Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Nov. 25, 1976, edition 1 / Page 2
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ClOiiâli tCOIMi <> Equal Opportun ity For Blacky Women By Hoyle H. Martin Sr. Post Executive Editor President-elect Jimmy Carter has already begun to pursue his commit ment to greater economic opportu nity for minorities. Last week he ordered his staff - particularly the talent inventory committee - to provide the names of at least one qualified black and one qualified woman among the lists of candi dates for each major position to be filled in his administration. While Carter's action should not be surprising, the timing of the announcement was far more signifi : cant than is generally known. Speci Y fically, the date of the announce r ment, November 18, is the same date I that may mark the beginning of a t lost in the gains in employment £ opportunities it has taken Macks and i women over 10 ν ears to obtain. * _ According to the National Coali tion to Defend Affirmative, the Department of Labor's Office of : Federal Contract Compliance Pro ; grams (OFCCP) released major revisions to affirmative action laws I on September 17. The revised regu | lations are supposedly designed to r streamline procedures and, most I significantly, allow only 60 days for Γ public comment before the new I regulations were to be put into effect « (on November 18). fcr The Coalition charged that the :> revisions were written in a vail of I secrecy, without the involvement of employee rights groups, and that the : revised regulations will, in effect, render affirmative action program: useless. The Coalition has attempted to ge president-elect Jimmy Carter t< issue a policy statement concerning this move to curb affirmative actioi programs. While Carter has to daU made no direct statement on affir mative action, the POST believes the timing of his statement to giv< equal consideration to blacks anc women for top administrative posi tions adequately expresses his com mitment to the principle of affirma tive action. Carter's announced plan for plac ing minorities in key government positions may be having a positive influence in other ways, too. On th< date of the president-elect's an nouncement it was also announced that the Charlotte City Council will soon receive a plan designed tc significantly increase the number oi blacks and women in city govern ment over the next three years. The City's equal opportunity em ployment plan - long overdue - calls for increasing the number of blacks in administrative positions to 2.7 percent, an amount equal to the number of blacks in administrative jobs among all workers in Mecklen burg County. This would result in placing 50 to 60 more blacks in administrative positions in city go vernment. The POST urges the Charlotte City Council to follow the lead of the in-coming Carter admini stration and take positive action on the proposed plan to provide more high level jobs for both blacks and women. Hack Votes And Foreign Affairs Β jimmy carter's campaign com mitment to full equality for black Americans and the resulting over whelming black vote, so vital to his .··· election win, has had an internation al impact. Reports indicate that most black Africans view Carter's support from black Americans as an indication that, as the President of the United States, he will use his influence with the governments of southern Africa to take speedy action leading to majority (Black) rule. On the other hand, NEWSWEEK magazine (Nov. 22) reports that most white residents of southern Africa "greeted Jimmy Carter's victory uneasily" because they be lieve he will put pressure on their racist governments in Rhodesia and South Africa to recognize the rights of their black majority populations. The POST believes that as black Americans seek to improve the quality of their lives under a Carter administration, they should not for get their black brothers across the p'·"· ■ ' ■' sea. Black Americans should encou rage and attempt to influence our nation's foreign policy to the extent that our government aids the cause of majority rule in the racist re gimes of southern Africa. For blade Americans to do less would be to abandon their own right to demand justice and equality here in these United States. Make Your Needs Known The resolution adopted by the Charlotte Area Fund Board of Direc tors "urging all bus riders who have not been able to And alternate means of transportation to immedi ately make their needs known" was a positive move designed to impress the City Council, the City Coach Lines and the striking bus drivers as to the seriousness of this exercise in democracy. The POST urges the poor to speak out forcefully on their needs. To do less would be to avoid the intent of the CAF resolution and to abandon the responsibility that accompanies freedom of expression. THE CHARLOTTE POST "THE PEOPLES NEWSPAPER" Established 1918 Published Every Thursday By The Charlotte Post Publishing Co., Inc. 2606-B West Blvd.-Charlotte, N.C. 28206 Telephones (704) 392-1306,392-1307 , Circulation 11,000 57 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS SERVICE Bill Johnson Editor-Publisher Sidney A. Moore Jr Advertising Director Rex Hovey Circulation Manager Gerald O. Johnson Business Manager Second Class Postage Paid at Charlotte, N.C. under the Act of March 3,1878 Member National Newspaper Publishers Association North Carolina Black Publishers Association Deadline for all news copy and photos is 5 p.m. Monday. The Post is not responsible for any photos or news copies submitted for publication. National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc. 45 W 5th Suite 1403 New York, N Y. 10036 (212 ) 489-1220 2400 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, 111. 60616 Calumet 5-0200 Bus Strike-We Are All Looeers By Gerald Ο. Johnson For nearly 3 weeks the Charlotte City bus drivers have been on strike. The strike has crippled the economy of Charlotte. Thousands of workers are unable to get to and from work. The downtown mer chants are suffering due to the strike. The strike has been made into the major issue confronting the city by newspapers, ra dio and television sta tions. Whether or not the bus drivers have a legiti mate grievance is not the question. The ques tion is how they han dled the grievance. I never did like strikes and I never will. It disgusts me to no end to see people go on a $50.00 a week stipend while those people negotiating "IT IS INCONCEIVABLE TO ME THAT WE WHO HAVE PREVAIL ED IN SPITE OF THE BARBARISM OF WHITE PEOPLE SHOULD, IN THE LAST QUARTER OF THE 20TH CENTURY, STAND AS MUTE SPECTATORS TO OUR OWN DOOM." ORDe COMBS H.Y. NACAZINE HEAR NOTHING OL Λ Community Control..... By Whom? a&RErë By D; Marie Washington Parente And Power It is not the difference in parents, but the difference in parent's power which makes public schools good in one community and bad in ano ther. If parents fed that a principal is Incompetent or that the school actually does more harm than good, the crucial question is: What can the parents do about it? In most cities throughout the nation, there are no "legiti mate channels" or prescribed steps which parent groups can take to censure a school. At present, the power of a com munity to influence or control a school depends upon the kind of response which the majori ty of parents, as individuals, can make if the school dis pleases them. The most effective lever which parents have in coping with the school is the ability to remove the child from the school. If the school does not meet parents' approval, and if the power to remove a child is held by a sufficient number of parents, it can possibly result in the school being closed. In communities where the majo rity of parents hold this power, the school is Just as dependent upon the parents as the pa rents are upon the school. This creates a balance of power which allows the school and the community to interact with each other on a level of mutual respect and which makes the school accountable to its community. But the power of removal depends upon two things: A parent must (1) be financially able to take his child out of a public school and send him to a non-public school and (2) have suitable alternative schools from which to choose. For poor people, the cost at sending a child to a non-public school is prohibitive, and for Black people, the non-public schools from which parents may choose may be so limited that it amounts to not having a choice at all. The power of removal then, is influenced largely by race and income. But the power to take one's child out of the school is simply an escape hatch, and it is the potential for leaving, rather than the actual leaving which gives one the freedom to act and which is the real source of power. Parents who have this escape hatch are free to challenge the school and can take necessary ac tions for holding the school accountable without having to fear that their children will be made to suffer for it. But parents who do not have a means of escape have to be extremely careful in their re lationship with the school, for one does not lightly make enemies out of those who will have charge of one's child for many yean. Being chained to a school, therefore, makes a parent almost powerless. In this situ ation, there are parents who respond by cooperating with the school in the hope of making it better. This, how ever, is often futile, because without power they cannot bring about change. Coopera tion between powerless pa rents and the school usually means that the schools is in full charge of the parents and restricts their activities to fund raising. In many in stances, when a parents group makes this response to a bad school, they may actually do the school and the community more harm than good because they are often used as a buffer against other parents who seek to make meaningful changes within the school. The majority of parents who are powerless respond to a bad school situation by stay ing away from the school as much as possible. for them still receive a healthy paycheck. The money spent in union dues and the money lost while striking will pro bably add up to what they are fighting for. To strike for personal gain while leaving a segment of a society crippled is callous. It is synomynous with the kid who couldn't have his way so he took his ball and went home. To leave the poor without a means of get ting back and forth from work is insensitive. To leave the needy without a means to pick up food stamps and a means to carry out other trans actions is foolish. To leave the old without a means to get medical attention is inanimate. All this suffering for a little buck. Moreover for those people in man Gerald Ο. Johnson agerial positions to al low the stifling of the city to continue is stu pid. It is not necessary U. strike in order to have your demands heard. The sensible way is to write a letter to ma nagement detailing your complaints and asking for a meeting. Behind closed doors both sides can lay their cards on the table. With open discussion things can be ironed out. Note the difference in nego tiating while not strik ing as opposed to nego tiating while striking. Negotiating while strik ing has the problem of having everybody mad at everybody else. Ma nagement has been in sulted so they won't bend. The workers have gone out on a limb so they can't bend. Conse quently, negotiations are stalemated. Negotiating while working relieves all these problems. Yet the pressure of the threat to strike is still present. Also, the threat of mak ing the public aware of the situation via public media is present. Be lieve it or not this works. I've seen it work thrice. The key to this proce dure working is plan ning and organization. Striking is not neces TO BE EQUAL Vernon E. Jordan Jr. Retreat On Job Rights The federal government is preparing to sabotage fair hiring rules for colleges and businesses that get government contracts. And it is doing this under the cover of "reforming" and "streamlining" compliance procedures. If anything, civil rights enforcement needs stregthening, but the new regulations planned by the labor Department's Office of Federal Con tract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) seriously weaken such enforcement. ^ The flap over enforcement regulations shoiK be studied by citizens who want to know how our system really works. Congress passes laws and Presidents issue Executive Orders ; how they are implemented depends on the regulations adopted by the government departments administering them. Sometimes, as in this case, those regula tions can defeat the purpose of the law. In this case, Executive Order 11246 is the basis for manda tins eoual emnlnvment nnnnrhiniHoc for government contractors. The OFCCP's regu lations and the way it enforces them ultimately decide whether or not the Order is observed. The OFCCP proposes to change its civil rights compliance regulations in such a way that government contractors will be better able to f evade their responsibility to fulfill equal employ - ment opportunities. Some of the proposed changes in regulations appear innocent but are actually designed to sabotage effective government enforcement of the law. One change, for example, would raise the amount of contracts requiring pre-award re views from $1 million to $10 million. Thoée are contracts that must meet non-discriminatory hiring procedures before they're signed. Raising the contract amount effectively eliminates most pre-award contract compliance reviews. Another change provides for something called "notice of deficiencies", that lets contractors know they are in violation of the Executive Order mandating equal employment opportunity. This is much weaker, than the show^cause order it replaces, potentially a better weapon in the hands ofenforcement agencies. auii anotner regressive cbange would exempt contractors from filing affirmative action plans unless they employ at least 100 workers or the contract is larger than $100,000. Both figures are double the old requirements and mean many contractors will escape the need to implement affirmative action plans, since they have mil lions of dollars in federal contracts but no single one over the $100^0Μ mark. Here's a beauty for loophole lovers: the OFCCP wants its Director to have the power to exempt an agency or person from equal opportunity requirements if he finds "special circumstances in the national interest so re quire." That's one you could drive a truck through, and it will be used to help some contractors and universities avoid compliance. And it is unconscionable that these changes be rammed through before a new Administration takes office. Such important decisions should be left for the Carter Administration to make in January, and not slipped past an uasuspecting public. sary. One other big factor about negotiating while working is sympathy. You can gain the sym pathy of the public by not striking. Right now the city is probably split on their sentiments to wards the bus drivers. But if they didn't strike no one would be hurt. This strike will con tinue until one of two things happens: 1) The bus drivers get hungry, 2) The bus company gets tired of taking a loss. Unfortunately for the drivers the bus com pany is funded by the city and the federal government and they can hold (nit a little longer. , When the wheels eventually start to roll ing again which they will and all the smoke clears what would have been gained? Nothing. What would have been lost? A lot. _ Public Works Begin Campaign To Reduce Litter The Public Work· Depart ment last week launched a litter prevention program In the Central Bualneaa Diatrict. Endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce-Central Charlotte Divlaion and the Charlotte Clean City Committee, the program la designed to litter source reduction rather than as a traditional clean-up cam· paign. The two-part effort will: (t) promote compliance with re fuse collection régulation·, and (2) seek an amendment to the Litter Control Ordinance to increase the level of service to locationa where the refuee is collected from cans Pre sent service is provided three time· a week in a six day work week. ~
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Nov. 25, 1976, edition 1
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