Transit employees will continue fight

Three Chapel Hill Transit workers are preparing to take the next steps in their racial discrimination claims against the town of Chapel Hill.

Mechanics Clint Thorpe, Tim Brown and Lee Harris are set to meet with lawyer Al McSurely today to discuss changes made within their department since Town Manager Cal Horton presented his recommendations for improving the workplace environment.

“They’re gonna give me an update on how things are at the bus shop,” McSurely said, adding that he wants to obtain a status report on racism at the shop and see if the allegations of incompetence or negligence are being addressed.

The meeting comes in the wake of the mechanics’ completion of the fourth step of a six-step grievance process. The fourth step, a grievance hearing in February, ended with a personnel appeals committee assembled by the town concluding that problems within the department, though they needed to be addressed, were not racially motivated.

Horton also recommended that the department undergo external review, offer more training opportunities and address how job duties are assigned.

He suggested the external review because of the number of issues raised by employees, Horton said. “It gave us a better understanding of the concerns of the employees.”

The town has hired two outside consultants to conduct the review, said Pam Eastwood, human resources director for the town.

The consultants are looking at the class, salary and title grade of each position. The review also includes talking to the employees about their perceptions of their work environment. Eastwood said the review is ongoing.

Thorpe, who claimed he was passed over for promotion in favor of a lesser-qualified white man, said he has seen a few changes in the work environment — but not the type of changes he and the other mechanics are seeking.

“We’re getting trained,” he said. “Throwing training at us isn’t exactly what we need or want.”

Though he has been questioned about his job, racial discrimination has yet to be addressed. “It’s more or less trying to hush up the public,” Thorpe said of the town’s actions.

The transit manager accused of the discrimination has been reassigned within the department.

After meeting with McSurely, the mechanics and the lawyer will sit down with Horton to discuss the changes.

Both Thorpe and Brown said proceeding with legal action against the town seems like a strong possibility. “To me, the only way to solve it is to go to court,” Thorpe said. “We still have a lot of problems we have to weed out.”

Transit is not the only town department to deal with racial discrimination claims in recent years.

During the past year, seven claims filed against the public works department related to racial discrimination, Eastwood said.

Last summer, the police department also was criticized for its decision to promote Lt. Brian Curran, who is white, to captain over two black male lieutenants and one white female lieutenant. Claims about the promotion asserted that the three lieutenants were just as qualified as Curran.

Curran said his promotion was never an issue within the department, and he is unaware of any discrimination issues during the past year. “We don’t think of folks in terms of race or gender,” he said.

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