Union Accuses Black Boss of Bias Against Blacks (and others) During Black History Month
Union says ‘supervisory mischief’ leads to ‘robust’ bias at NASA
A federal union representing NASA employees said racial “bias is robust” in a letter last week to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE) told OPM Director Katherine Archuleta that “NASA’s performance ratings are improperly influenced by demographic factors such that, on average, white employees are rated higher than minority employees. The bias is robust across centers and has been a persistent feature over time.” The letter from Lee Stone, an IFPTE vice president, said “NASA has two levels of above-standard performance which invites supervisory mischief whereby the highest level often ends up preferentially allocated to friends-of-management, leaving the next tier for high-performing employees who are not plugged-in with management, including exceptional minority employees.”
IFPTE Letter Regarding NASA and 5 CFR S430.208
“It is with great sadness that I must provide you with compelling evidence that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been systematically violating 5 CFR S430.208 as well as the 14th amendment rights of its employees for at least the past six years.”
Keith’s note: This is a serious accusation – one that IFPTE needs to actually prove – i.e. with verifiable numbers, reports, statements, etc. “Mischief” does not a formal case make.
I can’t speak for other folks…..but one day over a beer, I’ll talk to you about the scarcity of flight controllers of color over the years…..
While I think that Lee may overstate things from time to time he has the data to support his case. This is also complicated because of the fact that there are fewer African American employees in the most senior positions and there is a bias towards higher graded employees. While the case is made for African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities are also affected
I’d like to see the hard numbers for career progression, age level in different programs, and evaluation by race, ethnic group, religion and age. NASA has had an official age discrimination policy for several years. Apparently NASA management and legal are unaware of Federal law.
The Administrator has been hostile to the unions since he arrived. Seems it might finally catch up to him! He has never taken these accusations seriously because he didn’t think he could be accused of race bias. But numbers don’t lie.
The entire country is inexplicably anti-union.
How about what has been going on within the senior leadership team against women? Two years ago women filled a growing number of leadership positions, CIO, Deputy for Exploration, Deputy for Policy, CFO and Deputy Administrator. All have since left NASA (or are on their way out in the next few weeks). If you talk with any of these women privately, they will tell you that the atmosphere on the 9th floor has turned toxic against women.
“the highest level often ends up preferentially allocated to friends-of-management”
Having worked at JSC for 8 years, in general, I’d have to agree with this statement. It is very much an old boys network.
Contrary to Keith’s opinion that it is up to the union to prove the charge, I would like to see NASA proactively provide the data to show that they do not discriminate.
I wonder if bias against blacks is there but camouflaged. Bolden said there have been times when he walks into a conference, where everyone is white and he is black, attendees look at him as if he is out of place [or maybe he is one of waiters]. Once he is identified as the NASA Administrator, then in a instant he becomes the smartest man at the conference. OK so we can debate if Bolden is an effective Adminstrator but that is another issue (there’s been plenty of white guys that were not effective administrators).
Which reflects the bias of the entire country. We have come a long way, but the end of discrimination is yet to be achieved.
The data does exist demonstrating a longstanding pattern…it would be interesting to look at the data associated with the complaints of racial discrimination and/or harassment that occurred over the same period of time. I have personally witnessed on more than one occasion that when someone files a complaint, their EPCS rating goes down – defying all evidentiary support and mathematical logic that would substantiate a higher rating: That’s retaliation, a tool that is wielded by many in management at NASA to instill and maintain an environment where employees – especially if you are a “minority” – do not feel comfortable having a dissenting opinion…but don’t take my word for it, just take a look at the data contained within the OPM surveys over the last several years. If a person only commits crimes some of the time, does that mean that they are not a criminal…?
Generally our host FIOIA’s information like this. The data is there, lower graded employees, below GS-13 get lower ratings, across the board than those 13 and above. SES employees do better than non-SES employees. Blacks and Hispanics do not get the ratings that their non-minority co-workers get. The Administrator knows and he is doing nothing about it.
“The Administrator knows and he is doing nothing about it.”
There are a lot more than the Administrator who know-in HSF take a look at the AAs and Program Managers who not only are fully aware but who are directly responsible.
I have seen at JSC that positions and promotions are given without regard to education or experience. If you don’t attain a certain GS level by an arbitrary age, usually around 40-45, then it will never happen. Whether you get a position or promotion has a lot to do with the organization you are part of. MOD has been very good about taking care of their people and when the MOD people took over management of the center and programs they started promoting their people into positions in other Directorates. We had one guy out of MOD in Life Sciences who had no clue what the organization was even responsible for. He was supposed to “represent us” but he did not have a clue.
I think it is really sickening when someone makes a major achievement, but if they have not been promoted or they are not in the right position, then the management does everything they can to hide the achievement and even to assign credit to others who had no involvement.
None of this should be too big a surprise. Look at what JSC is not producing or achieving today and at the outrageous costs they incur while not achieving anything.