unions at a critical distance.…”

“…Thomas and Tufts (2019) highlight how police unions adopt and/or support campaign tactics that use racialised ‘othering’ to stigmatise and discriminate against workers of colour and their communities. Their conclusion is that the example of blue solidarity demonstrates police unions are not like other labour unions by virtue that police officers are not ordinary ‘workers in blue’, but members of the state’s front-line coercive force for defending the status quo against all manifestations of combative working-class resistance to inequality and injustice, not least by organised labour.…”