In attendance:
Susie McAllister, Secretary-Treasurer, Local 7704 (Women's Committee)
Keith Robinson, Steward, Local 6310 (COE)
Mary Lou Schaffer, President, Local 13550 (Women's Committee)
Jetty Wells, EVP, Local 4009 (COE)
Annie Hill, Vice President, District 7
Noah Savant, Vice President, District 3
Brooks Sunkett, Vice President, Public, Healthcare and Education Workers
Barbara Easterling, Secretary-Treasurer/Committee Chair
Walter Andrews, President Local 3204 and President of Minority Caucus
Claude Cummings, President Local 6222 and Vice President of Minority Caucus
Staff:
Yvette Herrera, Senior Director
Gwend Johnson, Director Human Rights
Mary K. O'Melveny, General Counsel
- Reviewed posting of committee meeting notes on the Ready for the Future website and link from home page under What's Hot.
- Mary O'Melveny General Counsel reviewed her findings on standards governing issues of diversity and the definition of the term 'people of color'. A summary of her research "Diversity Board Seats: Legal Background and Definitions" is pasted at the end of these notes. The committee defined people of color as individuals who do not solely identify as Caucasian.
- Barbara Easterling advised that she and the other Board committee members will be reporting to the Executive Board on the committees progress at their meeting December 13-14.
- The next committee conference call is December 15 @10am eastern time.
DIVERSITY BOARD SEATS: LEGAL BACKGROUND AND DEFINITIONS
Although various civil rights laws prohibit discrimination based on race or color or ethnicity, (along with other categories), there is no particular "legal" definition of the term "people of color." Generally, because "race" and "color" tend to be the most visible badge of "difference" (as opposed to culture or ethnic group), it is not surprising that the largest category of discrimination claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") allege either race or color discrimination.
The closest definitions for racial and ethnic categories are provided in connection with the annual reports that employers (including CWA) are required to submit annually to the EEOC describing the racial, gender and ethnic composition of their workforce. These EEO‑1 reports use six newly defined racial and ethnic categories, including a category designed to include those who identify with more than one of those groups. The EEOC strongly encourages people to "self‑identify" themselves within one of these categories:
Hispanic or Latino: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.
White (Not Hispanic or Latino): A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Black or African American (Not Hispanic or Latino): A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Not Hispanic or Latino): A person having origins in any of the peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa or other Pacific Islands.
Asian (Not Hispanic or Latino): A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand and Vietnam.
Two or more races (not Hispanic or Latino): All persons who identify with more than one of the above five races.
The recent changes to the manner in which ethnic and racial information is gathered and reported were made by EEOC "to reflect the increasing diversity of the Nation's population due to growth in immigration and interracial marriage" and to increase the agency's ability to effectively enforce the law. As a result, these are likely to be the most appropriate racial and ethnic definitions to use in describing any proposed diversity initiatives.
The EEOC has published various guidelines and other informational materials discussing racial and ethnic discrimination issues. These materials carefully analyze "race" and "color" discrimination, as well as discrimination based on "ethnicity." In these EEOC documents, the term "people of color" is frequently used, and it describes issues involving non‑whites – specifically, African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Asians or Native Americans. (For example, EEOC issued a 2003 report, based on EEO‑1 data and other information, titled "Women of Color: Their Employment in the Private Sector." This report focused exclusively on the experiences of women in these four categories.) The phrase "people of color" is also used frequently in materials addressing workplace diversity and/or "affirmative action" efforts. The EEOC, for example, issues reports periodically summarizing "best practices" in the employment field describing model policies and programs designed to increase workforce diversity.
"Affirmative action" is another term that is often used to describe efforts to increase diversity in employment or education. Such programs have been the subject of substantial litigation over the past 25 or more years. The EEOC views affirmative action programs as "a useful tool to combat barriers to equal employment opportunity." Thus, employers may voluntarily use certain "race conscious" methods to combat discrimination or to eliminate barriers to achieving diversity. The EEOC encourages the use of all "proactive measures" that address such barriers while ensuring "fairness to all."
The courts have generally concluded that affirmative action programs must meet certain standards in order to be valid under Title VII. Voluntary affirmative action programs or policies will generally be upheld against legal challenges if they are implemented for a temporary period of time to correct specific imbalances or "under‑representation" of specific groups and if they are tailored narrowly to avoid impairing the rights of non‑beneficiaries of such policies. Similarly, "diversity" initiatives that are designed to increase opportunities for people of color to participate in certain areas, or be considered for certain positions, are likely to be legally valid if they meet these criteria.
