Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 12, 1993 TAG: 9305120014
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Willie Jeffries was promoted Monday from "laborer/operator" to "motor equipment operator I" - a position identical to the one granted to a less senior white worker last summer.
The Rev. Charles Green, president of the Roanoke Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Tuesday that his organization has begun analyzing the numbers of black workers in low-wage jobs and management positions in city departments.
Green, who advised Jeffries and another city worker on their grievances, says that many blacks are stuck in the lowest-paying jobs in city departments and not well represented in supervisory jobs. "Affirmative action's very weak," he said Tuesday.
"We couldn't find there was out-and-out discrimination," Cronin said in the case of Jeffries, "but we could understand that he would feel that he wasn't treated fairly. We weren't completely clean on that."
Cronin declined to be specific about his investigation into Jeffries' allegations, but he said, "There were some circumstances there that we had some concerns about."
The utility-line service department, which builds and maintains city sewer and water lines, reclassified a vacant position to give Jeffries the promotion, Cronin said. His new job and salary increase were approved last Wednesday by City Manager Bob Herbert, according to Cronin.
Formerly paid about $13,000, Jeffries now will earn around $15,000. He said Tuesday that he's been told that he will be working on the same three-man crew in the new job on a probationary basis for six months.
Cronin said the complaint of another black sewer-line worker, Derek Divers, is working its way through city grievance procedures. Cronin said that Divers' next option would be to appeal his case to Herbert.
Divers said Tuesday that he has been waiting since last month for an appointment with Herbert. Both Divers and Jeffries filed their complaints in September.
Cronin said that the city increasingly is recruiting women and minorities as citizen members on advisory panels to increase those groups' representation among city supervisors. In addition, he said, low-wage earners are getting training "to help them with upward mobility."
Furthermore, he said, the city circulates lists of job openings with minority churches and with community action agencies.
by CNB