But he does not dispute the accuracy of the data. There is already one such group, the European Correctional Workers Association, which is currently the fastest-growing employee organization in state service. This may be an overstatement. Like the Franchise Tax Board, the other departments that adopted goals and timetables for hiring more whites and men are apparently revising the plans. None of this shuffling of hiring goals deals with a common complaint from advocates for women and minorities, however.
White men hold most of the top-paying executive jobs in state government.
The order issued by Wilson last year, who made affirmative action one of the main issues of his unsuccessful presidential campaign, stems from the view that many affirmative action programs go beyond existing law. A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in recent years have begun to place limits on affirmative action programs. An initiative on the November ballot, Proposition 209, would escalate the trend by prohibiting racial and gender preferences in state and local government hiring and contracting and public education. Wilson's executive order eliminated dozens of state affirmative action advisory councils based on race and gender. They were replaced with equal-opportunity groups focusing on outreach and recruitment, not goals and timetables for hiring.