S.F. Chamber Opposed to Ending Affirmative Action

The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce has become the first major California business organization to publicly oppose the November ballot initiative that would end state affirmative action programs.

The 1,900-member chamber--which includes Chevron, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Pacific Telesis, Bank of America and other large firms--said its board of directors voted overwhelmingly against the initiative.

“We acknowledge that the goal of equal opportunity and access to all has not yet been achieved,” read a statement released Sunday. “Further, we believe that an issue of this complexity is not appropriately addressed by a statewide ballot initiative which presents voters with a ‘take it or leave it’ choice.”

The initiative would abolish preferential treatment based on race, sex or ethnicity in state employment, education and contracting. Passage would have no binding effect on private-sector affirmative action programs.

“It’s too bad,” said Glynn Custrid, a co-author of the initiative and an anthropology professor at Cal State Hayward. “If I were to sit down and talk to them we might find that we agree about a lot of things.”

But chamber officials said the group’s opposition underlined its commitment to encouraging employers to recruit from the widest possible pool of employees.

“Diversity is one of California’s strengths,” said Rhea Serpan, president and chief executive officer of the chamber.

The chamber called for an “open and complete examination of affirmative action” but did not put forward any details about such a review.