Americo 'elvish Periodical Carter

CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, 01110

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Friday, March 22, 1946

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DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

1946

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How the Jewish Community Council

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Wars Again4t Employment Discrimination

By LEWIS C. FRANK, Chairman
Employment Discrimination ('ommitt ee
Jewish Community Council of Detro it

Discrimination, the handmaiden in the problem. Activity on till
idi-Semitism, is an unfortun- local level is carried on, broad-
ienomenon of life in Amer ened by the exchange of informa-
des
, t: is unfortunate in at least- tion which stems from this rela-
I-
lkf,„Prespects. Directly, it imposes tionship.
limitations upon the normal need
Careful consideration of a situa-
and right of people to earn a live- tion of employment discrimination
lihood, and upon their normal as- involves equally careful considera-
pirations to improve themselves tion of the aptitudes and capaci-
economically. Indirect, but even ties of the individual making the
more devastating, is its effect up- complaint. To assist in this, the
on the morale of the whole people. facilities of the Jewish Vocational
The Employment Discrimination Service of Detroit are utilized.
Committee of the Jewish Commu- Following a series of conferences
nity. Council was established to with the Jewish Vocational Serv-
consider and combat discrimina- ice officials, the type and direction
tion on behalf of Detroit's Jewish of this relationship was developed.
community. The membership of
Interest in Legislation
the committee represents a broad
FEPC legislation is recognized
cross-section of the community
and a variety of points of view. as one of the safeguards of good
Its approach to the problem is employment practices. The Jewish
based on the experience and judg- Community Council has therefore
ment of the members of the com- worked actively and unremittingly
mittee, reinforced by the findings on behalf of such legislation.
When the State Bill was pending
of scientific studies in the field.
The problem of discrimination is before the Legislature, representa-
many sided and requires attack tives of Detroit's Jewish commun-
from several angles. There are the ity were present to speak in favor
specific complaints which speak of the Bill. The Jewish commun-
for themselves, and in which the ity of Detroit has likewise been
discriminatory aspect is flagrant. represented on delegations which
There are, as well the complaints have gone to Washington to urge
of individuals who use anti-Semi- retention of FEPC Legislation.
tism as a "crutch," and whose The Community Council has Ini-
own short-comings are the cause tiated letter writing campaigns
of their failures. There are the 'and personal contacts to promote
"in-between" instances of unin- the interests of FEPC. In the
tentional rebuffs which arouse the name of Detroit's Jewish commu-
defenses of a people made wary of nity the Council has communicat-
and sensitive to such situations. ed with the President, with Con-
Above and beyond the instances gressmen, and with other key fig-
brought to light by specific corn- ures on behalf of FEPC.
nlaints, but related to the whole
Research
picture, is activity that must be
Surveys of the general field, with
taken in the broad field of legis-
lation, community relations, and respect to the employment oppor-
research, toward the end of seem- tunities afforded, are also part of
ing better and fairer employment the background function of the
Jewish Community Council. This
practices.
function is aimed at producing
Cooperation with Other Agencies factual basis upon which anti-dis-
During the period when the crimination activities can be car-
l'resident's Committee on Fair Em- ried forward. IMPRESSIONS are
ployment Practices was active in poor guides to careful thinking
the war industries, the Jewish and action. FACTS are required.
Community Council was in fre- Therefore, the Jewish Community
quent contact with it. Cases were Council is interested in assembling
referred and jointly considered. the necessary facts.
The arrangement was a reciprocal
The impression has long pre-
one since the Jewish Community vailed, for example, that employ-
Council had access to and famil- ment opportunities for Jews are
iarity with a certain body of limited in the field of banking,
knowledge and experience that utilities, and insurance. A study
was useful to the FEPC.
aimed at clarifying the facts was
The Jewish Community Council instituted and completed a little
has also operated closely with the over a year ago. The findings, al-
Metropolitan District Fair Em- though distorted by the wartime
ployment Council and with the manpower situation, were none the
National Council for Permanent less valuable. A similar study is
FEPC'. A member of the Jewish contemplated in the near future.
Community Council staff is on the
A study of the practices of pri-
Executive Committee of the for- vate employment agencies is now
mer organization.
under way. Its object is to ascer-
Close liaison is likewise main- tain the facts upon which to make
tained with those national Jewish an evaluation of discriminatory
agencies which interest themselves trends and practices. Another such

study was previously made about
eight years ago.

Handling of Discrimination Cases
The Jewish Community Council
and its Employment Discrimina-
tion Committee operate on the
philosophy that a discriminatory
incident involvin a Jewish job
applicant bee o Ae. , s community
property. In effect, a slight to one
is a slight to all, and therefore
the legitimate interest of the or-
ganized community. The basis of
this reasoning is the obvious fact
that an established instance of
discrimination is d i r e c t e d not
against an individual but against
the indivdual's Jewishness. An al-
ert and well organized Jewish
community seeks to settle the
grievance which it believes it has.
When a complaint is received
in the office of the Jewish Com-
munity Council, it is brought to
the Committee for consideration
before action is undertaken. The
Committee, after consideration of
all factors involved, may recom-

mend a contact with the employ-
er. In those instances where a
contact with the employer is di-
rected by the Committee, it is
made on behalf of the organized
Jewish community. Attempt is
made to have representative and
well informed individuals present
to meet with the employer. A
member of the Jewish Community
Council staff accompanies the
Committee members who are ma-
king the contact.
As one consequence of its com-
munity contacts, the Committee
has accomplished much collateral
good in the direction of eliminat-
ing objectionable phraseology from
employment questionnaires. With
proper interpretation an employer
frequently recognizes that ques-
tions of "Descent," "Nationality"
and "Religion" have no pertin-
ence to an individual's ability to
perform a job. From the pot of
view of the Jewish community,
such questions too often lead to
the conclusion that an honest an-
swer by a Jewish applicant will
disqualify him. In effect, it is be-
lieved that such questions are spe-

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cifically aimed at eliminating Jew-
ish applicants.
Examples of Cases Handled
A few examples out of the many
types of situations that have been
met by the Committee and of the
ways in which they were handled
may serve to illustrate the work
that is being done.
Mr. X was employed by a large
manufacturing concern. He stayed
away from work on Tom Kippur,
and when he returned the next
morning he was told that he was
discharged. When the Community
Council made contact with the em-
ployer and inquired into the mat-
ter, the information was given
that Mr. X was discharged for
other reasons — specifically, that
(Continued on Page 161

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