50 American Utility Firms Charged with Anti-jewish Discrimination

The American Jewish Committee made public this weekend a list of 50 utility corporations in the United States where, according to A. M. Sonnabend, president of the AJC, “discriminatory barriers exist against Jews, both at the recruitment and promotion levels.”

Among the firms listed are 10 of the leading utilities in the country, including American Telephone & Telegraph (New York); Consolidated Edison (New York); Pacific Gas & Electric (San Francisco); Tennessee Gas Transmission (Houston); Commonwealth Edison (Chicago); American Electric Power (New York); Southern Company (Atlanta); Public Service Electric & Gas (Newark); Southern California Edison (Los Angeles); and El Paso Natural Gas (El Paso).

Many of the accused companies today issued denials, stressing that they employ persons of varied religious beliefs. Among the firms that issued such denials were American Telephone & Telegraph; Western Union; Consolidated Edison; Public Service Electric & Gas; Long Island Lighting; and many others across the country.

The “discriminatory barriers,” the AJC stated, “are preventing the nation’s major utilities from utilizing fully a substantial portion of United States manpower in the management field.” According to Mr. Sonnabend, Jews make up less than one per cent of the total executive personnel in the country’s 50 leading utilities. About 8 to 10 per cent of the college-trained population in this country is Jewish, he said, and the managerial staffs are recruited almost completely from the ranks of college graduates.

JEWISH JOB CANDIDATES ALLEGEDLY DISCOURAGED BY CORPORATIONS

In describing the discriminatory barriers, Mr. Sonnabend said that “the problem really begins at the recruitment level when company representatives visit the colleges and graduate schools throughout the nation.” He pointed out that potential Jewish candidates for jobs in utilities management are presented “with a negative and discouraging picture of their potential and possibilities in the management divisions of these utilities giants.”

The AJC president reported that “there seems to be a built-in discriminatory screen which has a much finer mesh for Jews than for other candidates. Jewish personnel traditionally must do better than others either to stay in the same place, or to move up on the higher managerial ladder.” He said that, while very few companies have an explicit policy of discrimination, the utilities nevertheless “maintain a personnel practices climate that discourages Jewish candidates and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups.”

Mr. Sonnabend set forth a number of major proposals on the basis of preliminary Committee investigations which, he said, would help in exploring the dimensions of the problem. He urged that the utilities undertake a series of steps toward eliminating patterns of discriminatory behavior:

1. To enlarge the existing body of knowledge about minority groups in management, and the handicaps they face in promotion on merit.

2. To develop an educational program on the detrimental effect of barriers to the free flow of talent.

3. To initiate educational programs which would stimulate the interest of minority groups in the expected opportunities in the utilities field at all levels.

THREE UNIVERSITIES CONDUCTING STUDIES ON ANTI-JEWISH BARRIERS

The American Jewish Committee has been sponsoring and cooperating with three major studies underway, for the past two years, at Harvard, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, at Los Angeles. These studies are probing barriers on the executive level both at recruitment points and within the industries.

The 50 leading utilities listed by the American Jewish Committee as using such barriers against Jews were: American Telephone & Telegraph (New York); Consolidated Edison (New York); Pacific Gas & Electric (San Francisco); Tennessee Gas Transmission (Houston); Commonwealth Edison (Chicago); American Electric Power (New York); Southern Company (Atlanta); Public Service Electric & Gas (Newark); Southern California Edison (Los Angeles); El Paso Natural Gas (El Paso); Columbia Gas System (New York); Consumers Power (Jackson, Mich.); Niagara Mohawk Power (Syracuse, N. Y.); Philadelphia Electric (Philadelphia); General Public Utilities (New York); Detroit it Edison (Detroit); Texas Eastern Transmission (Houston); American Natural Gas (New York).

Also Texas Utilities (Dallas); Consolidated Natural Gas (New York); Middle South Utilities (New York; United Gas (Shreveport); Pacific Lighting (San Francisco); American & Foreign Power (New York); Central & South West (Wilmington); Peoples Gas Light & Coke (Chicago); Virginia Electric & Power (Richmond); Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Houston); Ohio Edison (Akron); Union Electric (St. Louis); New England Electric System (Boston); Duke Power (Charlotte); Northern States Power (Minneapolis); Allegheny Power System (New York); Florida Power & Light (Miami); Pacific Power & Light (Portland Ore.); Northern Natural Gas (Omaha); Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line (New York); Long Island Lighting (Mineola, N.Y.).

Also Pennsylvania Power & Light (Allentown); Baltimore Gas & Electric (Baltimore); Western Union Telegraph (New York); Cleveland Electric Illuminating (Cleveland); Wisconsin Power (Milwaukee); Public Service of Indiana (Plainfield); Potomac Electric Power (Washington, D. C.); Houston Lighting & Power; Public Service of Colorado (Denver); Gulf States Utilities (Beaumont, Tex.); Duquesne Light (Pittsburgh);

SEVERAL OF NAMED CORPORATIONS DENY THE A.J.C. CHARGES

A statement by A. T. & T. declared; “We are not aware of any such discrimination.” A spokesman for Consolidated Edison said: “We have people of all races, so long as they have talent. We could not afford to discriminate.” Frank M. Osta, vice-president for employee relations of the Niagara Mohawk Power Company said: “For many years, people of the Jewish faith have held positions of responsibility” with his company.

Pacific Gas & Electric Company, in San Francisco, said the company had “a long established policy of non-discrimination in our employment practices and advancement policies.” Similar denials were issued by officers of the Northern States Power Company, Peoples Gas, Light & Coke Company, the Northern Natural Gas Company, the Public Service Company of Colorado, the Southern Company and the New England Electric System.