Talk of barriers in trades at diversity hearing - By Jane M. Von Bergen, Philadelphia Inquirer
Another African American carpenter who testified, Tanya Mitchell, said a fellow construction worker threw a length of pipe at her face.
Both said they complained to Edward Coryell Sr., but the complaints went unanswered. Coryell could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The men on the job sites 'should be ashamed of themselves,' Lumpkin said.
He said his union includes 120 minority members, who were, for the first time, able to elect a minority to the union's executive board. He said minority members needed to work harder to bring others along.
John Dent, a retired African American heavy-equipment operator and member of Local 542 of the Operating Engineers, said that even 37 years of court supervision had not materially increased minority participation in his union.