The St.
Louis Public Library Board of Directors passed a resolution Monday
that mandates more minority workforce participation on the
library’s $67.5 million renovation of the Central
Library.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The resolution puts an end to more than two months of protesting from a coalition of community organizations.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The most important thing is that the community had some concerns, and the library heard them,” said Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis NAACP. “The community and library were able to sit down and reach an understanding to the degree that everyone is a winner in this situation.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The resolution states that the library will encourage the construction manager, BSI Constructors Inc., and the development manager, CLR Consultants Inc., to use “good faith efforts” to increase the minority workforce participation by 50 percent, hire five minority apprentices and accept a compiled list of minority contractors from the NAACP as potential hires.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>They will also issue letters of authorization to the trade unions for potential new hires, which allows the union to hire someone who might not be in the direct line of rotation or who is someone of lesser seniority to meet project’s needs.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>According to the library, 20.5 percent of the renovation project’s contracts for construction costs are going to minority-owned business enterprises (MBE) and 5.12 percent to women-owned business enterprises (WBE).
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>However, the library did not have any guidelines for minority workforce participation, and project managers were not tracking the number of minority workers on the site. Hence, library directors could not disprove the coalition’s claims that few African Americans were working on the project, which was financed with some federal assistance and taxpayers’ money.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Waller McGuire, executive director of the St. Louis Public Library, said the library aligned its minority participation goals with the Mayor’s Executive Order 28, even thought the library is exempt from the ordinance because is an independent political entity and no city funds were used on the project. The library acquired the bonds to pay for the renovation on its own, McGuire said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The project’s financing is primarily facilitated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009’s Recovery Zone Economic Development and Build American Bonds (RZEDBs).
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Pruitt said taxpayers’ money pays for these programs with the hope of creating jobs in high-unemployment recovery zones. African Americans have been the hardest hit by unemployment in the city. However, they are not benefiting from these opportunities designed to help them, Pruitt said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ken Brostron, the library’s attorney, said the federal program does not have a workforce percentage requirement.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“You cannot tell poor, unemployed African Americans that, based on their condition, you are creating benefits that you are passing to a non-profit and/or for-profit individual to create opportunities for them,” Pruitt said, “yet when the benefits come down and the opportunities are created, they are not allowed to take advantage of the opportunities.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The coalition demanded that the construction site’s workforce better reflect the population of the city of St. Louis. African Americans make up 48 percent of the city’s residents, according to the Census 2010. Mikail Ali, president of the African-American Business & Contractors Association (AABCA), recognized that no direct laws have been violated, according to the library.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The spirit and intent of our laws demanded that the coalition address the moral issues at stake,” Ali said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I think what happened here was the library recognized that this was a large coalition that included a lot of organizations coming together,” said Jim Sahaida, vice president of Metropolitan Congregations United. “
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>What was asked for was nothing more than what was far and right. They recognized that, and they really wanted to do the right thing.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>This is just the beginning of confrontation, said Ali. Currently the coalition is urging the Metropolitan Sewer District to pass policies to increase minority participation. Pruitt said the Hazelwood School District is next.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The library is a role model now. The St. Louis Public Schools is also a role model. Barnes Jewish is a role model,” Pruitt said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The question is: are the rest going to follow suit? Hazelwood School District needs to look at what’s going on in the St. Louis Public Schools. They have some issues we are going to start addressing publicly.”