BAR ASSOCIATION URGES
U.S. LABOR SECRETARY
TO RESCIND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WAIVER
Dubs Waiver “Strikingly Counterproductive”
The New York City Bar Association,
in a letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L.
Chao, strongly argues that the Labor Department’s
recent waiver of Executive Order 11246 – whose
affirmative action provisions have provided employment
opportunities for minorities, women and Vietnam-era
veterans for 40 years – “is strikingly
counterproductive” to the government’s
efforts to provide relief to residents of the
Gulf Coast region. “The Association calls
upon you to immediately rescind the exemption
from affirmative action requirements for federal
contracts for Katrina-related relief activities.”
In September, immediately after President Bush
signed the executive order allowing federally
paid contractors to pay substandard wages to
construction workers helping to rebuild the hurricane-ravaged
area, the Labor Department waived most federal
affirmative action laws for contractors. The
stated reason was that preparation of an affirmative
action plan would present an obstacle to the
speedy accomplishment of hurricane relief.
The New York City Bar Association contradicts
this reasoning, arguing that Executive Order
11246 is carefully tailored so that compliance
will not burden contractors. “Contractors
earning federal dollars in Katrina-related activities
have both the means and the time to ensure compliance
with legal obligations that have been in place
for decades.”
The New York City Bar Association maintains
that this is one of the worse times imaginable
to exempt new contractors from their obligation
to make special efforts to provide opportunities
to people of color, women, Vietnam-era veterans
and individuals with disabilities:
“Beyond serving no useful purpose, the
waiver threatens to exacerbate the striking racial
and economic disparities that became apparent
in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Employment
for returning residents is, together with housing
and health care, among the most urgent needs … Without
jobs, families who have lost virtually all their
possessions, whose homes were uninsurable, and
who now have little or no savings, will be entirely
dependent on public assistance or short-term
charity. To bypass affirmative action plans in
these circumstances is among the most counterproductive
actions that federal officials can take.”
