When Egizil Electric, the contractor working with the University on the UIUC Alumni Center, requested minority electricians Jan. 26, 2005, the letter from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers states, “there are no available minority electricians at this time. When a minority electrician becomes available for work, he/she will be referred to you, as you have requested.”

Henry Bell, a black electrician, filed a civil lawsuit against his union, Local 601, on a charge of discrimination Jan. 20, 2006, and is seeking “to bring out the discrimination in the construction trades.”

The union denied Bell’s allegations of discrimination and unlawful employment practices.

However, Bell pointed to the union’s Job Referral Unemployed Position List Book 1 dated Jan. 26, 2005, which shows he was third on the list currently unemployed. The first available electrician on the list was a white male and the second a female.

“I pay union dues for a service I’m not receiving,” Bell said. “It’s like if you have car insurance and you have an accident, your insurance company is obligated to make things right. In my situation, my union hall is obligated to make things right but they discriminated against me.”

Michael Herbert, the union’s business manager and representative in the lawsuit, said the union had not been discriminating against Bell but only had been following their referral procedure.

The union’s Referral Procedure states they will “attempt to make contact with each applicant in the order in which they registered, starting with the first available applicant.” Herbert said Bell had not been contacted because he was third on the list.

“We haven’t done anything wrong, and we will have our day in court,” Herbert said.

Bell has contacted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in addition to numerous members of the media and state legislators such as Senators Dan Rutherford, R-Ill., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.

“Bell wrote up his own (file complaint),” said Rev. Jerome Chambers, president of the NAACP Champaign county branch. “For him to have done all that work is an act of desperation. Here’s a man who’s not afraid to come forward to say he’s been treated unfairly.”

Jury selection and trial are set to begin Nov. 12, 2007.