man retired and his successor, Mr. Myron Smith, talked to my coworker, James Lefter, and persuaded him not to pursue the award. I was never consulted concerning my recommendation and I did not receive it. During the various recruiting drives conducted by this agency for engineers and architects, interviews have been held at various universities such as Maryland and Virginia Polytechnic Institute, et cetera, but no interviews have been made at Howard University, nor to the knowledge of the staff in the Howard University Department of Engineering and Architecture has this agency ever requested or interviewed any of its prospective graduates for future employment. The Design and Construction Division has refused to hire Negro engineers in the new construction and repair and improvement branches, either in the Government training program (summer students and recent graduates), or qualified Negro engineers and architects employed in the design branch who requested transfer to these branches to fill any of the many vacancies that occurred when the division was reorganized. Negro applicants have never been permitted to serve in the above branches. Qualified Negro engineers have failed to obtain raises above a GS-11 rating in the Design and Construction Division where Negroes have been permitted to be hired. The sole exception being one engineer who entered at a GS-11 and was promoted to a GS-12 by a former assistant chief of the Design and Construction Division. Negroes who participated in the training program concurrently with their coworkers failed to obtain promotions available to their fellow participants even when length of Government service was in excess, or when civil service ratings equaled or exceeded the others. Negro engineers and architects who are assigned office projects located in certain areas of the region (West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland) as a rule are not permitted to travel to the site to make the necessary inspection of the building site or equipment. A substitute coworker is generally sent instead. The substitute need not be in the same field and on occasion is not associated with the project. Recently, a Negro applicant with a U.S.C.S. civil engineer rating of 95 was turned down for employment despite the fact that there were several openings within the division. The applicant had a very satisfactory performance rating and extensive experience. He was told that no vacancies existed. Another Negro graduate electrical engineer was not hired although the chief electrical engineer strongly recommended his employment. The vacancy existed as the section was understaffed and under a great deal of pressure from a heavy workload. A recent directive was issued by the General Services Administration Commissioner John L. Moore on nondiscrimination. The directive stated that one-third of its employees were Negroes. The directive did not state the percentage of these employees who are custodial workers. GLENWOOD M. EDMONSON. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 8th day of January 1962. MARY JANE SCOVILLE, Notary Public. Alfred D. Dudley, being duly sworn, deposes and states: I reside at 2018 Jackson Street NE., Washington, D.C. I am employed as an electrical engineer at the National Institutes of Health, grade GS-12. I am a graduate of the Agriculture and Technical College of North Carolina and received my B.S. degree in electrical engineering in June 1958. I applied for a position with the General Services Administration upon graduation and was placed in their training program as a GS-5. I was originally employed in the New Construction Division of the central office of GSA. I was transferred with other workers from the central office, New Construction Division, to the regional office at which time my white coworkers were placed in the New Construction Branch of the Design and Construction Division, while I was placed in the Design Branch. I was promoted through the training program of the GSA on schedule with my other coworkers to the grade of GS-11. The white trainees with me received promotions to GS-12 but I was told that I could not advance as fast as I had 77736 0-62-pt. 2- -8 been and it was implied that I would not receive a GS-12 within that Division even though vacancies existed. I believe that discrimination practices exist in the GSA, Division of Design and Construction, in the fact that there are no Negro professional employees in the New Construction Branch or the Repair and Improvement Branch and that a very few Negroes in a professional capacity have been employed over the years in this Division. Witness: ALFRED D. DUDLEY. MARVIN R. FULLMER. Mr. DENT. At this point I will address myself to the gentleman known as Mr. Edmonson. What is your name? TESTIMONY OF GLENWOOD M. EDMONSON, STRUCTURAL ENGINEER, DIVISION OF DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION, GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION Mr. EDMONSON. Glenwood M. Edmonson. Mr. DENT. Where are you employed and in what capacity? Mr. EDMONSON. I am employed at the General Services Administration at 7th and D Streets SW., Washington, D.C. Mr. DENT. How long have you been in this employment and in this position? Mr. EDMONSON. Approximately 4 years and 4 months. Mr. DENT. What is your educational background? Mr. EDMONSON. I have a B.S. degree in architectural engineering, Hampton Institute, 1953. Mr. DENT. Will you tell the committee how many branches there are in the Design and Construction Division of region 3 for General Services Administration? Mr. EDMONSON. To the best of my knowledge, Design and Construction Division consists of at least four major branches. I am not sure about one. I don't know whether it is associated with it or whether it is separate, itself. They are the Design and Construction-I beg your pardon, Design and Construction Branch, Repair and Improvement Branch, the New Construction Branch The CHAIRMAN. I suggest the witness raise his voice a little bit more. The acoustics are bad in this room. Mr. EDMONSON. The Design and Construction Branch, the Repair and Improvement Branch, the New Construction Branch, and the Schedules and Services Branch. Mr. DENT. At this point, Mr. Powell, you mentioned a while ago that you had a pertinent question that would fit in at this point. Mr. POWELL. To the best of your knowledge, approximately how many employees in a professional capacity are there in the Division of Design and Construction? Mr. EDMONSON. Negro or white? Mr. POWELL. Negro. Mr. EDMONSON. One. Mr. POWELL. How many altogether? Mr. EDMONSON. Approximately in that particular branch itself— I have no exact figure, but I would estimate approximately 40. But in the Design and Construction Division there are approximately 200 to 220 professional employees, engineers, architects, and still 1 Negro. Mr. POWELL. At this point, Mr. Chairman, I would like unanimous consent to put in the record a survey made by the investigative task force on the breakdown of the classified employees in grades 1 through 18, wage board 1 through 17, total employment number, total number of Negroes, percentage of Negroes, and if these figures are incorrect then I ask the General Services Administration to correct them. Mr. DENT. For the benefit of the members of the subcommittee here, are there enough copies of this to be presented to each so that they may follow through on the questioning? Without objection, this will be made a part of the record at this point. (The document referred to follows:) Spring 1961, General Services Administration CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEES WAGE BOARD EMPLOYEES GS-8 or higher, 48 Negro employees (0.35 percent of total classified employees). WAGE BOARD EMPLOYEES WB-8 or higher, 747 Negro employees (4.7 percent of total wage board employees). Mr. DENT. It shall be assumed that they are correct unless the GSA itself finds that it is an incorrect statement. Mr. PARKER. May we have a copy, please? Mr. DENT. Yes. Mr. POWELL. What is the name of the gentleman? Mr. PARKER. Mr. Parker, personnel officer, region 3, GSA. I am here as one of your witnesses. Mr. DENT. Is that legible? Mr. PARKER. It is all right. Mr. DENT. It is clearly understood, of course, that if in the opinion of the GSA these figures are in error they shall have the opportunity of presenting their corrected statement. You said, I believe, that there was only one Negro professional employee in this Division. Mr. EDMONSON. Yes; to my knowledge, myself. I know of no others at the present. Mr. DENT. What particular classification does this man hold? Mr. DENT. GS-11? Mr. EDMONSON. Yes, sir. Mr. POWELL. Do you know the name of this individual? Mr. EDMONSON. Myself, Mr. Edmonson. Mr. DENT. In the particular Division that you work in, of course, it shows only one in your Division. According to the fact sheet presented by the chairman, Mr. Powell, it appears in GS-11 there are 993 total employment and 17 Negroes, with a percentage ratio of approximately 1.16 percent of the total classified employment as Negro. It appears that your Division has a much lower ratio. Do you know of any reason for this? Mr. EDMONSON. I cannot say honestly that I know of any particular reason. I can only suspect. Mr. DENT. Let me put it this way. Do you know whether any qualified Negroes have applied for positions within these branches, construction, repair, and improvement? Mr. EDMONSON. Yes, there are some Negroes who have applied but I thought their qualifications were adequate. Of course I am not a personnel officer but in some instances they had civil service ratings to substantiate their claims for the particular job and grade level that they sought. Mr. DENT. Does the GSA recruit its employees and if they do, do they do it in an area? Mr. EDMONDSON. Yes, GSA, to my knowledge, does recruit employees. I have known from employees Mr. DENT. Excuse me. One of the subcommittee members requested that you speak a little louder so that you may be heard. Mr. EDMONSON. Yes. GSA does recruit employees, especially on the professional level. They have, to my knowledge, recruited at Maryland University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and, of course, there may be other universities or colleges, but these are the people who come to our agency and to our branch as a result of some of these interviews that are being held, our recruitment programs that they carry to the universities or colleges. Mr. DENT. Do you know of any restrictive practices, to your knowledge, that the GSA indulges in? We have a complaint to the effect that Negro architects and engineers, although they may be employed in the agency, have been prohibited from performing certain functions that are properly their functions to perform, such as traveling to certain field construction sites or projects assigned to their particular job area. Mr. EDMONSON. In that original complaint, they had reference to one engineer that was hired as a GS-11, I believe in 1958. They had a construction program going, remodeling, in Bluefield, W. Va., for a post office. He was assigned the air-conditioning project on this job. They made up a party from the office to inspect the site to see what changes would be made, modified, to come up with a realistic estimate and the design for the extension and remodeling of this post office. He was in great hopes of accompanying the group. He was not permitted to go as such. I base this not only on what he told me but on the testimony or, rather, the information that my former chief, who is now deceased, gave to me. When this engineer found he was not being allowed to go, he questioned it, and he must have raised the question among several of the superiors because my superior told me that "Mr. So and So, Mr. Shipp, was making a nuisance of himself, wanting to go to this site. We are going to have to do something about it." I said, "Why?" He said, "Well, you know why." And that statement was repeated later at another time. Mr. DENT. Did the Negro engineer feel that this was an act of discrimination against him? Mr. EDMONSON. Yes, he did; and he lodged several protests, not only as a result of this particular job but several other jobs, with his superior. Mr. DENT. Did it happen again after the lodging of the protest? Mr. EDMONSON. I believe so, to the best of my knowledge. I believe there was a followup inspection and he was not permitted to go although it was explained to him why he was not permitted to go but he didn't feel that that was sufficient grounds. Over a period of time he lodged other protests and shortly before his transfer from the Agency, he had been promised that he would be allowed to make out-of-town visits to one of the sites. Mr. DENT. Was this transfer one that he asked for? Mr. EDMONSON. Yes; he asked for the transfer because he felt as though he had been unduly discriminated against and that he had no future in the Agency. Mr. DENT. Will you please speak a little louder? The airplanes are giving us competition. Mr. EDMONSON. He sought the transfer because he thought he was being discriminated against and that he had no future in the Agency, although I would like to state that one of his former coworkers approached him first concerning the opening here at this particular job that he took, but it would have been up to him to seek the appointment. Mr. DENT. Do you feel that this is a common or an uncommon practice in this particular Agency? Mr. EDMONSON. In my particular Agency, I think it is a common practice because of the three engineers who have left the Agency, to the best of my knowledge, with good standing and satisfactory work performance. They all had to transfer in order to seek promotions although promotions were added before and after they left. Mr. DENT. You are in GS-11. How long have you been a GS-11? Mr. EDMONSON. Over 3 years. I had my second ingrade promotion December 14, I believe. |