Unions: Minority membership 20%; most in one trade - By Jane M. Von Bergen and Jeff Shields, Philadelphia Inquirer
One in five members of local construction unions belongs to a minority group, according to numbers released yesterday by the unions in the lead-up to City Council's vote to move ahead with the $700 million Convention Center expansion.
City Council had threatened to hold up the expansion if unions did not increase minority participation.
However, more than half of the 4,442 minority union members come from Laborers International Union of North America Local 332 - a predominantly African American union.
'There are [minority] numbers from some of these unions that by any standard are quite low,' said Paul Clark, a professor of labor studies at Pennsylvania State University in State College.
'That's surprising to me, given the labor movement as a whole has been getting increasingly diverse.'
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Unions agree to minority goals to work on Convention Center - phillyBurbs.com