Point/CounterpointDebate newsworthy and other 'hot-button' topics here. If it can be debated, this is the forum for it. Can't be thin skinned - people will disagree with you. No flaming or personal attacks.
I got this off a site where the attempt to portray this temporary easing of requirements as racist was amazing. Katrina devastated as area as big as the UK and then Rita came in and devastated even more. It will take all kinds of participation by companies to rebuild. This was the headline that was substituted for the original headline on that site: "Katrina: A criminal catastrophe. Bush OKs racial, other discrimination in rebuilding of shattered Gulf Coast." The spin is amazing.
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Affirmative action eased
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3-month policy for reconstruction may cut paperwork
The Labor Department has temporarily suspended government requirements that its contractors have an affirmative action plan addressing the employment of women, minorities, Vietnam veterans and the disabled if the companies are first-time government contractors working on reconstruction in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
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While employment lawyers said it was not clear how strong an impact the exemption will have, the move comes as President Bush has attempted to address the perception of unfairness in the government's response to the hurricane.
Under the rules that normally apply to companies hired by the government, firms with more than 50 employees working on contracts for more than $50,000 must develop an affirmative action plan. But according to a memorandum on the Labor Department's Web site, the goal of the exemption in the case of recovery work associated with Hurricane Katrina is to reduce the burden of paperwork on government contractors and so encourage more companies to jump into assisting with rebuilding from the damage caused by the hurricane.
The exemption is to last for three months, unless it is extended.
"It does not waive affirmative action requirements, it does not waive job posting requirements, it does not waive their obligation not to engage in discrimination," said Charles E. James, deputy assistant secretary at the Labor Department. "It's very, very limited."
The Labor Department affirmative action memorandum, which James signed, specifically states that laws against discrimination continue to apply to federal contractors, as do requirements that employers keep records and post notices stating that "equal opportunity is the law." The memorandum only affects the requirement that employers develop a written program, James said.
The memorandum, which has received little attention in the media frenzy over the aftermath of the storm and hearings on the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court, was posted on a Labor Department Web site on Sept. 9. Protests against it began circulating online late last week.
"It is not simply a paperwork exercise," said Shirley J. Wilcher, deputy assistant secretary for federal contract compliance in the Clinton administration who is interim executive director of the American Association for Affirmative Action. "It is the basis for companies to be mindful of their obligation not to discriminate."
In a statement released Thursday, Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and general counselor of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, strongly criticized the Labor Department's move as well.
"Instead of addressing the barriers and inequities that minority and underrepresented communities face, this decision could exacerbate those barriers and could limit access to the employment opportunities that are being given in the very communities in which these underrepresented people live," he said.
Point/Counterpoint
09-26-2005, 18:17
Affirmative action eased in devastation area 
