Panelists talk social justice in the rubber industry

AKRON—Call it what you will: social justice, equal opportunity or just being fair.

The deaths of Black Americans in some recent high-profile cases, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, have led to a sharper focus on race relations and opportunities in America. Amid this is the opportunity for the rubber industry to look at its own place in the movement.

"In my opinion, the implications of this 2020 social justice movement are affecting us all, and they've been brewing in our industry for years. One of those three pillars of sustainability is social sustainability, and that means, in part, fair wages and fair labor practices," said Colleen McMahan, a research chemist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Her comments came during a recent Livestream hosted by Rubber & Plastics News, in which the latex industry was the focus of discussion. While McMahan and colleagues talked about market conditions and the viability of alternative forms of natural latex, the conversation eventually moved toward opportunities for minorities.

"As part of the 2020 wake-up call, we must acknowledge that social justice means socio-economic justice. And that economic part happens when there are fair opportunities for all. The reason I got that opportunity and the reason I'm sitting here today is that in the 1980s, Goodyear Tire recruited women to meet their affirmative action obligations. And that's how I got in the door," McMahan said.

She has been able to parlay her entry to the industry into a career that now sees her as lead scientist for a USDA research project on domestic natural rubber.

McMahan said her own background makes her keenly aware of the impact that companies and their decision makers have in diversifying employment ranks.

"Our industry needs young minds to meet the challenges of tomorrow," she said. To meet those challenges, she added, the industry needs the ideas and talents of a diverse group of employees.

"So let us open up our doors," she said.

Less than 2 percent of professional chemists in the U.S. are African American, according to the American Chemical Society, McMahan said. "Our educational institutions must find ways to be more successful filling the pipeline."

Helping disadvantaged minorities reach their potential often is not an easy task due to the challenges they can face.

McMahan said scholarship programs specifically for Black students can help level the financial playing field. Extending recruitment beyond the field of chemistry also may yield qualified professionals—such as biologists and biochemists—who will thrive in the rubber industry. At the same time, this practice helps to expand opportunities for minorities.

Sessions during ACS meetings involving biochemistry, for example, have a diverse attendance, she said. But those dealing with standard chemical topics are "completely different."

Academia and government have, for years, included a line in help-wanted advertisements indicating women and minorities are encouraged to apply. That's really not the case in industry.

"That one line might make a difference," McMahan said.

Organizations also must have zero tolerance for discrimination.

"You can still have joy in the workplace and still have fun without language and jokes that marginalize," she said.

Mentorships for new employees can go a long way to helping a company diversify the ranks, especially "for young employees who look different than everybody (else in the company)," she said. "Train the mentors, reward mentorship as an important and valued task.

"Concrete actions are what the industry needs because unfair labor practices are not just a problem overseas, they're right here," McMahan said.

Katrina Cornish is director of the Program of Excellence in Natural Rubber Alternatives at Ohio State University and was another participant in the Livestream discussion.

Successful recruitment of minorities must begin long before people are ready to join the work force, she said.

"You've got to reach down at least as far as the middle schools," she said. "Make sure they understand that this is an accessible field. You can actually make money in STEM fields."

Students often are told about opportunities in computers, medicine, law and business, and that tends to "take the majority of the brightest minority students," Cornish said. "They don't understand that they can do that in science and going into rubber."

The panel discussion is archived and available for viewing at rubbernews.com/events.