Texaco Making Diversity Progress, Panel Says

Texaco Inc., which was rocked by tape recordings that indicated some of its executives had ridiculed minorities, has made meaningful progress in diversifying its work force in the last year, a court-ordered committee to oversee the efforts has concluded. The seven-member committee, created as part of Texaco’s $175-million settlement of a discrimination lawsuit brought by minority employees in 1996, said the oil company had made “meaningful strides” in hiring and promoting more women and minorities and in doing more business with outside companies owned by minorities and women. The first biannual report said White Plains, N.Y.-based Texaco had met or exceeded its internal goals for both hiring and promoting minorities and women in the U.S. last year.