Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District officials fired back at groups accusing it of delaying workforce diversity goals, releasing numbers that MSD leaders say demonstrate the sewer district’s commitment to the voluntary goals while showing near attainment.
But the district doesn’t look much closer to attaining the trust of groups that spent the last several months accusing it of dragging its feet on minority hiring.
Those complaints culminated in , where clergy from predominantly black churches and groups such as the NAACP presented their grievances to MSD board members.
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The sewer district responded with a report Monday saying it has obtained 26 percent of its contractor work hours from minority labor and almost 4 percent from female labor during the fiscal year that ended in July. Both were below : 30 percent of construction labor hours from minorities and 7 percent from women.
Still, MSD Executive Director Brian Hoelscher argued the data show the diversity program has “been successful for many years and continues to become more successful.†He said in an interview that he doesn’t see a need for any big changes to MSD policies to meet the goals because there’s already momentum in the right direction.
“We see no reason to not get there,†Hoelscher said. “It’s the whole industry that’s coming forward.â€
MSD set the goals following a workforce disparity study in 2013, just as one of the largest public infrastructure projects in the region’s history got underway: a $4.7 billion overhaul of the region’s sewers mandated by an Environmental Protection Agency consent decree.
The NAACP and other groups, however, balked this summer at what they said was slow progress on diversifying MSD contractors’ work crews. Their complaints included an MSD practice, since discontinued, of allowing some contractors to retain existing, less diverse crews for safety reasons.
MSD says it now requires contractors to show good faith efforts to hire a diverse workforce, including looking for qualified workers from training programs the district retained to help meet its goals.
Yaphett El Amin, the executive director of minority construction contractor and labor advocate , said MSD never would have changed the policy this summer if groups such as hers hadn’t pressured the district. Her group was among the signatories of a Community Benefits Agreement meant to help MSD meet its diversity goals.
“Why two years later from signing the CBA are we still short?†El Amin said of the total diversity goals. “How long are we supposed to sit idly by?â€
El Amin said she was encouraged MSD board members were interested in another meeting to look further at the issue, but she was “concerned†about Hoelscher’s “tone and tenor†during the presentation.
Hoelscher’s remarks suggested there is indeed still tension between the two groups. He said MSD meetings with signatories of the Community Benefits Agreement “have become dysfunctional,†and that “broad†inquiries to MSD staff about issues separate from diversity goals “has done nothing but waste ratepayer resources, including women and minority ratepayers.â€
“MSD staff is under the very strong impression that the actions taken by many of the CBA signatories over the past year are in violation of the CBA and are being driven by an agenda that is not focused on a successful execution of MSD’s diversity program,†Hoelscher said.
MSD Board Chairman Michael Yates said the board would hold a special meeting “as soon as possible†to determine the next steps. He said he still had to review the information from staff, which he had just received Monday.
