Lawsuit alleges racism in BREC hiring

Press Release



For Immediate Release



Date: October 30, 2009



From: Native American Indian Labor Union #12





Issue: Lawsuit filed concerning failure of enforcement of affirmative action in hiring Native Americans for the construction of the Bemidji Regional Events Center (B.R.E.C.)





Docket Number: 04-CV-09-4736 [Beltrami County Ninth District Court]



Backgrounder available upon request.



Updates and additional information: http://nativeamericanindianlaborunion12.blogspot.com/



Contact: Gregory W. Paquin; Business Manager, Native American Indian Labor Union #12 (info at bottom)







Gregory W. Paquin, the Business Manager for the Native American Labor Union #12 has filed a law suit in the Beltrami County Ninth District Court seeking recovery of damages (compensation and punitive as yet unspecified to be determined by the Court, including, but not limited to, wages and benefits) regarding the racist hiring practices and failure to implement affirmative action in hiring for construction of the Bemidji Regional Events Center.



This Claim for Damages is against Defendants: the City of Bemidji, Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), Krause Anderson Construction Company (general contractor) and the Bemidji Regional Events Center.



The Defendants acted with intent and forethought to engage in racist hiring practices as part of a clear pattern intending to maintain the well established institutionalized racism to deny and deprive Native Americans employment in the construction of the Bemidji Regional Events Center, a public works project funded with tax-payer dollars and publicly backed bonds, in complete and total disregard for affirmative action rules, guidelines and legislation each of the Defendants were individually and collectively aware of but chose to ignore.



Paquin, also a candidate for Minnesota Senate District 4, notes that Beltrami and surrounding counties have a long history of institutionalized racism

( http://nativeamericanindianlaborunion12.blogspot.com/2009/10/finally-pioneer-published-this-letter.html ) at the center of which is the blatant racist hiring practices of private employers and county, state and federal governmental units and agencies who often, as in the case of the Beltrami Regional Events Center, work together in collusion to maintain this pattern of institutionalized racism which is responsible for the high unemployment rate among Native Americans on and off the Indian Reservations which breeds extreme poverty with its associated deplorable living conditions of poor, substandard and inadequate housing; inadequate and underfunded public schools; drug, alcohol and sexual abuse; poor health and lack of adequate health care; child malnutrition and improper diets; inadequate transportation services.



Affirmative action guidelines are clearly articulated by state and federal guidelines, rules and statutes which local governments and private contractor/s are aware they are mandated to follow and enforce but in the case of the construction of the Bemidji Regional Events Center, this Claim for Damages will demonstrate there has been the conscious and malicious intent by the Defendants to knowingly engage in racially discriminatory hiring practices intended to deny employment to Native Americans.



Paquin has noted Rita Albrecht, Bemidji Community Development Coordinator, and the City of Bemidji and the management firm, VenuWorks

( http://www.venuworks.com/ ), hired to manage the B.R.E.C. --- at this late date--- have failed to produce affirmative action hiring guidelines that will be used to staff and maintain the completed B.R.E.C.



Paquin is insisting that all jobs involving staffing and maintaining the B.R.E.C. must be real living wage jobs based on the areas’ real cost of living index and that at least one-half of the jobs from management levels on down be designated for Native Americans whose main source of employment has been in the hospitality related industries of the Indian Gaming Industry where workers are forced to work in unhealthy smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws.



Paquin notes that it is the responsibility of DEED to provide materials to public governmental agencies and private businesses conducting their business in Minnesota about how to implement affirmative action in hiring; and, it is DEED’s responsibility to monitor and enforce affirmative action in hiring on projects like B.R.E.C.



All Defendants have been served with notice of this action.



For interviews and further information contact:



Gregory W. Paquin (photos for media use available on blog)

Business Manager,

Native American Indian Labor Union #12



Candidate for Minnesota Senate District 4



1511 Roosevelt Road S.E.

Bemidji, Minnesota 56601



Home phone: 218-209-3157

Cell Phone: 651-503-9493



E-mail: hotpasstheketchup@yahoo.com



Blog: http://nativeamericanindianlaborunion12.blogspot.com/



Contact information for Defendants and their attorneys of record will be provided upon request.



Gregory W. Paquin



Candidate for Minnesota Senate

District: 4



1511 Roosevelt Road SE.

Bemidji, Minnesota , 56601

218-209-3157 h

651-503-9493 c

check out my blog: http://nativeamericanindianlaborunion12.blogspot.com/



**************************



http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100012947/



Published November 01 2009



Lawsuit alleges racism in BREC hiring



The city didn’t follow affirmative action laws in hiring workers for the Bemidji Regional Event Center, alleges a civil lawsuit filed a week ago in Beltrami County District Court.



By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer



The city didn’t follow affirmative action laws in hiring workers for the Bemidji Regional Event Center, alleges a civil lawsuit filed a week ago in Beltrami County District Court.



Also named in the lawsuit are the state Department of Employment and Economic Development, which administers the state bonding grant for BREC construction, and Kraus-Anderson Construction Co., BREC construction manager.



Filing the lawsuit is Greg Paquin of Bemidji, business manager for the Native American Labor Union No. 12, and a declared Democratic candidate for Minnesota Senate 4.



The suit alleges that the defendants “acted with intent and forethought to engage in racist hiring practices as part of a clear pattern intending to maintain the well established institutionalized racism to deny and deprive native Americans construction employment in the construction of the Bemidji Regional Event Center,” Paquin said Saturday in a statement.



BREC “is a public works program funded with taxpayer dollars and publicly backed bonds,” he said, adding that the defendants were “in complete and total disregard for affirmative action guidelines and legislation (that each) were individually and collectively aware of but chose to ignore.”



“We feel it’s a frivolous lawsuit,” Bemidji City Manager John Chattin said Saturday. “We’ve just got a copy of the filing … which has been turned over to the League of Minnesota Cities. The League will be handling it.”



In the court complaint, Paquin said he requested from the city and construction manager copies of affirmative action guidelines but received none. He said Kraus Anderson requested that six American Indian names be submitted informally and that the company representative “would see what he could do.”



Seven names were submitted to BREC contractors and “to this date I have not heard from one contractor or entity involved in this BREC project,” the complaint states. “We have been denied participation, denying our civil rights to be employed on this state-funded project.”



City Attorney Al Felix confirmed that the lawsuit has been turned over to the League of Minnesota Cities, which assigned the Twin Cities law firm of Kennedy & Graven to defend the city.



Felix, in a telephone interview Saturday evening, said the lawsuit is vague “but seems to be aiming at affirmative action, saying that there’s somehow affirmative action quotas … or guidelines that somehow the city’s not following.”



He agrees with Chattin the lawsuit is frivolous “because we can’t obviously make out what he’s (Paquin) getting at or what he’s pointing to.”



While Paquin cites several state statutes, Felix said there is no affirmation action requirements for BREC construction, only that there not be discriminatory hiring practices. Only projects with federal monies usually have minority hiring written into the contract, he added.



“He throws the kitchen sink in at it in terms of citings,” said Felix. “But in terms of specifics, there aren’t any specifics. And there are not specific guidelines, if you will, or particular hiring quotas or percentages or anything like that as you might see … with a federal contract.”



Federal contracts may specify a certain percentage of minority businesses or women-owned businesses, “but we don’t have that requirement here,” Felix said. “We don’t have any federal money involved in the BREC project.”



As part of a larger issue, Paquin said that “at the center … is the blatant racist hiring practices of private employers and county, state and federal governmental units and agencies who often, as in the case of the Bemidji Regional Event Center, work together in collusion to maintain the pattern of institutionalized racism which is responsible for the high unemployment rate among native Americans on and off the Indian reservations which breeds extreme poverty with its associated deplorable living conditions of poor, substandard and inadequate housing; inadequate and underfunded public schools; drug, alcohol and sexual abuse; poor health and lack of adequate health care; child malnutrition and improper diets; inadequate transportation services.”



Paquin notes that “affirmative action guidelines are clearly articulated by state and federal guidelines, rules and statutes which local governments and private contractors are aware and mandated to follow and enforce …”



The city in constructing the BREC need only follow state law on discriminatory hiring practices, Felix maintains.



“We obviously have requirements not to discriminate and we have all that in our agreements,” Felix said. “We have complied with all the laws we have to comply with. … I don’t think there’s any merit to his claims, but I’m not defending the lawsuit.”



Attorneys representing the city and the state have been appointed, he added. “This will just have to play out.”



In his statement, Paquin said he is asking that half the jobs on the BREC, from management on down, be designated for American Indians.



The court complaint cites “the discovery of damages to the Native American Indian Labor Union No. 12 and those denied opportunity on this project in punitive and compensatory damages regarding the manner represented in DEED-funded projects that fail to meet the affirmative action guidelines, goals and objectives.”



The Native American Indian Labor Union No. 12, founded by Paquin, is not recognized by the AFL-CIO.



bswenson@bemidjipioneer.com



Tags: news, local





*******************







http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100012935/







Published October 31 2009



Cass Lake mayor brings race issues to Park Rapids council



Alleged racial discrimination issues were raised at the Park Rapids council table this week. Cass Lake Mayor Wayne LaDuke addressed the council Tuesday about two incidents that allegedly happened in town.



By: Riham Feshir, Park Rapids Enterprise, Bemidji Pioneer





Alleged racial discrimination issues were raised at the Park Rapids council table this week.



Cass Lake Mayor Wayne LaDuke addressed the council Tuesday about two incidents that allegedly happened in town.



The first involved a business that reportedly told tribal students it was out of a product they requested.



A few minutes later, the students saw other customers outside of the business with the same product that they wanted to order.



LaDuke said the second incident happened this year at a school sporting event. A concession stand employee refused to serve a group of Cass Lake students.



“We do not serve Indians,” the employee allegedly told the students.



LaDuke said he wasn’t looking for action from the council, but needed to bring it up since it was repeated.



“I’m not going to sit here and judge the community of Park Rapids,” he said. “I appreciate whatever the council can do to resolve this issue.”



Councilman Pat Mikesh suggested contacting the Park Rapids Lakes Area Chamber for more training opportunities to educate local business employees.



It’s good to highlight the issue even though it’s unfortunate that it happened, councilman Dave W. Konshok agreed.



***************************************