Lucio Jimenez has worked in the Evanston Public Works Agency for 20 years. In July 2023, Jimenez was promoted to the position of crew leader in the Streets Division.
On June 17, Jimenez said that the AFSCME Local 1891 union, which represents state and local government employees in Illinois, sent a letter to the city legal department on behalf of the other candidate up for the crew leader position, who was not granted an interview.
In the letter, the union, of which Jimenez is also a member, alleged Jimenez was favored in the hiring process by giving “nearly perfect” answers to the graded oral interview, he said. Jimenez said he interpreted this as an accusation that he had the interview answers ahead of time.
“They made an extra effort to say I answered the questions ‘nearly perfectly,’” Jimenez said.
Jimenez said the accusations in the letter are false and part of a years-long “slander campaign” against Latino Public Works employees.
Jimenez said Public Works employees have alleged Latino employees are favored and do not earn jobs on their own merit.
“The comments literally from other employees were, ‘Oh, he got the answers’ or ‘They are setting Mexicans up in the department,’” Jimenez said.
At the Oct. 14 City Council meeting, Jimenez spoke about comments in the union’s letter, along with a broader pattern of employees accusing Latino workers of being favored for promotions.
“Give the job to the most qualified person — the one who performs best in the interview and demonstrates their ability through merit,” Jimenez said at the meeting. “We are not asking for special treatment; we are asking for equality. We are asking for the baseless accusations to be investigated and addressed so we can end the racial divides that poison our work environment.”
Rodrigo Martinez, a Public Works equipment operator who was present at the meeting, said the union has not contacted any of the Latino employees since the meeting.
In an email to The Daily, Anders Lindall, the AFSCME Council 31 public affairs director, said the union only gets involved with hiring and promotion procedures to ensure management follows contractual terms.
“AFSCME will always fight for fairness and be vigilant to ensure that the rights of members under the contract are upheld,” Lindall said.
Jimenez said he discovered the union’s letter “by accident” after Martinez submitted a Freedom of Information Act request over his own hiring dispute in September.
In July 2024, Martinez applied for a promotion. After completing the graded interview, he did not hear from the city for seven weeks until he was notified he did not get the position.
Martinez said he was one of five candidates up for the position, and the HR department told him the decision was “clear-cut.”
Confused why the waiting period was so long, Martinez said he approached AFSCME Local 1891 President Eileen O’Neil about filing a grievance with the HR department. O’Neil told Martinez the union had exhausted all options in terms of his hiring, Martinez said.
After Martinez’s inquiry, HR informed him of his interview score — 74%, which falls in the “qualified” category — but did not provide context or details on other candidates, leading him to file the FOIA request.
Martinez said he requested his interview score and internal emails relating to his hiring process. Through the request, Martinez learned he was the only candidate to pass the interview. According to the documents from his FOIA request, Martinez said, the other candidates scored in the “not qualified” category.
O’Neil said the selected candidate, who has 30 years of experience, was chosen by seniority. Martinez, who has two years of experience, said seniority is not relevant in this case, according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the City of Evanston.
The agreement states: “Seniority shall be the controlling factor for current bargaining unit employees whose qualifications are within the same category (highly qualified or qualified).” As the only candidate to fall within the qualified or highly qualified category, Martinez said he should have been promoted.
Martinez said this discrepancy indicates a lack of transparency and fairness within the Public Works Agency’s hiring processes.
“They need to be consistent,” Martinez said. “If there’s a hiring process, they need to map it out from start to finish.”
Martinez filed a grievance with the HR department in early October and plans to continue the process without union representation.
“The CBA also allows for a grievance procedure if there is an allegation that the agreement was not followed,” city spokesperson Cynthia Vargas told The Daily in a statement. “Human Resources staff has and continues to properly follow the grievance process as set out by the CBA.”
Martinez said he and other employees are “left in the dark” about hiring decisions. Jimenez said he and Martinez approached his supervisors, the HR department and the union about who made the final hiring decision and why it came down to seniority, but they received no answers.
Jimenez said Martinez’s situation was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and prompted him to approach the City Council about the hiring issues.
“Our parents taught us to stay quiet, go to work and stay in the shadows,” Jimenez said. “And we did that. For us to come out of these shadows, it’s because we’re fed up.”
Martinez said he, Jimenez and 16 Public Works employees, including non-Latino workers, met with the HR department three days after the Oct. 14 City Council meeting. The group will meet with the HR department again on Friday.
“This is just the beginning,” Jimenez said.
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