reelected four times by the people of Los Angeles and serves them well, both as a spokesman for his own community and as a voice for Spanish-speaking people throughout the country who seek justice from this society. Ed, we welcome you and look forward to your testimony on the Federal employment problems of the Spanish speaking. Mr. McCLORY. If the chairman will yield. Mr. EDWARDS. I yield to Mr. McClory. Mr. McCLORY. I would like to join in welcoming our colleague to the hearings this morning and add that while he may have been your neighbor out in California, he is my neighbor in Washington, D.C. So I want, as a friend and neighbor, to join in welcoming him to this important hearing before the committee this morning. Mr. EDWARDS. Proceed, Ed. TESTIMONY OF HON. EDWARD R. ROYBAL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA Mr. ROYBAL. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I want to express my appreciation to you for the opportunity of testifying before you today. It is my intention to present convincing evidence of a pattern of exclusion, of an occupational caste system within the Federal Government. I firmly believe that the Federal Government has not answered the needs of the Spanish-speaking community of the United States. Now, while I do not believe that population parity should be used exclusively to evaluate the Government's performance, I intend to use it here to emphasize the fact that job equality has not been achieved. May I, Mr. Chairman, ask for the consent of the committee to file my written testimony and I will summarize? Mr. EDWARDS. Yes, without objection, it is so ordered. (The information referred to follows:) TESTIMONY OF EDWARD R. ROYBAL, MEMBER OF CONGRESS Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to appear before your Committee to discuss job discrimination against the Spanish speaking by the Federal government. Data that I will present today will show convincing evidence of a pattern of exclusion, of an occupational caste system, within the Federal government. As you know, out of a total of nearly 2.6 million federal workers, the Spanish speaking represent 2.9% with only one third of one percent in executive positions. This is totally inadequate and reprehensible. The enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was intended to break down the barriers of discrimination. The issuance of Executive Order 11,478, on August 8, 1969, was to provide leadership in achieving job equality within the government itself. These promulgations, however, have seriously failed to end job discrimination and exclusion within the federal structure. The adoption of the 16 point program, on November 5, 1970, has yet to provide a siginficant increase in jobs for the Spanish speaking. I sincerely hope that it will not become an abstract document without enforcement powers, without concrete or visible goals. Such a misfortune would only obscure the indifference and neglect Spanish speaking people have been experiencing in the area of federal 77-247-72- -6 employment. Certainly the present level of staff support for the 16 point program, a total of only two professionals, would indicate a lack of serious commitment. While I do not believe that population parity should be used as the only standard in evaluating Federal performance, I will use it here to emphasize the fact that equality in federal employment has not been achieved. Some improvement has been made within certain agencies. But the fact remains that at present rates of increase, the Spanish speaking must wait well over a half of century before achieving job parity with other groups, including whites. For this reason many Spanish speaking persons believe that the promise of job equality remains a myth. NATIONAL LEVEL As I stated earlier, the 2.9% representation for the Spanish speaking, with virtual exclusion from executive jobs, is absolutely unjustified. If we take the period from June 1966 through May 1971, we find that the Spanish speaking have been underemployed by over 50%. It is estimated that with a 6% Spanish speaking population, the government would have to provide 80,000 additional jobs for the Spanish speaking to achieve parity with all other groups in this country. Given the current increase of 1,300 jobs a year for the Spanish speaking, it would take the government 60 years to achieve that goal. At the GS 9-18 levels, we discover similar deficits. Since 1966 the government has failed to provide better paying jobs to the Spanish speaking by 80%, and shortchanged them by nearly 30,000 jobs. At the top grade levels, the government has failed by well over 90% with a loss of 319 executive jobs for the Spanish speaking. Out of a total of 5,650 executive positions, the Spanish speaking only hold 20 with not one in the Civil Service Commission, which has the responsibility to carry out the federal equal employment program. I find it difficult to understand why Civil Service is incapable of finding qualified Spanish speaking individuals to fill these positions immediately. The representation of the Spanish speaking in middle and top level management cannot be overstressed. It is an important key to gaining a deeper federal commitment to the problems and priorities of the more than 12 million Spanish speaking Americans. An analysis of various federal agencies reveals in even greater detail the extent and depth of this exclusion. As of November 1970, those agencies falling below the overall federal average of 2.9% include: In addition to these findings, we were able to obtain November 1971 figures on a selected number of federal agencies. The following fall below the 2.9% federal average: In the Southwest the Spanish speaking people are experiencing serious obstacles in attaining equality in federal employment. Although comprising 17% of the region's population, they constitute only 10.8% of the federal work force (as of November 1970). It is estimated that the government would have to provide 32,250 additional jobs to achieve parity. Similar deficits exist at the GS 9-18 levels. Since 1966 the government has failed by 75% to provide adequate employment for the Spanish speaking at these levels, and has fallen short of the mark by 95% at the executive levels. CALIFORNIA In California the Spanish speaking comprise 16% of the state's population but only hold 5.6% of local federal jobs (as of November 1970). It is estimated that the government would have to provide 30,500 additional jobs to the Spanish speaking, or almost twice their current number in California's federal work force. At the GS 9-18 levels, the government has failed to provide job equality to the Spanish speaking by 87%, and in top grade positions by 97%, or virtual exclusion. The California situation is further dramatized by the level of exclusion within various agencies. Agriculture, HUD, Interior, NASA, Transportation and Commerce failed by 75 to 100% to provide jobs on parity with the state's Spanish speaking population. Air Force, Army, Navy, Defense Supply Agency, Justice, GSA, HEW, Post Office, Treasury, Veterans Administration and Civil Service Commission failed by 50 to 75%. LOS ANGELES COUNTY A similar discriminatory pattern exists in Los Angeles county, where Mexican Americans and other Spanish speaking groups make up 18% of the county's population but only 6.2% of local federal jobs (as of November 1970). It is estimated that the government would have to provide 7,844 more jobs for the Spanish speaking to achieve parity. At the GS 9-18 levels, the government has failed by 85%, and in executive positions by 100%, or absolute exclusion of the Spanish speaking. FEDERAL SUIT The facts that I have presented this morning document the failure of the Federal government to immediately end the serious inequity and exclusion of the Spanish speaking from federal jobs. It was for this reason that I joined with the national League of United Latin American Citizens and the American G.I. Forum in suing the Federal government for job discrimination. The suit, filed in the D.C. federal court on October 22, 1971, seeks an immediate 90 day freeze on federal hiring and promotions while the government prepares a plan to end the exclusion of the Spanish speaking from federal employment. It seeks an order requiring the government to provide employment to the Spanish speaking in line with their percentage of the population in each state no later than January 1, 1974. It seeks to modify the current Federal Service Entrance and Postal Examinations as barriers to equal employment and seriously unreliable in measuring specific job skills and individual talent. The constitutional grounds for this suit are based on (a) the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, (b) the Civil Rights Act of 1963, (c) various U.S. codes dealing with equal employment in the Federal government, (d) Executive Order 11,478, issued on August 8, 1969 and (e) the promulgation of the 16 point program on November 5, 1970. Regarding the status of the suit, in late February this year the government filed a motion to dismiss on technical grounds of standing and failure of plaintiffs to exhaust administrative remedies. Our lawyers are now preparing a response to that motion, and we hope to proceed with court hearings in the next few months. It is my hope that these hearings today and the suit that we have filed will spur the government toward a deeper commitment to the Spanish speaking people. This commitment must include a federal employment strategy for the Spanish speaking which will establish reasonable concrete goals ovear the next two years at both national and local levels. Unless the government acts immediately to reverse its pattern of exclusion, there seems to be little hope that the Spanish speaking will ever achieve equal employment within our own lifetime or that of our younger generation. Mr. Chairman, I wish to attach to my testimony a number of important documents dealing with Spanish speaking employment in the Federal government. Two of these offer a critical analysis of federal hiring practices: (a) the American G.I. Forum's recent study on "The Federal Government Foremost in the Continued Exclusion of the Spanish Speaking American from Federal Employment" and (b) a California study prepared by Public Advocates, Inc., on "Federal Government Employment of the Mexican American in California: A Classic Case of Government Apartheid and False Elitism". In addition, I am furnishing to this Committee a copy of my suit against the government, LULAC et al. v. Hampton. It has been a pleasure to be here today, and thank you again for this opportunity to appear before your Committee. (The documents referred to follow :) THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOREMOST IN THE CONTINUED EXCLUSION OF THE SPANISH-SPEAKING AMERICAN FROM FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT FOREWORD "Education Is Our Freedom and Freedom Should Be Everybody's Business" is the motto of AMERICAN G. I. FORUM of the U.S. It is to this principle that all effort surrounding this report concerning Spanish speaking federal employment is dedicated. Education in terms of updating the knowledge of all Spanish speaking Americans with reference to their status in federal employment is one of the purposes of this report. Most important, without impugning the intent, motive, effort, indifference, actions, or concern of the federal establishment, it is hoped this report will serve further to enlighten and stir the conscience of the President of the United States, each member of the Senate and House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress, the heads of every federal agency, the Civil Service Commission, the United States Commission on Civil Rights, the general public, and last, but not least, the thousands of career management bureaucrats who, not withstanding mandates by the Congress, the President, and cabinet officers, for some reason or other, are managing to frustrate the official national policy of equal employment opportunity in the federal service as far as the Spanish surnamed Americans are concerned. In terms of what is an equitable share of the available jobs in the federal workforce, the shortage is now between 80,000 and 100,000 positions with virtual exclusion of Spanish speaking federal employees in most policy-making and decision-making levels of the federal government. In terms of dollars, this denial of their just and fair share of federal jobs has cost the Spanish speaking since WW II an estimated 13 billion dollars. The cost since then to oncoming generations of Spanish speaking Americans in denial of opportunity in the many facets of our American way of life is awesome and much more then beyond the dollar cost. As with all other inequities facing the Spanish surnamed American, the problem has now reached such proportions where rhetoric, condolences, and excuses are useless and even insulting. What is required is immediate action by those who profess to be the conscience and the leadership of America to correct, by whatever actions are necessary, the long prevailing injustices against the more than twelve million Spanish speaking Americans regarding federal employment. This report was prepared by members of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the American G. I. Forum of the U.S. In the preparation of this annual report, FORUM members have received staunch support from many members of the various federal agencies, congressional, and numerous non-profit entities. Their assistance will continue to be highly valued and deeply appreciated in preparation of future reports on this subject. THE FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE, D. C. CHAPTER, I. THE PROBLEM A. Employment deterioration trends.-This report reveals that federal employment for Spanish speaking employees improved very little for 1970 since their 830 worker net gain for the year was even less than the average 2300 net annual gain for the previous two years (4600). Additionally, the same extreme severe reduction in force losses with minor worker increases again appear to be the Spanish speaking federal worker lot for 1971. The situation is expected to deteriorate further, as the impact of job cut backs generated by the President's anti-inflation program and the Southeast Asia rollback effects starve out even minute gains in 1972 for this ethnic minority. Meanwhile, this poor example and image of inequity as created by the federal government triggers off similar patterns in industry and non-governmental labor effort for the Spanish speaking Americans where unemployment problems continue to run rampant and are higher than the national average. B. Current employment practices must be changed to close gap.-Based on findings as contained in this report. the 80.000-100.000 employees required to bring the Spanish speaking ethnic minority up from a 2.9% deficit to a population parity of 6 or 7 percent will never be accomplished under current civil service procedures. This also applies to adequacy in numbers of Spanish speaking federal employees at decisionmaking levels of the federal agencies. For decades the little forward progress the Spanish speaking federal worker has made during increases of the federal workforce has been cancelled as official reduction in force periods are applied. The present 1969-1971 period is a perfect example of what has transcribed for years and years. Meanwhile the deficit or gap widens until now it is virtually impossible for the Spanish speaking to achieve job |