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PORTLAND OBSERVER
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Volume XVII, Number 25
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April 29, 1987
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House Bill Gains Minority/Women Support
by Jerry Garner
Two bills, House Bill 3364 and House Bill 3122, that deal w ith economic
development as it effects women and m inorities and the overall impact of
Oregon's plans for economic developm ent, received the support of m in o ri­
ties and wom en business owners during a three hour public hearing held
at the King Facility last Thursday
The puclic hearing was sponsored by the J o in t Trade and Economic
Development Subcom m ittee on M inority b W om en Businesses
Rep
Margaret Carter, D Portland, chairs the subcom m ittee
HB 3364, if passed by state lawmakers, will establish an O ffice of Mino
rity and W om en's Business HB 3122 creates an O ffice of Economic Inte
gration in the Economic Development Departm ent Its purpose is to create
economic development strategies that assure participation o f w om en and
m inorities in Oregon's economy The bill w ould allow the office to accept
assistance, grants, and gifts for the purpose of carrying out this mission
Sponsors of HB 3364 include Carter, Rep Rocky Barilla, Ju d ith Bauman,
Ron Cease. Shirly Gold, Darlene Hooley and Nancy Peterson, and Senators
Jim Hill and Grattan Kerens Rep Gold is sole sponsor of HB 3122
During the hearing, those testifying before the com m ittee said stronger
legislation is needed to ensure that wom en and minorites are given the
opportunity to j.irtic ip a te fully in Oregon's econom y They said that cur
rent legislation, such as ORS 279 069, w hich calls for contractors to make
a good faith effort to assist wom en and m inority businesses, are made
quate
"The good faith requirements provide a blueprint for how to do every
thing except hire us In ta t lack of clarity and o fte n poor judgem ent on
the part of those agencies administering the M inority Business Enterprise
and W om en Business Enterprise IMBE W BEl programs, has led to a waste
of time, money and left many MBE WBFs feeling used, said one woman
who testified uefore the subcom m ittee
The J o in t T ra d e and E c o n o m ic D e v e lo p m e n t S u b c o m m itte e c h a ire d
by Rep M a rg a re t C a rte r h e ld a p u b lic h e a rin g at K in g N ie g h b o rh o o d
F a c ility la st T h u rs d a y w ith a c a p a c ity a u d ie n c e
P h o to by R ic h a rd J B ro w n
FHWA Reports Show Minorities and Women
Underutilized on Federal-Aid Highway Programs
by Jerry Garner
Minorities and women are not participating equally in the S tate's federal
aid highway programs, this in spite of the good faith effo rts that are geared
to ensure nondiscrim inaticn against the tw o groups, according to a con
solidated review of 17 contractors in the tri county area conducted by offi
cials from the Federal Highway A dm inistration (F H W A ) and the Oregon
Department of Transportation (ODOT).
In addition, the review report said special training provisions, w hich are
intended to increase participation o, m inorities and females in skilled con
struction crafts, were benefittm g nonm inonty males' w ith o u t show ing that
m inorites and females were not available to fulfill training slots The report
concluded that the imbalances can be corrected if the State com m unicated
to the FHW A its expectations in the contract com pliance program
The report was conducted to measure the affect of the good faith effort
that calls for 4 5% m inority and 6 9% female participation in federal aid
highway projects Of the 17 contractors reviewed, only tw o were deter
mined to be in compliance Six were found in com pliance, but voluntary
corrective action plans iV A C P l were required to correct cited deficiencies,
and rune were found in non compliance based on prior determ inations
After taking a head count of ,2 prime and 5 sub contractors w ho do busi
ness w ith ODOT the report revealed that of the 571 employees, 66 or
11 5% were m inorities forty tw o percent of this figure were in the laborers'
crafts 27% were equipm ent operators, and 12% were carpenters
The
report showed that, overall, wom en made up 7 0% of the companies
w orkforce However, m inority w om en represented less than 1% of all the
contractors workforces There were only five m in o rity w om en (2 blacks,
2 Indians 1 Hispanic), three of w hich were em ployed in laborers' crafts
The review concluded that m inority w om en were severly underrepresented
in all crafts
The review revealed the follow ing;
• The"- .........
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i total of 24 emptoyed
in the craft
• There was only 1 female electm in out of a total of 87
In addition, after reviewing statistical data of 94 contractors regarding
em ploym ent, new hires, terminations, and trainees categorized try con
struction trade, ethnicity and sex the report showed the follow ing
• Out of 1,286 employees, 107 (8 3%) were minorities and 13, (10 1%)
were wom en
More than half of the women reported were employed in
the clerical category 70 153 4 % I
• There were approxim ately 33 Bl.u ks (2.5% ), 8 Asians 10 6 % ), 34
Native Americans (2 6% ). and 28 Hispanics (2 1 "u ,
• Alm ost half of the m inorities 4 ,% i were employed in the laborers
crafts The rest of the m inorities were dispersed th roughout the other con
struction trades Equipment operators were the second predom inant craft
w hich m inorities occupied
• There were no w om en ironworkers out of a total of 54 and no women
mechanics out of a total of 52
• Out of 16 painters, there were no m inorities and only 1 woman
Overall, the consolidated report was critical o f the State, its contractors,
and unions for not u tilizing m inorities and w om en It said although the
State has "outlined the process it uses for conducting reviews, w hich fol
lows FHW A procedures, in practice it appears tfia t a different system is
being applied, w hich does not bring about contractor com pliance
Based upon the inform ation gathered from the reviews, it appears that
the State's procedures for conducting reviews does not place the burden of
proof upon the contractor to show that it provided equal em ploym ent op
portum ty The State reviewers seem to be placing m ore judgem ent calls
upon compliance determ inations rather than material facts obtained from
contractors The State's enforcement e ffo rt needs to be strengthened,"
m
the report said
The report said the State is placing contractors w ho are underutilizing
m inorities and females in an in com plainco status, even though they have
subm itted previous voluntary corrective action plans and corrective action
plans
It said the lack of m inorities and women on federal air, highw ay programs
appears to be directly correlated w ith both remissness in unions dispatching
them , and contractors not specifically requesting them by w ritte n notices
to the unions and follow up contacts thereafter "C ontractors need to be
better educated on the State's compliance expectations
"Contractors are not establishing their owrt m inority w om en employee
referral sources w hich are likely to yield some, and the unions are oilher
unw illing or unable to fulfill equal em ployment o p p o rtu n ity requests "
W illie Harris, director of the O ffice of Civil Rights for the FHW A. said
he feels the consolidated com pliance review process is a very effective affir
mative action approach tow ard examining problem s in the contract com
pliance program Harris said the review process norm ally shows where the
strengtfis and weaknesses are in a selei ted target area He said, "One o,
its more beneficial and effective delineators is that problem areas can be
shown that are peculiar to a select few o, the contractors or all similarly
situated contractors in a given area
Harris said it's the belie, o, the FHW A that the consolidated review
achieved the desired objectives o, trying to find where and w hy m inorities
and w om en are not being employed in the Portland standard metro(»olitan
statistical area (Clackamas, M ultnom ah and W ashington Counties) in
accord w ith their availability
The consolidated review was conducted during the week o, August 5 7,
1986 Three teams o, FHW A and State personnel conducted the reviews
on the protect sites or at the project engineers' offices
Mayor Announces
Anti-Drug
Grocery Bag Project
On Thursday, April 30th, at 1130 hours (11 30 a m ) , in Room "A " on the
14th floor of the Justice Center, 1111 SW 2nd Avenue, M ayor Bud Clark,
along w ith members o, the Portland Police Bureau's Crime Prevention Unit
and representatives o, the retail grocery industry, w ill announce and dis
play a new crime p re ve n tio n /a n it drug grocery bag project. D uring the
m onth o, May, Fred Meyer stores, Safeway, T h riftw a y, Kienows, and other
retail grocery industry members w ill donate advertising space on m illions o,
their grocery bags to prom ote these messages Representatives fro m the
major grocery stores w ill be present to help kick o f, this project Samples
o, the bags w ill be available at the press conference For m ore in fo rm a tio n ,
contact Elizabeth Vieira. Portland Police Bureau Crime Prevention repre
sentative at 796 3137
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