LDF Files Class Action Suits on Behalf of Black Construction Workers

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IL. ia FE PRESS RELEASE Direc Conwecd 

egal efense und Jack Greenberg 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. aoe DeVere Je. 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 

December 10, 1969 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, The Newark Essex Joint Law Re- 

form Institute and The Community Legal Action Workshop have today 

filed complaints on behalf of four black construction workers in 

the Federal District Court against the State of New Jersey, three 

construction unions and three contractors, two of whom have bid 

to work on the New Jersey College of Medicine site in Newark, and 

the Federal Government. 

The unions involved are: Local 24 of the Plumbers and Pipe 

Fitters, Local 52 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 

and Local 11, International Brotherhood of Iron Workers. The 

contractors are: A. J. Sarubbi-Luciani Construction Co., Fluoro 

Electrical Corporation and Bernard H. Steinke, Inc. 

Two of the complaints, against Local 52, Local 24 and Fluoro 

Electrical and Bernard H. Steinke, arise out of the controversy 

over the refusal of the contractors to hire qualified minority 

group members to work on the construction of the New Jersey College 

of Medicine in Newark. The complaints challenge oth the discri- 

minatory practices of the contractors and the unions and the use 

of stdte funds to finance their racially discriminatory employment 

practices. 

The third complaint deals with the construction of the New 

Post Office facility in Kearney and the refusal of Local 11 of 

the Iron Workers to issue a permit to the plaintiff so he could 

be employed by the A. J. Sarubbi-Luciani Construction Co. as an 

iron worker. The complaint argues that his rights under the 5th 

Amendment to the Constitution of the United States had been vio- 

lated by the use of federal funds to finance the racially discri- 

minatory employment policies of the contractor and the union. 

All the plaintiffs in these class action suits are black and 

experienced construction workers who have been trying to gain 

admission to their respective trade unions for a number of years. 

In their prayer for relief each plaintiff is asking for him- 

self and the class he represents: 

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 afore- 

said policy and practice of racial discri- 

mination; 

3) Enjoin the unions mentioned in the complaint 

from continuing or maintaining the policy 

practice, custom and usage referred to in 

the complaint, of discriminating against 

the plaintiffs and the class they represent; 

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4) 

5) 

6) 

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Enjoin the above unions to open their member- 

ship to and refer for employment all qualified 

black journeymen and apprentices seeking work; 

Grant plaintiffs an award of money representing 

the difference between what they actually 
made in other employment and what they would 

have made if they had been properly referred 

by defendant unions for employment from 
May 12, 1969 to the time relief is granted in 
this case; 

Allow plaintiffs their court costs,reasonable 
attorneys' fees and grant such further addi- 

tional or alternative relief as may appear to 

this court as fair and just. 

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