Nearly two years after filing a grievance against the management of Woodlawn Cemetery, with claims of unfair labor practices and racism, employees continue to speak out, even after 15 of 37 workers were laid off in April.

A handful of workers and their supporters gathered outside the cemetery on Saturday, Oct. 15, a day before a plaque would be dedicated in honor of Woodlawn becoming a national landmark.

Frank Russo, a former U.S. Marine who has worked at Woodlawn since 1979, said that since testifying before the independent attorney who was investigating workers’ claims last summer, he has become a target of supervisors.

“I worked for seven years in the crematory,” he said. “The minute I spoke to the attorney, that was it, my days were numbered there.”

Russo, a white man who says he spoke out on behalf of minority employees, says he was immediately transferred and lost his overtime, which amounted to about $300 a week.

Since his very first day of work in 2005, Todd Brown says he has heard supervisors use racial slurs when calling or speaking to employees.

“I’ve watched blacks and Latinos discriminated against by a lack of opportunity for advancement,” Brown says,

Brown says the recent layoffs, which are being investigated by an independent arbitrator, amount to payback. “A supervisor told me if it wasn’t for our complaints and grievances, there never would have been guys laid-off,” he said.

Woodlawn officials said the layoffs were needed to cut the cemetery’s budget by several thousand dollars. The cemetery now uses an independent contractor to make up for its loss of manpower.

Workers will be holding a rally on Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. at the cemetery’s Webster Avenue entrance.

A day later, at the plaque unveiling for Woodlawn’s national landmark status, cemetery president John Toale declined comment. “We’re not going to talk about anything like that today. This is a day to celebrate,” he said.