The Political Clout of Large Contractors: Keeping Blacks Away from Construction Sites. (Part II)

For many Irish immigrants in the early-to-mid 1800's, according to Dennis Clark, author of "The Irish in Philadelphia," an appropriate route out of the unskilled labor pool was to become a small building contractor, and many of them did.

It's important to understand that those who found success as contractors worked very closely with their fellow immigrants to establish craft guilds, or labor unions, to provide and control the labor supply that would be needed on their own construction sites. Many of their earlier contracts grew out of the demand from their community for separate, Irish Catholic institutions-- especially churches and schools--but eventually those contracts began to expand across the entire spectrum of construction opportunities in the city.

There was James P. McNichol, whose firm completed the Broad Street Subway excavation from City Hall to South Philadelphia, the Market Street Subway tunnel, the Ben Franklin Parkway and the Roosevelt Boulevard.

There was Matthew McCloskey, who went on from Philadelphia to serve as national finance chairman for the Democratic Party, working closely with President John F. Kennedy; and John McShain, who built the Philadelphia Board of Education Building, and then went on to build the Jefferson Memorial and the Pentagon, in Washington DC.(In the interest of perfect disclosure, in a stranger-than-fiction coincidence and personal note, I discovered later in life that the Martin de Porres Scholarship, through which I had been able to attend the prestigious St. Joseph's Preparatory School, out of North Central Philadelphia, had been funded by none other than Matthew McCloskey, whom I had never met).

To enhance the prospect of gaining public sector construction projects, the Irish contractors focused, simultaneously, on gaining control of the major political parties in the City. In fact, Clark points out that "...for fifty years the Irish installed one of their own as chairman of the Philadelphia Democratic Party."

Consequently, powerful, politically connected Irish contractors emerged in Philadelphia, enhancing the political and economic power of the Irish community, all while remaining true to their history and emphatically excluding black participation in their industry.

Unfortunately, even after the McNichol's, McCloskey's and McShain's passed on, the current crop of major contractors, including the Keatings, Driscolls, Turners, et al., still play largely the same role, still control the political environment through substantial campaign contributions and still have the power to dictate the complexion of the people on their worksites.

Over the past five election cycle years, according to www.Followthemoney.com, the construction industry contributed an average of $70 million annually to state and federal elected officials. And, in just the years 2007 and 2008, six construction-related national labor unions (electricians, laborers, plumbers, carpenters, teamsters, and operating engineers) contributed an additional $68 million to elected officials. Interestingly, each of those unions contributed, individually, more, over that period, than Goldman Sachs, J. P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup or Bank of America. Not surprisingly, many elected officials are largely intimidated or compromised by this level of influence. At the same time, media seem to be largely uninformed about the issue, or disinterested in telling the story.

W.E.B. DuBois, the great African-American, Harvard-educated Ph.D., who published his landmark study of black Philadelphia for the University of Pennsylvania, in 1899, observed, 111 years ago: "Even in the world of skilled labor, the Negro is largely excluded. For years, the Negroes filled satisfactorily the trades of the city and today are still prominent in many parts of the South and, yet, in Philadelphia, a determined prejudice, aided by public opinion, has succeeded nearly in driving them from the field."

"All these (situations)" Dubois continued, "prove the rule, namely that without strong effort and special influences, it is next to impossible for a Negro in Philadelphia to get regular employment in most of the trades, except he work as an independent workman and take small transient jobs."

Regrettably, in the year 2010, not very much has changed.

There is light, however, at the end of what has been a very long tunnel.

It just so happens that, even in a distressed economy, construction industry inclusion is precisely what the City's economy needs. It's also what the industry, itself, requires for its own survival. Here's the issue: Increasingly, the sons and daughters of many of the long-time, white ethnic union members have gravitated to college campuses and to white-collar professions, and have shunned the job opportunities that were waiting for them on construction sites. Not entirely coincidentally, the national percentage of unionized construction workers stood at 14.2 percent in 2008, down from 50 percent in 1966. So, opening the industry to greater levels of African-American inclusion also can ensure the continued viability of the building trades, themselves. Despite the fundamental logic of all of that, to make it happen, we're still going to have to have "strong effort and special influences," as DuBois accurately described.

The key issue is whether the current crop of elected officials and business leaders have the "political will" to do what needs to be done to ensure that this can happen.

It is generally agreed that the fastest and most effective way to increase the number of black and minority workers on construction sites is to increase the number of black and minority contractors who win bids on those projects. In that regard, about seven years ago, I was a part of a small group that created the Technical Assistance Center for Emerging Contractors, or the TAC, whose offices are located in North Central Philadelphia. The organization trains, provides financing sources and contract bidding assistance to black and minority contractors. The TAC recently supplied a list of 35 top-level, black and Hispanic contractors to the facilities manager at St. Joseph's University, as an example. We know there is the capability, by black and minority contractors, to bid successfully and to perform on local projects.

In March of last year, I was a member of a group called The Mayor's Advisory Commission on Construction Industry Diversity, which presented Mayor Nutter with the results of an 11-month-long review of what needs to be done to correct the problems of racial and gender disparity on the City's construction sites. The report included a review of the disparities, together with scores of recommendations for achieving workforce and contract inclusion goals.

The Mayor mentioned the report recently during a "minority business" press conference but, so far, quite frankly, we’re still waiting to see the specific construction-related recommendations implemented. But, we're optimistic that between and among the Mayor's Office, the members of City Council, and the leaders of the construction industry, itself, we'll start to see some significant improvement in the City's construction industry diversity.

But the goals for inclusion have to be meaningful, the timeline for achieving them have to be appropriately urgent, and there have to be real and tangible consequences for project owners, construction management firms and labor unions who don't participate. Fines should be levied, contracts should be terminated, firms should be debarred, from doing further business and project labor agreements should be curtailed, as necessary. If we’re serious, that's what we'll finally do.

But this should not be seen as punitive, negative, anti-business, or anti-union--- just anti-discrimination. Such improvement and an appropriate utilization of the vital, construction-related resources that reside in the local black community are well within the enlightened self-interest of those who are responsible for expanding the City's economy.

In Philadelphia, where it’s been reported that 50 percent of black males don't have jobs, a continuation of the status quo should be simply unacceptable, for all of us.

Even 111 years ago, W.E. B. DuBios said it best: "How long can a city say to a part of its citizens, it's useless to work; it is fruitless to deserve well of men; education will gain you nothing but disappointment and humiliation? How long can a city teach its black children that the road to success is to have a white face? How long can a city do this and escape the inevitable penalty?


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