The Ambler Gazette (Pennsylvania), October 25, 2006, Wednesday

The Ambler Gazette (Pennsylvania)

The 151st Legislative District is heating up
By: Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
10/25/2006
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17376649&BRD=1306&PAG=461&dept_id=187829&rfi=6

Election profiles of Eugene McGill and Rick Taylor

Eugene McGill

Republican incumbent Eugene McGill is a candidate for the 151st Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.His opponent is Democratic candidate Rick Taylor. McGill, 50, is a Horsham resident, and has served six terms as state representative. He has a bachelor's degree from Penn State University. According to McGill, he wants to continue to represent the citizens that he said he has served well. "I have worked extremely hard for the voters of the 151st District for the past 12 years," he said. McGill cited his top priority as working to create equitable education funding within the state. "The problem that I see is that we under-fund students because we use an aid-ratio formula that is antiquated and unfair," he said. "We need to have legislation that would guarantee that each student is worth the same amount in the eyes of the commonwealth."McGill said that in some cases, school districts with lower student populations are given more funding. "Way more dollars go out from Montgomery County to the state than come back to Montgomery County," he said. If re-elected, McGill said his other two-year goals would include continuing to support transportation projects, like that of the Welsh Road corridor, and addressing issues brought to the forefront by the recent rash of gun-related homicides in Philadelphia. Citing road projects along Routes 202 and 309 and Horsham and Dresher roads, McGill said he believes he has brought "more transportation project dollars into the 151st District than any other representative in Pennsylvania." He said he will also focus on addressing the state of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). "The other one that's looming - the 500 pound gorilla that everyone has let the government get away with, is mass transit," he said, stating that reports show that SEPTA, which he said is "a few million in the red," has been run correctly but funded improperly."I think that the gun issue is going to be back on the front pages. So that will have to be addressed," he said. "I don't know which way they're going to go but it's out there as a legitimate concern. The Legislature will have to look at it closely."In terms of open space issues, McGill said his voting record shows his dedication to preserving county lands. "I voted and pushed for the Growing Greener II," he said, referring to legislation passed in 2005 earmarking more than $600 million for state open space initiatives. "We've been really good at giving municipalities - boroughs and townships - the tools to grab as much open space as they can." Responding to the recent controversy regarding a letter urging leniency that he wrote to a judge on behalf of convicted sexual predator Sheldon Granor - the son of Bernard Granor, a contributor to McGill's campaign - McGill said he would only change "one word.""'Leniency' should have been 'psychiatric help,'" he said, noting that he would rather see prisoners receive "intensive psychotherapy, rather than being held in a prison cell and released to strike again." When asked what sets him apart from his opponent, McGill cited his experience and what he said are the tangible results of his hard work. "I've been quite successful in how to work with several administrations and be effective," he said. "And I have a very open-door policy in my office and people recognize that and hopefully will continue to support me."

Rick Taylor

Democratic candidate Rick Taylor is the challenger for the 151st Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. His opponent is state Rep. Eugene McGill, R-151, a six-term incumbent. Taylor, 37, is an Ambler resident and was elected to Ambler Borough Council last November. He is the manager of Global Compensation for IMS Health and has a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota and a master's degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. According to Taylor, he decided to run for the representative seat because of the controversial legislative pay raise passed in 2005. "That's not serving the general interest," he said. "I decided to make that stand." Taylor listed education as his top priority. He said students' families are facing increasing costs for college tuition. "There's, right now, two options that they have: mortgage their house, or mortgage their future. That isn't right," he said. "We should find ways to make college more affordable for them." To do so, Taylor cited one proposal that would reduce college costs for students who perform 100 hours of community service. "It's good for society, its good for the kids, and, gosh darn it, it's great for the parents," he said. "If there were not educational opportunities for me to go to college, I would not be where I am today - running for office."If elected, Taylor said his other two-year goals would include tax relief for senior citizens and government reform. Taylor said his plan for "standing up for our seniors" includes working with the governor to pass property tax relief legislation. Taylor said his desire to bring reform to the House of Representatives is driven by one question: "How are their votes being affected by lobbyists?" "I'm not saying all legislators are like that, but we don't know," he said. "Right now, we're the only state in the union that doesn't have lobbyist disclosure. We need to hold our legislators accountable by making their votes more readily accessible to the citizens." In terms of open space issues, Taylor said his voting record in Ambler indicates his dedication to continuing such initiatives in the county. "On borough council, I voted for the comprehensive plan in Montgomery County," he said, noting that it "calls for more preservation of open space." Taylor said he wants to try to limit sprawl in the district. "I would like to see something that is more town-centric, and Ambler is a good example," he said. "I want places that are preserving the community, the social fabric, and at the same time will reduce the pressure of sprawl."When asked what sets him apart from his opponent, Taylor cited his belief that he would be more attentive to the needs of his constituents. "They're not asking for a lot. They're asking for dignity, respect and fairness," he said. "I think the simple question I'm going to ask myself is, 'Is this going to help my constituents? Is it for them or is it for me?'"

HRfocus, November 2006, Vol. 2006, No. 11

Copyright 2006 Institute of Management & Administration
All Rights Reserved
HRfocus

November 2006

SECTION: HUMAN RESOURCES Vol. 2006 No. 11


HEADLINE: HRfocus News Briefs (November 2006)

BODY:
Main article
Wanted: HR Executives With Global, Business, and SOX Smarts
Organizations prize strong, business-oriented leaders with 15-plus years of experience for senior HR positions now, including some time spent abroad, expertise in Sarbanes-Oxley Act issues, talent management, and analytics. Corporations will provide top pay for such skills in highly intelligent, strategic thinkers, according to recruiters and HR analysts providing insights into what the "ideal" top HR candidate must offer now.
However, the pool of candidates who satisfy each and every one of these criteria isn't very large, so there is definitely competition for those individuals.
One thing hasn't changed: The final hiring decision often comes down to chemistry between the CEO or COO and the candidate, in addition to that great résumé, noted Greg Hessel, global director, HR practice, for the executive search firm Korn/Ferry International (Los Angeles).
International experience is very desirable now, he noted. "They prefer someone who has lived overseas and had meaningful experience, such as a start up or close down of a facility."
Other key résumé builders include experience in working with boards of directors and compensation committees; comfort with making presentations; and being knowledgeable about Sarbanes-Oxley requirements concerning executive compensation, corporate financial reporting, and document retention.
Business knowledge and ability are the fundamental skills being sought for a top HR executive, noted Wendy Murphy, managing partner of the global HR practice of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles (Chicago). "That's been a trend that's developing over time, but has not been addressed successfully. HR people at large have not been great business people." HR managers who lack the fundamental business skill set "are just not business partners and will never make it to the [executive] table," she said.
More sophistication is being sought in HR leaders as well, thanks to the nearly ubiquitous outsourcing of compensation and benefits administration among larger organizations, she added.
The good news: The focus on business acumen means "the CEOs and COOs are finally getting it" about the value of the HR perspective at the corporate level.
Another must for top HR positions, according to Murphy: Include expertise with executive compensation and talent management, especially on a global level. Metrics-crunching and strategic decision-making analysis are other desirables.
The large multinationals are looking for people who can "think on their feet and see the overall business issue rather than just the HR aspect," as well as those who "don't go so native to the employee advocate side and not see we're in business to make money," said Hessel.
Authority--both business and personal--is now needed in greater amounts, thanks to higher profiles of HR and more dealing with corporate boards because of Sarbanes-Oxley, noted Patrick Wright, director of the Center for Advanced Human Resources Studies at Cornell University.
HR executives on the center's advisory board say that their "credibility is on the line every minute of every day, more than ever before." Being able to communicate with board members with an understanding of not just the business, but also "the macroeconomics of the industry," is a necessity now.

Are Recruiters or Employees ‘Winning' At Hiring and Retention?
Whether or not you believe there's an actual "war" about--or with--talent, it's undeniable that the landscape has gotten more competitive. But who has the upper hand: the hiring manager or the employee? And what does each side want?
The second annual Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectation Report (EDGE) from Robert Half International (RHI) and Careerbuilder.com shows that hiring managers and employees have very different perceptions about the job market. According to hiring managers, recruiting is more challenging today than a year ago, with 81% reporting difficulty in finding qualified candidates--up from 55% a year ago. Employees, though, say they are less likely to negotiate higher salaries today: Just 12% plan to seek higher pay, down from 20% a year ago.
Employee turnover has been steady for the past two years, at 21%, but almost a third (30%) of employers report they have instituted programs aimed at preventing turnover, with salary increases, bonuses, and flexible work schedules cited most frequently. Bonuses were more common this year than last, with 20% of managers reporting using them, compared to 12% a year ago.
Why can't hiring managers find good people? According to the hiring managers, there is a shortage of qualified workers (cited by 52% of respondents), followed by an inability to offer competitive compensation (21%). And they expect the difficulty to continue: More than 80% anticipate it will be as hard as or harder to find qualified candidates a year from now. Hiring managers report that professional and technical staff are the most difficult positions to fill. However, more than half (54%) do not intend to increase salary packages for new hires.
Employees don't seem to see their relative strength in the job market: Most say it is similar to what it was a year ago, and 26% report they are looking for a new job, a slight decline over last year's 28%. In response to the question, "If you were to accept a new job offer today, how likely would you be to try to negotiate a better compensation package with your new employer, compared to 12 months ago?" only 29% said they were more likely to negotiate.
Employees said that health insurance is the most important benefit to them, followed by flexible work hours and a 401(k) plan.
A separate study, PricewaterhouseCoopers' Private Company Services Trendsetter barometer, reported that while the workforce represents almost half (47.5%) of total company budgets, less than a third of the 300 surveyed fastest-growing U.S. companies said they had formal programs in place to retain key employees. Despite this, 49% of the surveyed CEOs said they are concerned that a shortage of qualified workers could limit the growth of their organization in the coming year, and 38% see the scarcity of skilled and trained workers as potentially creating a barrier in the form of pressure for increased wages.
CDC Provides Separate Guidance for Various Influenzas
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued separate recommendations to protect workers from avian, pandemic, and seasonal influenzas, according to a CDC official. The guidances acknowledge the differences between the different influenzas, although there is still "a lot to learn" about influenza transmission, said Lisa Delaney, with the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Avian influence primarily is a disease affecting birds, but it is of concern because of its high fatality rate, the ease with which it could evolve to transmit from human to human, the lack of a vaccine, and a limited supply of antiviral medicine, she said. Guidance on avian flu, issued in February by the CDC, includes recommendations for first responders.
There is also a safety and health information bulletin from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that was developed jointly with the CDC, she said. Separate interim CDC guidance for health-care workers treating patients with avian flu issued in May 2004 is under revision.
There currently is no pandemic influenza, Delaney explained. "While avian influenza is a likely candidate to turn into a pandemic, it's not the only candidate." The CDC has a separate guidance for pandemic influenza, but changes have been proposed after the CDC received many comments on the documents last year.
CDC's Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee issues recommendations in February to increase seasonal flu vaccination rates among health-care workers.
For more information on the guidances, visit the CDC Web site (www.cdc.gov).
Link Found Between Job Stress and Workplace Injury
Several measurements of workplace stress are significantly related to a risk of occupational injury, according to a report in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine (an abstract is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com/. Search for 112649685).
"Impact of Psychosocial Job Stress on Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries in Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises" analyzed data from 2,302 workers at 244 factories in a Japanese city. The factories studied had fewer than 200 employees.
The study found that nine out of 14 psychosocial job stress variables were significantly associated with occupational injury in men, and five were significantly associated with injury in women.
The results suggest that "psychosocial job demands are an important risk factor for the occurrence of injuries, despite the fact that job stress and occupational injury were assessed by self-report, as well as other limitations."
Bad Boss ‘Achievements' Your Organization Should Discourage
The results are in for the online My Bad Boss contest, conducted by Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO. The winning entry, "Millionaire Dentist Stole From Employees on 9/11," reports a dentist who docked each employee's paycheck $100 because all of his patients cancelled on Sept. 11, 2001.More than 4,500 "bad boss" entries were submitted to the contest, and nearly 50,000 votes were cast by visitors to the Web site. The site had two million

AFX International Focus, October 25, 2006, Wednesday

Copyright 2006 AFX News Limited
AFX International Focus

October 25, 2006 Wednesday 8:04 PM GMT

HEADLINE: Colleges look to raise $4 billion

BODY:
(AFX) - Cornell University is going all-out this week.
Thursday features a news conference in New York City with the mayor. On Friday, 1,000 volunteers and wealthy alumni such as former Citigroup chairman Sanford 'Sandy' Weill will be back on the main campus in Ithaca, N.Y., for an elaborate dinner. The menu: a salad that includes wild mushrooms and sweet vermouth cheesecake; marinated beef tenderloin; and, a hazelnut Godiva chocolate tart with minted raspberry sauce.
Cornell should more than recoup the bill. The festivities are kicking off a campaign to raise $4 billion.
It's a jaw-dropping sum that exceeds the size of any university's entire endowment 20 years ago, and all but about 15 today. To hit the target, Cornell President David Skorton will have to raise more than $1.6 million every day for the next five years.
But $4 billion isn't even the biggest campaign announced in higher education this month. Stanford and Columbia just announced campaigns of $4.3 billion and $4.0 billion, respectively. Yale and the University of Virginia recently announced $3 billion campaigns, and 24 universities are officially trying to raise $1 billion or more, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The campaigns come at a time when college is more expensive than ever. Just Tuesday, a national report found college price increases again outpacing inflation. Tuition, fees and room and board at Cornell run $43,707 this year, though it promises aid for any student who needs it and will use some of the campaign money for more scholarships.
'We have a lot of wonderful things to do with the money,' Skorton said in a telephone interview this week. Of the $4 billion target, he said: 'I hope we're going to blow right by that.'
They probably will. Cornell has already raised about $1 billion. Universities don't announce campaigns until they're confident they'll make it, though sometimes they extend the typical deadline. UCLA stretched a recent campaign to a decade to reach $3 billion.
Multibillion-dollar campaigns have transformed how elite universities raise money. The traditional prodding at homecoming cocktail parties is supplemented by data mining and marketing consultants. Cornell's fundraising staff numbers 125. Some schools pay top rainmakers $200,000 or more.
The goal is luring the big fish. Nobody gets to $4 billion in tens and twenties. Colleges still solicit small donations from young alumni, but that's largely to increase the odds that alumni who strike it rich will already be in a giving habit.
'We have to have transformational gifts,' says Charles Phlegar, who heads Cornell's fundraising. 'Fifty million, $100 million -- in that range -- and we will certainly have that.'
Typically, 80 percent of a college's fundraising comes from 20 percent of the donors, says John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. That ratio gets even more lopsided with the biggest campaigns.
Some find the whole language of 'campaigns' puzzling. Universities are always raising money; 'campaigns' are just artificial start and end points. Typically, they involve a two-year 'quiet' phase, for lining up top donors and securing about one-quarter of the goal. After that, the public phase typically lasts five years.
Still, the process is valuable. Fundraising campaigns -- like political ones -- force the participants to articulate their priorities and values. That's important because such campaigns often spark questions about whether the concentration of wealth at the richest universities is good for the public.
A 2005 Associated Press analysis of the then-47 colleges with $1 billion or more found they held nearly two-thirds of the endowed wealth in American higher education, but educate fewer than one in 25 undergraduates. Those endowments are built with indirect public subsidies -- tax-deductible donations and tax-exempt bonds.
'There is greater public concern about, why are they doing this when they're charging such high tuition,' said Cornell economist Ronald Ehrenberg. 'It's absolutely incumbent on the universities when they go out and seek this money to show they are using it for socially important purposes.'
Cornell, which is partly public, is in fact fairly poor by Ivy League standards. Skorton said he hopes the school will someday replace loans entirely with grants for low-income students, but can't promise that even with this $4 billion.
The other priorities are recruiting top faculty to replace retiring baby boomers, and updating aging buildings.
The money won't 'sit in some long-term investment pool somewhere just so we can reach an arbitrary level,' Skorton said, reeling off a series of research initiatives in areas like medicine and Third World development.
'Philanthropy should be spread around. But we should get our share because we're one of the places that's really turning the crank and changing the world.'
Officials at poorer schools envy Cornell's wealthy alumni base and access to sophisticated financial advice that produces better investment returns. But most say they don't begrudge Cornell its donations. Different colleges fish in different pools; Cornell's gain is usually not another's loss.
Other colleges are busy with their own campaigns, which have fewer zeros, but are often comparable for their size. Mount Holyoke is announcing a $300 million campaign this weekend. About a mile from Cornell, Ithaca College just launched a $115 million campaign for financial aid, a new business school, and new dorms and sports facilities.
Compared to Cornell, Ithaca 'is another world. We're 6,000 students, not 20,000,' said Ithaca President Peggy Williams. But, she said, 'We really believe this is laying the foundation for a very different future.'
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The Houston Chronicle (Texas), October 24, 2006, Tuesday

Copyright 2006 The Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle (Texas)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

October 24, 2006 Tuesday

SECTION: BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL NEWS

HEADLINE: Janitors set strike in motion: Action takes aim at limited number of buildings

BYLINE: L.M. Sixel and Brad Hem, Houston Chronicle

BODY:
Oct. 24--Houston janitors started striking Monday evening, with the union targeting a limited number of buildings initially and saying an increasing number of workers will join the effort until the city's five major commercial cleaning companies return to the bargaining table.
Last week, contract negotiations broke down between the five cleaning companies and the Service Employees International Union, which wants a raise to $8.50 an hour, more guaranteed work hours and health insurance for the 5,300 janitors it represents.
The cleaning companies responded with a statement saying union demands are "extreme" and beyond what they can afford.
SEIU targeted downtown office buildings to launch its walkout, estimating at least 500 janitors went on strike Monday night, either staying home or walking the picket line, SEIU spokeswoman Lynda Tran said.
The union, which plans to shift its strike targets day by day, also is trying to line up public support. Banging on drums and carrying mops and picket signs, about 500 janitors and other supporters wove through the downtown streets Monday evening, around the time when strikers would normally have reporting for their night work. Marchers drew honks from rush-hour commuters. Such rallies will be daily events until Houston's cleaning companies return to negotiations, Tran said.
A statement from the Houston Area Service Contractors Association, which consists of ABM Janitorial Services, GCA Services, OneSource and Sanitors Services of Texas, as well as Pritchard Industries Southwest, said the companies were not happy about the strike.
"We are extremely disappointed that the union elected this strike action, particularly since there are a number of open issues to resolve. The union interrupted the discussion of noneconomic items recently with the presentation of an economic proposal that called for wage and benefit increases in excess of 70 percent," it said.
"In our view, these economic demands are extreme, particularly since building owners and managers are continually faced with competitive pressures and utility, property tax and other increases.
"We would like to see this resolved, but we must protect our customers' interests and reach an agreement that is realistic."
Property manager targeted
The union has targeted Hines Interests, a major property manager here and in other cities, which says it has contracts with three of the cleaning contractors in the buildings it manages: Sanitors, OneSource and ABM.
"We hope that the big cleaning companies and the SEIU will agree on a mutually acceptable contract as quickly as possible," George Lancaster, vice president of Hines, said.
"Even though we pledged neutrality to the union, at their request we did make it publicly known that we support health insurance and pay in excess of the federal minimum wage for janitors in Houston," he said, adding that Hines is not a party to the negotiations.
Hines has made certain that each of the janitorial firms it uses has contingency plans in place to keep the buildings clean in case of a strike, he said.
Flora Aguilar, 51, will rely on payments from the union's strike fund, estimated at more than $1 million, and some baby-sitting work to make ends meet while she strikes.
"I'm prepared to be on strike until they take us seriously and negotiate until we have a contract," she said.
Injunction on protests
As marchers reached Tranquillity Park for strike training Monday night, organizers learned that U.S. District Judge Gray Miller issued an injunction that will allow the union to ignore the city's restrictions on demonstrations that have limited its ability to protest during times when it can have the biggest impact.
Miller ordered the city of Houston not to enforce ordinances that require permits for sound amplification devices, parading through streets and gathering in public parks. The city argued those rules exist to protect public safety, but union lawyers said the laws violate demonstrators' First Amendment rights.
After the late-day decision, the spokesman for Mayor Bill White, Frank Michel, could not be reached when called for comment Monday night.
"The union is pulling out all the stops," said Richard Hurd, professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University, who has been closely watching the janitor's campaign in Houston.
The union has encountered some very difficult negotiations, said Hurd, adding that he is surprised it has reached the strike stage.
He speculated that SEIU is focusing on Hines, which has already come out in favor of higher wages and benefits, because that's where it has the most leverage.
"I'm sure they're exerting escalating pressure on the other building owners to fall in line," he said.
It's essential for the union to get the building owners on board because they're the ones who control the budgets, he said.
Once building owners agree to pay higher wages and benefits, he said, they won't have the incentive to find cheaper cleaning companies.
lm.sixel@chron.com
brad.hem@chron.com
Copyright (c) 2006, Houston Chronicle Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

National Public Radio, All Things Considered, October 24, 2006, Tuesday

Copyright 2006 National Public Radio (R)
All Rights Reserved
National Public Radio (NPR)

SHOW: All Things Considered 9:00 PM EST

October 24, 2006 Tuesday

HEADLINE: Signs That College Tuition Hikes May Ease a Bit

ANCHORS: MELISSA BLOCK, ROBERT SIEGEL

BODY:
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
Parents and students get out your wallets. The College Board says the price of a college education is still going up, although a little more slowly than in recent years. The board is in association of more than 5,000 schools. It released its annual report on college costs today. For many students, Financial Aid is what keeps college affordable.
But as NPR's Larry Abramson reports, student aid has not been keeping up.
LARRY ABRAMSON: After years of major increases, the cost of going to a public college or university went up a mere two and a half percent last year after accounting for inflation. For private institutions, the jump was about two percent.
Ms. SANDY BAUM (Skidmore College): This is good news that it slowed, but published prices are a lot higher than they were five years ago.
ABRAMSON: Sandy Baum who teaches Economics at Skidmore College helped analyze the numbers for the College Board. She says the public focus on the sticker price of going to college gives a misleading picture. The average student at a public university actually paid only about $2,700 a year, less than half the published tuition. For private schools, the average out of pocket price paid is $13,000. A lot of money, of course, but just a little more than half the price in the catalog. Baum says that in general, college prices have remained manageable because most students get a lot of help.
Ms. BAUM: But in the first half of the decade, between 1996 and 2001, we were doing such a good job in terms of giving students grant aid that in fact the average price students were paying was lower than it had been five years earlier. But in the past five years, that's just not the story.
ABRAMSON: James Moeser, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, seconds that emotion. He pounded the table, saying that too much focus on lower tuition amounts to a regressive social policy.
Mr. JAMES MOESER (University of North Carolina): Where you have people working the minimum wage, paying taxes to support low tuition for children of bank presidents. What America needs is a much more aggressive approach to need based aid.
ABRAMSON: Indeed a federally appointed commission made the same point, calling for more aid aimed at poor students. College leaders often insist they cannot cut costs without sacrificing quality. But Professor Ronald Ehrenberg of Cornell University says top private institutions have a long line of students waiting to get in. They have no incentive to lower tuition.
Professor RONALD EHRENBERG (Cornell University): That the selective private and public institutions, the question is not what is the size of the class going to be, it's who is going to be in the class.
ABRAMSON: Some of the best news in this survey is that the cost of attending the nation's community colleges has not gone up over the past year. Right now, more than four out of ten college students are enrolled in two year institutions, many of them poor minority students. And whatever the cost of college, graduates still earn a lot more than students who never get past high school. So the most costly choice may be not going to college at all.
Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington.

Philadephia Inquirer (Pennsylvania), October 24, 2006, Tuesday

Copyright 2006 Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

October 24, 2006 Tuesday

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS

HEADLINE: McGill faces fight for seventh term

BYLINE: Keith Herbert, The Philadelphia Inquirer

BODY:
Oct. 24--Some 25 years ago Eugene McGill had just bought a house in Ambler and was struggling to pay his mortgage. So when he got a notice that the trash-collection fee was going up, he went to Borough Council to complain.
"I didn't think I would have the money for the increase," McGill said.
He argued his case so well that the council president appointed McGill to head a committee to study the issue.
A political career was born. As another election draws near, McGill, 50, is in his toughest political fight ever. Now a Horsham resident, the Republican was first elected in November 1993 and is trying to win a seventh term representing the 151st District.

His challenger is Democrat Rick Taylor, an Ambler Borough Council member. Taylor's foray into politics was motivated by a sense of obligation, he said.
"I owe a debt to society," said Taylor, adding that he felt "opportunity is slipping away from the middle class." Taylor, 37, said he had benefitted from government programs that helped him pursue a college education.
The 151st District, which encompasses Ambler, most of Montgomery and Horsham Townships, swaths of Upper Dublin and Lower Gwynedd, and a piece of Abington, is one of the key races that will help determine whether the GOP retains control of the House. It currently has a 109-93 margin, with one vacancy.
Last week, as McGill was still smarting from news accounts about his writing a letter that urged a judge to show leniency at sentencing for a convicted sex offender, his friends in Montgomery County law enforcement offered him support.
Led by Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., more than 25 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and police officers gathered in Horsham to support a McGill effort to pass legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations for the crime of assault on a police officer.
"I want to publicly thank Representative McGill for again responding to law enforcement," Castor said.
McGill acknowledged there were parts of his letter to the judge in the sex-offender case that he'd like to take back.
"Where I made the mistake in the letter is, instead of psychiatric help, I said leniency," McGill said.
The letter controversy has sparked television advertisements paid for by the Democratic House Campaign Committee that suggest McGill is soft on child molesters.

"I'm repulsed by [Taylor's] commercials," McGill said.

His parents divorced when he was 10, and Taylor said his mother raised him as a single parent. Without the help of government programs, he wouldn't have been able to graduate from Cornell University with a master's degree in labor relations. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Minnesota.
Taylor said he was motivated to run against McGill because too many politicians in Harrisburg are motivated by self-interest.
"My way of change was to get involved in the most direct way," said Taylor, a manager of global compensation for IMS Consulting, which works with pharmaceutical companies.
Along with the letter, Taylor criticized McGill's vote against landmark legislation that in June gave senior citizens property-tax relief through revenue from slot-machine gambling. Taylor said he supported the legislation.
McGill has said property tax relief tied to revenues from slot machine gambling isn't really tax relief at all because the measure could also require an increase in earned income taxes.
Under the bill, voters in suburban areas like the 151st District will be asked to vote on whether to accept higher earned income taxes in exchange for lower property taxes. Income taxes should have less impact on seniors with fixed incomes.
McGill prefers a change to the school-aid distribution formula, which would allow larger school districts, like Hatboro-Horsham, to receive more state aid. That, McGill said, would allow school districts to cut local property taxes.
On another issue that's grabbed attention recently -- gun control -- McGill has endorsed legislation that would require gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons to police.
"You need to notify police within 48 hours that you've lost a gun or that a gun has been stolen," McGill said. "That way, we at least have a serial number and the idea that the gun is out on the street.
Taylor, expressed disappointment that a special legislative session on crime in early October didn't produce more concrete support for gun-control legislation.
Contact staff writer Keith Herbert at 610-313-8007 or keithherbert@phillynews.com.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Newhouse News Service, October 23, 2006, Monday

Copyright 2006 Newhouse News Service
All Rights Reserved
Newhouse News Service

October 23, 2006 Monday 3:12 PM EDT

SECTION: FINANCIAL

HEADLINE: Freelancers Union Offers Precious Group Benefits

BYLINE: By ALISON GRANT.
Alison Grant is a reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. She can be contacted at agrant@plaind.com.

BODY:
Nicolene Schwartz has built an attractive resume as a free-lance writer and filmmaker in New York City.
She wrote the exhibition catalog for a Paris art show, helped publicize the launch of an Internet service, operated the camera on a straight-to-DVD documentary, and earlier this month shot pictures on one of her bread-and-butter projects photographing high-end weddings, this one in Indonesia.
But along with the edgy assignments and the flexibility of independent work come the perils of life as a free-lancer: An inconsistent paycheck. No pension. The isolation of a solo operator. And, especially, scary health insurance costs.
Sara Horowitz, a labor attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y., has answers for entrepreneurs like the 25-year-old Schwartz.
She founded the Brooklyn-based Freelancers Union to provide group health insurance rates, and disability and life insurance policies to eligible independent workers. By year's end, it will offer access to individual 401(k) accounts.
The organization went national in August with the opening of a virtual "union hall" a Web site, www.freelancersunion.org, that has member profiles, a free-lancers' Yellow Pages and gig listings.
Horowitz said the Freelancers Union expects to be opening group health insurance plans in 20 states by the end of 2007.
Membership in the Freelancers Union and its online community is free. There are fees and eligibility requirements for the insurance and retirement services.
"These workers are the backbone for so many industries vital to our nation's economy IT, financial services, the arts, advertising and publishing," Horowitz said. "Yet these same workers are not afforded simple job protections."
Horowitz's own family was steeped in traditional organized labor. A grandfather was vice president of the venerable ladies' garment workers union in New York City. Her dad built a busy practice as a labor lawyer.
But when she graduated from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1984, the U.S. work force was much different from what her father and grandfather dealt with.
Lifetime work for a large corporation, the 1930s model that shaped American unions' role in bargaining wages and working conditions, didn't apply to the army of independent workers that emerged at the end of the 20th century.
Independents total three out of 10 workers, according to a recent government tally. Some work on their own because it pays better or is more gratifying. Others are forced into the role the "consultants" between jobs, the "permatemps" laid off before they qualify for benefits.
Horowitz, 43, worked as a union organizer and labor attorney before founding Working Today in 1995 to give solo practitioners a voice and financial clout.
Four years later, she won a $275,000 "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation for her market-based approach to providing insurance and retirement help through the Freelancers Union.
The "union" in the name is misleading, since the organization doesn't bargain collectively with employers. Horowitz stresses that her group is a complement to traditional unions, not a replacement.
In fact, unions and guilds such as the National Writers Union and the Graphic Artists Guild are hooking up with the Freelancers Union to offer health insurance to their members.
Independents "are a third of the work force," Horowitz said. "They really are the group that will define what the next safety net is, in very pragmatic terms."
So how do you get a swarm of lone operators to fly in formation for their common good?
To start, Horowitz built a membership of 31,000 people in New York City artists, consultants, sole proprietors and others in nonstandard work arrangements. The Freelancers Union won group health insurance rates that cost about $220 a month, one-third the average for an individual-rate HMO plan in New York. It also offered legal and financial advice and a forum where members could swap information and job postings.
The nationwide push marks "the dawn of a new form of unionism," Horowitz said, "a new kind of labor organization that seeks to protect and even the playing field for millions of independent workers and free-lancers."
Oil painter Mark DeMuro, 54, went without health insurance for years when his premium reached $5,000, with a $2,000 deductible. "You can't imagine how happy I was when I found the Freelancers Union," the Manhattan artist said.
Daniel Pink, author of the book "Free Agent Nation," said Horowitz's scheme is inspired because labor unions don't fit the new breed of unattached workers.
Still, Pink said it could be tough to rally workers who have made the decision to go it alone. And the Freelancers Union doesn't recruit at a single job site, or focus on a specific occupation.
"You have to make the case that there's a commonality of interests," Pink said.

The Capital (Annapolis, MD), October 22, 2006, Sunday

Copyright 2006 Capital Gazette Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The Capital (Annapolis, MD)

October 22, 2006 Sunday

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. B1

HEADLINE: BUSINESS DIGEST

BODY:
College to study new internship
ARNOLD - The Entrepreneurial Studies Institute at Anne Arundel Community College will use a $5,000 grant to study the feasibility of developing an internship program.

The ESI project was one of six chosen nationwide by The Institute for Community College Development, a partnership between the State University of New York and Cornell University. The community college plans to use the results of the study to set up an entrepreneurial internship program.

ESI Director Carlene Cassidy said the impending economic growth of Anne Arundel County and its surrounding region due to the expansion of Fort Meade and the strength of the economies of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., make developing a successful internship program in entrepreneurship imperative.
"This grant helps us study how an internship can benefit AACC, its students and the surrounding business community," said Ms. Cassidy, an assistant professor of business management at the college and the project leader.
New editor at Maryland Gazette
GLEN BURNIE - Rick Hutzell, a 22-year newspaper veteran, has been named editor of the Maryland Gazette by Tom Marquardt, executive editor of Capital-Gazette Newspapers.
Mr. Hutzell, 48, will replace Bob Mosier who accepted a position as public information officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.
Mr. Hutzell has been an employee at The Capital for 19 years, most recently as an assistant city editor and business editor of the 47,000-circulation daily in Annapolis. In those capacities he supervised reporters, edited copy and managed the newspaper's business section.
In making the appointment, Mr. Marquardt said, "I am confident that Rick will continue the Maryland Gazette's tradition of providing north county with the best local news coverage. He understands newspapers and, most importantly, has a depth of knowledge of the county."
Prior to his arrival at The Capital in 1987, he was managing editor of the Daily Banner, a daily newspaper in Cambridge on the Eastern Shore. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia at Wise in 1980 and then graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1983 with a master's degree in communications.
Mr. Hutzell is a native of Ocean City and currently lives in Annapolis with his wife, Chara, and their children, Lillian and Evan.
Rams Head in national spotlight
Rams Head Tavern draws thousands of music lovers each year to its venues in Baltimore and Annapolis and the Annapolis-based company was recently recognized for its efforts.
Pollstar magazine ranked Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis 41st among the world's top concert venues, with a total of 53,038 tickets sold for shows between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30.
Rams Head Live in Baltimore was ranked 32nd, with 70,944 tickets sold for shows in the same period.
Both locations beat venues in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.
Erin Brunst, company vice president, said the rankings put "Rams Head on the music map worldwide."
The news comes as the business recently closed on a $1.5 million purchase of Island Inn in Stevensville to open Rams Head Shore House, the company's sixth location.
- From staff reports

US States News, October 20, 2006, Friday

Copyright 2006 HT Media Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
US States News

October 20, 2006 Friday 1:17 AM EST


HEADLINE: BLACK ALUMNI ORGANIZATION STEP SHOW RAISES $10,000 FOR SCHOLARSHIPS

BYLINE: US States News

DATELINE: DOVER, Del.

BODY:
The University of Delaware issued the following news release:
UD's Black Alumni Organization (BAO) upped its scholarship fund by $10,420 with an alumni-sponsored step show held in Mitchell Hall during Homecoming weekend.
Three of the alums hosting the event-Quinetta M. Roberson, BE '92, Tony Allen, AS '93, CHEP '01PhD, and Jocelyn Devance Taliaferro, AS '92, CHEP '04PhD-said they were committed to making a contribution to the University. Admission fees to the step show, which was held Oct. 13 in Mitchell Hall, already were dedicated to the BAO scholarship fund, but the three friends decided "to raise the bar."
"Given our strong school spirit and our desire to give back to an institution that has done so much for us, we set a goal to raise $10,000 during the show through pledges from audience members," Roberson, an associate professor of human resource studies at Cornell University, said.
Four Greek-letter organizations at UD performed in the step show: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta and Zeta Phi Beta sororities and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Dark Arts Performing Dance Company also performed.
Alumni who participated in the show ranged from the Class of 1990 to the Class of 2006. Terrance Bowman, EG '95, organized the event, and pledges and donations were solicited after each performance, Roberson said.
"In addition to pledges by individuals, we collected monies during intermission," Roberson said. "To add a touch of drama, Tony donned his Ph.D. regalia and 'ushers' with offering baskets went up and down the aisles for additional donations.
"A wonderful moment came toward the end of the show, when three children, ages 7-10, came up to the stage to donate $20 each."
"UD is a great story for us and for so many African-American graduates at the University who have found wonderful social networks and lifelong friends who really transcend the traditional barriers of division that confront our citizenry," Allen said.
All three friends "stepping up" to the scholarship drive hold doctoral degrees. Roberson is an associate professor at Cornell University, Allen is a senior vice president for communications at the Bank of America in Wilmington and Taliaferro is an assistant professor at North Carolina State University.
More than 400 people attended the step show, including approximately 50 UD students. To date, the BAO has raised $17,000 toward its five-year scholarship goal of $50,000. UD's Office of Student Diversity and Success will administer the scholarships.

Plain Dealer (Cleveland), October 19, 2006, Thursday

Copyright 2006 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

October 19, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition; All Editions

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C1

HEADLINE: Going solo without worry of health care;
Freelancers Union gives group benefits

BYLINE: Alison Grant, Plain Dealer Reporter

BODY:
Nicolene Schwartz, a young, energetic Ohio native, has built an attractive résumé as a free-lance writer and filmmaker in New York City.
She wrote the exhibition catalogue for a Paris art show, helped publicize the launch of an Internet service, operated the camera on a straight-to-DVD documentary, and earlier this month, shot pictures on one of her bread-and-butter projects - photographing high-end weddings, this one in Indonesia.
But along with the edgy assignments and the flexibility of independent work come the perils of life as a free-lancer: An inconsistent paycheck. No pension. The isolation of a solo operator. And, especially, scary health insurance costs.
Sara Horowitz, a labor attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y., has answers for entrepreneurs like Schwartz.
She founded the Brooklyn-based Freelancers Union to provide group health insurance rates, and disability and life insurance policies to eligible independent workers. By year's end, it will offer access to individual 401(k) accounts.
The organization went national in August with the opening of a virtual "union hall" - a Web site, www.freelancersunion.org, that has member profiles, a free-lancers' Yellow Pages and gig listings.
Horowitz said the Freelancers Union should be opening group health insurance plans in 20 states by the end of 2007. She doesn't know yet whether Ohio will be in the initial expansion.
Membership in the Freelancers Union and its online community is free. There are fees and eligibility requirements for the insurance and retirement services.
"These workers are the backbone for so many industries vital to our nation's economy - IT, financial services, the arts, advertising and publishing," Horowitz said. "Yet, these same workers are not afforded simple job protections."
Nothing in Horowitz's background exactly prepared her to have solutions for the 25-year-old Schwartz and other unconventional workers.
Horowitz's family was steeped in traditional organized labor. A grandfather was vice president of the venerable ladies' garment union in New York City. Her dad built a busy practice as a labor lawyer.
But when she graduated from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1984, the U.S. work force was much different from what her father and grandfather dealt with.
Lifetime work for a large corporation, the 1930s model that shaped American unions' role in bargaining wages and working conditions, didn't apply to the army of independent workers that emerged at the end of the 20th century. Independents total three out of 10 workers, according to a recent government tally.
Some work on their own because it pays better or is more gratifying. Others are forced into the role - the "consultants" between jobs, the "permatemps" laid off before they qualify for benefits.
Horowitz, 43, worked as a union organizer and labor attorney before founding Working Today in 1995 to give solo practitioners a voice and financial clout.
Four years later, she won a $275,000 "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation for her market-based approach to providing insurance and retirement help through the Freelancers Union.
The "union" in the name is misleading, since the organization doesn't bargain collectively with employers. Horowitz stresses that her group is a complement to traditional unions, not a replacement.
In fact, unions and guilds such as the National Writers Union and the Graphic Artists Guild are hooking up with the Freelancers Union to offer health insurance to their members.
Independents "are a third of the work force," Horowitz said. "They really are the group that will define what the next safety net is, in very pragmatic terms."
So how do you get a swarm of lone operators to fly in formation for their common good?
To start, Horowitz built a membership of 31,000 people in New York City - artists, consultants, sole proprietors and others in nonstandard work arrangements. The Freelancers Union won group health insurance rates that cost about $220 a month, one-third the average for an individual-rate HMO plan in New York. It also offered legal and financial advice and a forum where members could swap information and job postings.
The nationwide push marks "the dawn of a new form of unionism," Horowitz said, "a new kind of labor organization that seeks to protect and even the playing field for millions of independent workers and free-lancers."
Shaker Heights free-lancer William Rigby signed up looking for job leads.
Rigby is a drummer for a Nashville-based rock musician whose solo tour this year left his band temporarily sidelined. He also is a copy editor and proofreader for university presses and book publishers.
"It's really hard to get enough work to make a living at copy editing," he said. "It's taken me years of networking to have a fairly steady flow."
Oil painter Mark DeMuro, 54, went without health insurance for years when his premium reached $5,000, with a $2,000 deductible. "You can't imagine how happy I was when I found the Freelancers Union," the Manhattan artist said.
Daniel Pink, author of Free Agent Nation, said Horowitz's scheme is inspired because labor unions don't fit the new breed of unattached workers.
Still, Pink said it could be tough to rally workers who have made the decision to go it alone. And the Freelancers Union doesn't recruit at a single job site, or focus on a specific occupation.
"You have to make the case that there's a commonality of interests," Pink said.
To reach this Plain Dealer Reporter:
agrant@plaind.com, 216-999-4758
BOX:
Free-lancer: Nicolene Schwartz
Age: 25
Jobs: Writer, photographer, filmmaker
Where: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Free-lancer: Mark DeMuro
Age: 54
Jobs: Oil painter, sculptor
Where: Manhattan

GRAPHIC: RICK MAIMAN VIA AP OIL PAINTER MARK DEMURO REMOVED WALLS IN HIS ONE-BEDROOM MANHATTAN APARTMENT TO MAKE ROOM FOR LARGE CANVASES: "When nonartists visit they always say how cool it looks. I don't often think that when I visit someone's office." But the pleasures of nontraditional work meant a job without employer-based health insurance. DeMuro turned to the Freelancers Union for help.
RICK MAIMAN VIA AP Nicolene Schwartz, of suburban Dayton, moved to New York City to work as a model, writer, documentary filmmaker and photographer. She joined the Brooklyn-based Freelancers Union seeking legal services and job contacts. Anne Seiwerath Sara Horowitz founded the Freelancers Union and took it national this year.
PHOTOGRAPH BY RICK MAIMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS WHY THEY JOINED THE FREELANCERS UNION: Independent artists DeMuro and Schwartz have health insurance and other job-based benefits because the Freelancers Union made them available.

The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), October 19, 2006, Thursday

Copyright 2006 Post-Standard
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)

October 19, 2006 Thursday
CAYUGA EDITION

SECTION: NEIGHBORS CAYUGA; Pg. 10

HEADLINE: MICHAEL NOZZOLIO;
NEW YORK SENATE -- 54TH DISTRICT

BYLINE: By Dave Tobin Staff writer

BODY:
Once again, Michael Nozzolio, who is running for his eighth Senate term, is unopposed.
The Seneca Falls attorney was first elected to the state Assembly in 1982. He currently represents the 54th Senate District.
Early on, Nozzolio secured his power base with police and correctional officers, lobbying hard for new prisons, which translated to jobs in a rural area with few other growth opportunities. The union representing correction officers, NYSCOBA, remains one of his largest campaign contributors. ($10,125 in 2005-2006).
His Web site biography describes him as "a staunch and outspoken proponent of criminal justice reform and victims' rights."
Money has been a key to Nozzolio's success, flowing into his campaign coffers, flowing out as taxpayer-funded member items.
Nozzolio received contributions of $270,860 during the first nine months of 2006, giving him a balance of $548,158 in his campaign fund.
In 2004-2005, Nozzolio attached his name to $1.8 million in "member items" to 34 organizations, including nine grants of $100,000 or more.
In recent years, Nozzolio has since become a strong advocate for environmental protection, helping establish the Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith colleges, a program that helps monitor the water quality of the Finger Lakes.
He is chairman of the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee, a member of the following committees: Alcoholism and Drug Abuse; Banks; Consumer Protection; Mental Health; Racing, Gaming and Wagering; Tourism, Recreation and Sports Development; Transportation.

Michael Nozzolio
Party: Republican/Conservative/Independence
Age: 55
Residence: 3929 Rosewood Drive, Seneca Falls 13148
Family: Wife, Rosemary
Occupation: State senator and member of Harris Beach law firm, Rochester
Public service: Assemblyman, 1983 to 1992. State senator, 1993 to present.
Education: Cornell University, bachelor's degree in labor relations, master's degree in public administration and agricultural economics. Syracuse University College of Law
District office address: 119 Fall St., Seneca Falls 13148
District office phone number: 888-568-9816
E-mail: nozzolio@senate.state.ny.us
Dave Tobin can be reached at dtobin@syracuse.com or by calling 470-3210.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO NO CREDIT Michael Nozzolio

Library Journal Reviews, October 15, 2006, Sunday

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information, US, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Library Journal Reviews

October 15, 2006

SECTION: REVIEWS; Science and Technology; Pg. 79


HEADLINE: The Complexities of Care: Nursing Reconsidered

BYLINE: Dick Maxwell

BODY:
The Complexities of Care: Nursing Reconsidered. ILR: Cornell Univ . 2006. c.208p. ed. by Sioban Nelson & Suzanne Gordon . ISBN 0-8014-4505-1 [ISBN 978-0-8014-4505-7 ]. $49.95; pap. ISBN 0-8014-7322-5 . $18.95. MED
Nelson (nursing, Univ. of Toronto;Say Little, Do Much ) and journalist Gordon (nursing, Univ. of California, San Francisco) present a collection of essays about nursing, written by nurses as well as journalists, a philosopher, and a sociologist. The editors suggest that what they call a virtue script has long dominated nursing's self-image, with powerful consequences for both nurses and patients. The research they present shows that nurses in all settings tend to describe their work as caring, emotional, and compassionate, consciously avoiding mention of the knowledge and skill that are equally essential to the job. Other essays try to assess why this is such a fiercely protected image, and the editor of the American Journal of Nursing describes the anger generated by published work challenging the "angel" icon. The consequences, suggested here and based largely on theorist Patricia Benner's work, include early burnout owing to mistaken expectations and the greater use of unskilled workers, who are seen as equally capable of providing emotional care. Sometimes complex but well written and provocative, this work complements such books as Dana Beth Weinberg's Code Green: Money-Driven Hospitals and the Dismantling of Nursing . Recommended for all medical libraries and academic libraries supporting nursing programs.-Dick Maxwell, Porter Adventist Hosp. Lib., Denver

Plain Dealer (Cleveland), October 15, 2006, Sunday

Copyright 2006 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

October 15, 2006 Sunday
Final Edition; All Editions

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. G1

HEADLINE: Foreign competition enters into local labor disputes

BYLINE: Thomas W. Gerdel, Plain Dealer Reporter

BODY:
Globalization and its threat to American jobs hangs over the United Steelworkers strike against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and talks at Alcoa Inc.'s Cleveland Works.
The Goodyear strike, now in its second week, was called partly to keep the Akron company from closing more U.S. plants and further eroding employment in the domestic tire industry. Union members also are fighting demands for health care and other concessions and want Goodyear - an international tire-maker with plants around the world - to make firm commitments for sizable future investments in its U.S. facilities.
"This is a union that's fighting very hard to preserve as much of the industry in the United States as it can," said Paul Clark, a professor who heads the department of labor studies and industrial relations at Pennsylvania State University. "They're kind of drawing a line in the sand."
Goodyear officials said the company needs a contract that's fair to all its stakeholders and enhances its ability to win customers with today's intense global competition.
"We're fighting to preserve the future of the last major American tire manufacturer," Jon Rich, president of Goodyear's North American Tire unit, said in a letter to employees after the strike began.
About 15,000 union workers are striking 16 Goodyear plants - 12 of them in the United States, including the company's Tech Center in Akron, and four in Canada.
Nobody can say how long the strike will go on, but on Friday Goodyear said it had borrowed nearly $1 billion to weather a longer strike. Goodyear is shipping products to customers from inventory, operating plants not affected by the strike, running affected plants with salaried workers and importing from its international operations.
Last year, more than 100 million tires - most of them sold in the replacement market - were imported into the United States, a new high. At the same time, domestic tire production has fallen every year since 2000, as older U.S. tire plants continue to shut down. The biggest recent increase in tire imports is coming from China. In the current strike, Goodyear says it can't accept a contract that creates cost disadvantages compared with its foreign rivals and imports.
The issue of globalization also hangs over contract negotiations between aluminum maker Alcoa and the United Auto Workers Local 1050, which represents about 830 hourly workers at the Cleveland Works. In recent years, the local forged-aluminum operation has lost some work to foreign locations.
And despite recent productivity improvements at the plant here, Alcoa managers say health care concessions and other changes are needed to keep the Cleveland Works globally competitive. Alcoa is one of the world's biggest aluminum producers, with 350 plants worldwide, and is posting record profits this year.
The search
for lower wages
Labor experts say no nation is safe from the impact of outsourcing, which is moving jobs and production from country to country in search of ever-lower wages.
"The larger issue for the United Steelworkers and other unions is what to do about a global economy that's out of control," said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University. "We have to start holding companies accountable. This race to the bottom can't go on forever."
From a historian's perspective, the labor movement has not been able to deal effectively with globalization since the 1970s, when companies became more multinational in their operations, said Peter Rachleff, a professor and labor historian at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.
"The only answer is to create unions as transnational as the employers are," said Rachleff. Then labor would be able to speak with one voice around the world, he said.
He said it was only when national unions representing steel, autos and other industries were formed in the 1930s that the United States entered a 40-year era of mounting prosperity and steadily rising living standards that cut across all income levels. Since the 1970s, however, organized labor's power has weakened, and much more of the country's wealth has gone to the upper income brackets.
"Of all the unions, the Steelworkers have been trying in the last five years to build international ties," Rachleff said.
The United Steelworkers is working with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions in Brussels, Belgium. The organization, which represents some 20 million workers worldwide, plays host to global labor conferences and helps promote global networking among various unions. The group urged its affiliated unions to send messages of support to the Steelworkers in the strike against Goodyear.
Seeking solidarity
around the world
"We also call on trade unions in the rubber industry - and particularly at Goodyear plants in Central and South America - to monitor inventories and production to ensure that they are not undermining the USW's strike action," ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs said in a statement.
Susan Schurman, president of the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., which has ties to the AFL-CIO, said one answer to globalism is the growth of trade unions and collective bargaining in other countries, raising workers' pay and benefits. One example: In the late 1980s, collective bargaining in the South Korean auto industry helped boost wages and living standards, narrowing the gap between Korean and American wages and preventing drastic price undercutting by the Korean auto industry.
Schurman said unions also can fight against outsourcing by becoming partners with responsible employers to find ways to improve efficiencies and upgrade workers' skills through training programs.
However, some issues such as health care are bigger than collective bargaining can solve, she said. The burden of rising health care costs puts American automakers and other companies at a disadvantage when competing against rivals from countries where health care is provided by government programs.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: tgerdel@plaind.com, 216-999-4114

Business Wire, October 12, 2006, Thursday

Copyright 2006 Business Wire, Inc.
Business Wire

October 12, 2006 Thursday 11:00 AM GMT

DISTRIBUTION: Business Editors


HEADLINE: The Pantry Names Melissa Anderson Senior Vice President - Human Resources

DATELINE: SANFORD, N.C.

BODY:
The Pantry, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTRY), the leading independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern U.S., today announced that it has named Melissa Anderson, to the newly created position of Senior Vice President Human Resources. Ms. Anderson joins The Pantry from International Business Machines Corp., where she progressed through a variety of increasingly challenging human resources positions during her remarkable 17-year career. For the last three years, she was the vice president of Human Resources for IBM Global Financing.
While there, she lead an international team of HR professionals responsible for creating and executing a worldwide workforce management strategy for an organization of approximately 3,500 employees. Ms. Anderson previously led IBMs human resource functions for several other U.S. locations including IBMs Silicon Valley Software Development Laboratory and IBM Austin, former headquarters to IBMs RS6000 Server Division, now branded as Series P. The Austin site was home to approximately 4,500 employees with over 30 distinct lines of business. Subsequently, Ms. Anderson became the worldwide HR director for Tivoli Software. Earlier in her career, she managed IBMs pioneering effort to create a human resources center, centralizing HR services for over 200,000 employees and retirees. Ms. Anderson earned her B.S. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and holds a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations degree from Cornell University. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter J. Sodini said, We are delighted to welcome Melissa to The Pantrys senior management team. As we have in several other areas over the last 18 months, we felt we needed to upgrade our human resources capabilities by adding an executive whose talents are commensurate with the scope and importance of the function particularly in light of the growth we expect over the next few years. Melissas track record of superb performance and innovation at IBM made her an ideal candidate for this position. Headquartered in Sanford, North Carolina, The Pantry, Inc. is the leading independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern United States and one of the largest independently operated convenience store chains in the country, with net sales for fiscal 2005 of approximately $4.4 billion. As of June 29, 2006, the Company operated 1,499 stores in eleven states under select banners including Kangaroo Express(SM), our primary operating banner. The Pantrys stores offer a broad selection of merchandise, as well as gasoline and other ancillary services designed to appeal to the convenience needs of its customers. Statements made by the Company in this press release relating to future plans, events, or financial performance are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on the Companys current plans and expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to vary materially from the results and events anticipated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any number of factors could affect actual results and events, including, without limitation: the ability of the Company to take advantage of expected synergies in connection with acquisitions; the actual operating results of stores acquired; the ability of the Company to integrate acquisitions into its operations; fluctuations in domestic and global petroleum and gasoline markets; changes in the competitive landscape of the convenience store industry, including gasoline stations and other non-traditional retailers located in the Companys markets; the effect of national and regional economic conditions on the convenience store industry and the markets we serve; the effect of regional weather conditions on customer traffic; financial difficulties of suppliers, including the Companys principal suppliers of gas and merchandise, and their ability to continue to supply stores; environmental risks associated with selling petroleum products; governmental regulations, including those regulating the environment; and acts of war or terrorist activity. These and other risk factors are discussed in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K and in its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on the Companys estimates and plans as of August 14, 2006. While the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so.


CONTACT: The Pantry, Inc.CONTACT: The Pantry, Inc. Dan Kelly, 919-774-6700

URL: http://www.businesswire.com

Observer-Dispatch (Utica, New York), October 12, 2006, Thursday

Copyright 2006 Observer-Dispatch (Utica, NY)
All Rights Reserved
Observer-Dispatch (Utica, New York)

October 12, 2006 Thursday
1 Edition

SECTION: MONEY; Pg. 10A

HEADLINE: Remington freezing pensions

BYLINE: Bryon Ackerman backerman@utica.gannett.com

BODY:
Increase in co-pays for medical also possible
Observer-Dispatch
ILION- A corporate-wide freeze on pension plans is in store for Remington Arms Co. workers, the company and union members said Wednesday.
The freeze for all workers will begin Jan. 1, 2008, and is a way to save money for the company, said Stu Kennedy, president of the United Mine Workers of America Local 716.
Pensions would no longer increase based on salary increases. The action will affect management, and will only affect union members if that is what is deter-mined in negotiations that begin in June 2007, union international representa-tive Dan Bass said.
About 1,000 people work at Remington Arms, Herkimer County's largest employer and one if its oldest.
Most are unionized workers. Plant Manager Joe Gross said workers hired after 1996 do not have pension plans.
Remington officials made the decision to cut back on losses because the com-pany is losing money every year, Gross said.
"I think they're doing what they have to do to be financially responsible for their future," he said.
An increase in co-pay requirements for medical plans has also been mentioned, Bass said.
"Being six or seven months away from negotiations, we expected something like this," Bass said. "They want to make more money, and it looks like they want to do it at our expense. It's a clear indication of what their intentions are going to be during negotiations."
Pension freezes are becoming increasingly common nationwide, said Jim Wooten, a professor of law at the University at Buffalo.
Many major companies including Sears Holding Corp., IBM Corp. and Verizon Communications announced pension freezes in late 2005 or early 2006.
Workers are left with 401(k) plans to manage instead of guaranteed pension, Wooten said.
"You're shifting the risk off of employers onto employees," he said.
REMINGTON ARMS Q & A
Here are answers to some questions about Remington Arms' announcement Wednes-day.
Q.: What was the announcement by the Remington Arms Co.?
A.: Pensions for all workers will be frozen beginning Jan. 1, 2008.
Q.: Who does this affect?
A.: Of the five Remington plants, only workers at the Ilion and Findlay, Ohio, plants are union members. The announcement may or may not affect union members pending negotiations to begin in June 2007. All nonunion workers- such as management- will undoubtedly be affected. About 1,200 total Remington Arms workers have pension plans. The 1,000 workers were hired after 1996 and never had pension plans.
Q.: What does the pension freeze mean?
A.: Pension plans are based on years of service to a company, age and either the three or four years of highest salary or the three highest years of salary in the past 10 years. Workers with pension plans benefit greatly from salary in-creases near the ends of their careers, but the freeze means their pension plans will no longer take any raises into account. Age will still affect the plan. Workers must retire at 65 or older to receive 100 percent of their pensions.
Q:. What recourse do workers have?
A.: All workers at Remington Arms have the option of 401(k) plans. Workers with no pension plans receive a 4 percent company match. Those with pension plans receive a smaller company match. The company match for workers with frozen pension plans will be part of the negotiations beginning in June.
Q.: Are other companies doing this? If so, why and why now?
A.: Yes. Many major companies ranging from Circuit City Stores in 2004 to Verizon Communications in 2005 and IBM Corp. in 2006, have announced pension freezes. Reasons for the freezes include international competition, rising healthcare costs and rising and volatile financial costs. A rule announced Sept. 29 by the Financial Accounting Standards Board might soon affect companies by making them more directly report assets and liabilities on financial sheets.
Sources: Jim Wooten, professor of law at the University at Buffalo; Ronald G. Ehrenberg, professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University; Stu Kennedy, president of the United Mine Workers of America Local 716; Dan Bass, international representative for the United Mine Workers of America; Joe Gross, plant manager of the Ilion Remington Arms; Center for Retirement Research at Boston College report

Business Wire, October 12, 2006, Thursday

Business Wire
October 12, 2006 07:00 AM Eastern Time

The Pantry Names Melissa Anderson Senior Vice President – Human Resources
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20061012005114&newsLang=en

SANFORD, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Pantry, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTRY), the leading independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern U.S., today announced that it has named Melissa Anderson, to the newly created position of Senior Vice President – Human Resources.
Ms. Anderson joins The Pantry from International Business Machines Corp., where she progressed through a variety of increasingly challenging human resources positions during her remarkable 17-year career. For the last three years, she was the vice president of Human Resources for IBM Global Financing. While there, she lead an international team of HR professionals responsible for creating and executing a worldwide workforce management strategy for an organization of approximately 3,500 employees. Ms. Anderson previously led IBM’s human resource functions for several other U.S. locations including IBM’s Silicon Valley Software Development Laboratory and IBM Austin, former headquarters to IBM’s RS6000 Server Division, now branded as Series P. The Austin site was home to approximately 4,500 employees with over 30 distinct lines of business. Subsequently, Ms. Anderson became the worldwide HR director for Tivoli Software. Earlier in her career, she managed IBM’s pioneering effort to create a human resources “shared-services” center, centralizing HR services for over 200,000 employees and retirees. Ms. Anderson earned her B.S. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and holds a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations degree from Cornell University.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter J. Sodini said, “We are delighted to welcome Melissa to The Pantry’s senior management team. As we have in several other areas over the last 18 months, we felt we needed to upgrade our human resources capabilities by adding an executive whose talents are commensurate with the scope and importance of the function – particularly in light of the growth we expect over the next few years. Melissa’s track record of superb performance and innovation at IBM made her an ideal candidate for this position.”

About The Pantry
Headquartered in Sanford, North Carolina, The Pantry, Inc. is the leading independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern United States and one of the largest independently operated convenience store chains in the country, with net sales for fiscal 2005 of approximately $4.4 billion. As of June 29, 2006, the Company operated 1,499 stores in eleven states under select banners including Kangaroo Express(SM), our primary operating banner. The Pantry’s stores offer a broad selection of merchandise, as well as gasoline and other ancillary services designed to appeal to the convenience needs of its customers.

The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), October 11, 2006, Wednesday

The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)

October 11, 2006 Wednesday
CAYUGA EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. B1

HEADLINE: VOTERS WILL JUDGE;
THOMAS LEONE SAYS HE HAS LEGAL EXPERTISE TO BE COUNTY COURT JUDGE

BYLINE: By Scott Rapp Staff writer

BODY:
Like his father before him, Thomas G. Leone pursued a law degree and became a lawyer.
Father and son even share the same nickname, "Tucker" - from the nursery rhyme "Little Tommy Tucker" - and now the younger Leone is following his father's career footsteps again. This time, however, he hopes to break rank.
Leone, 49, of Auburn, is running as the Democratic/Independence candidate for Cayuga County judge against Republican/Conservative James B. Vargason, county district attorney since 1992. Leone's father ran unsuccessfully for city judge in the late 1970s.
History links the two county judge candidates: Vargason beat Leone to win a second term as district attorney in 1995.
They are campaigning to succeed Judge Peter E. Corning, who's held the 10-year post since 1980 but has reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. Corning, a Democrat, must step down at year's end.
Leone, Auburn's corporation counsel since 2000, says he has always wanted to be a judge and believes the timing is right for his candidacy. He also said he has the right blend of life, family and legal experiences - and a strong sense of fairness that he learned from his father - to become "an excellent judge."
"Cayuga County is unique because of the way County Court is structured and I have the legal experience because I've done (all types of cases). I'm not coming from one aspect of the law; I've done it all," he said.
"I know how hard it is to run a business and I know how hard it is to raise a family, and I'm going to bring all those things to the bench," he said.
Generally, state rules governing judicial conduct limits judicial candidates to what they can discuss publicly while campaigning. They can only discuss their job qualifications, careers and judicial philosophy as well as their opponent's job qualifications and career, under the rules.
Because the county has no state Supreme Court or Family Court judges, county judges hear all types of family, civil and criminal cases - from property line disputes to adoptions to murders. The position pays about $120,000 a year, nearly $30,000 more than Leone's current $91,753 salary.
Boyhood friend Joe DiMora says Leone is one of the most compassionate people he has ever known.
"If I were to appear in front of (a judge), I would want someone who is fair and compassionate. Right or wrong, you want to be treated fairly. He fits the bill, he was raised that way," DiMora said.
Leone, an Auburn native, graduated from Auburn High School in 1975 and wanted to become a lawyer like his father, who is nearly 80 and still practicing law. Leone earned his law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in 1987 and practiced civil, family and criminal law for the next 13 years before becoming full-time city attorney six years ago. He served as part-time corporation counsel from 1996-2000.
He and his wife of 27 years, Deborah, have an adult son and two teenage daughters. The family lives in Auburn. Leone owned Pepper's liquor store in the early 1980s.
"In this campaign, we're stressing that I have the legal expertise for this position. But more importantly, I have a family. I know firsthand the pressures that our families are confronted with what's going on these days," he said.
"Being on both sides of an issue has certainly helped me gain what I believe is the insight and the wisdom to be a good judge," he said.
Leone drives a 1994 four-wheel-drive pickup truck that Democratic Party honchos tried to discourage him from driving on the campaign trail. They said the truck was unbecoming of a judicial candidate.
"I said, "No way. This is who I am,"' he said.
Leone smiles easily but shies at talking about himself. He likes to downhill ski, tinker with a 1977 MG sports car that he has restored and hang with his family. He seldom watches television and golfs on occasion.
However, he faces an uphill fight in this campaign. Vargason has far more registered voters in his camp. Combined, registered Republicans and Conservatives outnumber Democrats and Independence voters by about 2,500 in the county.
If he loses, Leone says it won't be for a lack of effort. He's covered more than 100 miles knocking on doors in the city and county and feels confident that he'll emerge the winner in November.
"I just think we can overcome that (registered) voter deficit because this is really not a Democrat/Republican race. It's not a vote by party lines. This is beyond a political level, it really is," he said.
Scott Rapp can be reached at srapp@syracuse.com or 253-7316.
Thomas G. Leone
Age: 49.
Education: Auburn High School,
Le Moyne College, New York State Industrial Labor Relations School at Cornell University, Franklin Pierce Law Center.
Family: Wife, Deborah; son, Thomas; daughters, Caitlin and Marissa.
Occupation: Full-time Auburn corporation counsel since 2000, part-time corporation counsel 1996-2000; private law 13 years.
Military experience: None.
Political experience: None.
Civic experience: Past board member Auburn Little League, Knights of Columbus Council 207 member, volunteer Auburn Maroon Vanguard marching band, Cayuga County Youth Organization basketball program volunteer, past West Middle School ski club volunteer and chaperone, Auburn Lacrosse Boosters, Auburn Sports Boosters Inc., Junior Achievement volunteer.
If I were judge: "I'd treat everybody with dignity and respect, and certainly make it a point to listen to the people's positions and make a very informed decision based upon the credible facts."

GRAPHIC: PHOTO John Berry/Staff photographer THOMAS G. LEONE,corporation counsel for the city of Auburn, is running against Cayuga County District Attorney James B. Vargason for county judge in November. Judge Peter E. Corning is stepping down at the end of the year, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.

The Miami Herald (Florida), October 5, 2006, Thursday

Copyright 2006 The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald (Florida)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

October 5, 2006 Thursday

SECTION: BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL NEWS

HEADLINE: Nova Southeastern University janitors OK union representation: Nova Southeastern University janitors will rally today for their newly formed union, although their company's contract with the school may be in jeopardy

BYLINE: Niala Boodhoo, The Miami Herald

BODY:
Oct. 5--Janitors at Nova Southeastern University voted to create a union Wednesday. But because the university announced last week that it may rebid the janitorial contract, the union fight is far from over.
More than 60 percent of the 350 employees who do janitorial, maintenance and landscape work at the university's main Davie campus said Wednesday they wanted the Service Employees Internation Union to represent them. They are employed by contractor Unicco Services Co.
But NSU President Ray Ferrero said in an open letter Friday the university had begun to reevaluate those contract workers, effectively notifying Unicco it may lose its contract.
Labor experts say SEIU is prepared for another public campaign, similar to the one it waged against University of Miami earlier this year, to bring pressure on NSU to recognize the union, regardless of who the contractor is. If the university decides to fight, it could led to a protracted legal battle because of complex labor laws involved, they say.
After its success at UM, SEIU had been organizing janitors at Florida International University and NSU. FIU said last week it would bring its janitors in house and under its existing American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.
"Nova needs to do what other universities have done because it's the right thing to do," said SEIU's Stephen Lerner, who heads the union's national Justice for Janitors campaign.
NSU spokesman Dave Dawson said the vote Wednesday was between the workers and Unicco.
"We're still running a business and going to make the best business decisions we can to operate this university on behalf of the students," he said, adding the university has just begun to explore whether it would take positions in-house, outsource them or do a combination of the two.
Dawson said he couldn't speak to the timing of why the university had now decided to rebid the contract. "The timing is what it is," he said.
In a statement, Boston-based Unicco said it was prepared to honor the workers' wishes to form a union, adding it was disappointed at NSU's actions to rebid its current contract. But it said it planned to bid again for the work.
NSU has contracted with Unicco to do that work for 12 years. NSU's main campus where those workers are is in Davie. The school also has seven other campuses in Florida and one in Las Vegas.
Given that, SEIU signing an agreement with Unicco is "no guarantee those workers will keep their jobs at Nova," said Cornell University labor relations professor Rick Hurd. "If Nova decides to bring in another contractor and not abide by the union agreement, it will be up to SEIU to challenge that."
If the university accepts another contractor other than Unicco and all the old workers apply, NSU has to be careful not to subject itself to discrimination charges for not hiring the workers because they now belong to a union, said Gil Abramson, a partner with Hogan & Hartson in Washington and a former senior counsel to the National Labor Relations Board chairman.
If that happens, said Hurd: "As you saw with University of Miami, [SEIU leaders] are very effective with their public campaign."
That campaign continues with an afternoon rally today at a United Methodist church in Davie. SEIU plans to have community leaders and politicians lobby for the janitors.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

U.S. Newswire, October 4, 2006, Wednesday

U.S. Newswire

Dramatic Gap between Working-Age People With and Without Disabilities in Employment and Poverty
10/4/2006 10:00:00 AM
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=73738

To: National Desk
Contact: Andrew J. Houtenville, 607-255-5702 or 607-227-8545

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A dramatic 40.2 percent employment gap separates working-age people with and without disabilities in the workforce, Cornell University researchers reported today.

The finding, which coincides with National Disability Awareness Month, is part of a series of reports released by Cornell University in collaboration with the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).

The report states that 38.1 percent of people with disabilities are employed, compared with 78.3 percent of people without disabilities, making a gap of 40.2 percentage points. There are 21,455,000 people with disabilities of working age (21- 64), 12.6 percent of the total working age population.

"The employment gap between people with and without disabilities is long-standing. There is evidence that it is growing, and that people with disabilities are not participating in the recovery from the 2001 recession," said Andrew Houtenville, director of Cornell's Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics (StatsRRTC).

The researchers found that the poverty gap is 15.4 percent; that is 24.6 percent of working-age Americans with disabilities live in poverty compared with 9.3 percent of those without disabilities.

The report also noted that people with disabilities constitute 27.6 percent of the working-age American population living in poverty.

This second Annual Disability Status Report, containing a range of statistics about people with disabilities, including statistics by state, is available online at http://www.DisabilityStatistics.org

The reports, which will be issued yearly at the beginning of October by Cornell, "fill a pressing need for timely and relevant statistics about people with disabilities for policy-makers, advocates and the media," said Houtenville.

The Disability Status Reports use the American Community Survey - the public-use version of the raw data that the Census Bureau uses in its report. Because of revisions by the Census Bureau to compensate for problems in the collection of Census 2000 data, the new ACS data are not comparable to data used to measure employment and poverty among people with disabilities in 2004.

The StatsRRTC is the statistics arm of three Cornell units: the Employment and Disability Institute in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the Institute for Policy Research located in Washington, D.C., and the Department of Policy Analysis and Management in the College of Human Ecology. It is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=73738&Link=http://www.usnewswire.com/
-0-
/© 2006 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

About--News & Issues, N.Y., October 4, 2006

About -- News & Issues, N.Y.
October 4, 2006
http://immigration.about.com/b/a/155468.htm

Immigration Issues
From Jennifer & Peter Wipf,
Your Guide to Immigration Issues.

Migrant Farm Workers: What are they? Who are they?

Driving to San Francisco from Los Angeles once, a friend and I saw fields full of fruit pickers along Interstate 5, and whispered in astonishment to each other "Are those... migrant workers?" To us, they were people seen only in documentaries, or mentioned in books. Indeed, migrant workers live on the periphery of society. We have all heard of them, but most of us do not come in contact with them. Who are these people and where do they come from?
Many migrant workers travel back and forth from their homelands to work in the U.S. on a seasonal basis. Others are illegal immigrants permanently in the U.S.. Some are legal immigrants. Few are American-born - other than the children, who often work alongside their parents.
Cornell University offers a unique course devoted to migrant farm labor in the Americas. There is not much data on migrant farm workers available. They "are treated as second-class citizens. They're always treated as exceptions to labor laws,'' according to Vernon Briggs, professor for industrial and labor relations. Part of the program involves students teaching English to the mostly-Mexican laborers who don't speak the language. Current estimates put the number of hired farm laborers at around 2 million, possibly more. About 47,000 live and work in the state of New York, many of them laboring on farms surrounding the Cornell campus.

For Cornell students, this is a unique opportunity to learn about topics like agricultural economics and statistics, the North American Free Trade Agreement, human rights and more. To read about the current debates involving migrant workers, read our article on the migrant worker program and Bush's proposed guest worker program. To learn more about the Cornell course, read the The New York Times article. -- Jennifer Wipf