Please are you really kidding me dont white people have a right to work.

it's funny, because my hubby is an out of work laborer for the last 2+ yrs and when i drive by construction sites, i often wonder the exact opposite.....

Noone is saying white people shouldn't work. The issue is lack and I repeat lack of African American workers. Everyone deserves to work. Equal opportunities for all!!

When can white people start complaining about the "lack" of white workers on job sites?

It might be a lack of skilled labor as opposed to all the guys who THINK they're qualified. The white people in that category are also out of work. And let's not forget that in Chicago it's who you know most of the time. Find out what tavern the boss or employees hang out at and spend some time chatting them up. I thought people get work through their union. Are some unions discriminating between black and white members?

Where were all of these people at when the applications where being handed out. I am sure these firms had to advertise that help would be needed. Firms never have enough help they are awarded big jobsites to build.

Blacks represent 13% of the population. 1 in 3 black males, aged 20-29, are under some form of criminal supervision, whether imprisoned,jailed,on probation or parole. Black males, 30-34 have the highest incarceration rate of any ethnicity. 63.5 % of blacks graduate from high school in 4 years. That doesnt leave a lot of qualified prospects. These are all published stats.

It's also mentioned that they wanted other (black) contractors selected. Isn't this a bid process? What do they expect to happen to the currently firm and it's workers?

Maybe the most qualified were hired. I have, relatives who are highway laborers and are regularly transferred off a location so less qualified black workers can take their place. How about an equal number of Irish,Hispanic, Greek,etc workers?

Sick n tired of these people playing the race card!

the person in the article tends to forget Beverly is predomanately caucasion.

Minority contactor or not, they can not perform in a neat and workmanlike manner!! Thats why the unions have apprentice programs for 5 yrs to fully understand and perform the scope of work given. I don't understand why people hate unions. They should hate the non unions because lack of skill and knowledge. Frankly, all non union contractor SUCK!!!!!

These are mainly union jobs.. You're chasing the wrong people on site.. Go block the union halls and talk to reps.. Usually the jobs go by seniority. If you're high up you have a chance for a job.. If not, sit at home with the hundreds of thousands of unemployed tradesmen and laborers..If the gov't doesn't start enforcing tougher tariffs on imports, our factories will never reopen..Obama...Romney!!! Are you listening!! WE NEED JOBS< invest in the US and Stop supporting all these other countries!!>> IT"S OUR TAX DOLLARS..STOP SENDING IT OVERSEAS..WE NEED HELP HERE..RIGHT HERE, IN THE U.S.!!!

These properties being developed are in Evergreen Park, not Chicago. However, the expectation is that many of the customers will be from the south side of Chicago.

Still, the businesses who are paying for construction of the developments should have the right to hire the companies they want to hire, based on who is qualified, not race, not sex but skill set.

Race card always has to be pulled out.

Black families shop at the popular Evergreen Plaza!? Has anyone stepped foot in there in the last 5 years? More empty stores than full and it is like a ghost town! Jobs should go to the most qualified and responsible people regardless of race or sex. Stop playing race card. Work hard and be responsible and the jobs will come to you!!

These are skilled workers and tradesmen that have been out of work for years too. Some that I know have had to travel out of state to find work. A lot of them go through an apprenticeship and pass through background checks and drug tests. If these other people have not been given a 'fair' chance, why don't they go to the union halls and sign up to work from the bottom up!

How many white workers are there at Sam's, Walmart,or any of the other stores around there?

I believe the most qualified person gets the job ,why are we forced to hire someone due to their race ???

Because it wonldnt be fair, duh!! But you already knew that.

Really? Most of the community this is being built in is white. Funny that once these stores open you'll be hard pressed to find a white person working inside them. Union labor is the best skilled labor and they don't discriminate. There should be no such thing as a minority contractor-- they should just be contractors and they should be hiring the most qualified labor in the order they are on the books.

The comment reading was more informative and insightful than he article. My husband and I are both displaced white construction workers, don't see us complaining that someone else is working regardless of their race. Instead of complaining about the lack of black workers why don't those who are unemployed return to school to increase their appeal instead of wasting their day complaining about others who are working.

I am a white male who has worked in the construction industry for 25 years! This kind of stuff drives me crazy. Who is this guy to walk onto a construction site and question who is working there? In this economy, you better believe the men working on these sites are top notch tradesman!! I've got news for you, there is no seniority rules on these sites , the best survive and the rest sit at home. Nobody cares if you are black, white, green or purple! Construction is a highly competitive industry and the contractors higher the people that give them the best shot To survive and make money! That's it! I read this man is a millionaire? Go into your community, find competent and skilled tradesman and give them the financial backing to go into business? Let them join the bidding process and go after the work. If there numbers are right and they can hire competent skilled tradesman to do the work in a professional matter they'll get it! Nothing is free!!! Put your money where your mouth is! Good luck!

EP resident,
I removed your comment. Please feel free to repost without the profanity, which is a violation of Patch's terms of use. We encourage all readers to review the terms of use, patch.com/terms.

We live in EP & I want to know if that guy walked in any of those stores? Majority black employees. I will never shop at Plaza. I ran into Carson's last summer out of desperation. Like Walmart, all black employees who obviously hate whites. Then I just went to Target and was never treated so rudely. Even my 6 yo granddaughter asked why the ladies are so mean ther. Sad. I'm so sick of this. Been to EP Post office? Birth is quicker! Our son has been looking for work for 4years. He's an Iraq vet who lives with us & his wife & 3 kids. He was laid off 2wks before becoming a journeymen in painters union. How bout why aren't there white employees @ SAMs Walmart Plaza ? Sick of OWING and will shop where it's white employees that actually like their jobs & treat us with respect. Guess because I don't OWE them. You can bet Menards & Meijet will have all black employees. Anyone remember Walmart? I've never seen a white CTA driver or white Pace driver. Hmmm!

Wow, have seldom read so many racist comments in one Patch article. Thanks for living up to the stereotype of the southwest side, folks!

Look, if you want to get more African Amreicans working in the construction industry, there are two ways of doing it; the "Jesses Jackson" way (boycott and picket, then give up once the business bribes him and his family to go away) or the fair way.

The biggest obstacles to African Americans being able to fairly compete for these jobs are the unions and the Democratic Party.

The union hiring agent decides who of the membership gets to work and who doesn't. This is primarily based upon seniority...and who's paying the hiring agent under the table. Seniority always brings us back to the "bad old days" where you either needed some "clout" to get into an apprencitceship program, or had enough money to bribe your way in.

The way around this is to make all public and private construction "open shop" where African American and Hispanic contractors can knock the socks off of the unioin competition. unfortuantely, many African American contractors oppose this because they're "juiced in" to the union, Dem Party system, and general contractors are politically forced to hire certain minority subcontracting firms that support the "right" candidates and make the "right" campaign contributions. Often these "minority" firms are actually just fronts for crooked white owners (usually tied into the Dem Party). A minority owns 51% and becomes a figurehead while the REAL white or Hispanic owner is paid all the corporations profits through his salary.

The only way for honest minority workers and contractors to get a fair shake is to remove the "union advantage" in state law and PLAs and let ALL responsible qualified contractors bid on the work, and if the African American contractor is able to get it done for the lowest price, they should get the work and be able to hire who they want, AS LONG AS THEY DON"T DISCRIMINATE WITH RESPECT TO RACE, CREED, COLOR, OR PLACE OF NATIONAL ORIGIN!
Equal opportunity is double edged sword. It cuts both ways!

Getting rid of the union restrictions and de-politicizing public and private contracting is the only FAIR way to level the playing field for African American Construction Workers.

There's tremendous pent up demand for construction and renovation work at pay of a about $25 per hour, but that demand dries up when $45 per hour union wages are demanded and forced upong the community.

Rock Bobster why don't you go run for Republican office somewhere else. Union busting-- that's disgusting.

Why is a rational discussion with differing viewpoints racist? That word should be banned from use.

I love these stories. As someone who has worked on the office side of construction for 15 years it sickens me to see how I HAVE to give monrities jobs. It's not an option. When working on the CHA projects I had to hire residents of the projects to sit there and do nothing and make almost $40 an hour, because the few that I did have work ALWAYS got hurt and sued us, so instead we had them sleep to get our minority participation. I cannot work on 90% of my jobs unless more than half of the workers are minorities and I have minority and women subcontractos doing work for us. When we are not required to hire minority or city workers, we get calls saying were racists, or employees on out jobsites get beat up, robbed, threatened, you name it. This is a joke.

The sad part about is that all these African American contractors do not invest in the African American community ... If you travel the African American communities, you constantly see properties being rehabbed by white (Polish Immigrants) and Hispanic laborers. It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that these folks are non union. Where are the protests at these locations? Non existent that's where.

This contractor/labor beef is a non issue to the Beverly,MG,MP communities. Our concern rests with the potential traffic,safety and environmental issues soon to be visited upon us for years to come. For generations we have supported scores of EP institutions from medical care, food purveyors including restaurants, plaza stores, and our most affluent tee it up at BCC with 9 holes in EP. We have been good neighbors and along comes Sexton, desperate for revenue to pay for generous labor contracts ,and let's remove hundreds of trees and as Joanie Mitchell said back in the day "..... put up a parking lot....". Now we hear he is having problems with minorities and filling other parcels for lease. Too bad so sad and his pal Penny Pritzker should have been pressured ,but some know the rest of that story.
Our contigous suburbs have formed a sort of small city with Beverly as the anchor.
In fact SJF is within West Bev. and EP. Now we have this unfortunate animosity toward our neighbors and it will only increase in intensity and sources tell me thousands will boycott not only the Sexton Show but all EP.

Sorry to say Brian none of Beverly Country Club is located in Evergreen Park

Hey rock bobster, you go to a 5 yr apprenticeship program and work for 25 an hour. You can stick it up your can!! That's like telling a doctor to go to med school and work for 10 dollars an hour. Unions deserve the pay scale they receive because of the SCHOOLING and the SAFETY training that comes with it you ignorant tool. People, let's not forget that America was built by unions and will continue to be built by unions!! Not the non unions

Oh, why don't you tell the folks what your union does to any desperate worker who takes a job at less than union scale?

The last I heard was that they were fined $10,000! Stop this BS about the unions being for the "working person". They want your dues and don't care how many good workers are out of work as long as their buddies are making 50% over the average wage for theri job!

I wish I didn't have to say this about Obama's designated home town, but the construction unions are racist. It is obvious that they have been keeping young black men out of the construction apprenticeship programs since the days of Washburne Trade School. When the school of 17 union apprenticeship programs was integrated in the 1960s, the unions began to pull their training programs out to the suburbs. The school close in 1993 with only two programs. There are qualified black contractors and union workers, but for the most part most black youth cannot get the training they need because of this institutional racism. That this is a proven fact in Obama's 2012 America, Chicago and its surrounding communities should be ashamed that they are perpetuating crime in segregated black neighborhoods instead of hope.

I just have one thing to say.... Undoubtedly these stores will hire african americans to work in them so doesnt it all work out? Ive never seen anyone protesting the lack of white people working in wal mart, sams, shoe carnival,sallys, etc etc. Seems ridicolous to me to protest especially when there are hundreds of union members out of work! Smh!

Why do some comments get rejected this is crsp

jb lets not forget they get the month of feb when do white people get a month just sayin

We don't get a month, that is racial against us ? Go figure, and WE are the racist community, I am so sick of this pity party. Get a job like my husband and I did, raise your kids to be good, kind human beings, don't live off the government and expect me to pity you. I have many family and friends out of work and they are not blaming another race! Excuses for bad behavior