Proud Progress

The decision by a federal judge last week to remove the hiring goals from the consent decree entered into by the City of San Diego and the Justice Department in 1977 is a sign of positive improvement in the city’s employment practices.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Schwartz agreed with the city and the Justice Department that percentage goals of women and minorities hired and promoted in city service are no longer necessary. Although some in Washington are trying to tout this step as a watershed event in the federal government’s attempt to drop hiring goals across the country, that clearly is not the case. The city has made significant improvement in its hiring practices in the last eight years, and it earned the modification in the decree.

As an example of the improvement that has occurred, the Fire Department, which had 8.2% Latinos in September, 1978 (25 people), had 14.5% (50 people) in September, 1984. The Fire Department’s 7.1% of women firefighters is among the highest in the nation.

This does not mean, however, that the city is free to retreat from its efforts to recruit and hire minorities and women, only that it no longer must make as frequent and thorough reports to the Justice Department. Between now and 1987, when the consent decree is scheduled to expire, the Justice Department will continue to monitor the city’s employment policies to see that they are continuing on the right track. If the level of minority hiring slips, Justice can oppose the lifting of the decree.

(Like the city, San Diego County also remains under a consent decree entered in 1977. The county made an unsuccessful effort to have the decree lifted in 1983.)

Ending the hiring goals does not mean the city’s job is completed. There is still room for improvement in the promotion of minorities into management and administrative positions, and other areas where the percentages of women and minorities have improved may still require more improvement. While the city is particularly proud of the increased percentages of women and Latinos in the Fire Department, for example, the number of blacks, 27, was the same in 1984 as in 1978, a drop of one percentage point because of overall growth in the department. And the 1984 hiring figures show that the same number of blacks, six, were in the highest job classification as in 1978.

Enforced hiring goals may not be viewed by employers as the most desirable way to accomplish affirmative action. But the experience of the city shows that they can work. Now it’s up to the city to show it can maintain and build on this progress without the close scrutiny of the federal government.