Texaco Workers Ask To Share Settlement

Six black workers who would be left out of Texaco’s gigantic race-discrimination settlement say they deserve the money even more than those who are getting it.

The proposed settlement excludes “arguably the group most in need of a voice,” according to court papers filed late Wednesday, “African-Americans who toil in lower-level salaried and hourly positions who have been denied promotions.”

The $176 million settlement was quickly reached in November after the disclosure of tape-recorded conversations in which executives belittled black employees and plotted the destruction of documents sought by the plaintiffs.

If approved by a federal judge it would include a payout of $115 million - less lawyers’ fees and expenses - to the 1,342 “African-Americans employed in a salaried position subject to the Texaco Merit Salary Program” at any time between 1991 and 1996. They could get average lump sums of about $60,000.

Of the six workers who filed a motion to intervene on Wednesday, five are paid hourly rather than salaried. The one salaried worker is apparently not covered by the merit program.