Construction Worker Discrimination Suit Against New Jersey Unions and Contractors

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President F 
Hon.. y FE PRESS RELEASE Director-Cou egal efense und Jack G. ~ 

Director, Pub. NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 « JUdson 6-8397 

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LDF SUES LABOR UNIONS December 12, 1969 AND BLDG. CONTRACTORS § FOR IMMEDIATE RELE 
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY~---Attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund have filed suits in Federal Court in Newark on behalf of four Negro construction workers, against three construction unions and 
three building contractors. 

The suits arise out of the refusal of the unions and the con- tractors to hire experienced Negroes for jobs on the construction of the New Jersey College of Medicine in Newark. This large medical complex will be financed completely by Federal funds and will be located in the heart of the Negro Ghetto of Newark. It was the issue of Negro employment on this project that caused the devastating riots of July 1967. 

The suits seek the following remedies: 

1) a declaratory judgment that the action 
of the defendant officers of the State 
and Federal Government, violated the 
rights of the plaintiffs and the class 
they represent; 

2) A permanent injunction against the 
awarding of any further contracts to 
the contractors involved until the 
employment practices complained of 
in the complaint are so revised as 
to entirely eliminate the aforesaid 
policy and practice of racial discri- 
mination; 

3) Enjoin the unions mentioned in the 
complaint from continuing or main- 
taining the policy practice, custom 
and usage referred to in the com- 
plaint, of discriminating against 
the plaintiffs and the class they 
represent; 

4) Enjoin the above unions to open their 
membership to and refer for employ- 
ment all qualified black journeymen 
and apprentices seeking work; 

5) Grant plaintiffs an award of money 
representing the difference between 
what they actually made in other 
employment and what they would have 
mace if they had been properly re- 
ferred by defendant unions for 
employment from May 12, 1969 to the 
time relief is granted in this case; 

6) Allow plaintiffs their court costs, 
reasonable attorneys' fees and grant 
such further additional or alternative 
relief as may appear to this court as 
fair and just. 

LDF attorney Lowell Johnston will handle the details of the 
@ase and conduct the argument. 
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