United Parcel Service driver Timothy Mapfumo says he's been ordered to take routes so dangerous he hired a security guard one Christmas.
"I have been forced to work in the slums and the ghettos in the worst part of Oakland," he says. "I was terrified . . . thought I was going to get my brains blown out."Mapfumo, a 15-year employee, believes he got the dangerous route - and not one he had requested in an affluent area - because he is black.
On Wednesday, he joined other black UPS employees in a class-action lawsuit charging they have been shut out of good assignments, promotions and have been punished for complaining of discrimination.
"These plaintiffs have filed this class-action lawsuit today because they're sick and tired of being sick and tired," Shannon Reeves, president of the Oakland chapter of the NAACP, said at a news conference announcing the suit.
"Racial discrimination in this company is like humidity. You can't see it but you can feel it," said William Lewis, a driver in San Bernardino and a 23-year UPS veteran.
The suit was filed in federal court in Oakland on behalf of employees in hourly and part-time supervisor positions. It seeks unspecified damages.
UPS responded with a statement declaring it "does not tolerate discrimination of any kind."
"We take any allegations of discrimination and mistreatment very seriously," spokesman Tom Pizzuti said.
The company said it has tried to address the allegations but said the employees raising the complaints haven't cooperated.
Suing employees painted a different picture.
Twelve of the named plaintiffs who appeared at the news conference said they have repeatedly complained to management, only to be brushed aside.
The 40-page suit includes claims of being paid less than non-blacks in similar positions, passed over for promotions in favor of non-blacks with less experience, and being the target of retaliation and racial epithets.
Among other things, the suit charges that management failed to adequately investigate the scrawling of racist graffiti at the San Bernardino hub of UPS.
"In fact, in April of 1997, UPS management directed that evidence be destroyed before an investigation could be conducted by law enforcement," the suit claims.