Unions in Philly Racist?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Amazingly, the city council in Philadelphia is proposing that the new $700 million dollar Convention Center expansion be open to bids from nonunion contractors in an effort to include more workers “of color” in the project. City hall is claiming that the 42 local unions in Philly have refused to disclose the racial makeup of their membership. They also claim that these 42 locals are predominantly populated by white members.

Accusing trade unions of standing in the way of minority hiring objectives, City Council yesterday declared the $700 million Convention Center expansion open to nonunion contractors and workers – an unprecedented gesture in a city dominated by organized labor.

Citing the construction industry’s repeated failures to meet minority hiring goals on public projects and the unions’ refusal to disclose the racial makeup of their memberships, Council voted to amend the Convention Center’s operating agreement to allow nonunion workers, to help increase minority participation.

The Philly Inquirer quotes Bruce Crowley’s amazement that the city is going against the unions like this.

“Wow,” said public relations executive A. Bruce Crawley, one of the city’s leading critics of the union’s efforts at hiring minorities. “Wow.”

“This is very encouraging for African American contractors who would simply like not to be excluded from the work,” he said.

Of course, we have one bad thing (that unions are infesting city contracts) to another bad thing (racial quotes), so Philly is in no way getting any of this right. Why can’t we just have the best bids getting the work no matter if they are union thugs or race card throwers??

Still, it is pretty amusing that the leftist ideal of race baiting is trumping the leftist ideal of union thuggery, here.

Talk about eating your own!


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