Defend Black firefighters!

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SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL 1988 Through court cases, Black firefighters in San Francisco have proved the fire department guilty of a long-standing pattern of racist practices in hiring and promotion.

At the same time, the Black firefighters charge, Local 798 of the firefighters union has sided with the city in upholding a "whitte job trust." The union has opposed an affirmative-action consent decree, which would establish quotas in promotion and hiring. (See the article in the March 1988 issue of Socialist Action for more background information.)

We reprint below portions of Socialist Action member Roland Sheppard's testimony before the fire department's Human Relations Committee on March 7, 1988.

If the Human Relations Committee had been doing its job, there would be no need for the present consent decree or for the Black firefighters to go to court to defend their rights. If the firefighters union had been doing its job, there would also be no need for the present consent decree.

The major responsibility of a union is to unite and to defend all workers in their common interests and present a united front to the employers.

Historically, unions have needed the support of all working people in order to organize. Unions that did not defend the rights of Black workers were readily broken prior to the rise of the CIO [in the mid-1930s]. A divided working class only served the interests of the employers.

The organization of basic industry in this country was accomplished by the CIO on the basis of equal rights for all. And through the course of struggle, white workers learned that it was not in their interest to act in a racist manner. The CIO became a social movement that defended all workers (union and non-union) and championed the rights of all of the oppressed.

With the present budget problems, the only way for the city workers and their unions to prevent layoffs is to return to the methods of the CIO and organize all workers in the city against all cutbacks in city services.

It's in the interests of city workers, and workers in general, to maintain and expand services that are needed by the vast majority of the population that can not afford these services— such as transportation, housing, education, etc.

Thirteen years ago, when there last was a budget crisis, the city singled out the firefighters and the building-trades workers for the initial cuts. They were singled out because of the visible opposition to affirmative action by the union officials who were defending the racist hiring practices of the city officialdom.

Now, 13 years later, the firefighters union is making the same mistake. By opposing the consent decree, they are defending their employer-the heads of the fire department-against the Black firefighters.

Once again, they are isolating themselves from the community, and their reward from the city is proposed cuts in jobs and wages in the fire department. This self-defeating policy must come to an end.

In the consent decree, the city states an intention to hire more firefighters. It is no ›w evident that the city had no such intention when it signed the decree since it has now come out for budget cuts which go contrary to the consent decree.

The firefighters union should change its position and support the decree and demand that the promised 50 percent affirmativeaction hiring goals be carried out by the city and its fire department. The union should explain to its membership why it's not in their interest to tolerate any acts of racism within the fire department.

The union should go further and join with the other city unions who are trying to unite with the communities to stop the budget cuts. Such action would help to eliminate institutionalized racism from the fire department and wherever racism raises its ugly head.

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Civil-rights leader murdered 20 years ago where armies face each other and seek to destroy.

We are adding cynicism to the process of