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 LARRY E. PITTMAN
DAVIS, GREGORY CODY, DAVID ) IN 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, Larry E. Pittman, declare:
I am a plaintiff in this case.
I have read the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment to
Dismiss Plaintiffs Michael Pittman, Sylvester Pittman, Relashia Searles and James
Goode and the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment to Dismiss Plaintiffs
Abruquah, Barnes,
I started working as a direct full
time employee at King’s Command Foods in
In 1997 I was employed as a
condensation technician. My
responsibility was to remove the liquid water that would condense on to every
pipe that I could reach. I used paper
towels to wipe the water off the pipes.
I removed card board trash from the plant and placed it in the
dumpster. I kept the floors clear of
standing water. While at Interim I was
paid $7.50 per hour. After hiring in
direct to King’s Command I earned more than $9 per hour. This job took me all over the plant, I was
never trapped in any one location. In
the mornings, I helped set up the machinery, which consisted of setting up the
conveyor belts in a chain at each production line.
As a condensation technician, it was explained to me that my responsibilities would grow to include maintaining dry storage, maintaining coolers, helping maintenance and freezer people, cleaning the outside of the building, and all around handy man. After six months I asked for a raise, and I was informed by Dave Horn and Terry Smith that the only way that I would receive a raise would be to go to the union and get reclassified. I went to the union, talked to Steve Conway, and he told me that since I was the only person in my department that he had no problem reclassifying me. The union reclassified me to building maintenance. After returning to work and telling Dave Horn and Terry Smith that the union reclassified me, they told me that the classification that I received from the union would not merit a raise in pay rate. They also told me that I could not transfer to a different position or get a promotion to a different position or get paid out of class pay for doing out of class work.
Therefore, for three years, I was unable to get any reclass, transfer, promotion, or any raise in pay rate other than a cost of living increase through the union contract.
When Terry Smith posted opening on the bulletin board for machine operators, I would apply. Terry Smith told me that I could apply as many times as I wanted, but that I would never get a transfer or promotion. When I asked him what he was doing with all the applications, he told me that he threw them in the trash. If I did not like my job, I knew where the door was.
Under these circumstances, I sometimes performed grinder work, put in paperwork asking for the grinder rate of pay, but I did not receive the grinder pay. This paperwork was thrown in the trash right in front of my face. Same thing happened when I performed maintenance work, clean up work, lead work on the weekend, I never received the higher hourly rates of pay called for in the union contract for such work.
I filed a grievance with the union, I had a meeting set up with the union in November 1999 to talk over these issues, but I was fired two days before the meeting. King’s Command claimed that the reason was for six “occurrences”, which means a series of tardies and absences total up to that many occurrences. However, at least one and a half of these “occurrences” is a company trick. What it is, is that I put in paperwork at least two weeks in advance of a planned absence. This absence was approved by management. I took the day off as planned. But they claim that I made a mistake and took a different day off than was approved. This planned absence was for a medical appointment involving my wife. I brought the note from the physician stating that I was at his office on that date. Management after the fact claimed that I had asked for and received approval for taking off a Tuesday, not the Monday that I had actually asked for and was actually informed was approved. This turned out to be the sixth occurrence, and they then fired me.
Previous to this last incident, I came to work sick, on time, I was told that if I worked half a day, I would receive half an “occurrence”. I simply could not make it through the day because of the illness. I went to management, explained that I was sick, and they said that since I had worked half the day, that they would only give me half of an occurrence if I took the rest of the day off. But when I got back, they gave me a full occurrence. Their reason: that I had left ten minutes before I would have made half of the day. I was told on that day, that I had completed the four hours of work and that I was able to go home and incur only half of an occurrence.
Terry Smith and Venetia Magnuson told me that I did not have any rights. Mr. Smith said “Boy, you do not have any rights, we are a multimillion dollar company and there is nothing you can do to hurt us as long as you are an employee, you will do what we say, when we say it.” Three days later, he fired me. I no longer had to do what they said and how they said it.
I was repeatedly physically assaulted while on the job by Kirk McCoy. He told me: “Boy, it comes with the job.” By physical assault: I mean that Mr. McCoy took his fist, hit me in the chest hard enough for me to fall against the wall and then he hit me in the right shoulder. He did this enough times and with enough force that I had to see a physician and get medical treatment for it. He did this four or five times per day, five days per week, for almost three years.
Terry Smith, the supervisor, saw Mr. McCoy hitting me. Mark Wallace, purchasing agent, saw him hit me. Tom Butler, freezer foreman, saw him hit me. Doug Nance, maintenance supervisor, saw it. Pete Dewitt, quality control supervisor, saw him hit me. Numerous other employees also witnessed this. When I tried to defend myself, Mr. Smith and Mr. Wallace surrounded me to help Mr. McCoy. They were not defending me. They told me that I could not hit Mr. McCoy or that I would be fired. They took no action that I witnessed to stop Mr. McCoy’s physical assaults.
Robert Thomas often and repeatedly called me “nigger” “spook” “bro” “boy” and other offensive terms with and without Terry Smith, Kirk McCoy and other high ranking personnel being present to witness. I was also told by Kirk McCoy “Why do they call it justifiable homicide when the police kill a black man?” and his answer: “Black man’s birth control is cheaper than a condom.” I was forced to do work that was degrading and they would laugh at me after I had done it. Example of such degrading work: I would have to go outside, crawl in the dumpster, lay in water on my belly, when the water is two feet deep, and stick my head in the sewer. This was to remove a plug in the sewer. There were white men out there pumping it out, but it started to rain hard, so they called me to go out there and do it, while they stood inside laughing. After we were done removing the plug, I went inside, punched out the time clock, to go home. On the way out the door, Kirk McCoy said “Boy, where do you think you are going? You did not ask me if you can go home. I’m the boss around here, tell me whose the boss?” He kept repeating: “Whose the boss, boy? Me or you?” I told him, “If you’re the boss, I want a raise or promotion, and if you cannot get that right now, you ain’t shit. Cause I quit.”
I got my stuff and went home. That was the start of my scheduled vacation. This was about November or December 1998.
I went back to work because they called and told me they were sorry, and that they would work it out with me to get me a raise and promotion. Year and a half later, I still did not have any raise or promotion. They told me from that point on, that Kirk McCoy was no longer my boss, and that Pete Dewitt would be. Kirk McCoy continued to punch me as above described. He continued to call me “boy” and other racially offensive terms.
I asked Pete Dewitt about this. He said: “Larry, there comes a time when a company won’t do any more for you, all you can do is leave. And you’re at that point with this company.” Meaning, he wasn’t going to do anything for the racial slurs, the physical assaults, and the lack of raises and promotions. He did once try to talk to Dave Horn. Dave Horn was Terry Smith’s boss. Mr. Horn told Mr. Dewitt, that it was a no go for Pittman.
Ron Bear is the owner of King’s Command Foods, Dave Horn is answerable to him alone inside the company.
During the time of my employment with King’s Command, the company brought in a bunch of maintenance people for training. These people were hired after me, they were white. Some of them were sent to classes out of town. They had teachers come to the plant to train these people. During one training session, they were in the lunch room and I happened to be there. They told me that I had to leave, that I could not listen to it. There reason: if I receive more training, I would have to receive more pay. All the maintenance people they trained quit. I asked, since that I am already doing the work, can I get one of these jobs? Terry Smith said no. “You can’t get a raise, you can’t get a promotion.”
On one occasion we were standing next to one of the machines, I asked Kirk McCoy: “What is this valve for?” He asked me: “Why do you want to know that?” I responded “Because I am interested in getting one of these openings as a machine operator.” His response was “If I train you for this, I will have to give you more money, and we are not going to do it.” Then he would not tell me what the valve was.
Robert Thomas told me that he was surprised that I lasted as long as I had, because “black guys don’t do well in this company.”
As with
David Abruquah and Michael Pittman, to be transferred to the packing line and
then to laundry was the “way out the door” for the black men. Also, the packing line was mainly white
females and the blacks were told to keep their mouths shut and don’t talk to
them. No blacks stayed in the pack line
more than a few days.
King’s Command
used this position to punish or push blacks out the door. The only black
packers in 1997 were Mary Coleman and Margaret Inman. There were white male packers. Gerald Clark and Brian Lockhart [white men]
were packers.
Michael
Pittman, my brother, was disabled and on welfare by the State of
Terry Smith told me there was an opening for grinder and that I should find someone and have them come down and apply. This is when I told my brother, Sylvester, to go to the plant to apply for this position. On another occasion, when Terry Smith told me there was an opening and that I should find someone, I called James Goode from Terry’s office, while Terry was standing there, and told James to come down and apply for an open position.
I confirm that attached as Exhibit 1 to the Declaration of Terry Smith in Support of Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment to Dismiss David Abruquah, Benjamin Barnes, Arthur Forest, Curtis Hollis and Nathan Kilcrease (Smith Declaration) is a true and correct copy of the collective bargaining agreement for 1996 through 1998 between King’s Command Foods, Inc. and King’s Command Meats Employee Association, Local 181 of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
I confirm that attached as Exhibit 2 to the Smith declaration is a true and correct copy of the collective bargaining agreement for 1998 through 2002 between King’s Command Foods, Inc. and King’s Command Meats Employee Association, Local 181 of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
I certify
under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of
Respectfully submitted and sworn to,
_______________________________
Larry E. Pittman, plaintiff
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