The Revised Philadelphia Plan, often called the Philadelphia Plan, required government contractors in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to hire minority workers, under the authority of Executive Order 11246. Declared illegal in 1968, a revised version was successfully defended by the

Nixon administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office, the ...

and its allies in Congress against those who saw it as an illegal quota program.

US Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemp ...

Assistant Secretary for Wage and Labor Standards Arthur Fletcher implemented the plan in 1969 based on an earlier plan developed in 1967 by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance and the Philadelphia Federal Executive Board. The plan required federal contractors to meet certain goals for the hiring of minority employees by specific dates in order to combat

institutionalized discrimination Institutional discrimination is discriminatory treatment of an individual or group of individuals by institutions, through unequal consideration of members of subordinate groups. Societal discrimination is discrimination by society. These unfair ...

on the part of specific skilled building trades unions. The plan was quickly extended to other cities. In 1971, the Contractors Association of Eastern Pennsylvania challenged the plan and Executive Order 11246 by arguing that it was beyond the President's constitutional authority, that it was inconsistent with Titles VI and VII of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

and that it was inconsistent with the

National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, an ...

. The

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district courts for the following United Sta ...

rejected the challenges and the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

declined to hear the case, ''Contractors Association of Eastern Pennsylvania v. Secretary of Labor'', in October. Although it had some success at integrating the building trades, the Philadelphia Plan ultimately had little impact on the problem of African American unemployment in the city. It also contributed to the fracturing of the

New Deal coalition The New Deal coalition was an American political coalition that supported the Democratic Party beginning in 1932. The coalition is named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, and the follow-up Democratic presidents. It was ...

, paving the way for the realignment of US politics and the rise of the

Sixth Party System The Sixth Party System is the era in United States politics following the Fifth Party System. As with any periodization, opinions differ on when the Sixth Party System may have begun, with suggested dates ranging from the late 1960s to the Rep ...

References

External links

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "Affirmative Action as an International Human Rights Dialogue: Considered Opinion"
Winter 2000 History of Philadelphia History of affirmative action in the United States Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency of Richard Nixon {{US-gov-stub

See also

References

External links