Big Step

After months of prodding by the White House and the New York State Commission Against Discrimination, 18 U.S. airlines last week took a big step toward hiring Negroes for flight crews. The lines, all of which fly into New York, announced a joint policy of "judging applicants in all categories of employment and upgrading on the basis of merit, without regard to race, creed, color or national origin." In addition, they agreed not to solicit job seekers from agencies and schools that bar Negroes.

On the ground, the airlines already employ about 5,000 Negroes, roughly 4% of their working force, as fuelers, cleaners, mechanics, ticket sellers, secretaries. But in the air, no scheduled U.S. passenger line employs a Negro pilot, stewardess, navigator, flight engineer or radio operator. Since 1945, New York's antidiscrimination commission has investigated 16 complaints filed by disappointed Negro applicants against seven airlines, found some discrimination in half the cases.

Last November President Eisenhower's Committee on Government Contracts, which seeks to wipe out discrimination in companies doing business with the Government, called together the presidents of eleven airlines. Some of them readily admitted the ban on Negro flight personnel, but promised to eliminate it gradually. Last week's statement was one of the first big steps in this direction.

But many problems remain. The biggest, as far as Negro pilots are concerned, is that few are trained to handle four-engine equipment. The airlines also have been uneasy about possible hostility from some passengers and even crew members. At week's end, however, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Air Line Stewards and Stewardesses union and the Flight Engineers International Association promised that Negro applicants would be welcome.

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