Posted on 08/10/2007 5:27:29 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
PORT HUDSON, La. -
A literacy test used to screen Georgia-Pacific Corp. applicants discriminated against blacks because blacks were far more likely than whites to fail the test, the federal Labor Department said.
Utility workers at a paper mill don't need to read well, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Georgia Pacific disagrees, but has stopped using the nationally standardized Test of Adult Basic Education's literacy exam and will pay $749,076 in back pay and interest to 399 black people who applied over the past two years, spokeswoman Patty Prats-Swanson said Wednesday.
"We may not agree but we have decided to work with the Department of Labor and we have changed our policy," she said. She was out of the office Thursday; another spokeswoman did not immediately return a call.
Diana Peterson, a spokeswoman in the department's Dallas office, did not know what percentages of black and white applicants failed the test, which is part of a set created by The Mcgraw-Hill Companies of Chicago. It uses bus schedules, product labels and other "real-life stimuli" to test reading.
She also did not know whether non-black applicants who failed the test will be compensated.
Federal contractors "must ensure that a test is valid for the particular job if it disproportionately screens out applicants from a protected group," Fred Azua Jr., regional director for the department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
Prats-Swanson said literacy matters because Georgia-Pacific, which is based in Atlanta, often promotes rather than hiring upper-level workers from outside - and literacy is important for higher level jobs.
Nobody complained about the test. The compliance office made its conclusions from a routine audit for 2002 and 2003, conducted because of a federal contract. The company provides tissue products to the Defense Commissary Agency.
Georgia-Pacific will hire 24 of the 399 applicants and begin a self-monitoring program for two years to ensure all hiring practices comply with the law.
The Port Hudson mill employs 910 people. It makes toilet paper and paper towels sold under the Brawny, Quilted Northern and Angel Soft names, as well as office paper.
Insanity.
The English language is racist.
Is this from The Onion? Because I just cannot fathom this being reality. A simple literacy test supposedly discriminates between white and black applicants? What, does it use white man’s language?
Would it be more fair if it included some Ebonics???
How much do you want to bet that the folks who came to this conclusion have never set foot inside a paper mill?
I'd be willing to bet that they never worked a real job ever in their lives.
The money statement there.
another source.
The next time OSHA tries to fine someone for a safety violation the worker can simply claim he or she can’t read and threaten to sue OSHA for on the job discrimination.
What a joke! And this is the government that the 'Rats want to turn our healthcare system over to.
Any question that the Federal Labor Department is infested with "liberals"? You CAN'T come to this conclusion without the modern "liberal" mindset that all choices/behaviors/cultures are equal and that any disparity of outcome is due to discrimination.
Dare I say it? Could it be that the culture fostered in the black community is actually the cause of the disparity in outcome on this test? No... couldn't be!
What a crock!!! Now we are supposed to believe that reading and comprehension tests can trip up blacks more than whites? Sounds like the racial hustlers in my area who claim "Math tests are not racially sensitive to minorities!"
If you pay no attention in reading, math and english classes, you won't be able to pass the test, period. Nothing Black or White about it!
Exactly...
Very true. The closest thing to labor any of those folks have probably done is sharpening their pencils.
In that part of GA it's apparently more likely to find an illiterate black person than an illiterate white person seeking a job.
Can't prove that by me ~ lots of all kinds of illiterates down there in the areas dominated by the paper pulp industry ~ like you can't believe.
It's quite possible the black population is simply more likely to apply for a job with these guys. Maybe they don't need to breathe in the morning or something.
Nope, according to the f'd up way that "liberals" look at the world, not paying attention in class IS EQUAL BEHAVIOR to paying attention in class, and any disparity in outcome between these two choices is because of "discrimination".
Whites and people of other races who failed the test will not get anything, she said.
from post # 9 link
The mill is in Louisiana.
One Day at St. Peter’s Gate, Al Sharpton (who finally gave up the ghost) finds himself in a line behind two other people who are being screened by Saint Peter himself, he listens in:
Saint Peter to first man (who happens to be white):
‘We have one formality for you to enter the Kingdom of God, all you have to do is spell one word, and the word is “CAT”...’
The man spells it out “C...A...T!!!” and Saint Peter opens the Gate, and welcomes him into the Kingdom.
Saint Peter to second man (who also happens to be white):
‘There is but one formality before you can enter God’s Kingdom, and that is to spell one word, and the word is “DOG”...’
The second man spells “D...O...G!!!” and Saint Peter again opens the Gate, welcoming him into Eternity.
Al Sharpton walks up to Saint Peter and says ‘Yo PETE! Whussup? Now I knows you folks ain’t gonna pull no tricks now, I know God is all about Equal Opportunity, ya dig? You know I don’t wanna hear nuthin’ ‘bout Tawana Brawley, diamond merchants, Don Imus, or any of that stuff, I’ve paid my dues, I done my best, now how ‘bout openin’ that Gate?’
Saint Peter says to Al Sharpton, Al, Al, of course you’ve done your best like everyone has, and that’s why we only have a formality where you spell out one simple word, and into the Kingdom of God you go!
Al Sharpton says “Right on Pete! Now what be that word for me?”
Saint Peter says “spell chrysanthemum.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.