False promises

"Sheila" was a top student. Then her school found out that she's a dominatrix. Now Sheila's not a student at all.

Cityscape by Sarah McNaught

As far as Chungchi Ché is concerned, two years' worth of investigations by the attorney general and reviews by a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority-appointed civil rights task force have done little to end the blatant discrimination minority workers face at the MBTA.

The 49-year-old Green Line trolley operator, who comes from Hong Kong, has been on medical leave for more than two years as a result of stress that he attributes to the "hard-core discriminatory practices" of his supervisors at the T.

In 1986, Ché alleges, he was denied a promotion because of his "broken English." His supervisor wrote: "Although I understand him, I can visualize communication difficulties under some stressful situations. Otherwise he is qualified." Ché also claims that in 1995 he was forced to take a drug and alcohol test after he was involved in a car accident while driving a company vehicle, though Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regulations do not require post-accident testing. Ché was ordered to submit to the tests even after the MBTA ruled the accident "nonpreventable."

That same year, Ché says, while he held a chief inspector position, he was punished for writing a note to another supervisor about dry leaves piling up around switch heaters. Ché had written the note in an assignment block posted on the wall of the trolley yard, just as his supervisor and several other chief inspectors often did. He was interrogated about the incident without his union representative present, and he was ultimately demoted to driving a streetcar because his supervisor said the memo was left in an "unauthorized" manner.

Ché believes the rough treatment is linked to his ethnic background and his reputation as a critic of the MBTA's racial practices. He currently has two discrimination cases pending against the MBTA in superior court, and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) has just found probable cause for a third.

"I have worked for the T for 16 years. During that time I have been the target of harassment and retaliation for speaking out against discrimination, and I am not alone," says the Somerville resident. "As a member of the Concerned Minority Employees of the MBTA, I just want to know: When are things going to change?"

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One year ago this month, the MBTA appeared to be well on its way to creating a discrimination-free environment for its employees. But although T spokespeople say the agency is doing much better today than it was a few years ago, workers say the problems have not gone away. The attorney general and the governor, who are responsible for supervising the T's progress, don't appear to have done their jobs, and desperate employees are turning to local minority leaders for help.

Last April, the FTA and the T's own civil rights task force -- hand-picked by former MBTA general manager Patrick Moynihan -- each submitted reports on the race problems that have plagued the MBTA for years, and proposed possible solutions. The MBTA says it has taken many of those suggestions, but the number of discrimination complaints continues to grow. MCAD officials say they received 59 complaints against the MBTA from employees in 1997 -- 12 more than in 1996. Forty discrimination complaints against the T were filed with the attorney general's office last year. And the MBTA registered 86 internal discrimination complaints between July 1, 1997, and January 6, 1998.

Members of the civil rights task force say they have been left in the dark as to the progress of the agency's antidiscrimination work. According to chairman James Cofield, MBTA general manager Robert Prince appears to have dismantled the group without even notifying its members.

"We have never been called back in to monitor or even respond to the MBTA's adoption of our suggestions, although we made our continuing participation part of the final report," says Cofield. "The rumor is we have been disbanded, although no one has contacted us about it."

MBTA press secretary Brian Pedro says that the task force's job is done and that the group, for all intents and purposes, has consequently been dissolved. "We're thinking of getting another group together that is more diverse to implement the next phase of the initiative," says Pedro.

MBTA employees, task force participants, and local minority leaders believe the only true way to gauge the T's dedication to racial justice is to review the monthly progress reports the agency has been ordered to file with the attorney general. But the AG's office claims that legal snafus have kept it from releasing the documents, even though they are public information.

"We are very concerned about what the MBTA is actually reporting to the attorney general," says Lenny Alkins, president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP. "We have to question whether or not the MBTA is honestly submitting accurate complaint statistics." Alkins says the attorney general's refusal to release the reports, after the NAACP filed a Freedom of Information Act request and followed up with numerous phone calls, may force the NAACP to take legal action.

Ed Cafasso, press secretary for Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, says legal personnel have spent the past few months reviewing each of the 2000 pages submitted by the MBTA to delete confidential information from parts of the report before releasing it to the public.

"We are within a week to 10 days of releasing 1300 pages of monthly reports from the MBTA," says Cafasso. "We are also very close to releasing a very frank public status report on the compliance and noncompliance of the MBTA to the agreement it signed with the attorney general in February of 1996."

Cafasso is referring to a deal drafted by the AG outlining steps the MBTA must take in order to resolve its discrimination issues. The monthly reports are among several steps stipulated in the agreement.

Not satisfied with the efficiency of the attorney general's office, CME members have called on Acting Governor Paul Cellucci to step in.

"Only your leadership can order the MBTA to adopt the MBTA Civil Rights Task Force's Report and Recommendations . . . and make the MBTA a better place to work for everybody," reads the group's March 23 letter to Cellucci.

Although the governor has not responded to the letter, his press office told the Phoenix: "The governor has put his full confidence in [MBTA general manager] Bob Prince. The governor believes [Prince] is handling this matter and is on top of the issue."

Members of the task force, however, say Prince is so far from being "on top of the issue" that he doesn't even seem to know the status of the group's report. "I have yet to be allowed to present the [task force findings] to the board of directors, and our request for a follow-up has never been executed," says James Cofield.

The MBTA says that the report was going to be submitted to the board shortly after it was completed last April, but that the attempt was aborted when an unrelated argument brought the board meeting to a halt. According to Brian Pedro, Cofield was invited back at a later date and couldn't make it.

In an attempt to intervene, the NAACP's Alkins met with Prince in December of 1997. Alkins says that Prince promised he would personally deliver the report to the board in January, but the January meeting never occurred.

Moreover, the promise itself revealed a shaky grasp of the situation. "None of this really matters because the former chairman [Patrick Moynihan] had already presented [the report] to the board in June of 1997," says Pedro. "I'm not sure why Bob was unaware of that presentation."

The MBTA is clearly reluctant to admit that a race problem still exists at the agency, and the AG and the governor appear to be turning a blind eye to the situation. To Chungchi Ché, it all "sends a clear message that even in the '90s, discrimination is condoned by our leaders.

"I don't know why they think an entire state is stupid enough to overlook the hard evidence that discrimination remains a major problem, just by telling people everything is all right," says Ché. "It's time the MBTA realized that people like me, who have been wronged because of their race, gender, or religion, don't just go away."

Sarah McNaught can be reached at smcnaught[a]phx.com.