BUFFALO, N.Y. — NFTA workers are speaking out about alleged racial disparities in the organization.

Both current and former workers rallied outside of the NFTA headquarters on Ellicott Street demanding change Friday afternoon.

Participants say Black and Latino workers are confined to lower-tier jobs such as drivers and custodians and passed over for supervisor positions.

They also say Black and Latino workers are more likely to get reprimanded in a situation where a white person may not.

“That problem is what leads to these types of situation where people get fired, terminated retaliatory, where people don’t get promotions and don’t say nothing because they’re worried about their livelihoods. And in this time when we’re talking about black lives matter, let’s not forget that black livelihoods matter too,” said Jerome Wright, Voice Buffalo vice-chair.

Protesters say they hope to be able to meet with the leaders of the organization to find resolutions instead of taking legal action.

The NFTA responded by saying that they have diversity starting at the top, including recently adding the NAACP president to their board of directors.

Their statement said in part, “for the first time in the history of our organization both the chair of the board and executive director are women. To suggest that the senior leadership at the NFTA is lacking in diversity is simply false and not supported by the facts.”