Oct. 3, 2002 – Former employees of Hovensa contractors say they were fired after decades of service because they failed to pass a reading test. A refinery executive and a contractor say it's so, but that federal regulations gave them no choice. A lawyer representing the workers says the testing is an excuse to eliminate high-wage workers.
Theopholous Williams, 58, a sandblaster foreman, lost his job in August after being told he failed the literacy test. Williams says he can read the labels on paint cans and all of the signs in the Hovensa refinery. He also says he never had a single accident in the 32 years he worked at the refinery under five different contractors, advancing from a starting salary of $2.50 up to $19.50 an hour.
As foreman, Williams says, he was authorized to sign permits allowing workers access to different areas of the plant. He also conducted three-week training programs for new sandblasters and trained other workers approved for job upgrades.
"I work very safe, and the guys I work with, I tell them, 'Let's do our best in here. We came here in one piece; let's go home in one piece,'" Williams said on Thursday.
Matthias Matthews, 53, says he lost his job as a foreman with Jacobs-IMC, where he often supervised crews of up to 20 workers, after being given 12 minutes to complete a 50-question test. The first time he took the Safety Comprehension Test, Matthews says, managers at Jacobs-IMC didn't give him the test results but sent him to a Hovensa-sponsored remedial reading course. He says he initially attended the classes, but later stopped going.
When company managers told him on Aug. 2 that he had failed the second test, he was let go. "After 28 years, for somebody to call you in the office and tell you you're fired, it's not an easy thing," he said.
Hovensa corporate spokesman Alex A. Moorhead says there was no question about the ability of the men to do their jobs; the issue was their ability to read. "Hovensa cannot ignore this problem," he said in a statement issued Wednesday, " if for no other reason because of the fact that the longer that we allow maintenance workers who cannot read safety material to continue working in the refinery, the more likely that an incident will occur in which a worker causes injury to himself or a co-worker because of that deficiency."
Moorhead, Hovensa's vice president for government affairs and community relations, said all workers employed by maintenance contractors have to pass the safety test.
Several months ago, Hovensa arranged the remedial reading classes at the refinery for workers who did poorly on the literacy test. According to Moorhead, some resisted, saying they were too old to learn, or too embarrassed, or that their job performance and seniority were proof of their safety awareness.
Leroy Mitchell, general manager of Triangle Construction and Maintenance Corp., which had employed Matthews and Williams for the past five months, said times are changing, and workers who want to keep their jobs have to change, as well. Mitchell says he expects 10 to 15 percent of his work force may be dismissed for lack of reading skills.
Mitchell said Hovensa wants all 300 of his workers tested for literacy. "This test is an OSHA [the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration] requirement that has been in existence for a long time, and folks have been breaking the rules by not taking the test," he said. "Now we are being told we have to shape up or get out."
Attorney Lee J. Rohn says she had one client already suing Triangle and Hovensa over the literacy testing when several more showed up with similar complaints. So, she filed an amendment in Territorial Court on Thursday, to be effective Friday, converting the case into a class-action lawsuit.
While Hovensa management says workers must demonstrate that they can read warning signs and safety instruction, Rohn says they should be able to demonstrate their safety skills.
"They don't have the test in Spanish," she said. "They don't read the test to those who don't know how to read." She added, "These are guys who have been working up to 32 years, who are training new employees — and then the older employees were terminated for not passing the test."
Until now, Mitchell said on Thursday, "We had a grandfather system" which protected the jobs of longtime workers who lacked literacy skills. "There are some people who are good with their hands," he said, "but these same people can't pass a test. It's a fact of life."
He added, "We wanted them for their skills, but now we have to protect ourselves from the court."
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