This page was last updated on February 5, 2014.
B&W’s history piece well done; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; February 3, 2014. Though my friends have fun at my expense by referring to him as my “Cousin Lonzie,” I am not related to Mr. Cox.
Most of Mr. Cox’s at least 88 letters since 2004 are tinged with race, and all take leftist positions. The most recent previous Cox letter I critiqued was “Think ahead.” You can find more Cox letters in the archives (2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004).
When it comes to race issues, Mr. Cox is pretty tolerant if you share his leftist ideology. For example, Mr. Cox had no problem with the late-Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), a former KKK officer, but referred to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an “Uncle Tom.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“The recent articles about the Babcock and Wilcox Co. were very interesting. The writer obviously did some outstanding research on the subject.
“Several fellow retired B&W employees with whom I have discussed the articles, have agreed with me that they gave an accurate picture of the company’s history and its place in our community. The information that I would like to have seen added to the articles (for accuracy) would be the record of B&W in the area of African American employment opportunities.”
[RWC] Wow, who saw that coming?! <g> See if you can notice whom Mr. Cox failed to mention.
“The fact of the matter is that in an era when job discrimination by race was rampant and never questioned, The Babcock & Wilcox Company’s minority hiring practices were no better than any of the other big steel plants in the area.
“For blacks there was definitely nothing like an easy path to employment into any of the big plants. Getting hired at Republic, Moltrup’s, Armstrong or Crucible Steel was very difficult because there were no connections such as relatives or friends inside.
“That changed in 1964 when the U.S. Government began requiring its contractors to hire more black workers which B&W did to comply with the new laws. Once hired at B&W it was a good place to work until that fateful day in 1977 when it was bought out in a hostile takeover.”
[RWC] If you noticed Mr. Cox failed to mention his buddies in labor union management, you are correct. The management of the United Steelworkers of America union, along with nine steel companies, was slapped with a federal consent decree in 1974 to address “discriminatory hiring, promotion, assignment, and wage policies directed against women and minorities.” Republic was one of the nine companies. That was 10 years after Mr. Cox claimed “the U.S. Government [fixed the problem by] requiring its contractors to hire more black workers.”
© 2004-2014 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.