Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993 TAG: 9303130282
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BLACK GAINS SMALL
Despite Roanoke's stepped-up efforts to hire more black police officers, black employees in the city work force increased by less than 1 percentage point in the past year.Black employees now make up 24.1 percent of the city's work force, up from 23.4 percent a year ago.
The percentage of black workers is almost identical to the percentage of blacks in the city's population - 24 percent, according to the 1990 census.
City Manager Bob Herbert said that in most job categories, the city's percentage of black employees is equal to or higher than that available in the Roanoke metropolitan area.
But black employees tend to be concentrated in maintenance, labor and clerical jobs, although some blacks have been hired or promoted to management jobs in recent years.
The Rev. Charles Green said Friday that he is concerned about the city's slow progress in hiring more black employees.
"There has been hardly any increase at all," said Green, president of the Roanoke chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In a report that will be presented to City Council on Monday, Herbert said that 24 percent of the people who were hired for city jobs in the past year were black. Thirty-eight percent were women.
The report shows that women now make up 29.5 percent the city's work force of 1,916 .
Green said he will attend the council meeting to express the NAACP's dissatisfaction with the city's record in affirmative action.
In the past year, blacks received 24 of the job promotions in the city's work force and 21 percent were women.
The numbers on black and women employees do not include the recent graduates of the Police Academy.
The academy's 21-member graduating class included three white females, one Asian male, seven black males, one Hispanic male and eight white males.
The number of of black officers has doubled from nine two years ago. With the addition of the recent class, the city has 18 black officers, 10 women and two Asians.
Blacks now comprise 7.3 percent of the city's 245 police officers.
Herbert said that a sample of the jobs filled by blacks and women in the past year include: director of real estate valuation, clerical supervisor, firefighter, police officer and junior appraiser.
Mayor David Bowers said recently that the city needs a more culturally diverse work force in all municipal departments - not just in the Police Department.
The Police Department has a special need for a representative work force because of its role in enforcing laws and working with different groups, Bowers said.
"But the city has a responsibility to make its work force more representative of its population," Bowers said.
The percentage of blacks has increased slowly in the past two decades. In 1975, blacks comprised 19.5 percent of the work force. That increased to 22 percent by the mid-1980s.
In the council report, Herbert cites the city's efforts to recruit more black employees. City officials make recruiting trips to military bases and job fairs at predominantly black colleges and universities.
The city also has a summer intern program for black students. City officials also meet with black community leaders to make them aware of job opportunities in the city.
Women are the most under-represented segment of the labor force in the Roanoke metropolitan area. Women make up 45 percent of the labor force in the area, but hold only 29.5 percent of municipal jobs. City officials say they are hampered in hiring more women and blacks because of the slow turnover in the work force.