Students, religious leaders and activists ask MnDOT to do more to increase hiring of women and minorities by state road construction contractors.
We welcome you to JobBank USA and hope your job hunting experience
is a pleasant one. We hope you find our resources useful.
July 23, 2009
With their hard hats, green vests and protest signs, 200 construction students marched into the Minnesota Department of Transportation building near the State Capitol on Thursday. The rally-goers, led by community organizers and religious leaders, protested the levels of hiring of women and minorities for MnDOT contract jobs.
Inside, MnDOT spokesman Kevin Gutknecht met the rally-goers and activists with a smile, and a list of the programs the department already has to increase hiring.
Construction students from Summit Academy sang "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'round" while security and department workers scuttled out of the way as the group filled the hallways and stairs.
Gutknecht received two ceremonial gifts from the protesters: a "Missing Persons Report" detailing reasons disadvantaged workers have been missing from construction sites, and a box of postcards from 500 unhappy citizens, all addressed to department Commissioner Thomas Sorel.
Louis King, co-chairman of HIRE Minnesota, a group concentrating on raising MnDOT minority and women hiring, said the current department practices aren't good enough. King wants 15 percent of hard hats on top of people of color, but last year, only 6.1 percent of contract jobs through the state were held by them. Women made up 3.9 percent of MnDOT's contracted workforce last year.
Gutknecht said the department follows all state and federal laws to the letter. MnDOT sets goals, and when those aren't reached, the department assesses whether good faith efforts were made and puts negligent contractors through corrective action plans.
"If there is an issue with the law," he said. "Perhaps you should change the law."
In minutes King and the rally-goers peacefully left the building with one last round of, "Aint gonna let no MnDOT turn me 'round."
Email This Page!