That implies that the little guys here successfully stand together against the corporate honchos.
But historically, black union members have alleged that racial discrimination is allowed to run rampant among the union ranks.
Over the years, federal lawsuits were filed. Consent decrees were ordered. Monitors were called in. Big settlements were paid out.
Yet the problem is still entrenched.
In the summer of 2012, 87-year-old retired businessman Ed Gardner became so frustrated after seeing only white workers at a construction site at 95th and Western, he led a weekslong street protest.
When it was over, only a handful of black construction workers found work at the site.
Now plaintiffs in a class-action suit filed in 2012 against Local 597 of the Pipe Fitters Association are hoping the issue gets fresh traction. The case is in the discovery phase, and it could take years to wind its way through federal court.
“I used to go down to the union hall and would be there from opening to closing,” said Donald Gayles, 64, who joined the union in 1974 and again in 1999.
“White workers would come in and get their jobs and leave out, and black workers would still be sitting there,” he said.
The eight black former members of Local 597 allege, in part, that they received fewer work hours overall compared with white pipe fitters of comparable qualifications; that they were the last hired and the first fired from jobs; and that when they do receive referrals, they are disproportionately for short-term jobs or otherwise undesirable jobs.
“Local 597 is one of the most racially segregated institutions I have ever come across in my career as a plaintiff’s employment discrimination lawyer,” says Jamie S. Franklin, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. http://www.suntimes.com/24478848-761/pipe-dream-black-pipe-fitters-have-sued-saying-they-battled-to-get-into-local-597.html
Wow, liberal unions now are accused of being racist.
Right in the heart of ObamaVille.
Shocking, I tell you, just shocking.
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