Noted for
LARRY E. PITTMAN and SYLVESTER )
PITTMAN, MICHAEL PITTMAN, ) No.
99-2-52345-8 KNT
TERRANCE A. DAVIS, KEITH KERN, )
YOLANDA ESKRIDGE, MICHAEL ) DECLARATION OF KEITH KERN IN
DAVIS, GREGORY CODY, DAVID ) OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT’S
LISTIOWEL ABRUQUAH, ARTHUR ) MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
JOSEPH A. DONKOR, DARREL CODY, ) PITTMAN,
SYLVESTER PITTMAN,
MARY COLEMAN, ERIC ARHIN, ) RELASHIA
SEARLES AND JAMES
SHABAE DIQUAN, SIDNEY LANIER, ) GOODE AND IN OPPOSITION TO
RE-LASHIA SEARLES, JAMES GOODE, ) DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR
CURTIS HOLLIS, and BENJAMIN ) SUMMARY
JUDGMENT TO DISMISS
BARNES, individually, ) PLAINTIFFS
ABRUQUAH, BARNES,
)
plaintiffs, )
v. )
)
a
defendant. )
____________________________________)
I, Keith Kern, declare:
I am a plaintiff in this case.
I started working as a direct full
time employee at King’s Command Foods in
In 1996 I was employed as a meat
grinder. This job consisted of opening
the boxes and removing the 60 to 70 pounds of meat contained inside each
box. Place this meat into a grinder
machine. This grinder machine is very
large, it handles up to 2,500 pounds of meat at a time. Thus I was opening a large number of these
60-70 pound boxes all at once. The
machine handled a batch of meat in about 15 minutes, doing about 4 batches per
hour. Each batch would consist of 15 to
17 boxes. Therefore, I was required to open and place into the grinder over 60
boxes of meat per hour. That would
amount to about 3,600 to 4,800 pounds of meat in an hour.
This is a lot of physical labor.
The pay rate at which I started is
about $9.00 per hour. I worked with
chicken from 1996 through April 1999.
The chicken was done two different ways.
One way, which was the bulk of my work starting in 1996, used the vacuum
carbon dioxide tube blender. This would
blend the chicken meat with spices and other ingredients, and then freeze it
with the cold carbon dioxide gas. The
other method was to place the chicken meat into a vacuum tumbler machine. This machine sucked the spices and
ingredients in to the meat, and then dumped it into tubs for the cooking line. I started working the tumbler in May
1997. At that particular time, we had a
large number of orders for the tumbled chicken, and we thus worked considerable
overtime. I was placed in charge of that
line, I was the line lead. I supervised
the other employees who worked with me on that line. However, I still received the same hourly pay
that I had previously received, which at that time, was $11.70 per hour. I was never given the higher rate of pay called
for in the collective bargaining agreement.
Darryl Cody was a head machine
operator, Greg Cody was the head grinder on the swing shift, these two and
myself were the only black people in lead positions. All of the other leads were white. I was a line lead only for a part of the
week. I started as line lead for three
days of the week, and then it reduced to two days per week. I always “put in”, that is I filled out a
form, asking for the higher rate of pay for when I served as a line lead. But I was never paid the higher rate of pay.
I often complained about not
receiving the line lead pay, but I never heard the white line leads complain
about not receiving their line lead pay.
I have heard them say that they received their line lead pay.
I stopped doing the line lead and
the grinder work in April 1999 due to health problems. I suffered from a kidney failure that
requires me to go through kidney dialysis treatment to this day. After that month I was attached to the red
meat department. In that department I
cut meat for fajitas, cube steaks, and other recipes that call for sliced and
cut meat. I did this until the end of my
employment. I also worked as a “rover”
where I was assigned to wherever they needed additional help.
The other employees assigned to the
red meat department received their red meat pay per the collective bargaining
agreement. At that time, the contract
called for $12.70 per hour for the red meat workers. However, I was paid at $11.70 per hour, the
grinder’s pay. I was constantly putting
in paperwork requesting the red meat pay, and I was always denied the red meat
pay rate. I never heard the white people
in the red meat department complain about not getting the red meat pay rate,
they often said they received that pay rate.
Whenever we did relatively easy work, the white employees were always
saying things like “I don’t believe that I am getting $12.70 per hour doing
this stuff.” I would get angry because I
was not getting $12.70 per hour doing the same work. It was only after this lawsuit was served in
November 1999, was the only time that I actually received the red meat pay
rate. Then I quit in December 1999 for
medical reasons.
During the entire time of my
employment, the my immediate supervisor, Robert Thomas, always referred to me
as “nigger”, “boy”, and cracking racial jokes and other comments. He would say things like “What’s up my
nigger?” “I don’t do that kind of work, that’s nigger work.” “You are never
going to be the man I am, boy.” “Whip your tail out and climb up there and get
that box for me.” This last comment was
likening me to a monkey. Every day he
was always calling me “loser”, and the other epithets herein above
described. He would tell racists jokes
to Kirk McCoy, the plant foreman and he would just smile and walk away. He never told Robert Thomas not to talk like
that.
I always indicated to Mr. Thomas
that I did not appreciate that stuff. I
would say things like “Man, I don’t play that game.” Sometimes he would goad me into calling him a
name back. The only racial thing I would
say, and it was only because of the never ending racial comments he made
towards me, is that I would sometime call him “honkey” or “cracker”. He was the only person to whom I made such
statements. I did not do that often.
I certify
under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of
Respectfully submitted and sworn to,
_______________________________
Keith Kern, plaintiff
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