Opinion ID: 300089
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Mechanical Department

Text: 46 Approximately 149 employees (eightyseven white and sixty-two black) held thirteen different jobs in the Mechanical Department as of August 6, 1969. Blacks filled five of the jobs, while whites predominated in the other eight. Three blacks have received transfers (or promotions) to formerly all-white positions; all were Machinist Helpers but became Machinists under a 1969 upgrading agreement. These employees have been placed on a special seniority list for upgraded Machinist Helpers but are not on the Machinist seniority roster. 47 Blacks employed in the department have begun in the jobs of Car Cleaner, Ice and Waterman, and Laborer. As of December 1, 1969, every black had entered the department in one of these positions. 48 Whites, except those hired as journeymen, have begun work in the department as Carman Apprentice, Machinist Apprentice, Electrician Apprentice, or Electrician Helper. Since the collective agreement between the Terminal and the shopcraft unions comprising System Federation No. 50 became effective in 1939, only one black has been hired into any of these jobs: he became a Carman Apprentice but progressed no further. 49 As in the other departments, blacks and whites have traveled different promotion paths. The former have been promoted from Car Cleaner or Ice and Waterman to Carman Helper and from Laborer to Fuel Oil Pumper or Machinist Helper. The latter, other than those hired as journeymen, have risen from Carman Apprentice to Carman, from Machinist Apprentice to Machinist, and from Electrician Apprentice or Electrician Helper to Electrician. White journeymen have also been promoted to Foreman. The record indicates that the qualifications prerequisite to employment as Carman Helper and Machinist Helper, jobs held by blacks, are substantially the same as those necessary for employment as Electrician Helper, a position filled by whites. 50 Pursuant to a 1942 upgrading agreement between the Terminal and the Federation Shop Crafts represented by System Federation No. 50, Electrician Helpers have been permitted to learn the skills of and be promoted to Electricians. Within certain limits the agreement permits Electrician Helpers to retain and accumulate Helper seniority while employed as Electricians. All affected employees have been white. 51 Under a 1969 upgrading agreement, Carman Helpers and Machinist Helpers, have been permitted to train as and be promoted to Carman and Machinist. Previously promotion had been precluded by Rule 24 of the collective agreement between the Terminal and System Federation No. 50, which restricted use of welding equipment to Mechanics (shopcraft journeymen) and their Apprentices. Consequently blacks, who were neither Mechanics nor Apprentices, could not acquire the training or experience necessary to qualify for more skilled positions. The 1969 agreement ostensibly remedied this problem. Its terms concerning seniority, however, are more restrictive than those in the 1942 agreement pertaining to the electrical craft. 21 The District Judge commented: The record does show that an Electrician Helper performs more of the actual work of his craft (by necessity) than do Helpers in the Carman and Machinist crafts. This factor and the 27 year time gap explain any differences which exist between the two agreements, and the Court finds that the 1942 Agreement was not intended to, and did not, create, aid or perpetuate racial discrimination in employment opportunities. Id. at 590. He further found that the restrictive rules governing use of equipment had been predicated on legitimate business concerns: the safety of the employee, his fellow employees, and the traveling public and the protection of the work and skills of the Mechanic and the welders' wage differential. Id. at 591 (footnotes omitted). He found no evidence that any black had ever tried to become an Electrician Apprentice, Electrician Helper, or Electrician. Moreover, no Helper has been promoted under the 1942 agreement since July 15, 1965. 52 Of the eight blacks called as government witnesses, [n]one testified that he should have been hired initially in any job other than the one he obtained, and the record contains no evidence that any was qualified for any other job. Id. at 592-593 (footnote omitted). Although each witness expressed his desire for promotion, none would make the effort at the risk of losing seniority. The court determined that those who had applied for higher paying jobs were either unqualified, not as qualified as the white who received the positions, or not entitled by seniority to bid for the jobs. While some blacks testified that they had been assigned to their initial jobs, others indicated that race was not a factor in promotion.