qualified blacks and Puerto Ricans into the various apprenticeship programs.

As an association of manpower-related agencies, the National Puerto Rican Manpower Consortium is primarily concerned with the workers, and we feel that Mr. Brennan's background and intimate understanding and knowledge of the labor field qualifies him for the office of Secretary of Labor.

Senator PELL. Thank you very much indeed. I think we will hear from all four witnesses, and then we will direct our questions. Mr. Sierra.

STATEMENT OF JESUS SIERRA, CONCILIO DE ORGANIZACIONES PUERTORRIQUENAS DE FILADELFIA, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

Mr. SIERRA. My name is Jesus Sierra. I am here in my capacity of president of the Council of Puerto Rican Organizations of Philadelphia.

As perhaps you may have read in the press, it was I, as spokesman for the National Puerto Rican Manpower Consortium, the first Puerto Rican community leader to publicly endorse the nomination of Peter J. Brennan for the post of Secretary of Labor.

We have heard a lot about the Philadelphia plan and the New York plan. We have heard tales of successes and failures. As a Puerto Rican Philadelphian I know that the Philadelphia plan has not done anything to help Puerto Ricans get into the building trades, and I am not aware of any statistics that prove otherwise.

The New York plan has so far met 80 percent of its stated goals, opening the doors to Puerto Ricans and blacks.

The success of the New York plan can be traced to the intervention of Mr. Peter J. Brennan as the president of the Building Trades Council of New York State.

To put it simply, we believe that putting Mr. Brennan in the office of Secretary of Labor will mean that he will be pushing not only for the New York plan and the building trades, he will be pushing for all kinds of plans to help all kinds of workers in all the cities of the United States.

Because we believe that we are all to benefit from the expertise and background that Mr. Brennan brings to the post, we endorse his nomination and urge that he be confirmed to the office of Secretary of Labor. Senator PELL. Thank you very much.

Mr. Rodriguez, would you proceed, please?

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL PUERTO
RICAN COALITION, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Mr. RODRIGUEZ. My name is William Rodriguez. I am the national liaison officer for the National Puerto Rican Community Agencies, with a representative body of organizations providing services

throughout 10 States, within the Northeast, Southeast, and midwestern part of the United States.

As spokesman for the coalition, I am here today in support of the President's nomination of Mr. Peter J. Brennan for the Cabinet position of Secretary of Labor. The coalition would like it to be made clear at this time that this endorsement of Mr. Brennan is a nonpartisan decision made solely on the merits of Mr. Brennan's performance within the building trades on behalf of Puerto Ricans and other minorities.

Long before the cause of placing minorities within the building trades became a popular one, Mr. Brennan was waging his one-man conflict within the trade unions to place minorities. A one-man stand, because no one else had the courage to do so.

It may certainly be true that the figures are not as much or as impressive as we would like them to be, but on the other hand to singularly blame Mr. Brennan for the failure of others to cooperate on the many levels necessary to make any program a success would be, at the very least, an irresponsible act.

The National Puerto Rican Coalition feels that Mr. Brennan can, and will, have a definite input into the construction industries across the Nation, which will be beneficial to all minorities including the Puerto Rican, in terms of their entry into the building trades.

With Mr. Brennan's expertise in the New York plan, it is quite possible that similar plans in other cities may begin to function with his input.

The coalition's attitude toward Mr. Brennan is one of respect, a feeling which we believe is mutual. Mr. Brennan's stand on a higher minimum wage, and his aim to lower the unemployment rate, are just two areas which directly affect the Puerto Rican community and where we share an equal concern.

In the past, Puerto Ricans have had to depend on other minority groups to speak for us whether we preferred it or not. We feel this will not be the case with Mr. Brennan; his forthright and direct attitude suits us fine. It is our contention that Peter J. Brennan will want to speak to Puerto Ricans about Puerto Rican problems, and that suits us just fine.

Puerto Rican people suffer problems of great severity within this Nation, and although there has been some attention given to the Puerto Rican people, certainly not enough attention has been given to our problems.

If Mr. Brennan can deal with some of the toughest unions in this country, we certainly feel that, with his fair mindedness and the position of his office, he will be able to address himself to some of the tough problems facing one of the most deprived minorities in the United States.

It is with these thoughts in mind that we ask this Senate committee to confirm Mr. Peter J. Brennan as Secretary of Labor. Senator PELL. Thank you very much. Mr. Vazquez, please.

STATEMENT OF HECTOR VAZQUEZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PUERTO RICAN FORUM, INC.

Mr. VAZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My name is Hector Vazquez. I am executive director of the National Puerto Rican Forum, a private nonprofit community development agency. I am also a member of the steering committee of the National Puerto Rican Manpower Consortium, and a member of the National Spanish Speaking Manpower Advisory Commission to the Secretary of Labor.

Through the last 10 years, my agency has had a close working relationship with the Department of Labor. Many of our manpower programs have been funded by the DOL. Our greatest task has been to inform and convince Department officials of the needs, handicaps, and problems of Puerto Ricans to make them aware of the need of special outreach and training programs for our disadvantaged and unskilled workers.

Despite some progress made, and despite the past funding of a few programs which have been beneficial to the Puerto Rican workingman, we presently find it increasingly difficult to deal with the Department of Labor for lack of leadership in the Department. DOL operations are too critical to the welfare of the workingman, particularly those of minority extraction, for that Agency to be without a head for long.

Long-range planning and perspective are a vital part of the efforts to aid the American workingman to achieve his goals. For this, a continuous, knowledgeable, and persevering direction is necessary. We believe that Peter J. Brennan can provide that type of direction to the Department of Labor. We believe Mr. Brennan is an individual we can deal with on a realistic level to meet the requirements of Puerto Ricans as well as the rest of the Nation's working people.

We believe that the confirmation of Mr. Brennan to the post of Secretary of Labor will set in motion the mechanism suitable to achieve the goals of the labor community, and especially that of minority workers, the ones most in need of assistance.

The National Puerto Rican Forum supports the nomination of Peter J. Brennan for the office of Secretary of Labor and urges his confirmation as soon as possible.

Senator PELL. Thank you very much, indeed.

Senator Hathaway.

Senator HATHAWAY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Were you here at the time Congressman Rangel was testifying this morning?

Mr. VAZQUEZ. No, sir.

Senator HATHAWAY. He cited in his statement that, in the New York Plan, there were 800 people to be trained and only 585 minority group people were trained, and only 22 of those were admitted to the labor unions. Are you aware of these facts?

Mr. HERNANDEZ. Yes, Senator. That is not exactly correct. The goal of the New York Plan was 800, and the 22 that Mr. Rangel mentioned are the 22 individuals out of 640 who were able to become journeymen within 1 year's time. You understand that it usually takes 5 years in New York to become a journeyman.

The purpose and the intent of the New York Plan was not to bring in 800 minority workers and make them all journeymen within 1 year's time. By the way, the number is 34, and not 22. The intent of the New York Plan is to bring unemployables-particularly within the minority sector-into the building trades, and facilitate for them participating in an apprenticeship program at a later date to be able to join the ranks of the journeymen.

I think that is one of the areas that has been most misunderstood. The New York plan has been able to meet 80 percent of its goal within 1 year of its inception, and that includes the 3 months that were attributable to a strike in which the New York Plan was frozen for that time.

Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Senator, I would like to contribute to that also, because we have statistics based on research from the staff which came from the Department of Labor itself which said in the last 14 months 211 journeymen were placed in a plan known as RTP in New York; 400 placed in the State apprenticeship program; 150 journeymen placed with the Brotherhood of Painters and allied trades; and 34 placed in training programs.

According to these figures a total of 795 journeymen have been registered over the last 14 months. At least four other programs provide direct minority journeymen placement.

Once again we can trace all this back to the influence of Peter J. Brennan.

Senator HATHAWAY. Would you say that the number of minority people added to the union compares favorably with the number of nonminority people admitted during the same period of time?

Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Certainly not, Senator. We do not feel that they have, but once again when you were talking about the construction industries, and you were talking about the placement of minorities within the industries over the number of years that Mr. Brennan has been active, we feel that once again all that has been possible has been done.

We also feel that within his position he will be able to do more with, of course, the support of the minority people themselves.

Senator HATHAWAY. Do any of the others at the table want to comment?

Mr. VAZQUEZ. I would like to comment.

I think that the record of the construction trades is not the best, but it is better than even the civil service of New York City.

We have about an 8 percent Puerto Rican membership in the construction trades, and you find less than 2 percent in the New York City civil service. You have less than 1 percent in the school system, teachers.

I think the fact is that we are really underrepresented and I would like to see more action, Mr. Brennan-not only looking at the construction trades but taking a closter look at other industries, communications, the utilities. All the others have a very, very low rate of minorities, particularly the Puerto Rican.

Senator PELL. Thank you very much indeed, gentlemen, for being here.

Our next witness is Mr. William Lucy who is cochairman, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.

Welcome to the committee, Mr. Lucy, and please introduce those who are accompanying you.

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM LUCY, SECRETARY-TREASURER OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY, AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, ACCOMPANIED BY CHARLES HAYES, VICE PRESIDENT, AMALGAMATED MEATCUTTERS AND BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL-CIO; RICHARD PARRISH, DISTRIBUTIVE WORKERS OF AMERICA; AND WILLIAM H. SIMON, PRESIDENT OF LOCAL 6, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, AFL-CIO; REPRESENTING THE STEERING COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL COALITION OF BLACK TRADE UNIONISTS

Mr. Lucy. I am William Lucy, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. I am also a member of the five-man steering committee of the National Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. It is in this capacity that I appear before you today.

With me are Charles Hayes, vice president of the Amalgamated Meatcutters and Butcher Workmen of North America; Mr. William Simon, president of local No. 6, American Federation of Teachers; and Richard Parrish of the Distributive Workers of America and treasurer of the Negro American Labor Council.

Mr. Howard Sheffield of the United Auto Workers was to be with us but could not be here at the last minute.

I have here a prepared statement. However, in the interest of time, all my oral testimony will be a summary of that statement. I would like, however, to ask that the full statement be placed in the record. Senator PELL. Without objection, the full statement will be placed in the record.

(The statement referred to follows:)