Posted on 06/18/2002 1:46:31 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
WASHINGTON, June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- "If Home Depot's restatement of its policy not to do business with the government is solely based upon an unwillingness to comply with federal affirmative action laws, I am very concerned," said Shirley J. Wilcher, executive director of Americans for a Fair Chance. "Affirmative action prevents discrimination and enables employers to cast a wide net to recruit qualified women and minorities into the workplace."
As the former deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Labor in the Clinton Administration, Wilcher headed the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which enforced Executive Order 11246 and the other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, disability and veterans' status. The laws also require affirmative action and equal pay. "We streamlined the regulations to make it easier to comply. To avoid affirmative action rules protecting women, minorities, veterans and the disabled, is to turn a blind eye to the millions of Americans who expect Home Depot to treat all of its employees in a fair and nondiscriminatory manner."
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Home Depot, with revenues of $53.6 billion, is the largest home improvement retailer in the world and one of the top ten retailers in the United States. "Even if it does not want the responsibility of complying with federal regulations, Home Depot should be a leader in the nation's progress toward workplace equality, both at the entry level and in the executive suite. I am concerned that the company's 'clarification statement' does not make this commitment," Wilcher concluded. According to a national poll conducted by Americans for a Fair Chance, two-thirds of Americans support affirmative action.
BTW, if this article is true, Eagle just lost a customer and Home Depot just gained one.
The Big Lie in action.
Affirmative action doesn't prevent discrimination, it is discrimination.
So, without going through government affirmative action programs, it is impossible to cast a wide net to recruit women and minorities? Is it even possible to hire anyone other than white men without a government approved affirmative action program? Can there be any good in the world without the smiling benevolence of a federal bureaucrat initiating it? What a bunch of idiots.
Here's an idea: hire the best people you can find. If you limit them based on race or sex, your company will be less profitable than a company that cares only about excellence.
It's not the Feds job to prevent discrimination. Their job is to enforce the prescribed punishment when laws are broken.
What total bull manure! Home Depot is not a social program, Home Depot is a profitable business! It won't STAY profitable if it is forced to BECOME a social program, which is what the invasive gov't regulations require!!
RIGHT ON, Home Depot!!
Oh, please -- anything to get yet another not for profit so-called Civil Rights entity into the newspapers. A large percentage of THD employees are minority. If you can't recognize a question with either the ability to get paid on an ongoing basis, or having to deal with reams of paperwork, then you are living with blinders on...
Rock on, Home Depot...
Oh, BS!
Affirmative action IS discrimination.
Affirmative action is also inherently insulting.
"Without affirmative action programs, you people would not be able to compete in the job market because everyone knows that the color of your skin effects how qualified you are to work."
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
diversity and excellence are mutually exclusive goals
I like your point!!!!
It has no place whatsoever in a free country.
In fact, affirmative action and liberty are mutually exclusive.
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