Published: April 08, 2008 11:11 am      

SHELBY: Anti-Job Corps group protests at center

SHELBY — A small group of protesters gathered at the edge of the ETR Iroquois Job Corps Center property Monday afternoon hoping to bring to light their disappointment with how the center is run.

The center, one of 121 Job Corps programs across the nation and run under the guidance of the U.S. Department of Labor, has come under scrutiny in the past year as former employees and students have filed claims with state and federal agencies against the facility.

The protesters — a group comprised of Medina attorney Michael O’Keefe, former Job Corps employees and students and others who came out to give support — began their protest around 3:30 p.m. by standing at the corner of Edwards and Tibbets roads, then marched up Tibbets to situate themselves across the road from the main office building on the campus. They did obtain a special use permit from the U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as the protest was slated to take place on the Iroquois National Wildlife Reservation.

“We’ve made signs for some of the things that Job Corps has committed or is committing,” O’Keefe said. The signs conveyed allegations of segregation, perjury and sexual harassment, to name a few. Others asked that the center stop firing its employees and use constructive discharge methods.

O’Keefe has represented six former employees and a former student of the center as they have filed grievances with the New York State Division of Human Rights and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Each of the seven complaints came back with the ruling of “no probable cause”; one “really wasn’t challenged,” O’Keefe said.

“In my opinion, Division of Human Rights did not investigate properly,” he said.

Of the people O’Keefe has represented for the past few years in cases heard by the state human rights and the federal EEOC, only a couple were on hand at the protest.

“My understanding is that Mr. O’Keefe has represented a group of staff and a student who have filed complaints,” said Merle “Skip” Draper, business and community liaison for the center. “Those cases were fully heard and dismissed (by state and federal agencies). My impression is they aren’t willing to accept that decision.”

According to Draper, O’Keefe elected not to communicate any of his concerns with ETR or the Iroquois Job Corps Center prior to his public protest.

Howard Harmon and Rett Dallas, both with corporate support through the Department of Labor’s regional office in Boston, were also at the center while the protest was being staged.

“We’re firm believers that everybody is entitled to their freedom of speech,” Dallas said. “They never came out and said why they are protesting.”

According to Dallas, as pertaining to the claims filed against the center, due process was followed and “not in one instance was anything they claimed found (to be) valid.” The DOL completes assessments of each Job Corps center around the country every 12 to 24 months, which was the reason for Dallas and Harmon to visit the site.

While the protesters claim mismanagement of the center, Dallas said since ETR — Educational and Training Resources — took over the center on Jan. 1, 2005, the Iroquois Job Corps has climbed from the 117th ranked position to 40th. “When the numbers come out next week, we’re going to be higher,” Dallas said, attributing the center’s success to good management.

Despite the center’s ranking and the rulings handed down from NYSDHR and EEOC, the former staff and students gathered at the roadside across from the facility believe they have been treated unfairly and don’t wish to see current students and employees endure the same treatment.

Junior Bent, a native of New York City, entered the Job Corps on April 14, 2006. He said “they made me leave” on March 31, 2007.

“They gave me a week to find a place to live. ... From what I was told, I was supposed to go to career transitions for a month (before leaving the center),” said Bent, 20. “I hadn’t done anything wrong.”

Bent was considered a “Level 4,” the highest level a student employee can achieve while in the program and based on behavior. As a Level 4, Bent had never been written up while on center and said “they had no reason to kick me off.”

Bent has been on his own for about a year now and will soon begin working at Orchard Manor Nursing Home on Bates Road, Medina.

As for the complaints that have been filed against the center and the rulings on each, Draper said, “no probable cause has a very low threshold,” meaning any claim that had valid reasons for investigation would “pass the probable cause test.” To have six consecutive cases thrown out is generally unheard of, according to Dallas.

“At what point do you realize your concern isn’t valid?” he said.

Contact reporter Miranda Vagg at 798-1400, ext. 2225.