Northeast Times
White firemen are hot and bothered
By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
The Concerned American
Fire Fighters Association’s Philadelphia chapter thinks its
diligence might have finally paid off.
CAFFA is a vocal opponent
of the Philadelphia Fire Department’s hiring policies.
Specifically, group members say they are angry that the department has
regularly exceeded a longtime federal court decree in an apparent
attempt to increase the number of black firefighters.
Class 179, which started
on Jan. 3, represents a reversal of recent department hiring practices.
The class originally consisted of 74 recruits, including two being
trained for the Upper Darby Fire Department.
Of the 72 Philadelphians
in that class, 55 were white and 10 were black. The rest were Hispanics
who generally scored low on entrance tests but were hired because they
are bilingual.
CAFFA is pleased that the
city finally came close to adhering to the consent decree, which
requires that at least 12 percent of fire department classes consist of
black recruits.
The organization says it
is accustomed to watching department executives flagrantly ignore the
12-percent figure by increasing the number of black candidates for jobs
in the fire department.
"Now, all of a sudden,
they stop. Maybe their conscience got to them," said Lt. Mike Bresnan,
a Torresdale resident and president of the local chapter.
Bresnan’s group
will keep the pressure on city officials to stick to the 12-percent
decree, as long as it’s in effect.
"Hopefully, they learned
their lesson," he said.
The controversy dates to
January 1974, when Club Valiants — an organization of black
Philadelphia firefighters — filed a class-action complaint
against Mayor Frank L. Rizzo, Fire Commissioner Joe Rizzo, Managing
Director Hillel Levinson and others.
The organization alleged
discrimination against minorities in hiring and promotions.
The court ultimately
ordered the city to increase promotions of blacks by, among other
things, adding points to their test scores. Among the beneficiaries was
a would-be captain named Harold Hairston, who would later become the
city fire commissioner.
CAFFA, though, is largely
focused on hiring practices.
According to October 1973
figures, only 8 percent of firemen were black, even though blacks
represented one-third of Philadelphia’s population.
The fire department then,
as it does now, hired from an eligibility list composed of candidates
who pass a written, multiple-choice examination. Veterans are given 10
additional points.
U.S. District Judge Louis
C. Bechtle, who established the 12-percent figure, ultimately ruled
that the fire department did not intentionally discriminate, but he
found that blacks did not pass the entrance test at the same rate as
whites.
The city has developed
several remedies, including changing its exam to make it easier to pass
and aggressively recruiting black candidates.
However, the biggest
change has occurred since at least 1997, the first year that CAFFA has
hiring documentation. The city, the group argues, simply skips white
candidates to hire black and Hispanic recruits with lower scores.
The organization points
to classes 175-178, which were hired from June 2002 to October 2003.
According to documents
obtained by CAFFA, 41 individuals — all veterans —
were hired in Class 175. The score rankings for the white hires ranged
from 4 to 38.5. The black hires were ranked generally lower, from 33 to
108. The figures were similar for classes 176, 177 and 178.
Criticism of the policy
is not new.
After the Valiants filed
their original complaint more than 30 years ago, City Solicitor Sheldon
Albert argued that it would be unfair to impose a quota by ignoring the
rank on the eligibility list.
Bechtle dismissed that
view in a July 1974 opinion.
"Well, the
court’s comment on that is simply this: No person has a
vested interest in an unlawful hiring list, and if a person appears on
a list that has been prepared in violation of law, his right to remain
on that list in a certain rank must give way to the lawful requirements
to avoid discriminatory hiring."
Bechtle suggested that
any employee with a complaint should petition the city.
Today, CAFFA says, times
have changed. While the Rizzo administration was no fan of the court
action, the Street administration doesn’t seem to want to
change the hiring policy.
Calls to Mayor John
Street and Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers — a former president
of Club Valiants — were not returned. Lt. Claude Smith,
president of the Valiants, offered no comment.
CAFFA has written to
several members of City Council, with little success.
"It’s a
political hot potato," said Joe Montague, a Bustleton resident and vice
president of the group.
CAFFA has also brought
its complaints to Local 22, the union representing Philadelphia
firefighters.
The organization, though,
understands that the union cannot afford to alienate its 900 black
members. In addition, the union does not begin representing individuals
who have passed the entrance test until they are hired.
Local 22 president Tom
O’Drain, who lives in Tacony, said anger over the enduring
federal consent decree is festering among some firefighters and causing
a bit of a divide in the department.
O’Drain would
like to sit down with the city, CAFFA and the Valiants to address the
consent decree.
"I think CAFFA has the
right to disagree with the city’s hiring practices," he said,
adding that he takes no position.
The local CAFFA chapter
formed in February 2004 — Chicago firefighters established
the first one in 1993 — and has about 400 members of all
ranks. The group is also open to non-firefighters who support its cause.
CAFFA also welcomes
minorities. In fact, the treasurer, Torresdale resident Kelvin Fong, is
an Asian-American. There are also black and Hispanic members.
"It’s about
equal opportunity for all," Fong said.
In past years, many
firefighters were hesitant to speak out about the decree. That seems to
be changing.
"There are a lot of
disgruntled people," said retired Chief John Hunter, who lives in
Somerton.
CAFFA has a Web site
— www.caffaphilly.com — and also works with
Adversity.Net, a Maryland-based non-profit company founded in 1997 to
promote fair and equal treatment under the law without regard to race.
Tim Fay, chairman and
founder of the company, has posted on his Web site statistics and a
study showing that the city and the fire department are hiring black
recruits who score well below whites on the entrance test.
"They’ve
continued to exceed the minority hiring goal," he said.
The city policy also has
an unintended consequence, according to Bresnan, the local CAFFA
president.
Black firefighters are
stigmatized by some of their white colleagues. It’s not fair,
Bresnan said, to those firefighters who scored high enough to be hired
without the decree or the extra boost from the city.
"There are blacks that
get hired legitimately," he said.
CAFFA does not like the
12-percent decree, but it really despises the practice of hiring
recruits whose scores fall below that cutoff. The organization, noting
that Bechtle is retired, wants a new judge assigned to the case in
hopes that the decree will be lifted. There are dozens of white people
who have passed the test but not been hired because the city ignores
the decree, CAFFA argues.
"They take the test, and
have no idea they’re being passed over," Bresnan said.
•
Reporter Tom Waring can
be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com
