Jesse Jackson Tells Uber to Release Diversity Data, Invest in Oakland

In a letter to Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick, civil rights leader Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., president and founder of The Rainbow PUSH Coalition, urged Uber to report its diversity data by February 15. Unlike many big-name tech companies, Uber has not released data on the racial and gender makeup of its workforce.

“We urge Uber to ‘lean in’ and join the ranks of technology companies that are reporting diversity and inclusion data,” the January 5 letter states.

Jackson advises Uber to:

• Publicly disclose its EEO-1 report and the racial and gender composition of technical and non-technical workforce.
• Detail the total number of new hires made between 2014 and 2016, and the number and percentage of these new hires from African American and Latino backgrounds.
• Report the gender and racial composition of its board of directors and C-suite leadership team.
• Describe new diversity and inclusion policies and practices, partnerships and initiatives that the company is implementing.
• Describe any additional policies the company adapted to increase diversity and inclusion in the utilization of its products, as well as work with minority and diverse advertising, marketing and professional services firms.

Additionally, Jackson requests that “if and when Uber takes the company public” it takes proactive steps to involve diverse financial services firms and ensure participation in its IPO syndicate.

Uber, founded in 2009 in San Francisco, is valued at $69 billion. Currently, its board members are mostly male, except for Black men — there are none.

The company released a statement on Thursday announcing Bernard C. Coleman III has been tapped for the position of global chief of diversity and inclusion.

Coleman, who is Black, was the chief diversity and human resources officer for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. He was the first-ever chief diversity officer for any presidential campaign of either political party.

Coleman earned a bachelor’s degree from Hampton University, one of the country’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and an MBA from Trinity University.

Uber’s Chief Human Resources Officer Liane Hornsey said Coleman would be working to “build the right programs and teams that make Uber a great place to work.”

Finish reading the story at The Washington Informer.