Union leaders in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

Before James P. Hoffa attacks the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, he should clean up his own house. Since 2000, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has received nearly 14,000 complaints against labor unions for discrimination.

Labor history is filled with union-sponsored racism. In 1934, the AFL (now the AFL-CIO) supported the Davis-Bacon Act because, in the words of its president, “colored labor is being sought to demoralize wage rates.” Today, unions still support the act which according to the president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce “encourages the construction trades to continue its activity of discrimination against African-American labor.”

Institutionalized racism was immoral in 1934. It is immoral today. Voting yes on the MCRI is one step toward enforcing equal treatment under the law.

[Letter to the Editor - The Detroit News. Published 09/15/2006.]