NAACP ALLEGES INEQUITY

Bus Driver And Group Say Transit Authority Discriminates

The local NAACP chapter and a bus driver charged Tuesday that Tulsa
Transit discriminates against its workforce and customers.

The Tulsa chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People said bus service officials neglect poor and minority
bus riders, female drivers routinely are passed over for promotions
and other racial inequities exist within the bus system.

The local chapter went public with its allegations Tuesday after
attempts failed to resolve its differences, Tulsa chapter NAACP third
vice president Phil Loftin said. The NAACP in August 1997 filed a
formal discrimination complaint against Tulsa Transit, which is still
pending with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Loftin
said.

The allegations come at the same time a bus driver charged that Tulsa
Transit managers discriminate against its female and minority bus drivers.

Bus driver Lenora Davis said she and six other former and current
Tulsa Transit employees filed a discrimination complaint Oct. 21 with
the EEOC.

Davis said Tulsa Transit ignores its policy of promoting employees
from within its ranks.

Tulsa Transit officials have not promoted a female to a supervisory
position in eight years, Davis said.

A transit official called the discrimination assertions "completely
groundless. "I would invite anybody to look at how we promote people,"
General Manager Mark Pritchard said.

He declined further comment on the drivers' EEOC complaint, saying the
matter would be referred to legal staff. Pritchard said he was unaware
of any pending complaint from the NAACP.

Loftin said Tulsa Transit drug policy for drivers is not applied
uniformly. He cited a case in which he said a bus driven by a white
driver collided with another bus in a Tulsa Transit parking lot. The
driver was not required to take a drug test, while minority drivers
involved in accidents are routinely subjected to a drug screening, he
said. Transit officials also operated for years with a drug testing
policy that was not approved by federal officials, he said.

"What we're worried about is all the blacks that were terminated under
the old policy," Loftin said. "If it was wrong, will they be
reinstated?"

Asked if he was concerned if any whites were fired under the old
policy, Loftin replied that a large majority of those discharged were
black.

The NAACP also claims that Tulsa Transit relied upon low-income
populations on the west and north sides of Tulsa to obtain a federal
grant to build a transit center in east Tulsa.

Tulsa Transit plans to construct a transit center at 33rd Street and
Memorial Drive. Officials say the transit center is needed to make the
system more efficient and improve service.

Loftin said isolated cases have occurred where transit customers are
subjected to abuse.

"We've had complaints of white drivers using racial slurs," Loftin
said. "We have them call in and nothing is ever said or ever heard
of."

He provided no other details about the slurs claim.

Payroll records indicate that 42 percent of Tulsa Transit employees
are minorities. Males comprise 77 percent of the workforce. Whites
comprise 47 percent of the 114 bus operators, payroll records reflect.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry