Merck and GM join group pledging 1 million Black hires by 2030

Jeff Green, Bloomberg News

Workers walk along a covered walkway while leaving the General Motors Co. Oshawa assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. After more than a century and 20 million autos built, the plant will make its last vehicle Wednesday when a final pickup truck rolls off the line. Photographer: Cole Burston/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

A new group that includes Merck & Co., General Motors Co. and Walmart Inc. is pledging US$100 million in an effort to hire 1 million Black workers during the next decade, expanding on existing corporate vows to increase minority employment.The OneTen initiative, co-chaired by Merck Chief Executive Officer Ken Frazier and International Business Machines Corp. Executive Chairman Ginni Rometty, will focus on hiring and training Black workers without four-year college degrees, according to the plan released Thursday. The goal is to provide “family sustaining” jobs that pay an average of about US$50,000 a year.

Companies are under pressure from investors, employees and activists to increase workforce diversity and give more opportunities to minorities after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police sparked widespread protests. Black American have consistently had higher unemployment rates than White people and trailed in promotions and pay.

Other members of the founding board include Ken Chenault, former CEO of American Express Co.; Charles Phillips, chairman of the Black Economic Alliance; and Kevin Sharer, former CEO of Amgen Inc. and former faculty member at Harvard Business School.

The group will begin working with employers in the first quarter of next year and start connecting them with employment recruiters in the second quarter. Member companies will agree to specific hiring targets and financial support based on their size.

The OneTen coalition is one of many recent attempts to increase corporate workforce diversity.