THE PASSION FOR RACIAL PREFERENCES

"Seattle is building a new monorail, and "officials are aiming to hire minority and female workers for one-third of the Green Line's 600 construction jobs, undaunted by a state law that forbids racial and gender preferences in public hiring." Here's how they evade the law:

Diversity targets are a cornerstone of a new labor agreement with 19 union locals that was signed yesterday by the monorail agency and union leaders.

Companies that win $1.3 billion in monorail design and construction contracts must hire mainly through the union halls, which in turn are expected to recruit "people of color" for at least 21 percent of the on-site workers and women for 12 percent of the jobs.

Jan Keiser, the project's contracts manager, claims the "goals" are not quotas, "because the companies and unions will not be penalized if they fall short." But then there's this: "She added that companies will be judged partly on their diversity plans when two teams of builders bid for the $1.3 billion contract this summer." Perhaps this is all technically legal, but it certainly sounds as if the state is taking great pains to avoid acting in the spirit of the law. If the discrimination in question were against minorities, no one would dream of tolerating it."

From "Opinion Journal"