Durham City Workers Union holds protest to call attention to 'racist hiring, promotional practice'

According to The Durham City Workers Union, racism is rampant in hiring and promotions in many City departments. On Thursday, they decided to fight in an effort to stop it.

The union held a "speak out" Thursday evening to call attention to the issues.

Their list includes a number of things, such as ending what they claim to be racist hiring and promotional practices, and remedying what they call chronic under-staffing.

A representative for the union said there are "countless" examples of discrimination in city departments - workers getting passed over for promotions. due to the color of their skin, she said.

The representative said they are bringing attention to the long-time issue now because the city is currently working on a restructuring plan that deals with how employees are classified, and how much money they make.

The union fears the new plan has arbitrary components that could be enacted in ways that promote racism.

"So, issues we've had for a long time in racism for promotion and hiring, and racism in discipline, these things are being aggravated by these new changes that the city is going through for the restructuring," said Sarah Vukelich.

During Thursday event, the union called on City Council not to approve the restructuring plan until their concerns are addressed.

WRAL requested comment from the City of Durham but they declined an interview.