LDF Charges Collusion Between Bethlehem Steel and AFL-CIO in Discrimination Case
Press Release
May 27, 1971

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Press Releases, Volume 6. LDF Charges Collusion Between Bethlehem Steel and AFL-CIO in Discrimination Case, 1971. 0929c488-ba92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/4f4062eb-e0af-4286-9045-2a24eaea19bd/ldf-charges-collusion-between-bethlehem-steel-and-afl-cio-in-discrimination-case. Accessed June 13, 2025.
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F-rassRelease ® ie am May 27, 1971 For Immediate Release LDF CHARGES COLLUSION BETWEEN BETHLEHEM STEEL AND AFL-CIO IN DISCRIMINATION CASE Baltimore, Md. --- In a class action suit brought on behalf of black employees of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Baltimore operation, attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) have charged collaboration between Bethlehem Steel and AFL-CIO Steelworkers unions in efforts to keep blacks confined to lower job classifications and poorer paying jobs. The complaint, filed yesterday (5/26) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, names as defendants the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, United Steelworkers of America, its locals 2609 and 2610, as well as the AFL-CIO. It charges violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the National Labor Relations Act, and lists more than 30 practices in use at Bethlehem Steel which discriminate against black employees. They include: * maintenance of racially segregated departments and units where blacks are restricted to lower paying and less desirable jobs, discriminatory denial to black employees of jobs, promotions or transfers to higher level and more desirable jobs, including clerical and supervisory positions, outright refusal to permit blacks to transfer to certain units, use of tests which are: not professionally developed; culturally biased; lack correlation between test performance and job performance; generally required only for transfer or promotion out of minority job classes or departments, continued -- ACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. | 10 Columbus Circle | New York, N.Y. 10019 | (212) 586-8397 . Coleman, Jr. - President Jack Greenberg - Director-Counsel, BETHLEHEM STEEL SUIT PAGE TWO * refusal to allow blacks to take tests for promotion unless recommended by a supervisor, * refusal to give black employees on-the-job training for the tests which whites normally receive, as well as refusal to inform blacks of transfer rights and advancement opportunities, * use of a departmental system of seniority, which penalizes long-tenured blacks who receive transfers into whiter departments, * transfer of whites from white units to supervisory levels in black units, even when blacks within the units have more seniority, * discrimination in the application of health and safety standards, * discrimination againstblack employees in the dispensing of vacation pay, retirement, sick and supplemental unemployment benefits, * harassment of blacks who speak out against racial discrimination. The LDF suit also charges that the AFL-CIO, its union and locals have failed to protect their black members from Bethlehem Steel's discriminatory policies and practices and have refused to negotiate their elimination. The complaint describes the actions of all defendants as wilful, intentional and malicious. Working on the case are three LDF cooperating attorneys, Kenneth L. Johnson, Gerald Smith, and Charles Josey, all of Baltimore, and Jack Greenberg and William Robinson of the LDF's New York headquarters. =30- For further information contact: Attorney William Robinson or Sandy O'Gorman (Public Information) 212-586-8397 NOTE: Please bear in mind that the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is a completely separate and distinct organization, even though we were established by the NAACP and retain those initials in our name. Our correct designation is NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., frequently shortened to LDF.