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EXHIBIT 1
MEMORANDUM

NOVEMBER 27, 1956.

To: Turner White, Jr.

From: J. G. Koopman.

Subject: Discrimination complaint, Julian Strickland.

This is in reference to the discrimination complaint filed with the President's Committee on Government Contracts by Julian Strickland against Combustion Engineering Co., and Electric Energy, Inc.

I will first comment upon EEI's employment procedures, and I am attaching as a separate report Combustion Engineering Co.'s statement regarding their employment policies and their discussion with Mr. Strickland.

In the early part of 1952 a group of Negroes called upon me with reference to securing employment as janitors. At that time, we were not employing janitors and this group was so informed. Further, if they would make an application it would be given equal consideration with other applicants. This seemed to satisfy the group. At that time, our janitorial services were furnished by construction.

During the construction period, our people were approached by both colored and white for employment with our company, and they were referred to Mr. Frank Grammer who gave to each an application for employment. The majority of these applications were never returned. Our application for employment forms were prepared so as to eliminate discrimination as the form does not include any reference to race, creed, or color. We received so many applications for common labor type of work that these applications were kept in our active file for only a period of 30 days. As it was very difficult during this early period to secure skilled help such as electricians, machinists, operators, etc., this type of application was filed under the occupational classification and kept active for a longer period of time so as to be used for future reference. At no time, did we ever receive a verbal application for a skilled classification from a Negro. We advertised for skilled and professional classifications in many newspapers and trade magazines. The text of these advertisements made no reference as to race, creed, or color. A typical ad is attached covering an advertisement for experienced mechanics (exhibit A). As the construction forces were reduced in the Paducah and Metropolis area, we were being flooded with applicants. We closed our gates to walk-in applicants and placed a supply of applicationfor-employment forms in the security office. These forms were handed out to any person requesting one without any discrimination as to color.

These forms were forwarded daily to our employment office and filed according to job classification. Those for unskilled positions were kept only a short period of time in our active file of not more than 60 days and then placed in what we call our inactive file. Whenever we had need for a certain job classification, the application-for-employment forms were reviewed and selection was made from these forms. We then contacted the party selected and granted a personal interview. If, from this interview, the applicant appeared to be favorable, reference checks were mailed and a request for security check was made to the retail credit bureau. None of our selections ever included a Negro. However, there was no discrimination made in this selection as we had no way of knowing as to whether or not the party selected was white, Negro, or otherwise. This policy has been followed without exception and is still in effect.

I have had many applicants call at my home, but at no time, has a Negro ever asked me for employment. Those calling at my home were told to fill out an application for employment form and they would be given consideration along with others. If a Negro had called at my home, he would have been told the same and the initial selection for an interview would have been made from his application for employment. Then again, our employment supervisor would have had no knowledge as to whether or not the applicant was Negro or white.

Now with reference to the discrimination complaint made by Julian Strickland (exhibit B). He wrote to us on July 2, 1951, enclosing a stamped envelope requesting an application for employment. You will note from the photostatic copy of this letter, he made no reference as to his race. An application for employment was mailed to him which he completed on August 20, 1951, and was received in our office on August 21, 1951. In our letter of July 24, 1951, we suggested that Mr. Strickland call at our office for an interview. None of us can recall as to whether or not Mr. Strickland made a personal contact with any of our people as we did not have an employment office established at that time.

On April 22, 1952, Mr. Strickland wrote a letter checking on the status of his application. A reply to this letter was made April 29, 1952, and signed by Mr. E. M. Marselli. At that time, Mr. Marselli reviewed his application and did not know as to whether Mr. Strickland was colored or white. As stated previously Mr. Strickland's application was placed in our inactive file. He again checked on his application May 15, 1955. Following receipt of this letter, our Mr. Grammer checked through our inactive file and found Mr. Strickland's application. It was then placed in the active file and he was so informed. Again stating, Mr. Grammer had no knowledge as to Mr. Strickland's race, creed, or color. On November 10, 1955, we received an undated letter from Mr. Strickland complaining about the fact that he was not given a job with our company, and requesting information as to what chance he had of securing employment.

This letter of Mr. Strickland's was our first indication that he was a Negro. I personally reviewed Mr. Strickland's application and found that he gave color of eyes grey, color of hair: sandy; and as we have no restricted residential district in Metropolis, certainly our people would have considered Mr. Strickland's color as being white. Following receipt of Mr. Strickland's letter, I wrote to him on November 17, 1955, explaining this to him, and suggested that he complete another application for employment form. This request was made due to the fact we had revised our application forms to include any police record which is in keeping with our security checks. On the revised form, Mr. Strickland indicated a police record that, by our employment standards, automatically eliminated him as a suitable applicant as it has not been our practice to employ any of our permanent personnel with a police record such as he indicated on his revised application report.

From Mr. Strickland's letter dated July 8, 1956, to Mr. Joseph Houchin of the Government Contractors Compliance Committee, Washington, D.C., a copy of which was furnished me by Mr. Stiller of AEC, we learned that several other Negroes had their applications with us. This we did not know as, again repeating from our application forms, we have no way of knowing as to their race, creed, or color. However, we checked through our files and could find only one of the applications mentioned by Mr. Strickland in this letter. This application was dated January 23, 1955, and mailed to us and received January 25, 1955, and by Ethelbert Hester of Joppa, Ill. Again, from this application, our employment people had no knowledge as to his race, creed, or color, as the color of eyes was given as brown and color of hair was given as black. A copy of this application is attached (exhibit C).

As you know, we have been employing but a very small number of permanent people the last 2 years, and our labor turnover is approximately 1 percent. As we have hundreds of applications in our files for unskilled positions, our people scrutinize the applications very closely and secure for interviews those which they believe to be best qualified. It may seem strange that no Negroes have been selected, but this is only coincidental as I assure you when writing for interviews, our people have no knowledge as to whether the applicant is white or colored. Again, in our recent search for temporary skilled mechanics and electricians, for which advertisements were placed in local and southern Illinois papers and also in the Paducah Sun-Democrat, not one applicant to our knowledge was a Negro, as we requested a personal interview from all replies indicating that they had experience in the skills which we required.

In Mr. Strickland's letter to Mr. Houchin, he states, "I feel safe in saying that there are around 800 or 1,000 Negroes that are of working age, and are qualified to hold jobs on powerplant operations." I sincerely question this statement as there are very few Negro families in Massac County, and I have been informed that none of these are skilled. Further, we have certain counties in Illinois wherein no Negroes reside. We have attempted to hold our manpower requirements to the very minimum as evidenced in comparing our manpower per megawatt with that of other similar sized power stations in this vicinity.

In order to do this, we have established high qualifications for our employees, and they have been selected upon that basis, and if any Negroes had met these qualifications, they would have been given equal consideration. If we were to employ a Negro upon any other basis except qualification just to prevent criticism, then we would certainly be discriminating against those with higher qualifications.

J. G. KOOPMAN.

EXHIBIT 2

U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION,
Paducah, Ky., November 20, 1956.

Subject: Discrimination complaint-Julian Strickland.

ELECTRIC ENERGY, INC.,
JOPPA, ILL.

(Attention: Mr. Turner White, President).

GENTLEMEN: Enclosed is a copy of a discrimination complaint filed with the President's Committee on Government Contracts by Julian Strickland against your company.

This complaint has been referred to the Atomic Energy Commission for the purpose of making an investigatory report of the matter. In order that such a report may be supplied, it is requested that you provide us with a written explanation of the many facets of Mr. Strickland's allegations, including the following:

1. That EEI and Combustion Engineering Co. have discriminatory employment policies;

2. That EEI has refused to employ Negroes and that there are no members of that race among the employees of the company;

3. That the superintendent of Combustion Engineering Co. has informed Mr. Strickland that the company does not want to work Negroes.

We trust you recognize that the nondiscrimination provision contained in your contract with this Commission is an integral part of that contract. Your explanation of the allegations will be subject to review by the highest levels of the AEC and the Federal Government.

We shall appreciate receiving your explanation of the allegations, as well as any pertinent comments which you may care to provide concerning the employment policies and procedures of the EEI and the Combustion Engineering Co.

Very truly yours,

K. C. BROOKS, Manager, Paducah Area.

EXHIBIT 3

(Received by the President's Committee on Government Contracts, July 11, 1956.)

Mr. JOSEPH HOUCHIN,

METROPOLIS, ILL., July 8, 1956.

Government Contracts Compliance Committee, Washington, D.C.

I suppose I'm nailing the lid on my coffin, as the old saying goes, by appealing to your Committee. They have a way of frowning on one around here, if he should speak out against discrimination on employment.

As the situation now exists, we are losing most of the colored people due to economic distress-no work.

There is a powerplant here, built by two or more public utilities, to furnish power to the Atomic Energy Plant at Kevil, Ky. It is Electric Energy, Inc. I say that they could help relieve this distress. Out of thousands of applications filed with them, there are around 300 employed now by them, and within that number, not a single Negro has been hired. This, in my opinion, is no mere coincidence.

Across the Ohio River, the TVA operates a similar plant, and there are a number of colored working as janitors, laborers, coal handlers, etc. The Atomic Energy plant itself has quite a few employed.

Out of this southern Illinois area, in the vicinity of this plant, I feel safe in saying that there are around 800 or 1,000 Negroes that are of working age, and are qualified to hold jobs on powerplant operations.

We have lost most of our people on account of the economic situation here. Many Negroes have had to disrupt their homes, placed hardships on their families, by having to leave here to find work.

I can name a few that in my opinion, well for that matter any body could judge, are qualified to hold such jobs as janitors, laborers-well, just menial work.

They are as follows:

(1) Louis C. Quonn, a former school principal, Metropolis, Ill.

(2) Harlan Caldwell, former school teacher, Joppa, Ill.

(3) Ethelbert Hester, Joppa, Ill., a laborer who worked on the construction of this plant for 3 years.

(4) Melbert Renfro, Metropolis, Ill., now employed as school teacher, future job is uncertain.

(5) Richard Clark, Metropolis, Ill., a veteran of World War II, worked on construction of this plant.

(6) Cecil Cofield, Carrier's Mills, Ill., veteran Korean war. Done construction work on the building of the plant also.

It is difficult to contact every one that did file applications with EEI due to the fact they had to leave here. The above schoolteachers I named lost their jobs due to the combining of the Negro schools with the white, therefore they placed applications with EEI for future security.

Some, I've been informed were told that they had to have a high school education to be considered. That excuse won't hold water. I know of two white men that are janitors there now. They are above the age limit, and they couldn't have over a 6th or 7th grade education.

Now, not only does EEI lack in this respect on hiring Negroes, but a concern doing repair work on the plant boilers for them, practice the same act. It is Combustion Engineering of New York city. Their superintendent, Mr. Wyman Lowery, just as good as told me that they didn't want to work Negroes, and he didn't have anything for them to do. He then made the excuse that the men he had working for him on the job had worked for him before. I know that is untrue, because I know the man that asked him to put on the men he wanted put on.

I filed an application with Electric Energy in 1951. After failing to get any consideration, I wrote to the personnel manager. He informed me that my name was still on file, and when ever they could use a man of my qualifications, I would be given all due consideration. Later I wrote another letter to a Mr. Koopman, vice president of EEI. He states that they selected over the applications and had drawn all the applicants that were qualified from the file and discarded it, and he states he didn't know I was a Negro, until I stated so, and that by reason I didn't have janitor work as my first choice, I wasn't considered. I am sending you the copy of the letter. Yon can see as well as me that it is just flimsy way of trying evade the fact. They don't want any Negro employees. Perhaps I have got any evidence to support my claim. I am not claiming I have, but I, as well as the other colored people here are aware of the fact, they haven't made any effort to work none of us on this job, and as long as they can get out of it they won't. If they can work them in Kentucky on the Government jobs, they can here on the powerplant.

We do hope that some of us can obtain employment with them. Three or four will save that many from having to leave home.

Please understand Mr. Houchin, I am not seeking self gain. Its immaterial to me whether I'm considered or not if for my people to prevent hardship on their families, to get them off the public relief rolls, and to keep some of our population here at home.

Yours very respectfully,

JULIAN STRICKLAND.

EXHIBIT 4

ELECTRIC ENERGY, INC.,
December 4, 1956.

Subject: Discrimination complaint-Julian Strickland.
Mr. K. C. BROOKS.

Manager, Paducah Area, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission,
Paducah, Ky.

DEAR MR. BROOKS: I have your letter of November 20 with the enclosed letter from Julian Strickland to Mr. Joseph Houchin, of the Government Contracts Compliance Committee, in which Mr. Strickland sets out his claim. In this

letter, I will attempt to supply information in the order in which it is requested. (1) The EEI does not have discriminatory employment policies. Our application forms have no blanks on which the race of the applicant can be shown. In advertising for skilled and professional classifications in newspapers and trade magazines, we have made no reference to race, creed, or color. A typical ad order is attached, marked "Exhibit A."

Combustion Engineering Co. informs us that they do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race. They display in their Field Employment Office a poster "Equal economic opportunity published by the President's Committee on Government Contracts." They recognize labor unions as agents for the respective crafts, and usually call on them for the men desired. See exhibit B.

They

(2) We employ no Negroes at this time, but we have not refused to employ them. A group of Negroes called on us in 1952 seeking employment as janitors. At that time we were not employing janitors, and they were so informed. were also told that if they would make application later their applications would be given due consideration. During the construction period, all applicants, both colored and white, were referred to Mr. Frank Grammer, who gave to each of them an application for employment. The forms were filed in our employment office according to job classifications without any discrimination. Those for unskilled positions were kept only for a short period of time in our active file, and in not more than 60 days were placed in an inactive file. Whenever we had need for an employee of a certain job classification, the application forms were reviewed, selections were made from them, and the party selected was granted a personal interview. When these selections were made, we had no way of knowing whether the party selected was white or a Negro.

Mr. Strickland wrote us July 2, 1951, requesting an application. He made no reference to his race. He received an application. We have no record of his having called, but we had no employment office established at that time. When he applied again in May 1955, his application was placed in the active file. On November 10, 1955, we received an undated letter from Mr. Strickland, complaining that he was not given a job. His application gave color of eyes gray, color of hair sandy. After receipt of this letter, we wrote him and suggested that he complete another application, because our forms had been revised. The new forms had a blank for arrests or police record. On the revised form his aswers showed a police record, which would automatically eliminate him as a desirable applicant under our employment practices. A copy of this application is attached. We have a very small employment turnover. Our labor turnover is approximately 1 percent. See exhibit C.

(3) Combustion Engineering, Inc., informs us that Strickland inquired at the home of Mr. Wayman Lowry if Combustion Engineering Co. had any colored employees working, or if they had any policy against hiring them. The reply was that they did not have any colored employees on the job at that time, but had no policy against hiring them. Mr. Lowry further informed him that they had called for necessary employees through union representatives. See exhibit B.

We think it improbable that the large number of Negroes qualified to hold jobs on powerplant operations could be found in Massac County, as stated by Mr. Strickland. The number of Negro families in Messac County is small and our information is that there are no skilled laborers among them. We do find the application of Ethelburt Hester, of Joppa. See exhibit D. Our employment people had no knowledge as to the race of this applicant.

Our requirements are largely for skilled labor. In our experience, construction employees are frequently unsatisfactory in that they are not accustomed to permanent employment in one locality. Our selections have been made on the basis of what appears to us to be qualifications for the job, without considering race, creed, or color.

Yours very truly,

TURNER WHITE, Jr., President.

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