23 Fair empl.prac.cas. 20, 23 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 31,029 Wesley P. Bernard v. Gulf Oil Company

GODBOLD, Circuit Judge:

This suit was brought as a class action by six present or retired black employees of the Port Arthur, Texas, plant of Gulf Oil Company, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2) and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The members of the asserted class are black employees and black former employees of the Port Arthur plant, and black applicants rejected for employment with Gulf Oil (at the Port Arthur plant and elsewhere). The defendants are Gulf Oil and the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers’ Union.

Plaintiffs charged that Gulf discriminated against blacks in…