Opinion ID: 347588
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Representation of Blacks in Craft Jobs and Training Programs.

Text: 150 The company defines craft jobs as those in job classes 9 through 13. As to the representation of blacks in craft positions at the time of trial the district court found: 151 Black employees fill 10 (5%) of approximately 200 craft jobs at Stockham. Five percent is not an underrepresentation of blacks in craft jobs compared to the local and national labor markets. 152 394 F.Supp. at 455. The court's conclusion that a five percent representation of blacks in craft jobs is not disproportionate because it compares favorably with local and national labor markets is clearly erroneous. The relevant work-force for comparison purposes is Stockham where 66 percent of all maintenance and production workers are black. 48 When compared with that figure, 5 percent looks paltry indeed. In fact, statistical evidence shows that in June 1973, while only 6 blacks were working in craft jobs at Stockham, 227 whites were employed as craftsmen. Further, in June 1965 there were 70 white craftsmen and no blacks; similarly in June 1968 there were no black craftsmen and 85 whites in craft jobs. 153 In addition, the court cited as evidence that Stockham does not discriminate against blacks with regard to craft positions the fact that no black employee who has completed the apprentice program at Stockham or elsewhere is not employed in a craft position. See 394 F.Supp. at 455. This finding fails to prove a lack of discrimination because it ignores three facts: (a) the testimony of company officials that a substantial number of craftsmen at Stockham have been trained in the company's apprenticeship program; 49 (b) that no black was admitted to the apprenticeship training program until April 1971; and (c) that only 6 of 101 employees selected by the company for apprenticeship training since July 2, 1965, have been black. 154 The district court however found that the apprentice program has never been restricted to whites. 394 F.Supp. at 475. As evidence for this conclusion the court cited the following statistics: 155 From 1965 through 1973, a total of 65 timely applications for apprentice positions were filed, 14 by black and 51 by white employees. Of that total 38 were granted, 6 for black and 32 for white employees. 156 394 F.Supp. at 477. These statistics do not serve factually or legally to counter the inference of discrimination raised by the plaintiffs' statistics on black participation in the apprentice program. The filing of a timely application has never been a requirement for admission to the apprentice program. Of 101 employees admitted to the program since 1965, 63 did not file timely applications. More significantly, every employee who entered the program without filing a timely application was white. Thus, the court's citation of statistics to show that a comparable number of timely applications to the apprenticeship program were granted for black and white employees is largely irrelevant. Further, no black filed an application for the program until 1971. Such applications were apparently seen by black employees as useless acts, Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 368, 97 S.Ct. 1843, because of the total exclusion of blacks from the program until 1971. Thus, the court's reliance on the number of timely applications filed and granted by race to prove a lack of discrimination in apprentice training was erroneous. As we asked in another case, (i)f an employee realizes full well that blacks simply are not hired (for certain positions), why should he bother to apply? Bing v. Roadway Express, Inc., 485 F.2d at 451. Just recently the Supreme Court recognized, as no new principle, that unlawful employment practices may be so successful as to totally deter victims of gross and pervasive discrimination from applying for jobs. Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 368, 97 S.Ct. 1843. 157 We conclude that the district court was clearly erroneous in finding that Stockham has never had a policy of excluding blacks from craft jobs and the apprenticeship program. 50 The next question is whether the procedures established by Stockham for screening and selecting apprentices served to accentuate and to perpetuate the effects of such discrimination.