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CWA Study Shows Race Bias In New Jersey Performance Ratings
Bolstering its case with a union study showing that performance ratings handed down in New Jersey are racially biased in favor of whites over blacks and other minorities, CWA is fighting to protect seniority in civil service — and to stand up for human rights in the process.
The CWA study — culled from New Jersey Department of Personnel records — shows that in 1998, nearly half of white state employees evaluated received the highest possible ratings from their (overwhelmingly white) supervisors. Only about one in four African-Americans received similar ratings.
CWA is the state’s largest public worker union, representing 36,000 state employees.
The union campaign is designed to protect seniority as the key factor for determining which jobs are cut in the event of downsizings and other layoff scenarios, as opposed to Gov. Whitman’s efforts to substitute performance ratings.
CWA members and local leaders in New Jersey have gained wide support for the campaign from prominent black clergy, officials of the NAACP and several Trenton-area legislators.
More than 300 members of various CWA locals crammed into a meeting of the state’s Merit System Board in Trenton on Feb. 2 to loudly protest the proposal to substitute evaluations for seniority, and CWA later held a news conference to denounce the board’s action. The board approved Gov. Christine Whitman’s plan on a 4-1 vote. Public hearings still must be held before the change is implemented.
Shortly after the meeting the one black member of the board resigned. Edward Verner, who cast the only dissenting vote against the plan and is the only Democrat on the five-member board, told Wendy Ruderman of the Trenton Times that his resignation was prompted by his desire to devote more time to delivering health care to the state’s poor. Verner is a doctor with a practice in Newark.
CWA Representative Alan Kaufman said, "Clearly we have lost an ally."
CWA leaders and supporters say the state’s performance evaluations are arbitrary and discriminatory, and that the rule change would encourage cronyism and favoritism, and work against persons of color or different ethnic backgrounds.
They backed up these charges with statistics drawn between 1994 and 1998. Last year, 26,931 white workers were evaluated under the system, known as the Performance Assessment Review and 48 percent received the top grade. Of 13,478 black workers evaluated, only 25.2 percent received the top grade.
Years of bitterness between union leaders and the Republican governor were briefly laid aside in late January, when Whitman proposed a state budget that for the first time since she took office five years ago does not contain layoffs or plans to privatize state work.
"We are pleased that state workers will be able to partake in the prosperity that New Jersey has been experiencing during this boom economy," said Bob Pursell, CWA’s New Jersey public sector director. CWA is the biggest state worker union in New Jersey.
The CWA study — culled from New Jersey Department of Personnel records — shows that in 1998, nearly half of white state employees evaluated received the highest possible ratings from their (overwhelmingly white) supervisors. Only about one in four African-Americans received similar ratings.
CWA is the state’s largest public worker union, representing 36,000 state employees.
The union campaign is designed to protect seniority as the key factor for determining which jobs are cut in the event of downsizings and other layoff scenarios, as opposed to Gov. Whitman’s efforts to substitute performance ratings.
CWA members and local leaders in New Jersey have gained wide support for the campaign from prominent black clergy, officials of the NAACP and several Trenton-area legislators.
More than 300 members of various CWA locals crammed into a meeting of the state’s Merit System Board in Trenton on Feb. 2 to loudly protest the proposal to substitute evaluations for seniority, and CWA later held a news conference to denounce the board’s action. The board approved Gov. Christine Whitman’s plan on a 4-1 vote. Public hearings still must be held before the change is implemented.
Shortly after the meeting the one black member of the board resigned. Edward Verner, who cast the only dissenting vote against the plan and is the only Democrat on the five-member board, told Wendy Ruderman of the Trenton Times that his resignation was prompted by his desire to devote more time to delivering health care to the state’s poor. Verner is a doctor with a practice in Newark.
CWA Representative Alan Kaufman said, "Clearly we have lost an ally."
CWA leaders and supporters say the state’s performance evaluations are arbitrary and discriminatory, and that the rule change would encourage cronyism and favoritism, and work against persons of color or different ethnic backgrounds.
They backed up these charges with statistics drawn between 1994 and 1998. Last year, 26,931 white workers were evaluated under the system, known as the Performance Assessment Review and 48 percent received the top grade. Of 13,478 black workers evaluated, only 25.2 percent received the top grade.
Years of bitterness between union leaders and the Republican governor were briefly laid aside in late January, when Whitman proposed a state budget that for the first time since she took office five years ago does not contain layoffs or plans to privatize state work.
"We are pleased that state workers will be able to partake in the prosperity that New Jersey has been experiencing during this boom economy," said Bob Pursell, CWA’s New Jersey public sector director. CWA is the biggest state worker union in New Jersey.