An ex-First Class Coach driver tells a St. Petersburg panel he was threatened and treated differently because he is black.
By MYDRIA CLARK
Published July 13, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - The threatening note on his windshield was the last straw for Larry Holmes.
Holmes, a longtime bus driver for First Class Coach/Martz Group Tampa Bay, testified Thursday before a hearing examiner on behalf of the city Community Affairs Department that he decided he would no longer put up with the lower-paying job assignments, harsher punishments and racial harassment that he'd been subject to as a black employee.
In 2001, he quit his job and filed a discrimination complaint against the St. Petersburg bus company where he'd worked since 1993.
The hearings, which ran from Wednesday to Friday, came after an 18-month investigation concluded there was racism involved.
On Feb. 26, 2001, Holmes received an anonymous note on his windshield that referred to him with a racial epithet. It said: "Fine your place like the other n----- around here." Two days later, he resigned.
Holmes believes the note was a threat from a co-worker. However, defense attorney Janet McEnery said there is no evidence that an employee was responsible.
"My client does not condone that note," McEnery said. "It's something they find reprehensible."
Stanley Johnson, general manager at First Class Coach, said discrimination is something he won't put up with, especially because he's a minority himself. Johnson came to the United States from India 34 years ago.
Johnson has been associated with the Martz Group for 23 years and became general manager two years ago. He was not managing the company at the time of Holmes' complaint.
Johnson said this is the first time he's heard of a formal discrimination complaint brought against the company.
But during the city's investigation, black former employees came forward about racial discrimination they had experienced at First Class Coach.
Roy Norris, who worked for the company from 1996 to 1999, testified that along with Holmes' complaints, black drivers often drove buses that had poor air conditioning and often broke down. Because of this, they were less likely to receive good tips, he said.
Norris also said black drivers were given Amtrak assignments, commonly known among the African-American employees as "the black trak."
Drivers complained about these local runs because they received lower hourly wages in contrast with higher daily pay for multiday, out-of-state trips with tour groups. Tour group jobs, which were considered the best, often were given to white counterparts, Norris said.
Jim Conner, sales manager at First Class Coach, said jobs are assigned based on availability, not race. He said dispatchers simply assign charters to the next person on the list.
"It doesn't make a difference who it is," he said.
The hearing examiner will make a recommendation to the Human Relations Board within 30 days. Should the hearing officer and the board find in favor of Holmes, there are several options. The board could order the bus company to stop discriminatory practices and perhaps require sensitivity training.
It also could order that Holmes receive attorney's fees, back pay and benefits.
If the bus company refused to comply, the case could wind up in court.
In addition to filing a discrimination complaint against First Class Coach, Holmes sought help from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
"A lot of us assumed that because of 1955 and the spotlight put on the busing industry that they were conducting themselves in concert with civil rights and the Constitution," said Sevelle C. Brown III, president of the conference's Florida chapter. "This case proves us wrong."
The SCLC is using the Holmes case to highlight its "Back to the Buses Campaign," which looks into discrimination in the transportation industry, including buses.
During the 1950s, civil rights groups achieved equal rights for black bus riders with the success of the Montgomery bus boycott and freedom rides. This year, the SCLC will campaign for equal rights for drivers.
