The 7.63 Percent Solution

A small contractor learns affirmative action arithmetic

Tama Starr from the February 1996 issue

(Page 3 of 3)

Then comes the "Contractor/Subcontractor Affirmative Action Commitment," requiring the contractor to swear fealty once again by initialing various affirmations, and the weekly "Wage Requirement Letter," including space for each worker's name, address, Social Security number, race, sex, work classification, hours worked, rate of pay, deductions, and net wages. Interesting, again, how much privacy the workers give up for the privilege of participation in this brave new nondiscriminatory world. The document also contains a separately signed affirmation that "Contractor/Subcontractor certifies compliance with all Federal, State and Local EEO Requirements" (as if one could possibly understand what they are) and a warning that "the wilful [sic] falsification of any of the above statements may subject the contractor or subcontractor to civil or criminal prosecution see section 1001 [sic] of Title 18 and Section 231 of Title 31 of the United States Code." This part is in teeny-tiny print and very difficult to read.

The next five pages, apparently handwritten by a diligent sixth-grader, are instructions on "How to Complete the Payroll Forms." They offer many helpful hints. Under "work classification," for example, they say, "Fill in the classification exactly as it appears on the determination. If classification is for a power equipment operator, indicate type, size, horsepower." But they do not ask for the color of the horse.

The next document, "Workforce Projection," is important because it offers a rescue for those contractors whose race and sex composition is below par. It allows you to anticipate compliance by listing, for each job category (brick masons, equipment operators, etc.) your "Current Employees to be Assigned to Contract," both "None-Minority [sic]" (male and female) and "Minority" (male and female), and the "Projected New Hires" in these categories that will bring you into compliance. The document ends, "The contractor acknowledges that, to the extent that this workforce projection does not reflect anticipated achievement of the goals for minority and female employment contained in the contract for work on this project, it will work closely with the general contractor and resourse [sic] and referral sources to identify, consider, and employ qualified individuals whose participation will enable the contractor to achieve the goals." What a break.

Next is Form OC-257, the "Monthly Employment Utilization Report," which lists, for all trades and classifications, by "Work Hours of Employment (Federal & Non-Federal)," total employees (male and female), non-Hispanic blacks (male and female), Hispanics (male and female), Asians/Pacific Islanders (male and female), and American Indians/Alaskan Natives (male and female). It also breaks the total number of minorities down by sex and indicates percentages for total minorities, total females, and total female minorities. You won't have failed to notice--especially if you are the person filling out the forms--that these classifications are different from the ones required above. This report must be submitted monthly, and, needless to say, any inaccuracy constitutes a crime.

For those whose skills at statistical analysis may be sub-par, help is available. See Mayor's Executive Order #50: "The statistical criteria for evaluating the composition of the contractor's workforce will be the following: (i) the term `underutilization' means a statistically significant disparity between the employment of members of a racial, ethnic, or sexual group and their availability as determined by the Bureau utilization analysis; and (ii) the term `utilization analysis' will mean an analysis of the contractor's workforce using standard statistical techniques to test a null hypothesis that utilization of a given protected group is within acceptable limits, given its availability. For the purpose of these regulations, the null hypothesis will be rejected (i.e., underutilization will be assumed) whenever there is reason to believe that the utilization rate is below the availability rate at the 80% level of significance." Got it? Good.

Next are a "Sample Letter" requesting Apprentice Certificates for personnel meeting the approved race/gender tests, a helpful list of "Recruitment Sources for Minority/Female Construction Workers," and the "Sexual Harassment Fact Sheet," which goes to considerable lengths to expand the definition of sexual harassment beyond the "most widely recognized pattern...in which a male supervisor sexually harasses a female employee."

The last document in the package is 26 pages of tiny print in two columns: Part 60-3 of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the federal "Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures." There are discrepancies between it and E.O. #50 and the other documents, but what can you do? You are a contractor with a work force to support, and you want the job. So you close your eyes and hope for the best.

The burden of all these requirements is a heavy one. I had to send my new Director of EEO Compliance (formerly the payroll manager) to school in New Jersey for two days to learn how to fill out the reports for this contract. The paperwork required to comply with the contract nearly outweighs the steel. Furthermore, the presumption of racial and sexual villainy criminalizes everybody and invites litigation--besides making us the laughingstock of the world.

I discussed this phenomenon with the Dallas-based CEO of another company in my industry that is four times the size of mine. He said, "Good companies run away! You won't see me bidding on any kind of government or government-subsidized work." So the government will get what it wants: contractors whose race/gender composition meets government goals, while taxpayers, as usual, foot the bill: in increased costs, in substandard work, and in the payroll of the genetically approved bureaucrats who scrutinize the reports.

It is not enough to repudiate affirmative action at the polls. It has become an ideology, embodied in layers of case law, executive orders, and consent decrees, as well as in the corporate culture of our largest employers and customers. But let us not despair. If we accept these conditions as facts of life, we have the opportunity for a happy solution.

The problem, especially for smaller companies that don't have millions of employees, is that while the goals are exact, the means of meeting them are crude. How do you really know that your electricians are 33.99 percent minority and 1.84 percent female, as required? The loss of one worker of the approved hue may necessitate firing another of a different hue to maintain the desired balance. This is unfair. But genetic analysis can solve the problem.

Hardly any Americans today are racially pure. Up to 95 percent of those checking certain categories on the census form could just as well check "multiracial" if that were an option. In the 204 years since the first U.S. census, we have used at least 26 racial categories because we couldn't decide what they are; currently, such groups as Arab Americans and Azorians (Afro-Portuguese) are lobbying for their own classifications. Advances in biotechnology should enable us to end the confusion. We can investigate the DNA of all job applicants and candidates for promotion, isolate racial markers, and, by means of simple, weight-averaged mathematics (per E.O. #50), identify the workers whose characteristics we require.

From there, it is only a small step to the genetic engineering that will enable us to create the sociobiologically desirable work force of the future. Want a female operating engineer who is one-third Caucasian, one-twelfth Pacific Islander, one-quarter Hispanic, one-sixth Asian, and one-sixth African-American? No problem! This will require making projections 20 years or so in advance, but isn't that economic planning at its best? I can foresee platoons of forepersons, journeyfolk, and apprentices, all genetically predisposed to their assigned occupations and trades, and all of the exact racial, ethnic, and even hormonal mix that nondiscrimination requires. What a beautiful, inspirational, glorious rainbow it will be. I can hardly wait. Can you?