In 2009 an analysis of labor statistics by the Economic Policy Institute revealed that unemployment rate for African Americans residing in the St. Louis metropolitan area was the third worst in the nation. Joblessness among African Americans in a region that encompasses the outlying counties as well as Metro East stood at 16.9 percent. Only blacks seeking employment in Detroit (20.9 percent) and Minneapolis (20.4 percent) had it worse.
Unemployed African Americans and women from St. Louis County found relief from despair in the City of St. Louis. Board Bill #75CS, championed by Alderman Terry Kennedy as key sponsor a year earlier, was opening doors in the City of St. Louis that were closed in St. Louis County – employment on public works projects.
From 2009 – 2010, the city’s Board Bill #75CS created 234,687 labor hours for construction workers on city public works projects; of those, 62,325 labor hours (roughly 26 percent) went to minority construction workers. Almost half of those workers came from St. Louis County.
In 2010 – 2011, the city documented 381 job referrals to contractors on city public works projects; of the 104 hired, 95 percent were African-American, 3 percent were women, and 45 percent were from St. Louis County.
According to statistical data from Board Bill #75CS and other evidence, minorities and women are under-represented in the skilled workforce of the construction industry. Such under-representation is due to past discriminatory barriers. A diversity program is needed to rectify such under-representation.
In response, the bill called for the city’s public works contracts to provide training and job opportunities as a means of increasing the skills and diversity of the construction industry workforce. And it committed the city to ensuring that employment opportunities on city public works projects are offered to city residents.
The bill committed the city to using training that is accepted industry-wide so that minority workers could enter the region’s pool of skilled labor, fully qualified for jobs throughout the industry. It also committed the city to promoting apprenticeship opportunities on public works projects and ensuring that all contractors participate in this requirement.
On Tuesday April 3, 2012, St. Louis County voters approved a $100 million public works project to build a new family court next to the main courthouse and renovate that 40-year-old structure. In November 2012, St. Louis County voters approved Prop L, an $108 million public works tax referendum to fund system-wide construction and renovation of county libraries.
With a quarter-billion dollars in public works on the books, you would think that the county would enact its own version of Board Bill #75CS. Thirty days later, in December 2012 – over strong objections from numerous contractors – St. Louis County passed an ordinance (Bill #289) requiring that contractors bidding on larger county projects be union contractors and operate a federally-approved apprentice program.
County Executive Charlie A. Dooley addressed minority contractors in attendance, saying, “As an African American, I want to make something clear: To think that the county would discriminate against any member of the community is simply untrue.”
A St. Louis County disparity study – not Dooley’s personal assurance of his personal good will – would determine if the county has discriminated or not.
After the county passed Bill #289, Dooley acknowledged that the bill needs fixing. The County Council has yet to offer a fix. In the meantime, the county has $250 million in public works projects about to start that are subject to Bill #289, the bill that needs fixing.
Pruitt is president of the St. Louis city chapter of the NAACP.
