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June 16, 2005
Black
firefighters cite FDNY’s minority hiring
Pat Milton
NEW YORK (AP) — As the city’s Fire
Department welcomed 235 new firefighters into its ranks on Wednesday,
a group of black firefighters criticized its hiring practices,
noting that only 11 blacks and one woman graduated in the first
class of 2005.
“This is pathetic,” Capt. Paul Washington, president
of the Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization of black firefighters,
said at a news conference outside the FDNY graduation ceremony
at Brooklyn College.
Of the city’s roughly 11,000 firefighters, 300, or about
3 percent, are black, while 30, or less than 1 percent, are women,
he said.
“This is a slap in the face of not only black New Yorkers
but all New Yorkers,” said Washington, who was joined by
a dozen city firefighters. He accused the Bloomberg administration
of having a lukewarm commitment to recruitment of minorities.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta acknowledged that the department
needs to increase the pool of minority applicants. He said the
number of minority recruits at the Fire Academy has increased
from 5 or 6 percent to 15 percent during his three-year tenure.
“There is no discrimination,” Scoppetta said. “But
if you don’t apply, you can’t get the job.”
Scoppetta said the department has launched aggressive efforts
to attract minorities, including having representatives speak
at minority churches and community centers.
“I myself have gone to minority churches, publicizing the
nature of the job, the importance of the job, the attractions
of the job,” he said.
Scoppetta said the department has also started a scholarship program
with New York Sports Club to help women and minorities learn the
techniques needed to pass the physical training portion of the
firefighting exam.
The Justice Department said in February that it was investigating
the FDNY for possible discrimination in its hiring practices.
The probe began after the Center for Constitutional Rights filed
a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission on behalf of the Vulcans in 2002.
Among other things, the Vulcans want the department to reinstate
a cadet program that allowed Emergency Medical Services recruits
to work toward a promotion to firefighter after two years, Shayana
Kadidal, a lawyer for the CCR, said at the news conference.
The sole woman graduating at Wednesday’s ceremony was Daiana
Mielnik, who is following in the footsteps of her sister, Kinga
Mielnik, a firefighter for two years. The Mielniks are the only
sister-sister firefighting team currently in the department.
Daiana Mielnik said she joined because she was inspired by her
sister and the courage of the firefighters who responded to the
Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.
“More women should join,” she said. “It’s
a great job, a brotherhood and sisterhood.”
Lorraine Cziko, who became a firefighter in 1982, said there was
not always such camaraderie among the men and women.
“It was tough,” said Cziko, who retired four years
ago. “We even had to use the men’s bathrooms with
a dead-bolt on the door.”
Cziko said the men wouldn’t even talk to the women firefighters
at first, but that things changed after about five years.
“Now you crawl into a fire, shoulder to shoulder,”
she said. “It’s a team effort now and everyone is
equal.”
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