Will people with disabilities
be shut out of jobs during construction of the Central Corridor
light rail project? That’s an issue being
raised by Kaposia Inc., a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities
find employment. State and regional officials, in response, say there
isn’t anything they can do to set employment goals until state
lawmakers act on the issue.
“People don’t
want to just ride the light rail. They want to help build it,” said
Carol Rydell, service development coordinator for Kaposia. More
than two dozen people rallied in downtown St. Paul on May 20 to
protest the Central Corridor project’s lack of employment
opportunity for people with disabilities. Advocates contend that
state human rights officials have not even started the work necessary
to set a legally defensible employment goal for the light rail
project or for other upcoming projects.
Kaposia organized the
rally with help from The Arc of Minnesota, Advocating Change Together,
the Council on Deaf, Blind and DeafBlind Minnesotans, the Equal
Access Coalition and the Minnesota DCC.
The rally was the same
day as a “Construction Workforce Diversity
and Inclusion Mixer” organized by Metropolitan Council, cities
of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota Department of Transportation
(MnDOT), Minnesota Department of Human Rights, Hennepin and Ramsey
counties and other organizations. Contractors were encouraged to
come and meet people looking for work and to publicize upcoming projects,
work and apprenticeship opportunities.
Rydell and others noted
the fliers for the event made no mention of hiring people with
disabilities. The organization also got little notice of the event
so in protest, Kaposia chose not to have a table at the mixer.
The event was attended by more than 200 people.
Kaposia has worked
on employment issues for persons with disabilities for almost 50
years. The organization was very active in recent efforts to improve
City of St. Paul contracting and vendor outreach efforts for persons
with disabilities. The organization was able to push through a
10 percent goal for people with disabilities on affirmative action
plans submitted by contractors. Individuals with significant disabilities
were able to find work on projects including construction of the
Rondo Community Outreach Library at Dale and University
Now Kaposia wants an employment goal for people with disabilities
on the workforce for publicly funded projects including Central Corridor.
But that won’t happen unless state rules change and state lawmakers
intervene. With a lack of employment goals for people with disabilities,
it is harder for people to get hired, advocates said. “The Minnesota Department of Human Rights needs to do its job,” said
Rydell. “How about putting people with disabilities to work?” said
Kaposia Executive Director Jon Alexander. “That works well
for everybody.”Alexander
and Rydell noted that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities
is at 13 percent, almost double the rate for the rest of the population.
Mike
Truxler is disabled and has more than 10 years’ experience
in construction. But he has been unemployed since 2006. He and others
at the rally said more needs to be done to help people with disabilities
find good jobs. Several speakers talked about the importance of employment
as a means of promoting self-worth as well as providing economic
independence.
Nikki Villavicencio,
an intern at the Gillette Children’s
Hospital, is disabled by arthrogryposis. She works and thinks others
should have the same opportunity. “Everyone should have a job,” she
said. “Work is important to me because it tells me I am worth
something,” said Kari Sheldon, a college student who spoke
at the rally. “People with disabilities do need jobs. We need
jobs immediately.”
The Minnesota Department
of Human Rights construction employment goal for women is 6 percent
statewide, and 11 percent for minorities in the seven-county metropolitan
area. There are no state-mandated goals for hiring of persons with
disabilities because there is no requirement to do so in state
rules, said Jeff Holman of the Department of Human Rights.
Changing
the rules means seeking action from the Minnesota Legislature.
But if there were goals for people with disabilities, Holman said
that could raise difficult issues. One is that if a prospective employer
set a goal to hire a set number of persons with disabilities, which
would require pre-employment medical inquiries. Those kinds of inquiries
aren’t legal.
“We want to encourage people to get hired, period, said Wanda Kirkpatrick,
director of equal opportunity for Metropolitan Council. But the council
cannot set its own employment goals. Those have to come from the state. Instead,
the council works to get information out about hiring and to work with contractors.
Hosting the May 20 mixer is just one of many steps taken to try to
connect people with jobs, Kirkpatrick said. ![end of story]()
Jane McClure is assistant editor of Access Press.
