Ty on I 01 t d
INDIANAPOUS- . e Ty on
been pI ced in ingle cell
in a di ciplinary unit for alleged­
ly threatening ta member t
the pri on where h ' serving
i -year sentence for r pe,
authori ties said I t wee .
It w th econd time Ty on,
25, ha bumped up g in t
pri on discipline. When he first
entered jail he w told to top
giving his autograph to fello
inmates.
,-
Gain to pi
bargain
DettoiI-The mo t eriou
charge against Terry Gaines, Sr.
may be dropped if he pleads
guilty to improperly storing a
gun that his 6-year-old daughter
used to kill her 12-year-old
brother la t month, ay
prosecutors.
Gaines would be charged
with contributing to the deli­
quency of a minor, but not
econd-degree child abuse, a
felony, under the proposed plea
bargain. The pro ecutor's office
already has said that it would not
seek jail time for Gaines.
M rketlng Ex�utlv
Alvin Clemons
Nehru Jotlnson
MICHIGAN
CITIZEN
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•
WORLD'NATION
LI RACY
"Knowing how to read and
write make omeone the mo t im­
portant person in the village," ay
Keffe Coumare, a veteran teacher
hired by CARE to help run the
program.
In Mali, only 23 percent of the
men and 11 percent of the women
are illiterate.
"Wetre teaching adults rather
than children because they in turn
v
By Bill FLETCHER, JR.
R.prlnr.d from Labor Note.
Developments in Boston over
the last few months surrounding a
community demand for construc­
tion jobs once again brings to the
fore the question of workers of
color and the construction industry.
Though the struggle in this case
involved a non-union firm (which
has been building a new po t office
in the largely African-American
Roxbury section of Boston), the
growth of a new organization of
workers of color and the resulting
vibes from the building trades
unions have brought a long-time
strain to the surface.
Added to this has been the,
dramatic downturn in construction
in Massachusetts and the resulting
lay-offs of thousands of building
trades union members.
The situation in Boston is, unfor­
tunately, illustrative of a problem
which workers of color have faced
nationally: even in areas which
have a great number of workers of
color, the building trades have
remained, for all intents and pur­
poses, a white male preserve,
despite over 25 years of struggle
and litigation.
OPPORTUNITY
In 1987-88 a peculiar set of cir­
cumstances appeared to present an
opportunity for dramatic change in
Massachusetts. The anti-union As­
socia ted Builders and Contractors
initiated a petition to overturn the
Commonwealth's prevailing wage
law. The fight to save the law
resulted in a grand coalition of for­
ces prepared to fight under the
general banner of workers' rights.
In building the coalition, a long
et of negotiations took place with
organizations repre enting com­
munities of color and women.
Though the results of these
negotiations were ambiguous, com­
munities of color rallied to the
defense of the- prevailing wage.
Following the campaign, in
early 1989, an historic meeting took
place, h ted by the Boston Build­
ing Trade Council and the Con­
tractor Association of Boston, a
majority contractors group. The
purpo e was the announced upport
by the trades for et-asides for
minority contractors and continued
support for the Boston Re idents
CARE D VIS D the project
a a way for villagers, especially
tho e in remote areas, to achieve
greater self-sufficency. For ex­
ample, if villagers can read there
will be less need for health care
r
Jobs Ordinance.
That ordinance sets goals: 50
percent of construction jobs for
Boston residences, 25 percent for
minorities, and 10 percent for
women.
Thi meeting urprised progres­
sives and reactionaries alike. Un­
fortunately, hortly after the
meeting the bottom started to fall
out of the Massachusetts construc­
tion indu try.
The relationship between com­
munities of color and the trades,
rather than progression,
deteriorated even more.
FUNDAMENTAL
PROBLEMS
There are certain fundamental
problems in attempting, to
desegregated the trade. For one,
the building trades were founded on
the notion of limiting growth in the,
skilled trades in order to force
wages up. For that reason, many of
the trades never did genuine or­
ganizing. This also provided a
screen for restricting the entrance of'
workers of color, women, and, at
certain points, various white males.
The second and related point i
that the trades exist on the basis of.
protecting what they can for thetr
existing members. Thus, even in
those situations where there i
visionary leadership, this en­
courages an evolutionist approach
to change, i.e., . that the slow but
steady entranoe of minoritie and
women will eventually change the
compo ition of the unions.
The related problem, of course,
is that the workers last in are the
first out, serving as a cushion to
protect the white males.
NON· UNION TRADES
The problem with the prevailing
outlook in the trades is that it i
something of an anachroni m.
The charge in methods of con-
truction and the political decisions
made by the trades to concede entire
sectors of construction to non­
union forces in the 19SOs and 1960a
has led to the growth of a highly
. competitive non-union sector.
In few cases some of tbe trades
have responded with orne attention
toward organizing. (The Operating
Engineers and their southern or­
ganizing local is one case in point.)
Such initiative are few and far
between. The main re po e bas 0
been retrenchment.
When confronted with challen­
ges to desegregate, the frequent
response of many people in the
trades, including some progres­
sives, is that too much attention is
focused on the trades.
In other words, the construction
industry cannot solve the un­
employment problems facing com­
munities of color.
While this point is true on its
face, it ignores the heart of the
demand for desegregation. The
trades exist, and few means for un­
skilled workers to gain marketable
skills.
While some community ac­
tivists overestimate the number of
construction industry jobs avail­
able--even in the best of times­
most realize that construction is
nobody's panacea. At the same
time, with the deplorable economic
situation facing communities of
color, the trades must be opened as
part of the struggle for survival.
WORKERS'
TIONS
The problem is how. There are
three directions which need some
consideration. For one, workers'
associations need to be rebuilt, as is
being done in Boston. In the late
1960s and early 1970s, associations
of workers of color appeared in
many cities to struggle arou�d con­
struction jobs, in part reflecting the
impact of the civil rights and Black
power movements on the working
class.
Second, targeting the non-union
ector makes tactical sense.
Among other things, this .d�es n?t
immediately put the associations In
contradiction with the trade, and it
also targets wor which has been
given up by the trades. While
wages will not be as high as in the
union ector, organizing these
workers can pre ure the contrac­
tors to increase wages.
Third, the associationa need to
build community pressure on the
building trades and on
municipalities. The �rlem
Figbtback, one of the premier or-,
ganizationa in the battle to
desegregate the trades, bas histori­
cally called for municipal- pon­
sored hiring hall as one mean of
providing a democratic basis for the
employment of workers. TID must
be accompanied with pre ure on
ASSOCIA-
workers to make as many vi it .'
Nutrition and medical advic
can imply be written down and
kept or all to u e rather relying on
a health care worker to give it ver­
bally.
There i al 0 financial benefit
for the village to keep accurate
records in their marketing and
business transactions, says
Coumare.
"There' no real development
for these people withoutliteracy,"
he ays.
r
?
•
contractors, who all too often hide
behind the union, throwing up
their hands and claiming there is
little they can do.
Can the building trades unions
ever really be desegregated?
Despite years of activi m on the
issue, serious doubts exist for this
author, as they do for many other
labor and community activists. If
the answer is "no," however, such a
conclusion is far from a satisfying
victory for the trades. Should the
trades be unable to desegregate it
will be one step further on their road
to oblivion.
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a Washingto1l,
D.C. labor activist and writer.
� ,