The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission spotlighted construction\u2019s culture of racism and sexual harassment Tuesday in a hearing where a Black forklift driver said he was encouraged to wear a noose around his neck for Halloween, and a female ironworker testified women developed urinary tract infections after being pressured not \u201cto go to the bathroom too much\u201d on jobsites.
\nThe five presidential appointees who sit on the commission, the nation\u2019s top agency charged with combatting workplace discrimination, repeatedly put the hearing in context of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and their obligation to make sure it doesn\u2019t fund an environment of hate.
\nAfter describing other cases litigated by EEOC against construction firms that included threats of lynching, sexual assault and even murder against women and people of color, Chair Charlotte Burrows said now was the time to make sure public money doesn\u2019t perpetuate that pattern. \u201cThe federal government and our public and private partners have really a historic opportunity and a duty to ensure that taxpayer money does not fund harassment or discrimination, and that the doors of opportunity are open to everyone,\u201d Burrows said during a press briefing following the hearing. <\/p>\n
After George Floyd’s 2020 murder triggered a social reckoning with racism in America, dozens of racist incidents<\/a> involving nooses and hateful grafitti emerged on construction jobsites. The hearing\u2019s scope went beyond the headline-grabbing events of recent years to trace the genesis of racism in the industry. <\/p>\n Trevor Griffey, author of \u201cBlack Power at Work: Community Control, Affirmative Action, and the Construction Industry,\u201d testified how unions’ exclusion of Black workers from skilled construction trades in the 1940s, and resistance to desegregate in subsequent decades, helped lead to the larger civil rights movement.<\/p>\n A history lecturer at University of California, Irvine, Griffey described the repeated resistance to integration in the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cNot even the passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was sufficient to compel construction contractors and unions to desegregate in the mid-1960s because early on, enforcement of Title VII law relied on voluntary compliance,\u201d Griffey said. \u201cNeither the contractors nor unions were very interested in voluntarily changing their system.\u201d<\/p>\n But while unions\u2019 inclusion initiatives actively seek out women and people of color today, ironworker Japlan \u201cJazz\u201d Allen told commissioners that being a Black woman in the trades exposed her to sometimes being hired to meet diversity goals on projects, only to be laid off once they were fulfilled. <\/p>\n \u201cNine times out of ten, I’m the only woman, and not only am I a woman, I’m a Black woman,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThat’s a double barrier for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Allen said women often don\u2019t file grievances for the discrimination they experience on jobsites out of fear of retribution. <\/p>\n \u201cThe minute you go inside and try to make a grievance for something, you might be penalized and may never get a job again,\u201d Allen said. <\/p>\n Women in general are held to a different standard than their male counterparts, she claimed, and pointed to restrooms onsite. <\/p>\n \u201cWe requested our own bathroom, which was in the collective bargaining agreement,\u201d Allen said. \u201cBut now, well, the attitude was, \u2018We don\u2019t need you to go to the bathroom too much.\u2019 Now you\u2019re having a UTI because you\u2019re holding your urine because you don\u2019t want them to retaliate and think you\u2019re going to the bathroom too much.\u201d<\/p>\n For Gary, the Black forklift operator who successfully sued his employer for discrimination after his supervisor suggested he put a noose around his neck while the supervisor dressed up in a sheet for Halloween, the constant racist banter on jobsites posed a safety issue on the job. <\/p>\n \u201cThe maximum load I might be carrying at any given time is 10,000 pounds,\u201d said Gary, who requested that EEOC withhold his last name for fear of retribution. \u201cIf my foreman\u2026 is over the radio joking and I lose my focus, I might just kill somebody. They can never go home to their family, and I can\u2019t explain what happened in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Ken Simonson, chief economist of the Associated General Contractors of America, highlighted the association\u2019s Culture of Care anti-harassment<\/a> initiative, while calling on EEOC to work with contractors to combat the problem, instead of imposing regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s certainly appropriate to call out cases of harassment and discrimination, these are outrageous examples that no responsible employer or association support,\u201d Simonson said. \u201cWe’re glad to be publicizing that with you, but we think that going to mandates and restrictions is the wrong approach.\u201d<\/p>\n In a post-hearing call with reporters, EEOC Chair Burrows said she hoped to build on the initiatives she\u2019s seen the industry develop internally, but that increased enforcement of harassment laws was always an option. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we found is that these sort of broader issues when you want to have cultural change\u2026 the best way to get at something like that is for everyone to partner,\u201d Burrows said. \u201cWe hope that that will work first\u2026. And if we have to, then obviously we absolutely will continue to go ahead and bring those enforcement actions.\u201d<\/p>\n This item was originally posted here: Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"