1. In June 2011, Illinois Department of Transportation awarded three (3) contracts for construction work on the Mississip River Bridge Project that runs through East St. Louis totalling over $141 million.
2. IDOT has made no special provision for hiring black and minority workers for this construction work-as MODOT did on the Missouri I-64 project just completed-despite IDOT acknowledging that blacks have been excluded from construction work in the Metro area because of discrimination.
3. IDOT has not tried to remedy this discriminatory exclusion, claiming that whites receiving 85.3% of the construction jobs is the law it is required to follow.
4. Despite blacks being systematically shut out of the construction unions, IDOT signed a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the unions for the MRB project, guaranteeing that 100% of the construction jobas would be union, while not getting any guarantees from the unions that they will hire blacks.
5. In June 2005, IDOT, after being threatened with the shutdown of I-64 by MEBCO, signed a memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with MEBCO and the U.S. Justice Department that, among other things, called for IDOT to establish a 5-year pre-apprentice construction training program in East St. Louis, and to increase the number of black contractors working on IDOT projects (IDOT Signs $2M HCPTP Agreement with SIUE, SWIC, and MEBCO, 09/12/2008, scroll down until you see the article, see picture of MOU on the right column of this blog).
6. IDOT has terminated the pre-apprentice construction training program after only 3 years in operation and at the point where the MRB project is getting fully underway, thus, violating the MOU
and ending the initiative to get blacks into the construction unions' apprentice programs.
7. IDOT has refused to meet with the U.S. Justice Department to review the status of IDOT failing to fulfill its commitments and obligations under the 2005 MOU.
8. IDOT has failed to create separate goals for minorities and women on its projects to prevent the pattern of white women receiving almost all the work meant for blacks and minorities, and has failed to use any other means to remedy blacks being excluded because of white women contractors-often front companies-being utilized instead.
9. According to the Director of IDOT District 8 (which encompasses the Metro area), IDOT will award $500 million in construction work in District 8 for the 2011 construction season-with no assurance that blacks in East St. Louis and the surrounding areas will be included in this work.
10. There are over 170 graduates of the construction program established by MEBCO and IDT under the MOU, who are all trained-having obtained multiple certificates for various construction work-and who are prepared and eager to work to feed their families and contribute to the community.
11. IDOT has made no attempt to ensure that these 170 graduates are employed on IDOT projects because of the resistance and pressure from the unions and IDOT caving in to their discrimination.
12. Attitude of Protest:
If We Can't Work, You Can't Work"
Let IDOT and the Racist white-controlled unions get this message loud and clear:
If We Can't Work, You Can't Work"
Dr. William E. Mason, MEBCO President
Phone: (618) 271-1974, Fax: (618) 271-0746.
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