Blacks claiming Latinos hog jobs
Miriam Jordan
Wall Street Journal
Jan. 29, 2006 12:00 AM
LOS ANGELES - Donnie Gaut, an African-American with 12 years of experience, applied for a job in 2002 at Farmer John Meats, a large Los Angeles pork processor.
When he was turned down for the job stocking goods that paid $7 an hour, Gaut decided the problem wasn't his resume: It was his race. He filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that enforces anti-discrimination laws in the workplace.
Last October, EEOC secured a $110,000 settlement from the company to be shared by Gaut and six other Black applicants who were rejected for production jobs at Farmer John.
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EEOC says it found that the pork packer, owned by Clougherty Packing Co., mostly had been hiring Hispanics for warehouse, packing and production jobs.
Times a-changin'
A new wave of race-discrimination cases is appearing in the workplace: African-Americans who feel that they are being passed over for Hispanics.
This kind of case marks a shift from years past, when Blacks were likely to seek legal action against employers who showed preferential treatment toward Whites. The cases highlight mounting tension between Hispanics and Blacks as they compete for opportunities.
Recently, the federal agency announced it also secured a $180,000 settlement from Zenith National Insurance Corp., a national workers' compensation specialist, to be divided among 10 Blacks who applied for a mailroom job at its headquarters in Woodland Hills, Calif. The job was offered to a Latino man with no experience, according to EEOC.
"There used to be a reluctance to bring cases against other minorities," said Anna Park, EEOC regional attorney who oversaw both the Zenith and the Farmer John cases. "It's no longer a White-Black paradigm. This is a new trend."
California, where Hispanic immigrants have been moving into Black working-class pockets of the state's cities for decades, is at the leading edge of this growing trend.
As Latinos migrate eastward, to such states as Louisiana and Georgia, the competition with Blacks for blue-collar jobs is likely to grow.
Hispanics have become the second-largest population group in the United States - ahead of African-Americans but behind Caucasians - thanks to the influx of immigrants from Latin America. In some cities, like Los Angeles, African-American and Latino leaders collaborate when it is mutually beneficial.
As Latinos grab attention of marketers and gain political clout, many African-Americans feel that their influence is waning and that the decline is disproportionate and unfair.
"There is a disconnect between what is happening in the street and at the leadership level," said Franklin Gilliam, a professor of political science at the UCLA who studies race relations.
Places a-changin'
Tension spills into the workplace. In New Orleans, officials have raised concerns that employers are hiring Latino immigrants for low wages to do hurricane cleanup instead of tapping the native-born, mainly Black, workforce.
Last October, Mayor Ray Nagin asked local business leaders: "How do I ensure that New Orleans is not overrun by Mexican workers?"
Workers from all backgrounds - Whites, Blacks, Asians and others - use networks within ethnic/racial groups to find employment.
Hispanic workers often bring in other family members or people from home regions to join them on a job. In sectors like construction, this can be an aid to employers who can tap their workers to help them find a fresh supply of laborers.
The flip side is that employers can become vulnerable to lawsuits if it's determined that they have been shutting out qualified applicants based on race.
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