Subpart A-Purpose; Applicability; Background

§ 60-7.1

Purpose of the St. Louis Plan.

The purpose of these regulations is to implement the provisions of Executive Order 11246, and the rules and regulations issued pursuant thereto, requiring a program of equal employment opportunity by Federal contractors and subcontractors and federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors in the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County, Mo.

§ 60-7.2 Applicability.

While a contractor or subcontractor is performing in the city of St. Louis or St. Louis County, Mo., on federally involved (Federal or federally assisted) construction contracts for projects the estimated total cost of which exceeds $500,000, all construction activities (including all activities on nonfederally involved work) of such contractor or subcontractor which take place in the above area shall be subject to the requirements of these regulations: Provided, however, That if an areawide agreement is developed for any trade covered by these regulations or any such trade is covered by a multitrade agreement and such an agreement is among contractors, unions and the minority community, then the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (hereinafter OFCC) may, in its complete discretion, accept such program in lieu of any or all of the requirements of these regulations subject to such terms and conditions as the OFCC may specify.

Public hearings were conducted by representatives of the Department of Labor in St. Louis, Mo., on August 31, and September 1, 1970, to determine what action should be taken to ensure equal employment opportunity in the construction industry in the St. Louis, Mo., area. Testimony was heard and data received on the following:

(a) The current extent of minority group participation in each construction trade;

(b) Present employee recruitment methods, including union involvement in the recruitment and referral process;

(c) The availability of qualified and qualifiable minority group persons for employment in the construction industry;

(d) An evaluation of existing training

programs in the area and the extent of minority involvement in them;

(e) The number of additional workers that can be absorbed into each trade without displacing present employees, including consideration of present employee shortages, projected growth of the trade, projected employee turnover; (f) The availability and utilization of minority contractors on federally involved contracts;

(g) The desirability and extent, including of the geographical scope, possible Federal action to ensure equal employment opportunity in the construction trades;

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(h) Recommendations mental compliance agencies active in the St. Louis, Mo., area.

Subpart B-General Findings; Minority Participation in Specific Trades; Availability; Need for Training; Impact Upon Existing Labor Force

§ 60-7.10 General findings.

(a) General findings. Based on the evidence adduced at the hearing, and on other information available to the Department, it is found and determined that there has existed and now exists in the construction industry serving the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County, Mo., a pattern of recruitment, hiring, training, referral, and access to union membership which has resulted in the exclusion of minority group persons (Negroes, Spanish surnamed Americans, Orientals, and American Indians) from meaningful representation in the construction industry. This pattern of exclusion operates in connection with all phases of employment in the area construction industry, and relates to referrals to work as trainees and journeymen, and access to union membership. It is further found that the previous efforts to correct this inequity have been inadequate, and that it is necessary in order to achieve the objectives of these regulations to adopt a specific program which will provide for equal employment opportunity in the St. Louis area construction industry.

(b) Effect on contractors of pattern of exclusion. The evidence before the Department makes it apparent that minority workers have been prevented from participating fully in certain local unions in certain construction trades. The operation of the system of hiring and referral to work has produced this exclusion.

In the construction industry, contractors and subcontractors rely on local construction craft unions as their prime or sole source of labor for each job. Collective bargaining practices, either written or oral, provide for and result in the operation of exclusive hiring halls in many cases, which are the sole recruitment source for employees in the trades. Workers referred from such halls to a specific job do not have "job security" on that job, but may be removed at will. In that event, they return to the hall to seek a new assignment. Even where such hiring halls are not formally or rigidly required, as a practical matter, most people working the trade are referred to jobs by the local unions, and union approval is required before an employee can begin or remain at work. As a result of these arrangements, referral or approval by the union is a virtual necessity for obtaining employment in the construction projects which are unionized. Minorities, having been excluded from access to union membership and referral opportunities, and having been excluded from apprenticeship and other training programs, have been discouraged from applying for employment in the construction trades because of the reputation which the industry has in the minority community for its practices of exclusion of minorities. The result of the operation of this entire process, is that few minority persons are referred for employment, and consequently, projects are constructed with a labor force from which minority persons have been excluded. Contractors' efforts to alter this system, and increase minority participation have not been successful.

(c) "Hometown solution". At the time of the hearings, it appeared that the St. Louis Supplemental Manpower Agreement, involving an affirmative action commitment by labor and management in ten trades, was producing significant results. That voluntary agreement known as the St. Louis Supplemental Manpower Agreement, had been signed by the Associated General Contractors, St. Louis Chapter, and the Carpenters, Operating Engineers, Roofers, and Teamsters Unions. The Cement Masons and Plasterers Unions, and the Cement Contractors Association were also parties, as were the Sheetmetal Contractors Association and the Sheetmetal Workers Union. At that time, OFCC had given tentative approval to the agreement.

Thereafter, the National Electrical Contractors Association and Local 1 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers also signed a similar affirmative action agreement. The hearing panel recommended further negotiation to secure the participation of the other trades in the principal agreement. Subsequent developments have revealed that no new trades have entered the agreement and those trades which have done so have not utilized the agreement in such a way as to significantly increase minority manpower utilization in those trades in the St. Louis area. While the Department will continue to support hometown solutions, this support is based on the assumption that a hometown solution is more likely to be effective, than is an imposed plan. Where, as here, the hometown solution has not been effective, it becomes necessary to withdraw OFCC approval, and to impose a plan where discrimination and underutilization of minority manpower is clear.

§ 60-7.11

Minority participation in the specific trades.

(a) Minority participation in the specific trades. The population of the St. Louis, Mo., area is 1,826,907. Of that number, 309,761 or 17 percent are minority group persons. The average unemployment rate for the greater St. Louis area has been 4.6, the rate for white persons, 3.8 and that for minorities, 9 for the period 1968-70. The rate for the inner city area (city of St. Louis) for that period has averaged 6.5 percent-3.9 percent for the white community and 9.9 percent for the minorities. Included among the minorities in the employed category in 1969 were 5,100 persons who were employed part-time only and 11,000 persons who worked full time but had a family income at or below the poverty level. Additionally, 8,000 minority persons remained outside the work force because of employment barriers. These facts serve to underscore the underutilization of minority group persons for employment in the St. Louis area. Current minority participation as journeymen, in the various construction trades, based upon analysis of an assemblage of data gathered by Government and nongovernment sources totals 265 of 23,322 or approximately 1 percent. Minority participation for selected trades is as set forth in paragraph (b) of this section.

Average minority participation in the total work forces represented by the foregoing trades is 1.7 percent.

§ 60-7.12 Availability of minority group persons for employment.

As indicated earlier, there are currently 16,100 minority employees who are underemployed, 8,000 minority persons altogether excluded from the work force due to employment barriers, and in excess of 10,000 minorities unemployed in the St. Louis area. In addition to this source of willing and available manpower there are approximately 1,689 persons currently receiving training for employment in the construction trades and otherwise indicating their interest in and availability for such employment. Moreover, there are approximately 108 minority apprentices and nine minority helpers presently employed in the selected trades.

(a) Nonunion and self-employed minority tradesmen. There are currently an estimated 87 minority tradesmen possessing skills ranging from helper to journeyman in the principal construction trades, who are either self-employed or employed on nonunion projects, the latter due only to their lack of union membership.

(b) Employment security registrants. There are presently approximately 72 minorities registered with the Missouri State Employment Service who are seeking training and employment in the St. Louis area construction industry.

(c) A.I.C. The Apprenticeship Information Center serving the St. Louis area has on record the names of 338 minority youth who have sought apprenticeship training opportunities in the St. Louis area construction industry.

(d) OIC and related institutions. St. Louis area OIC and related institutions indicate that eight minority persons are currently receiving training for employment in the construction trades.

(e) Apprenticeship Outreach Programs. The Apprenticeship Outreach Programs currently operational in the St. Louis area have a total of 288 minority trainees enrolled for training in 13 construction trades.

(f) Vocational education. Day and evening vocational education programs operating in the St. Louis area have a current minority enrollment of 227 students receiving institutional training for employment in the construction industry.

(g) MDTA programs. Programs funded under the Manpower Development and Training Act in the St. Louis area currently provide training for skills required in the construction trades to 84 minorities.

(h) CEP programs. The St. Louis area CEP has 477 minority enrollees receiving training in the construction trades.

(i) Community involvement. Testimony presented at the hearings revealed, and it has consistently been this Department's experience, that the effectiveness of recruitment of minority trainees and workers depends in large measure upon the active involvement of minority organizations in the community. Various representatives of minority organizations indicated that they would have little, if any, difficulty in recruiting minority workers for training and jobs in sufficient numbers to meet the manpower needs of the St. Louis construction industry.

(j) Minority subcontractors. Information gained at the hearing indicated, and it is found, that a number of minority subcontractors are operating effectively within the St. Louis area. Utilization of these subcontractors by contractors could significantly expand the participation of minority craftsmen on projects of Federal construction contractors.

§ 60-7.13 Need for training.

Testimony presented at the hearings and data otherwise obtained reveal that there exists a continuing need for the training of minorities for placement within the skilled construction trades. In this regard, the continuation of currently operational training programs with appropriately increased funding are expected to yield a sufficient quantity of trained minority manpower to meet the

Average minority participation in the total work forces represented by the foregoing trades is 1.7 percent.

§ 60-7.12 Availability of minority group persons for employment.

As indicated earlier, there are currently 16,100 minority employees who are underemployed, 8,000 minority persons altogether excluded from the work force due to employment barriers, and in excess of 10,000 minorities unemployed in the St. Louis area. In addition to this source of willing and available manpower there are approximately 1,689 persons currently receiving training for employment in the construction trades and otherwise indicating their interest in and availability for such employment. Moreover, there are approximately 108 minority apprentices and nine minority helpers presently employed in the selected trades.

(a) Nonunion and self-employed minority tradesmen. There are currently an estimated 87 minority tradesmen possessing skills ranging from helper to journeyman in the principal construction trades, who are either self-employed or employed on nonunion projects, the latter due only to their lack of union membership.

(b) Employment security registrants. There are presently approximately 72 minorities registered with the Missouri State Employment Service who are seeking training and employment in the St. Louis area construction industry.

(c) A.I.C. The Apprenticeship Information Center serving the St. Louis area has on record the names of 338 minority youth who have sought apprenticeship training opportunities in the St. Louis area construction industry.

(d) OIC and related institutions. St. Louis area OIC and related institutions indicate that eight minority persons are currently receiving training for employment in the construction trades.

(e) Apprenticeship Outreach Programs. The Apprenticeship Outreach Programs currently operational in the St. Louis area have a total of 288 minority trainees enrolled for training in 13 construction trades.

(f) Vocational education. Day and evening vocational education programs operating in the St. Louis area have a current minority enrollment of 227 students receiving institutional training for employment in the construction industry.

(g) MDTA programs. Programs funded under the Manpower Development and Training Act in the St. Louis area currently provide training for skills required in the construction trades to 84 minorities.

(h) CEP programs. The St. Louis area CEP has 477 minority enrollees receiving training in the construction trades.

(i) Community involvement. Testimony presented at the hearings revealed, and it has consistently been this Department's experience, that the effectiveness of recruitment of minority trainees and workers depends in large measure upon the active involvement of minority organizations in the community. Various representatives of minority organizations indicated that they would have little, if any, difficulty in recruiting minority workers for training and jobs in sufficient numbers to meet the manpower needs of the St. Louis construction industry.

(j) Minority subcontractors. Information gained at the hearing indicated, and it is found, that a number of minority subcontractors are operating effectively within the St. Louis area. Utilization of these subcontractors by contractors could significantly expand the participation of minority craftsmen on projects of Federal construction contractors. § 60-7.13 Need for training.

Testimony presented at the hearings and data otherwise obtained reveal that there exists a continuing need for the training of minorities for placement within the skilled construction trades. In this regard, the continuation of currently operational training programs with appropriately increased funding are expected to yield a sufficient quantity of trained minority manpower to meet the