Casetudy S
Note: the following case is copyrighted and may be copied and used only by current users and owners of the textbook, BUSINESS ETHICS: CONCEPTS AND CASES by Manuel Velasquez.
The Kaiser Aluminum plant in Gramercy, Louisiana, opened in 1958. From the beginning, the Kaiser Gramercy plant had relatively few black workers. By 1965, although 39 percent of the local work force was black, Kaiser had hired only 4.7 percent blacks. In 1970, a federal review of Kaiser employment practices at the Gramercy plant found that of 50 professional employees, none were black; of 132 supervisors, only 1 was black; and of 246 skilled craftworkers, none were black. A 1973 federal review found that although Kaiser had allowed several whites with no prior craft experience to transfer into the skilled craft positions, blacks were not transferred unless they possessed at least five years of prior craft experience. Since blacks were largely excluded from the crafts unions, they were rarely able to acquire such experience. As a result, only 2 percent of the skilled craftworkers at Gramercy were black. A third federal review in 1975 found that 2.2 percent of Kaiser Gramercy's 290 craftworkers were black; that of 72 professional employees, only 7 percent were black; and that of 11 draftsmen, none were black. Moreover, although the local labor market in 1975 was still 39 percent black, the Kaiser Gramercy plant's overall work force was only 13.3 percent black. Only the lowest-paying category of jobs-unskilled laborers--included a large proportion (35.5 percent) of blacks, a proportion that was brought about by implementing a 1968 policy of hiring one black unskilled worker for every white unskilled worker. By 1974, Kaiser was being pressured by federal agencies to increase the number of blacks in its better-paying skilled crafts positions. Moreover, the United States Steelworkers Union was simultaneously pressing Kaiser to institute a program for training its own workers in the crafts, instead
The Kaiser Aluminum plant in Gramercy, Louisiana, opened in 1958. From the beginning, the Kaiser Gramercy plant had relatively few black workers. By 1965, although 39 percent of the local work force was black, Kaiser had hired only 4.7 percent blacks. In 1970, a federal review of Kaiser employment practices at the Gramercy plant found that of 50 professional employees, none were black; of 132 supervisors, only 1 was black; and of 246 skilled craftworkers, none were black. A 1973 federal review found that although Kaiser had allowed several whites with no prior craft experience to transfer into the skilled craft positions, blacks were not transferred unless they possessed at least five years of prior craft experience. Since blacks were largely excluded from the crafts unions, they were rarely able to acquire such experience. As a result, only 2 percent of the skilled craftworkers at Gramercy were black. A third federal review in 1975 found that 2.2 percent of Kaiser Gramercy's 290 craftworkers were black; that of 72 professional employees, only 7 percent were black; and that of 11 draftsmen, none were black. Moreover, although the local labor market in 1975 was still 39 percent black, the Kaiser Gramercy plant's overall work force was only 13.3 percent black. Only the lowest-paying category of jobs-unskilled laborers--included a large proportion (35.5 percent) of blacks, a proportion that was brought about by implementing a 1968 policy of hiring one black unskilled worker for every white unskilled worker. By 1974, Kaiser was being pressured by federal agencies to increase the number of blacks in its better-paying skilled crafts positions. Moreover, the United States Steelworkers Union was simultaneously pressing Kaiser to institute a program for training its own workers in the crafts, instead