CONTACT, Selena Walsh, (202) 833-6130

For Immediate Release, 11/5/97

WASHINGTON -- The League of United Latin American Citizens, this country's largest and oldest Hispanic membership organization, called on Congressman to reject the deceptively named Civil Rights Act of 1997 which would abolish all Federal Affirmative Action programs. The full Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on Thursday, November 6, 1997 to determine whether they will send the bill to a full vote on the House floor. The bill (H.R. 1909) repeals all existing federal affirmative action programs and policies in contracting and employment.

If passed, this legislation will single-handedly halt over 30 years of bi-partisan progress that women and minorities have made in education, employment and contracting. It would eliminate programs that have opened the doors of opportunity for all Americans.

"LULAC strongly supports equal opportunity for employment, promotion and contracting, as well as equal access to quality educational opportunities that will empower our youth for success," states Belen Robles, LULAC National President. "LULAC firmly believes that affirmative action is essential to guarantee people of color, minorities and women equality in employment and education."

LULAC continues to receive thousands of cases of employment discrimination against Hispanics every year, especially from the Federal government where Hispanics comprise only 5% of the employees yet represent 13% of the entire U.S. workforce.

As President Robles states "the Good-Old-Boys Network is alive and well in today's work place and deeply, entrenched, racial and gender bias against minorities and women still exists. Affirmative action is necessary to help level the playing field. Those who oppose affirmative action, directly or indirectly, are inviting wholesale racial and gender discrimination back into the Federal government."

Affirmative Action programs should be maintained because:

• Affirmative Action is still needed to correct current as well as past discrimination in America: Affirmative Action is still necessary because of discriminatory habits, customs and attitudes that still restrict opportunities for minorities and women.
  
• Minorities still earn less: Even with Affirmative Action in place minorities earn on average less than 80% of their white counterparts and white males still occupy 97% of the top executive positions at America's largest corporations.
  
• Women still need Affirmative Action: The largest group of beneficiaries of affirmative action are women, but they still only earn 72% of what men make for comparable work.
  
• Affirmative Action is Fair: Affirmative Action goals and timetables simply ensure that those who were previously excluded from the workplace have the opportunity to compete.
  
• Elimination of Affirmative Action would signal a return to "business as usual": Without Affirmative Action, employers with a history of discriminatory practices would be free to return to their old habits with little chance of being discovered.
  
• Reverse discrimination is rare: Although anti-civil rights politicians complain of "reverse discrimination," in fact only 1.7% of all race-based charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have been filed by white males.
  
• Corporate America is for Affirmative Action: American businesses support Affirmative Action programs because they enlarge the pool of labor from which they can draw qualified applicants and because they help recruit a diverse workforce to match their customers.