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From the January-February 2008 issue of Union Democracy Review #171
Race, gender and unfair hiring in construction: two cases
Holden in Operating Engineers Local 98
Anthony Holden, has been a member of the Operating Engineers for 28 years; he is one of the rare black members of the 1,500- member Local 98 in Massachusetts. Because he is trusted as a standup unionist, he has been elected and reelected to the local's executive board many times, even though the membership is almost exclusively white. In all this time, he remained independent minded and outspoken, not hesitating to criticize the business manager when he felt it necessary.
In 2006, the business manager was found guilty by a local trial board of denouncing Holden in blatantly racist terms and of threatening him with reprisals. A local trial board fined the BM and sentenced him to 20 hours of diversity training! But that vindication did not end Holden's problems. It made things worse, because the BM remembered.
Holden, an oiler, with long experience and excellent references from previous employers, was in line for an excellent long-term construction job with the Marino Crane Company. He had long experience and excellent references from previous employers. Besides, the project was publicly financed and required the contractor to hire minorities. But the local BM refused to refer Holden for the job and dispatched a substitute, a man not only white but actually a retired pensioner on social security!
Represented by attorney Leon Rosenblatt, an AUD Advisor, Holden complained to the state Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Several white members presented affidavits in support of his complaint. The case never went to trial because the evidence was so strong that the union felt compelled to settle. The settlement terms were confidential, but Holden had won. A second victory, but things got even worse for Holden, precisely because of that victory!
After the settlement, Holden applied for another long-term job, the Grand River Bridge Project. Again, he had to make way when the union referred another white member. And so in November, Holden was forced back to the EEOC with a second complaint, but this time more urgent than the first. In the whole previous year, he charged, he had worked only nine weeks. The second complaint is pending.
In this depressing story, there is one small encouraging note: Holden could count on support from some sympathetic white brothers. What is discouraging is that there was no consortium of black trade unionists available for his defense.
Outraged by the continued discrimination, Holden resigned from the local executive committee in protest and explained his motivation in a letter to the international's general secretary treasurer. After recounting his long career as a unionist and his uphill experiences as an African American, he wrote,
"Local 98 is not an equal employment opportunity... This union is trying to intimidate me and stop me from making a living as an Operating Engineer... During the last few months I have faced humiliation, embarrassment, and emotional distress. It is with deep remorse and anguish that I am forced to notify Local 98 of my resignation as an executive board member of this union."
Woman in Laborers Local 731
A 50-year-old woman laborer, who prudently remains anonymous, has complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Laborers Local 731 and the DeFoe Corporation, both in New York. According to her affidavit, she has faced double victimization: first discrimination as a woman and then discrimination for complaining against the discrimination!
As she tells it, she was hired in August 2005 --- the lone woman of 30 on the site --- for repair work on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. For construction, it was a good job because it was scheduled to last for four years. The DeFoe Company hired a second woman --- years younger than she --- and five additional men. But just three days later, on September 9, 2005, she was laid off by the foreman who told her that the general superintendent "says we don't have enough work for two girls and that I have to let you go."
She complained to her Local 731 job steward who relayed her complaint to the general superintendent, who promised that the layoff would last only two weeks and said, "The job's just starting. You'll be back."
But as months went by and that promise was never fulfilled, and she remained without work, she complained again to the super. He told her, "Do you think it's wise for you to keep calling me when you made so much trouble for us?" The foreman made this message even clearer, telling her that she would "never work for DeFoe again" because she "made trouble" for the company. The complainant is represented by Attorney Gillian Thomas of Legal Momentum, which describes itself as "the nation's oldest women's legal rights organization."
See also:
Women
in non-traditional trades: working for change
Union Democracy
in the Construction Trades
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