Who Gets To Decide When And If Affirmative Action Is No Longer Needed?

The California Department of Transportation has stated that affirmative action programs are no longer necessary when it comes to hiring contractors and removed Latinos from their list of groups that qualify for affirmative-action programs. 

The Department, more commonly known as Caltrans, had not participated in an affirmative action program for four years until it began anew this month - without Latinos. Many are disappointed in Caltrans decision, including Julian Camacho, president of the Hispanic Contractors Association of California. Says Camacho:

I grew up in California; I remember when you would see signs that said ‘No Mexicans or dogs allowed. It took a long time for our people to wrestle ourselves out of the backbreaking labor of the fields. It took a long time to move from campesinos to owners of businesses. As a consequence we don’t have, as a class of people — Mexicans, mostly — a lot of accumulated wealth. The fact that we don’t is an effect of discrimination.

It does seem an odd choice to us at a time when the construction business and Latino workers in general are taking a hit in this recession but, then again, we could see how many, if not the majority of, construction and contract workers in certain areas of California would  identify as Latino. 

What’s interesting about Caltrans’ decision is the question of what the purpose of affirmative action programs is and what point will such federally-funded programs no longer be deemed necessary. But who gets to decide that - is it the people in charge of providing jobs, those who provide the labor, or third party groups? Is affirmative action no longer needed (if, of course, you’re of the opinion that such programs were necessary to begin with), when the majority or sizable portion of an industry’s workers are of a certain background, or when people of a certain background no longer have to scramble for labor intensive blue collar jobs?

What do you think?

Hispanic Contractors Removed From Caltrans’ Affirmative Action Program [Hispanic Business]