Are Quotas Here to Stay?

COMPETITION FOR jobs On the basis of ability is being eliminated, and racial quotas increasingly becoming the norm throughout the employment sector. This sweeping change is being brought about by Executive Orders No. 4 and 11246. The orders were signed by President Johnson to eliminate discrimination in hiring, but were revised by the Department of Labor, and now force institutions to give preferential treatment to minorities in hiring and promotion practices and require that goals and timetables be filed annually by each affected employer. The orders cover public schools, universities, civil services (policemen, firemen, postal workers, etc.), the armed forces, construction and trade industries, unions, private corporations and businesses employing more than 25 people, and all organizations that have contracts with government or are regulated by governmental agencies—in all, about 95 per cent of the employment market.

According to the 1970 report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Federal Government is the largest employer in the country, and another third of the nation’s labor force is employed by companies that are government contractors. These two powers alone—the power to employ directly, and the power to force federal contractors to abide by the rules of the government— affect more than 75 per cent of the job force. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers almost all other employers; it asserts that no person may be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, or national origin. The meaning of nondiscrimination, however, has been transformed into affirmative action compliance and reverse discrimination.

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Allan C. Ornstein

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COMPETITION FOR jobs On the basis of ability is being eliminated, and racial quotas increasingly becoming the norm throughout the employment sector. This sweeping change is being brought about by Executive Orders No. 4 and 11246. The orders were signed by President Johnson to eliminate discrimination in hiring, but were revised by the Department of Labor, and now force institutions to give preferential treatment to minorities in hiring and promotion practices and require that goals and timetables be filed annually by each affected employer. The orders cover public schools, universities, civil services (policemen, firemen, postal workers, etc.), the armed forces, construction and trade industries, unions, private corporations and businesses employing more than 25 people, and all organizations that have contracts with government or are regulated by governmental agencies—in all, about 95 per cent of the employment market.

According to the 1970 report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Federal Government is the largest employer in the country, and another third of the nation’s labor force is employed by companies that are government contractors. These two powers alone—the power to employ directly, and the power to force federal contractors to abide by the rules of the government— affect more than 75 per cent of the job force. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers almost all other employers; it asserts that no person may be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, or national origin. The meaning of nondiscrimination, however, has been transformed into affirmative action compliance and reverse discrimination.