BY SCOTT BREEN
SEATTLE - Forty-one current and former Boeing workers - 40
African-Americans, and one Filipino-Native American - filed a
job discrimination lawsuit against The Boeing Company. The
lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court on March 18,
accuses Boeing of discriminatory hiring practices,
discrimination in promotions, fostering a hostile work
environment for Blacks and other minorities, retaliation,
sexual harassment, and race-biased firings at Boeing's plants
in the Puget Sound region. It seeks more than $82 million in
damages.
Boeing, the aerospace giant, employs 103,400 people in Washington state, and has a national workforce of 238,500. As of 1996, African-Americans made up only 4.7 percent of the total workforce.
Boeing has denied the allegations. "I don't believe there is truly racism at The Boeing Company," senior Boeing executive James Dagnon told the Seattle Post Intelligencer. According to the Seattle Times, Dagnon nonetheless admitted that the company has too few minority workers on its payroll, and went on to say that the company's internal system to hear discrimination complaints "broke down." He said that Boeing would investigate the allegations and "appropriately address" those found to have merit.
According to Oscar Desper III, an attorney for the plaintiffs, however, 17 of these workers had filed internal complaints against company discrimination, to no avail. "Those grievances were not satisfactorily resolved. There is clearly a deficiency between their words and conduct that takes place in their work environment." He said he spent six months reviewing more than 100 claims. According to Desper, "Many who attempted to go through the Boeing process were retaliated against."
The plaintiffs attorneys said that within 24 hours of filing the lawsuit, they received more than 100 calls, mostly from other Boeing employees wanting to join the complaint, including from a group in Wichita, Kansas.
One Black machinist who called the Seattle Post Intelligencer said, "I was struck by this because I thought I was the only one being treated this way." He declined to give his name.
The lawsuit cites concrete examples of racist treatment at Boeing. For example, Donald Ballard, a Black worker at Boeing's Auburn plant with 19 years seniority, claims he was required to serve a 29-day probationary period after getting a promotion. White workers faced no such probationary period. He also said he faced a hostile work environment, in which he received obscene drawings and was subjected to racist jokes. Earl Johnson, also a 19-year Boeing veteran, says he was passed over for promotions that were given to white workers he had trained.
Geraldine Guyton, a material processor, said, "I've been discriminated and degraded as a Black person. A year ago, I had a nervous break down due to the fact that the supervisor was harassing me."
Michael Eckles said that six months ago, Boeing promoted 20 people into a computer-programming position, but none were African-American males. "I was told I would be given a chance to be a part of that program, but I wasn't." Eckles has been a machinist for 18 years. Most of the plaintiffs are members of the International Association of Machinists District 751.
Two workers - Robert Riggs and Joe Gibson - allege their terminations were race-related. Gibson says that he was fired for a confrontation with a co-worker who used a racial epithet. Gibson was fired, while the other worker remains at Boeing.
Boeing claims to be making serious attempts to promote workplace diversity. They point to several programs: a diversity strategy promoting a culture of inclusiveness; hiring national consultant Roosevelt Thomas, author of Beyond Race and Gender, for advice on creating a more diverse work force; a company-wide "people" initiative that promotes casual dress Fridays and continuing education and training; and support for affirmative action.
Solomon Williams, a Black worker at Boeing for 21 years, and a plaintiff in the lawsuit disputed Boeing's projected image. He described Boeing as "really a hostile place. They don't care about us."
Scott Breen is a member of IAM Local 751A at Boeing.
250 Protest Boeing Benefits Cuts
Some 250 Boeing employees rally against benefit cuts that the company is unilaterally imposing on workers not covered by union contracts. The protest was organized by the Seattle Professional Engineer Employee Association. The cutbacks will affect some 100,000 people, including clerical and secretarial workers, computer programmers, and others.