Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and Department of Energy National Laboratories – Racial Equality

WHEREAS, the NAACP has received numerous complaints of discrimination in the hiring, retention, training, and promotion practices at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; and

WHEREAS, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory hires employees from a local, regional, national, and international labor pool to fill approximately 6,000- 7,000 high paying jobs with benefits that include health care, dental care, eye care, childcare, retirement savings, life insurance, educational reimbursement, and other benefits; and

WHEREAS, African-Americans make up approximately 2% of the labor pool that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory hires from, there are very few African American's employed by the lab or by the contractors who receive federal contracts, grants, and funds to perform work at the lab under the umbrella of the United States Department of Energy and other Federal agencies; and

WHEREAS, the percentage of African-American's employed by the lab and its contractors is substantially less than the percentage of African-Americans in the labor pool from which the lab and its contractors hire; and

WHEREAS, African-American's who are hired for a job are released from probation at higher rates than other employee groups and their requests for training and discretionary benefits like educational reimbursements are denied at higher rates than other employee groups;

WHEREAS, there are no African-American executives in senior management of the lab and all the senior executives of the lab are Caucasian except one, who is not an African-American; and

WHEREAS, the systematic exclusion of African-American from the benefits of employment by the lab and its contractors is a problem of national importance and impact on the African-American labor force.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP demand legislation to withdraw federal funding and grants to the laboratories and contractors who do not, within the next two years, develop, implement, monitor, and enforce specific practices and procedures designed to achieve racial parity and equality for all races, ethnicities, genders, LGBTQ status, and other differences in the hiring, retention, training, and promotion practices at the laboratories and its contractors as prescribed by law; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP join the Congressional Black Caucus, Black Organizations and other partnering organizations to press together for the immediate implementation of existing laws regarding equal employment and contracting opportunities for all communities of color.