Thursday, August 20, 2009

Motion Pictures Editors Guild, August 11, 2009, Tuesday

Motion Pictures Editors Guild

August 11, 2009, Tuesday

Motion Pictures Editors Guild

Not Your Parents’ Labor Movement

Workers of Chicago-based Republic Windows and Doors captured the nation’s attention when they occupied their workplace for six days last December. Their employer gave only three days notice of the plant’s closing and showed no intention of paying their accrued vacation pay or two months of back wages, as is legally required after a notice of closing.

Republic’s bank, the publicly salvaged Bank of America, refused to extend credit to the company. In response, the 250 workers, mainly Latino and African-American, occupied the plant from December 5 to 10, preventing the company from moving the machinery out, until they received what they were owed.

Support poured in -- from other unions, community groups, religious leaders and even president-elect Obama. Images of sit-down strikes from the Great Depression came to mind as the Great Recession deepened. Many observers thought Republic might be a harbinger of a new wave of labor militancy.

“These workers are to this struggle perhaps what Rosa Parks was to social justice 50 years ago,” Rev. Jesse Jackson told a rally at the plant. “This, in many ways, is the beginning of a larger movement for mass action to resist economic violence.”

A lackluster response

More than half a year later, that larger movement hasn’t materialized. Why not? It’s not for lack of reasons. Employers continue to shut down workplaces, cut wages and fight pro-union legislation. Workers in other countries frequently take direct action to fight job losses. French factory workers hold managers hostage. Brazilian and Argentine workers seize and operate businesses and, in June, British energy workers went on an unauthorized national strike.

The Republic sit-in has reverberated elsewhere, but only faintly:

Workers at two Hartmarx men’s clothing factories in Illinois and New York voted in May to stage a sit-in if the bankrupt company and its uncooperative bank, Wells Fargo, failed to sell to a buyer who would continue production in its domestic factories. (In June, the company announced it would sell to such a buyer, Emerisque.)

At Quad-City Die Casting in Moline, Ill., workers are protesting Wells Fargo’s refusal to lend to their employer, which could eliminate 100 jobs at the 60-year-old family-owned precision-parts maker. Quad-City employees, who belong to United Electrical Workers (UE), the proactive union that also represents Republic Windows and Doors workers, are considering a sit-in to prevent their plant’s closing.

In April, Southern Californian warehouse workers at a distribution center for mega-retailers staged sit-ins at a temporary staffing agency and blocked a prominent intersection. These actions—organized by Warehouse Workers United, a project of the Change to Win labor federation -- aimed to win organizing rights for warehouse workers and force companies such as Target and Wal-Mart to make sure that the contractors who staff the warehouses properly pay the largely temporary workforce.

Apart from these examples, few protests -- let alone sit-ins -- have occurred in response to widespread lay-offs and factory closings.

Republic workers were able to win due to some very specific conditions. The UE has a long history of leftist leadership. Five years ago, it helped workers throw out an ineffective “mobbed up” union. They’ve nurtured strong local leaders who have twice since brought members close to striking. The workers had a legitimate demand: Pay us what we’re owed. (Only after their victory did they begin a successful initiative to keep the plant open through a sale to Serious Materials, a producer of energy-efficient windows that promised to recognize the union.)

The union targeted two vulnerable institutions: a shady employer and a bailed-out bank refusing to make loans, thus generating publicity and support in a strongly unionized city.

One-of-a-kind issue?

There are many reasons why a new wave of militancy has not yet emerged. “I think Chicago was the aberration,” says Cornell University labor relations professor Richard Hurd. “We have very little tradition of labor militancy.”

Nelson Lichtenstein, a historian at the University of California at Santa Barbara, notes that even during the ’30s, labor militancy increased not when the economy was diving, but when it was rebounding.

Yet since 1980, unions have rarely struck or taken other direct action in either good or bad times. Their current passivity reflects the evolution of American political culture, which has been shaped by corporate and right-wing hostility to workers’ rights and unions.

Elaine Bernard, the director of the Harvard Trade Union Program, says that the rarity of Republic-style sit-down strikes can be explained by the “tremendous repression” in the United States as compared to other countries. “I’m surprised in this country, with the high level of repression, how much is happening.”

The political culture of American workers has also become even more individualistic. When unions were able to win strong contracts after World War II, many workers became comfortable with the gains from conservative business unionism. When the political right gained hegemony after 1980, neither unions nor the Democratic Party effectively mobilized workers as a class.

According to University of Massachusetts sociology professor Eve Weinbaum, when workplaces close, workers tend to blame themselves. As real wages declined in recent decades, workers sought individual solutions: longer work hours, more debt. Even though many ’60s leftists now hold union staff positions, there’s a lack of working-class leftist presence in the workplace to push for action and present an alternative explanation of events.

Workers today are often cynical about what unions or politicians can do for them. Most have little experience taking action themselves, as strikes and new organizing have declined. “The hurt and pain are still there, and you can see anger at executive pay,” sociologist Dan Clawson says. “But people don’t see how something might work and seize the opportunity.”

Labor union shrinkage

As a result of employer hostility, globalization, weak legal protection and unions’ own failures to organize new workers, unions’ share of the workforce and strength has declined. This has led many unions to retrench or find non-confrontational ways to grow. Union leaders and their lawyers often discourage direct action, fearing financial or legal repercussions, according to Bill Fletcher, co-author of Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice.

In many cases, unions have become closer partners with management than with the general public. Such development of a joint labor-management strategy made the autoworkers, for example, more isolated and vulnerable to attack -- and less likely to win better terms in the bailout -- even if they had wanted to follow Republic workers’ lead. “Autoworkers were not thinking of taking over plants and producing cars for fear the public would say, ‘We tried to help. To hell with you,’ ” says Bernard, at the Harvard Trade Union Program.

Unions do turn out members to vote disproportionately for Democrats, but labor suffers from a general political demobilization. President Obama inspired hope and political engagement. But Lichtenstein argues that “there tends to be a demobilization of the left when a Democratic president gets elected … There’s a kind of ‘let Obama do it’ attitude.”

During the ’60s, the left pressured Democratic presidents to change course on foreign and domestic policy. Since then, political scientist Sheldon Wolin argues in Democracy Incorporated, the United States has evolved toward what he calls “inverted totalitarianism.” In other words, America imposes a constricted free-market model on policy while creating a controlled illusion of democracy.

Despite the current crisis of capitalism, the leadership of a new Democratic administration and right-wing claims that Obama is a socialist, this free-market economic model still dominates policy. This model denies the legitimacy of unruly democratic demands, such as a movement inspired by the Republic sit-in. A popular movement for economic democracy may develop, but it will need more than the militant disruption of business-as-usual in the workplace. It will require dismantling the debilitating, individualized free-market mindsets of workers, unions, politicians and the American public.

MSNBC, August 10, 2009, Monday

MSNBC

August 10, 2009, Monday

MSNBC

Chronic illness can leave workers worried sick
There are laws and strategies to help keep job in current tight market

NEW YORK - It's a common worry for workers coping with a chronic illness — the fear that frequent absences or poor performance could lead to being fired.

The anxiety might make you drag yourself to the office even when you're feeling terrible, or perhaps do work that isn't your best.

The urge to soldier on may be even greater now, with the unemployment rate still high and expected to top 10 percent by the end of the year. Yet that's exactly why you need to be sure your health and job don't sabotage one another.

"You want to address it before it becomes a performance issue, where you're falling asleep at your desk or failing to show up," said Paul Gada, director of personal financial planning for Allsup, which provides Social Security disability services.

Dealing with a health issue at work may be easier than you expect. Your boss and co-workers may turn out to be understanding, and there are often laws or company policies that may protect you and help relieve your anxiety.

Here are some ways to cope:

Talk to your boss
You have every right to keep your illness private, but consider letting people know if your condition could interfere with your work.

Ask to speak to your supervisor privately, and explain exactly how your illness affects your job and what accommodations you need. If you require weekly doctor visits, for example, tell your boss the days you might need to come in late or leave early.

"The error a lot of people make is that they assume the employer will know how to accommodate them," said Thomas Golden, associate director at Cornell University's ILR School, which focuses on labor policy and issues.

Go in with a strategy for managing the situation. Spell out how you'll make up missed time, or suggest co-workers who would make good substitutes on the days you're out.

If you're not comfortable approaching your boss, start with your human resources department. Your supervisor will likely need to know about any accommodations, but you can request the matter be kept private.

Know your rights
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to make accommodations for people dealing with chronic conditions. And a disability doesn't have to be obvious, such as being confined to a wheelchair. Conditions such as arthritis and cancer are generally protected too.

"It's really designed to protect people with enduring conditions," said Susanne Bruyere, director of Cornell ILR School Employment and Disability Institute.

Accommodations might include special equipment, a flexible work schedule or hourly rest breaks. The Job Accommodation Network offers suggestions on accommodations for a range of conditions at www.jan.wvu.edu.

Remember that the ADA is based on the assumption that you can still perform the essential functions of the job; your company isn't required to create a new position for you. The ADA applies to employers with 15 or more employees, but the state where you live might have laws to protect employees at smaller businesses.

Use your time off
In addition to the sick days employers typically offer, many also have short- and long-term disability plans.

According to the consulting firm Mercer, 78 percent of companies provide short-term disability while 80 percent offer long-term disability. Pay is often at a reduced level in either case.

Short-term disability is designed for illnesses lasting between a week and five months. Benefits such as health insurance and 401(k) contributions are usually continued.

Under long-term disability, 60 percent of pay is the most common level of coverage, according to the Mercer survey. Benefits are typically continued, at least for a fixed period.

However, you could be laid off once you enter long-term disability. This would mean you'd no longer get benefits such as company-sponsored medical coverage.

The Family and Medical Leave Act also lets workers take up to 12 weeks off in a year. The leave is unpaid, but your health insurance coverage will be maintained. The law applies to companies with 50 or more employees; workers are eligible after being employed for 12 months.

Those covered under the ADA can also request additional leave, even after they've exhausted their standard days off. The employer does not have to provide the additional time off if it would cause an undue hardship.

Consider disability insurance
As a final option, you can apply for Social Security disability insurance if you're no longer able to work. Anybody who has paid taxes on earnings can apply.

The compensation varies depending on your past earnings, but the average monthly payment is about $1,060 for an individual. The maximum monthly benefit is about $2,000.

Be aware that filing can be a complex process that takes years. About two-thirds of initial claims are denied by the Social Security Administration, although claimants disputing a decision can appeal to an administrative law judge. The agency estimates there are nearly 750,000 people waiting for a hearing, and some wait years to resolve their claim. About 61 percent of those who appeal are ultimately approved for benefits.

WBFO, August 10, 2009, Monday

WBFO

August 10, 2009, Monday

WBFO (audio link)

Area Auto Analyst Sees Better Times for Industry

Mark Scott (2009-08-10)

BUFFALO, NY (WBFO) - After more than a year of negative headlines about the automotive industry, it now appears the worst may be over. Both GM and Toyota are sending messages that better times are ahead.

Top officials at General Motors say the company can become profitable sooner than many people think as it attempts to respond to market changes faster. And Toyota's management predict a return to profitability after a period of losses and slow sales for what is now the world's biggest automaker.

Arthur Wheaton is an auto industry expert from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Buffalo. He joins us on the phone to talk more about what the immediate future holds.

Click the audio player above to hear Mark Scott's interview now or use your podcasting software to download it to your computer or iPod. © Copyright 2009, WBFO

ABC News, August 7, 2009, Friday

ABC News

August 7, 2009, Friday

ABC News

Now Hiring: Everywhere You Didn't Want to Work
In this job market, even slaughterhouses and sewage plants look good to long-term unemployed

By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD
The Associated Press

Some of the dirtiest, smelliest, most dangerous jobs are suddenly looking a lot more appealing in this economy.

People who have been out of work for months are lining up for jobs at places they once considered unthinkable: slaughterhouses, sewage plants, prisons.

"I have to just shut my mouth because I can't do anything about it," said Nichole McRoberts of Sedalia, Mo., who pictured more for herself at age 30 than working in a poultry plant, cutting diseased or damaged flesh off chicken carcasses.

Recessions and tight job markets always force some people to take less-desirable or lower-paying work than they are used to. But this recession has been the most punishing job destroyer in at least 60 years, slashing a net total of 6.7 million jobs.

All told, 14.5 million people were out of work last month, with a jobless rate of 9.4 percent. The result is that many people have had to seek jobs they would not have considered in the past.

Take Kristen Thompson. Before the recession, she worked at an upscale Los Angeles-area gym arranging pricey one-on-one personal training sessions. Now she's a guard at a women's prison in rural Wyoming.

After the gym laid her off last year, Thompson spent months looking for work. Even fast food restaurants failed to respond to her application. For each opening, dozens of other people seemed willing to work for less money. When she heard that a prison in Lusk, Wyo., (population 1,447) was hiring, she leapt at the chance.

In her new job, she patrols cellblocks and monitors the mess hall. Back in L.A., she never had to worry about inmates with weapons or drug stashes or prisoners getting into fights. Yet she's hardly complaining. It's a job.

"People have to pay the bills, so what we see is people kind of grasping at straws and taking anything that's available," said Matthew Freedman, assistant professor of labor economics at Cornell University.

The desperation of the long-term jobless has rippled through the labor force. More skilled and educated workers have filled clerical or restaurant jobs. So unskilled workers such as teenagers or high school graduates who once held most of those positions have displaced those even lower on the economic ladder, such as immigrants, Freedman noted.

The intensified competition has hurt all workers — even those who are still employed — because it shrinks wages. Employers don't have to pay more to lure workers.

That helps explain why personal income fell 0.1 percent in June, excluding the one-time benefits of the government's stimulus program. Wages have fallen each month since October — a total of 5 percent over the past eight months.

Indeed, many people who have had to downshift to unsavory jobs have found they're now earning less, too.

With two kids to support and just a high school diploma, McRoberts has few options in the job market.

"I feel like I'm not accomplishing much," said McRoberts, who lives with her boyfriend and children. "I'm paying my bills and my rent, but that's it."

A year ago, McRoberts had a good job building tool boxes at Waterloo Industries Inc. The work was fast-paced and fun. And the nearly $14 an hour was plenty for her and her boyfriend to pay the bills.

But as production slowed, Waterloo cut her hours. By February, she was out of a job.

Around Sedalia, some other employers had begun cutting staff, too. The result was a crowded job market and few openings.

As her options dwindled, McRoberts decided to apply at a Tyson Foods Inc. poultry plant. She found work on the "re-processing line," where damaged birds are sent by Agriculture Department inspectors who spot bruises or sores on carcasses.

The plant is wet and noisy. McRoberts worries about injuries when nearby workers use knives to cut birds in a hurry. She fears being sliced during a moment of distraction.

McRoberts spends evenings searching the Internet for other openings, but they are scarce.

"Until things start booming again, I can't go anywhere else," she said. "Otherwise I would."

Work at poultry plants has often been done by recent immigrants, who now face more competition for such jobs.

"It's easy for someone like your middle manager to take on a job at a poultry plant, because they have the skills to do many things. But for the immigrant, that might have been the only option," said Catherine Singley of the National Council of La Raza, an immigrant advocacy group in Washington.

Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said the company has seen a rise in applicants at most of its processing plants and "an increase in the qualifications and experience of those applying."

"Some applicants have recently lost jobs or are underemployed and are attracted to the full-time pay and benefits we offer," Mickelson said.

When officials in Stamford, Conn., posted a single position at the local sewage plant, more than 300 people raised their hands — about twice the number who would seek such jobs before the recession.

About 100 of them made the cut and were allowed to take a test and interview. The work: Drying up wastewater sludge and operating chlorine tanks.

After months of unemployment, that job sounded appealing to 26-year-old Gary Cappiello of nearby Norwalk. Cappiello had worked in the maintenance department of a Target store before being laid off in the spring of last year.

"I'm just applying for anything now — even if the job is low-paying or not a comfortable position," he said. "It's just getting to a desperate point. The bills need to be paid."

Recently, he found out he didn't make the cut at the sewage plant.

More fortunate is Ronnie Purtty, 50, who said he's grateful for his new job gathering trash in narrow St. Louis alleyways.

Purtty used to work in the air-conditioned cab of a truck, hauling steel to local factories. He was laid off last fall.

He spent four months looking for work before landing a job in March as a trash collector for the city's "bulk item" crew.

Wearing thick leather gloves, Purtty hauls sodden carpet, moldy mattresses and nail-studded lumber into a truck. As he sorts through mounds of garbage, he watches out for rats, spiders and raccoons.

He isn't complaining. It beats his long months of unemployment.

"I was blessed to get in here," he said.


Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

Pottstown Mercury, August 6, 2009, Thursday

Pottstown Mercury

August 6, 2009, Thursday

Pottstown Mercury

Union workers need more protection

In my job, I see the bravery on regular people's faces as they try to make ends meet day in and out. As a nurse, I see families deal with an injury, an accident, or some other disaster that people have to face every day.

I see that we need some help to create an economy that works for people, so that when hardships happen, we have the strength to deal with them.

In Pennsylvania alone, many are unemployed, and the only jobs left are the Wal-Mart type jobs that offer no job security and no benefits. A large number of people in Pennsylvania are currently without health insurance.

And even the insured are foregoing medical tests, treatment, and prescription medications because of high premiums and other costs.

We watch as CEOs who ran their companies into the ground get golden parachutes while the workers lose their jobs. Things are out of whack - families are shouldering the burden while corporations walk away relatively unscathed.

As a nurse, I know I can do my job because I have the support I need. I don't have to worry about finding health care for my own family.

And the reason is because I and my coworkers bargain together as a union for higher wages, benefits, and better working conditions.

But most people aren't that lucky. Most experience intimidation, coercion, and even firing when they want to form a union. According to polling, 60 million people would choose to form a union today if they could, but too few ever get that chance because U.S. labor law is too weak to help them.

In Pennsylvania, unions strengthen the economy by lifting wages and living standards through union contracts.

According to government statistics, workers with union representation are 52 percent more likely to receive health care at work, they are far more likely to have pensions and they earn 30 percent more on average than those without a union.

Today, if a group of employees wants to form a union, corporations force them through a company-dominated process, where employers have total access to and power over employees. According to a report by Dr. Kate Bronfenbrenner from Cornell University, one in four companies illegally fires workers that stand in support of the union.

More than three quarters of supervisors conduct one-on-one meetings with employees to encourage them to vote "no" on the union.

Some even use electronic spying equipment to determine which workers support the union. Over 50 percent of employers tell workers that if they unionize, the workplace will close.

The Employee Free Choice Act is legislation pending before Congress that gives back to workers the freedom to form and join unions.

The Employee Free Choice Act allows workers, rather than the company, to choose how to form their union, and stiffens the penalties on companies who break the law during the unionization process.

According to Dr. Bronfenbrenner's research, 52 percent of newly-formed unions don't have a contract after a year of bargaining, and after two years, one in three still don't have a contract.

The Employee Free Choice provides a system for good faith bargaining with corporations and gives workers a path to better wages and benefits through getting a contract.

I know firsthand the benefits unions bring to my family and I believe that our community would be better served by a system that restores balance in our workplaces.

It's clear that protecting working people's freedom to form unions is the best way to guarantee livable wages, health care benefits, and retirement security to working people. As a result, it is also the best way to strengthen and expand the middle class.

As a healthcare professional, I support the Employee Free Choice Act, which would bring democracy back to our workplaces and give working Pennsylvanians a better chance to get ahead.

Let's invest in a stronger economy for our communities by protecting the rights of everyday working people and passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

DONNA BERNHARD, RN

Gilbertsville

Suburban General Hospital

Chartered Financial Analyst, August 2009

Chartered Financial Analyst

August 2009

A New Lease on Life

-by Art Wheaton
Industry Education Specialist, Cornell University ILR School

General Motors’ 100th anniversary could see either the rebirth or death of the automaker.
It is not clear whether GM will be able to survive, but bankruptcy could give it a new lease on life. For now, GM is going through a very painful and public transformation. GM and Chrysler have repeatedly faced difficult times over the last 30 years. The pain and suffering have resulted in layoffs, plant closings, restructuring, spin-offs, mergers and acquisitions. Automotive industry restructuring has been a recurring problem for GM and all of Detroit. What makes this
restructuring different from the others is the necessity to file for bankruptcy. Chrysler was forced into bankruptcy and a partnership with Fiat one month prior to GM. It is believed that Chrysler was forced into bankruptcy first to allow GM to learn from their experience.

The fall of GM has been a long, slow, and painful decline in market share. Bankruptcy was something former GM CEO Rick Wagoner never wanted to consider. Wagoner believed that consumers would not purchase vehicles from a bankrupt automaker. The global recession
has caused turmoil in the financial, banking, manufacturing and housing sectors. The US government has taken a very active role in forcing GM to restructure. The government appointed automotive panel forced the resignation of Rick Wagoner and promoted Fritz
Henderson so that bankruptcy would be considered. The decision to force GM into bankruptcy was not taken lightly.

Addressing threats

In normal times, customers and consumers tend to view bankruptcy as a failure. These are not normal times. President Obama has made some unusual and potentially life changing guarantees to help support GM and Chrysler. Three key items that make bankruptcy dangerous
and scary for a unionized auto company are: fear of auto warranties, financing to get out of bankruptcy, and union contractual benefits/collective bargaining agreements being thrown out.

The threat of not being able to honor warranties from GM was alleviated by President Obama in the early press conferences. President Obama has pledged that the US government will honor all new car warranties for GM and Chrysler. President Obama went as far as to say that the warranties under the government protection are stronger than GM’s current warranty programs. This guarantee takes away one of Rick Wagoner’s often repeated threats of a GM bankruptcy.

The second threat of debtor-in-possession financing to get out of bankruptcy is also being addressed by the Federal government. By pledging up to $30 bn additional funds to finance GM
through the bankruptcy process, President Obama has cleared a major obstacle that has prevented Delphi (formerly part of GM) from emerging from bankruptcy for almost four years. By giving GM adequate financing to make major and difficult restructuring changes, they have gone a long way in providing stability.

The third threat of eliminating employee/ union benefits is a frequently and hotly debated subject. The legacy costs and burden of GM’s retiree obligations are massive. President Obama clearly supports the employees and retirees. Throwing out the collective bargaining agreement, dropping pensions and eliminating healthcare were not part of the President’s plan. Finding a creative way to avoid throwing out the contract and benefits during bankruptcy proceedings was critical to getting labor support and could have political implications in future elections. President Obama and his auto panel recognized that eliminating the pensions and retiree healthcare could threaten the solvency of the Federal Pension Benefit Guarantee Board. Negotiating a provision to give the Voluntary Employee Benefit Associations a stake in
the new GM in exchange for retiree obligations was not warmly received by bondholders.
By allowing a soft landing for employees and retirees, President Obama managed to keep the unions engaged and deeply involved in rebuilding the shareholder value of the new GM.

In a few short months of negotiations, the US government had taken control of two automotive companies and set the stage for either a great comeback story or a political catastrophe. The history of GM has been filled with management mistakes and unmitigated ego. The upper
levels of management at GM have consistently overestimated their ability to manage the breadth and depth of the largest auto company in the world (GM lost that title to Toyota in 2008). GM now has the opportunity to remake itself as a stronger smaller company.

The long list of brands or nameplates GM managed or had a financial stake in is truly taggering. The likelihood of any company managing that many different car companies and brands is very low. During the past 10 years, GM has had some vested interest in the following companies/brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, GMC in the US market with 100% ownership. The list of partial ownership and foreign nameplates gets even longer: Holden, Vauxhall, Opel, Daewoo, SAIC, Wuling, Suzuki, Isuzu, Fuji Heavy Industries and Fiat. There are also joint venture projects with Toyota and others. There is no question that the management had more than enough projects to work on. There was never a strong chance that GM could manage all of these projects and companies with ever declining resources.

Blessing in disguise

The bankruptcy process being imposed on GM may end up as a true blessing and ensure the rebirth of a historic company. The Obama auto task force has forced GM to cut its losses in the number of brands, dealerships, suppliers, and other entities dragging down their management time and financial resources. GM did not have a great deal of success in reducing its brands on its own. The winding down of its oldest brand, Oldsmobile, caused serious headaches for its image and cost over $1 bn. Severing ties after a failed Fiat marriage resulted in over $2 bn in divorce agreement, often referred to as the ‘Fiatsco’.

GM is not alone in having difficulties with mergers, acquisitions, parts supplier spin-offs and joint ventures. Chrysler had poor experiences with Mitsubishi and Daimler. Ford faced similar problems with Jaguar, Aston Martin, Volvo, Think, Land Rover and Visteon. The bankruptcy process and, more importantly, the think tank and political access involved with the automotive
task force, have forced GM to think more strategically. The tough decisions that were avoided by Rick Wagoner are now being made by the task force with the blessings of Fritz Henderson. The cost of failure is too great a risk for such a young Presidential administration.

What the task force contributes is not automotive expertise, but management and restructuring experience and political clout. The close ties to the treasury and the government make financing the reconstruction of GM in the national interest. Forcing GM to make the tough
decisions and aligning the strategic goals with government policies should go a long way towards making GM a sustainable entity. If GM can maintain its focus with its new Chairman and as a well financed company with fewer brands, it could be a successful company for the
next century. I am cautiously optimistic that the automotive panel and new board of directors will bring the much needed reality and ego check for the GM corporate culture.

The bankruptcy process allowed GM to eliminate $172 bn in debt, shut thousands of redundant dealerships, reduce labor costs, and get off the Delphi anchor that has been weighing it down for years.

It also gets GM to a more manageable and sustainable size with less complexity and more flexibility. The infusion of $50 bn in taxpayer funds will help GM build its new company on a strong foundation. The automotive task force will make sure that GM will reduce its footprint
in the world and try to keep their ego in check. Humility and focus will help GM regain its customer and consumer image. This new GM has the opportunity to wipe clean the poor public image and the past mistakes in quality and design in the 1970s and the 1980s.

It will not be an easy journey for GM to restructure. It took them decades of decline to get into bankruptcy. It will take years for them to rebuild the bridges burned with consumers and steer the new GM on the road to success. The poor quality and lackluster designs in the 1970s and the early 1980s caused serious damage to GM in public relations. The union contracts with cost of living adjustments and the annual improvement factor negotiated in 1950 left labor costs
out of line with other manufacturing jobs in the US. Now, bankruptcy and the automotive
task force could ironically help GM put all those things behind.

Road to recovery

Edward Whitacre Jr., the new Chairman of the board, will have his hands full reviving GM public image and managing its new corporate culture. The pace of change in the next three months will be faster than ever. GM will probably emerge from bankruptcy by October. The process with Chrysler and Fiat has allowed GM to learn and benefit from the bankruptcy
process that has survived its first Supreme Court challenge. The Chrysler bankruptcy and takeover by Fiat took less than two months.

The complexity of GM will extend the process, but the political resolve and the economy will provide GM opportunities to emerge in months instead of years. With the added political, financial, and business acumen that the task force has brought to the table, GM has a brighter future than thought possible only a year ago.
Reference # 01M-2009-07-08-01

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Psychology & Psychiatry Journal, August 8, 2009, Saturday

Copyright 2009 Psychology & Psychiatry Journal via VerticalNews.com
Psychology & Psychiatry Journal

August 8, 2009, Saturday

HEADLINE: APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY;
New applied psychology study findings reported from Cornell University

BODY:
According to recent research from the United States, "Despite substantial growth in the service industry and emerging work on turnover consequences, little research examines how unit-level turnover rates affect essential customer-related outcomes. The authors propose an operational disruption framework to explain why voluntary turnover impairs customers' service quality perceptions."

"On the basis of a sample of 75 work units and data from 5,631 employee surveys, 59,602 customer surveys, and organizational records. unit-level voluntary turnover rates are negatively related to service quality perceptions. The authors also examine potential boundary conditions related to the disruption framework," wrote J.P. Hausknecht and colleagues, Cornell University.

The researchers concluded: "Of 3 moderators studied (group cohesiveness, group size, and newcomer concentration), results show that turnover's negative effects on service quality are more pronounced in larger units and in those with a greater concentration of newcomers."

Hausknecht and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Applied Psychology (Unit-Level Voluntary Turnover Rates and Customer Service Quality: Implications of Group Cohesiveness, Newcomer Concentration, and Size. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2009;94(4):1068-1075).

For additional information, contact J.P. Hausknecht, Cornell University, Dept. of Human Resource Studies, School Ind & Labor Relat, 365 Ives Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Applied Psychology is: American Psychological Association, 750 First St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242, USA.

Keywords: United States, Ithaca, Life Sciences, Psychology, Mental Health, Journal of Applied Psychology, Cor-nell University.

This article was prepared by Psychology & Psychiatry Journal editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Psychology & Psychiatry Journal via NewsRx.com.

LOAD-DATE: July 30, 2009

Earth Times, August 6, 2009, Thursday

Earth Times

August 6, 2009, Thursday

Earth Times

National Business Group on Health Appoints Pamela Kimmet as Board Chair


WASHINGTON, DC -- 08/06/09 -- The board of directors of the National Business Group on Health announced today its appointment of Pamela Kimmet, senior vice president of human resources at Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE), as its new chair effective July 15, 2009. Kimmet has served as director of the Business Group since March 2004 and succeeds Harry Spencer, who was chair for the past 4 years.

"The Board has tremendous confidence in Pam's great experience and leadership qualities, especially at this critical time when national health care reform is at the center of the national agenda," said Helen Darling, president of the Business Group. "Pam led our Public Policy Work Group for over 4 years and with her knowledge and corporate experience, the Board could not have chosen a more suitable candidate for this position."

"I am honored to take on this position following in Harry's footsteps. I am excited to work with the Business Group and their continued efforts in helping employers transform the nation's health care delivery system," Kimmet said.

As senior VP of human resources at CCE, Kimmet oversees the global operations of a department that deals with over 70,000 employees and develops and implements the company's human resources initiatives. Prior to CCE, Kimmet was the senior managing director and head of global human resources at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and senior vice president of human resources for Lucent Technologies, now Alcatel-Lucent. Previously, she held leadership positions at Citigroup, and General Motors Corporation. Kimmet holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration from Michigan State University.

About the National Business Group on Health

The National Business Group on Health (Business Group) is a non-profit membership organization of more than 280 members, including 60 of the Fortune 100. The Business Group is devoted to providing practical solutions to its employer-members' most important health care problems and serving as the voice for large employers on national health care issues and public policy. Its members purchase health and disability benefits for over 55 million people. For more information, visit www.businessgrouphealth.org


Media contact:
Ed Emerman
609-275-5162
eemerman@eaglepr.com

WNED Buffalo, August 4, 2009, Tuesday

WNED Buffalo

August 4, 2009, Tuesday

WNED Buffalo

Ford Benefits Most from Cash for Clunkers Program

Mike Desmond (2009-08-04)

BUFFALO (wned) - Washington's Cash for Clunkers program has brought thousands of people into car dealers.

The Obama Administration wants to add another $2 billion into the program, on top of the $1 billion already used up.

The big winner has been Ford, according to auto industry expert Art Wheaton. Wheaton says Ford was better positioned and had more desirable high-tech cars.

"Ford has the full hybrid system, same as Toyota. Ford was in a position to take advantage of some good public relations as well. They actually benefited from the bad news from Chryseler and GM. People said, 'I want to buy American and Ford's going to be around, they made it through the tough part. We'll get a Ford,'" Wheaton told WNED News.

Emerling Ford General Manager John Woodruff says the Springville dealership was selling a lot of the new cars incluing the Focus, Fusion and Escape.

Woodruff says there is pent-up demand for new cars.

"A lot of people have been putting off [buying a car] and if they're getting an extra $3,500 it absolutely makes their decision a lot easier," said Woodruff.

Wheaton says Ford had a number of new models and pushed Cash for Clunkers very aggressively.

© Copyright 2009, wned

In These Times, August, 2009

Copyright 2009 Institute for Public Affairs

In These Times

August, 2009

HEADLINE: Not Your Parents' Labor Movement; Why the Republic sit-in failed to inspire other worker actions

BYLINE: BY DAVID MOBERG

BODY:

WORKERS OF CHICA-GO-BASED REPUBLIC Windows and Doors captured the nation's attention when they occupied their workplace for six days last December. Their employer gave only three days notice of the plant's closing and showed no intention of paying their accrued vacation pay or two months of back wages, as is legally required after a notice of closing. Republic's bank, the publicly salvaged Bank of America, refused to extend credit to the company. In response, the 250 workers, mainly Latino and African-American, occupied the plant from December 5 to 10, preventing the company from moving the machinery out, until they received what they were owed.

Support poured in -- from other unions, community groups, religious leaders and even president-elect Obama. Images of sit-down strikes from the Great Depression came to mind as the Great Recession deepened. Many observers thought Republic might be a harbinger of a new wave of labor militancy.

"These workers are to this struggle perhaps what Rosa Parks was to social justice 50 years ago," Rev. Jesse Jackson told a rally at the plant. "This, in many ways, is the beginning of a larger movement for mass action to resist economic violence."

A lackluster response

More than half a year later, that larger movement hasn't materialized. Why not? It's not for lack of reasons. Employers continue to shut down workplaces, cut wages and fight pro-union legislation. Workers in other countries frequently take direct action to fight job losses. French factory workers hold managers hostage. Brazilian and Argentine workers seize and operate businesses and, in June, British energy workers went on an unauthorized national strike.

The Republic sit-in has reverberated elsewhere, but only faintly:

* Workers at two Hartmarx men's clothing factories in Illinois and New York voted in May to stage a sit-in if the bankrupt company and its uncooperative bank, Wells Fargo, failed to sell to a buyer who would continue production in its domestic factories. (In June, the company announced it would sell to such a buyer, Emerisque.)

* At Quad-City Die Casting in Moline, Ill., workers are protesting Wells Fargo's refusal to lend to their employer, which could eliminate 100 jobs at the 60-year-old family-owned precision-parts maker. Quad-City employees, who belong to United Electrical Workers (UE), the proactive union that also represents Republic Windows and Doors workers, are considering a sit-in to prevent their plant's closing.

* In April, Southern Californian warehouse workers at a distribution center for mega-retailers staged sit-ins at a temporary staffing agency and blocked a prominent intersection. These actions -- organized by Warehouse Workers United, a project of the Change to Win labor federation -- aimed to win organizing rights for warehouse workers and force companies such as Target and Wal-Mart to make sure that the contractors who staff the warehouses properly pay the largely temporary workforce.

Apart from these examples, few protests -- let alone sit-ins -- have occurred in response to widespread lay-offs and factory closings.

Republic workers were able to win due to some very specific conditions. The UE has a long history of leftist leadership. Five years ago, it helped workers throw out an ineffective "mobbed up" union. They've nurtured strong local leaders who have twice since brought members close to striking. The workers had a legitimate demand: Pay us what we're owed. (Only after their victory did they begin a successful initiative to keep the plant open through a sale to Serious Materials, a producer of energy-efficient windows that promised to recognize the union.)

The union targeted two vulnerable institutions: a shady employer and a bailed-out bank refusing to make loans, thus generating publicity and support in a strongly unionized city.

One-of-a-kind issue?

There are many reasons why a new wave of militancy has not yet emerged. "I think Chicago was the aberration," says Cornell University labor relations professor Richard Hurd. "We have very little tradition of labor militancy."

Nelson Lichtenstein, a historian at the University of California at Santa Barbara, notes that even during the '30s, labor militancy increased not when the economy was diving, but when it was rebounding.

Yet since 1980, unions have rarely struck or taken other direct action in either good or bad times. Their current passivity reflects the evolution of American political culture, which has been shaped by corporate and right-wing hostility to workers' rights and unions.

Elaine Bernard, the director of the Harvard Trade Union Program, says that the rarity of Republic-style sit-down strikes can be explained by the "tremendous repression" in the United States as compared to other countries. "I'm surprised in this country, with the high level of repression, how much is happening."

The political culture of American workers has also become even more individualistic. When unions were able to win strong contracts after World War II, many workers became comfortable with the gains from conservative business unionism. When the political right gained hegemony after 1980, neither unions nor the Democratic Party effectively mobilized workers as a class.

According to University of Massachusetts sociology professor Eve Weinbaum, when workplaces close, workers tend to blame themselves. As real wages declined in recent decades, workers sought individual solutions: longer work hours, more debt. Even though many '60s leftists now hold union staff positions, there's a lack of working-class leftist presence in the workplace to push for action and present an alternative explanation of events.

Workers today are often cynical about what unions or politicians can do for them. Most have little experience taking action themselves, as strikes and new organizing have declined. "The hurt and pain are still there, and you can see anger at executive pay," sociologist Dan Clawson says. "But people don't see how something might work and seize the opportunity."

Labor union shrinkage

As a result of employer hostility, globalization, weak legal protection and unions' own failures to organize new workers, unions' share of the workforce and strength has declined. This has led many unions to retrench or find non-confrontational ways to grow. Union leaders and their lawyers often discourage direct action, fearing financial or legal repercussions, according to Bill Fletcher, co-author of Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice.

In many cases, unions have become closer partners with management than with the general public. Such development of a joint labor-management strategy made the autoworkers, for example, more isolated and vulnerable to attack -- and less likely to win better terms in the bailout -- even if they had wanted to follow Republic workers' lead. "Autoworkers were not thinking of taking over plants and producing cars for fear the public would say, 'We tried to help. To hell with you,'" says Bernard, at the Harvard Trade Union Program.

Unions do turn out members to vote disproportionately for Democrats, but labor suffers from a general political demobilization. President Obama inspired hope and political engagement. But Lichtenstein argues that "there tends to be a demobilization of the left when a Democratic president gets elected . . . There's a kind of 'let Obama do it' attitude."

During the '60s, the left pressured Democratic presidents to change course on foreign and domestic policy. Since then, political scientist Sheldon Wolin argues in Democracy Incorporated, the United States has evolved toward what he calls "inverted totalitarianism." In other words, America imposes a constricted free-market model on policy while creating a controlled illusion of democracy.

Despite the current crisis of capitalism, the leadership of a new Democratic administration and right-wing claims that Obama is a socialist, this free-market economic model still dominates policy. This model denies the legitimacy of unruly democratic demands, such as a movement inspired by the Republic sit-in. A popular movement for economic democracy may develop, but it will need more than the militant disruption of business-as-usual in the workplace. It will require dismantling the debilitating, individualized free-market mindsets of workers, unions, politicians and the American public.

GET INVOLVED

UE: www.ueunion.org

Warehouse Workers United: www.warehouseworkersunited.org

GRAPHIC: Picture, On Dec. 9, 2008, workers at Republic Windows and Doors occupy the main entrance to the Chicago factory during a five-day sit-in., DARREN HAUCK/GETTY IMAGES

LOAD-DATE: July 29, 2009

Business Wire, July 30, 2009, Thursday

Copyright 2009 Business Wire, Inc.
Business Wire

July 30, 2009, Thursday

HEADLINE: Harris Interactive® Hires Michael Saxon as Senior Vice President of Technology, Media & Entertain-ment and Telecommunications Sector


DATELINE: ROCHESTER, N.Y. & NEW YORK

BODY:
Harris Interactive (NASDAQ:HPOL), a global leader in custom market research, today announced that Michael Saxon has joined the company as Senior Vice President for the Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecommu-nications (TMT), North America business unit. In this role, Saxon will be responsible for the overall thought leadership and business growth of the TMT Sector. Given his strong background in media and entertainment and product innova-tion, he will focus his early efforts on developing new products in the media and entertainment space. Saxon will report to Frank Forkin, President of Client Services, North America. He will be based in Princeton, New Jersey. His appoint-ment is effective immediately.

"Over the past six months Harris Interactive has made great progress in delivering exceptional value to our clients in a difficult market environment. As we continue to grow the business, it is necessary to have the right talent in place to help us achieve our goals of delivering exceptional client insights and service and product innovation. Mike brings a rich background of industry knowledge and experience in both syndicated and custom market research," said Frank Forkin.
Saxon comes to Harris Interactive with more than ten years business research experience in the advertising, media and telecommunications industries. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President, Brand & Communications at TNS, North America where he helped clients improve their ROI across their marketing efforts to enhance their web and mo-bile usability. He also led the development of the TNS Digital Suite, an online advertising effectiveness initiative. Prior to that he held executive positions at IAG Research where his team provided TV, Web and mobile phone advertising effectiveness insights to major wireless carriers and The Nielsen Company where he managed the global media product business.

Speaking about his new appointment at Harris Interactive, Saxon said, "I am looking forward to leveraging my me-dia and entertainment and telecoms experience to grow these areas of the business. I am also very excited about lever-aging the technology expertise at Harris to create new products and solutions."

Saxon holds a Master of Science in Business Administration from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provi-sions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, among others, statements as to future economic performance, projections as to financial items, estimates, and plans and objectives for future op-erations, products and services. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as, "may", "should", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "feel", "believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential", "continue", "consider", "possibility", or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking state-ments involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks detailed in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated quarterly in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q to reflect additional material risks. The Company has filed its reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q with the Se-curities and Exchange Commission, and they are available under the Investor Relations section of our website at www.harrisinteractive.com . Risks and uncertainties also include the continued volatility of the global macroeconomic environment and its impact on the Company and its clients, the Company's ability to sustain and grow its revenue base, the Company's ability to maintain and improve cost efficient operations, the impact of reorganization and restructuring and related charges, quarterly variations in financial results, actions of competitors, the Company's ability to develop and maintain products and services attractive to the market and uncertainties surrounding continued suspension of cer-tain NASDAQ listing requirements.

You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating such forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on them. The forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive (NASDAQ:HPOL) is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Har-ris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of inde-pendent market research firms. For more information about Harris Interactive please visit www.harrisinteractive.com .
Harris Interactive 07/09


CONTACT: Harris Interactive
Carol Fricke, 585-214-7479
press@harrisinteractive.net

URL: http://www.businesswire.com

LOAD-DATE: July 31, 2009

Targeted News Service, July 30, 2009, Thursday

July 30, 2009, ThursdayJuly 30, 2009, Thursday

Copyright 2009 Targeted News Service LLC

All Rights Reserved

Targeted News Service

July 30, 2009, Thursday

HEADLINE: President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts


BODY:

The White House released the following news release:

Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:

* Frank Kendall III, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, Department of Defense

* Daniel Werfel, Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management, Office of Management and Budget

* Susan Tsui Grundmann, Chairman, Merit Systems Protection Board

* Anne M. Wagner, Member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, with the Designation of Vice Chair

President Obama said, "I am grateful that these fine individuals will be filling these important posts in my administration, and I and look forward to working with them to serve the American people at this important time for our nation."

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals today:

Frank Kendall III, Nominee for Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, Department of Defense

Frank Kendall is currently a Managing Partner at Renaissance Strategic Advisors, an Arlington, Virginia based aerospace and defense sector consulting firm. Mr. Kendall has over 35 years of experience in engineering, management, defense acquisition and national security affairs in private industry, government and the military. For the past decade Mr. Kendall had been a consultant to defense industry firms, non-profit research organizations, and the Department of Defense in the areas of strategic planning, engineering management, and technology assessment. For the past several years Mr. Kendall has also been very active as an attorney in the field of human rights, working primarily on a pro bono basis. He has worked with Amnesty International USA, where he is currently a member of the Board of Directors, Human Rights First, for whom he has been an observer at Guantanamo, and for the Tahirih Justice Center, where he is currently Chair of the Board of Directors. Within government, Mr. Kendall held the position of Director of Tactical Warfare Programs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the position of Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategic Defense Systems. Mr. Kendall was Vice President of Engineering for Raytheon Co, where he was responsible for management direction to the engineering functions throughout the company and for internal research and development. Mr. Kendall also spent ten years on active duty with the Army, serving in Germany, as an Assistant Professor of Engineering at West Point, and in research and development positions. Mr. Kendall is a former member of the Army Science Board and the Defense Intelligence Agency Science and Technology Advisory Board and he is currently a consultant to the Defense Science Board and a Senior Advisor to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Kendall was born in Pittsfield, MA. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and he holds a Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering from California Institute of Technology, a Master of Business Administration Degree from C.W Post Center of Long Island University, and a Juris Doctoris from Georgetown University Law Center.

Daniel Werfel, Nominee for Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management, Office of Management and Budget

Daniel Werfel has been the Deputy Controller at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since March of 2006. Previously, he served as the Chief of the Financial Integrity and Analysis Branch within OMB, as a budget examiner in OMB's Education Branch, and as a policy analyst in OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Mr. Werfel has also served as a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. Mr. Werfel holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Duke University, a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Bachelors Degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Susan Tsui Grundmann, Nominee for Chairman, Merit Systems Protection Board

Since 2002, Susan Tsui Grundmann has served as General Counsel to the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), which represents 100,000 federal workers nationwide and is affiliated with the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW). At NFFE, she has successfully litigated cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In 2004, Ms. Grundmann represented NFFE and other labor unions in the statutory "meet and confer" process with officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which sought agreement on how to proceed with new DHS personnel regulations. She currently represents NFFE and the United Department of Defense Workers Coalition, consisting of 36 labor unions, and has served on the Coalition's litigation team in a coordinated response to the proposed personnel changes at Department of Defense (DoD). In addition to DoD employees, Ms. Grundmann represents employees in the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Passport Services, Veterans Administration, General Services Administration, and some 25 additional federal agencies. Since 2003, she has been a regular instructor on federal sector law at the William W. Winpisinger Education Center in Placid Harbor, Maryland. Prior to joining NFFE, she served as General Counsel to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). She earned her undergraduate degree at American University and her law degree at Georgetown University Law Center.

Anne M. Wagner, Nominee for Member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, with the Designation of Vice Chair

Anne Wagner is currently the General Counsel of the Personnel Appeals Board of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. As General Counsel, she has vigorously prosecuted prohibited personnel practices and other violations of federal employment law. Prior to that, she served a five year statutory term as an adjudicating Member of the Personnel Appeals Board having been appointed to that position by the Comptroller General of the United States.

Ms. Wagner began her career as a staff attorney in the Office of the General Counsel for the General Services Administration, where she primarily handled labor and employment issues. From there, she went on to become an Assistant General Counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, the largest federal sector labor organization representing more than 600,000 federal and District government employees. In her nearly twenty years with AFGE, she led precedent setting litigation and handled cases arising under the full array of laws governing federal employment.

Ms. Wagner graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School.

Copyright Targeted News Services

TNS CT21-JF78-090731-2351631 StaffFurigay

LOAD-DATE: July 31, 2009

The Wall Street Journal, July 20, 2009, Monday

The Wall Street Journal

July 20, 2009, Monday

The Wall Street Journal

Men Like Earning More Than Wives

By ROBERT SABAT
In my family, I’m the one who brings home the ratatouille as a Wall Street Journal editor. Meanwhile, my wife, a classical singer, looks after our two children, 14 and 12 years old, volunteers at their schools and brings in some extra money by giving voice lessons and writing.

According to a new study, this means I likely have significantly higher career satisfaction than if my wife earned the same or more than me. Pamela Tolbert, the co-author of “The Impact of Relative Earnings Among Dual-Earner Couples on Career Satisfaction and Family Satisfaction” and a professor at Cornell University’s ILR School, looked at 485 middle-class married couples in New York State between 1999 and 2002. They were all dual-earner couples—both husband and wife held full-time jobs.

Ms. Tolbert classified as “equal-earner” couples those in which both spouses contributed between 40% and 60% of total family income. Those in which the men contributed more than 60% of total family income she classified as “traditional” couples. Ms. Tolbert examined how satisfied men and women in these arrangements were with both their careers and their family lives.

It turns out, not too surprisingly, that men really do like making more than their wives. The study found that men who earn a lot more than their wives report significantly higher career satisfaction than men who earn about the same as their spouses, according to Ms. Tolbert and her co-author, Ronit Waismel-Manor of Israel’s Netanya Academic College. “Husbands feel concerned when wives make more than them,” says Ms. Tolbert. “We still have these kinds of models in our head.”

But, interestingly, although pay levels affect husbands’ career satisfaction, money doesn’t seem to matter much when it comes to the home front. Whether men earn less, the same or more than their wives has little effect on their reported level of family satisfaction, which tends to be high, the researchers found. The reasons for that are open to speculation, they added.

Meanwhile, women who earn the same as their husbands report significantly higher levels of career satisfaction than do women in traditional couples, but significantly lower family satisfaction.

The take-home message of her findings, says Ms. Tolbert, is that too many people still cling to outdated gender roles.

Juggle readers, how have you and your partners’ career and family satisfaction fared in relation to your family’s pay structure?

Inside Higher Ed, July 29, 2009, Wednesday

Inside Higher Ed

July 29, 2009, Wednesday

Inside Higher Ed

Cut Student Services? Think Again

The painful art of trimming a college or university budget -- often with the goal of protecting core academic programs while picking and choosing which support services to cut -- may just have gotten a bit more difficult.

A forthcoming working paper by a Cornell University graduate student, Douglas Webber, and Ronald Ehrenberg, director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute, found that in certain instances, graduation and persistence rates are linked to greater expenditures on student services. The research findings show a higher positive correlation between graduation rates and spending on student services -- including things like student organizations, additional educational tools, and health and registrar services -- than between graduation rates and instructional or research spending.

"The natural inclination is to protect core services, and what we are finding is that at some institutions, support services might be just as important," Ehrenberg said.

The report states that all else being equal, "an increase in student services expenditures of $500 per student, on average, would increase an institution's six-year graduation rate by 0.7 percentage points. Similar increases in instructional expenditures and academic support services expenditures would, on average, increase the graduation rate by about 0.3 percentage points, while an increase in budgeted research expenditures of the same amount would decrease the graduation rate by 0.7 percentage points."

The report also found that expenditures on student services increased the graduation rates more for schools with lower average test scores and more students receiving Pell Grants. "Put another way," the report reads, "their effects are largest at institutions that have lower current graduation and first-year persistence rates."

"What it may say is that for schools that currently have lower entry test scores and lots of Pell Grants, these are the schools where support services are more important and there may not be enough of them," Ehrenberg said. "What happens is intuitively what you think might happen. These student services matter most to those who might be most at-risk."

Webber and Ehrenberg performed a version of the study that may be more realistic in the troubled economy, in which subtracting $500 per student of "institutional expenditures" and reallocating it to student services still increased the graduation rate by 0.3 percent.

On the result, the report reads: "This finding is one that neither faculty around the country worried about declining funding for faculty positions nor critics of higher education who point to the wasteful growth of expenditures on non-instructional use are likely to be happy about. But our key words are 'on average.' What is true on average is not necessarily true for all categories of institutions."

These findings, according to Ehrenberg, are the first of their kind, mainly because of access to Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System data made possible by the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability. This has allowed for the use of information about 1,160 four-year institutions on a national scale.

Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, said the report affirmed an already widely known trend in higher education. "I think that's the kind of finding you expect, that for the first generation students, the kind of services they would need that help them stay in school, it's much more important," he said. "It's something to keep in mind as colleges and universities need to make cutbacks. These services help keep students in school." Callan further emphasized the need to "built budgets around the needs of your students."

Gwendolyn Dungy, executive director of NASPA -- Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, said the report confirms everything student affairs administrators have been saying along -- that student services are a vital part of academic success. "The largest number of people coming into the classrooms are racial minorities and first generation students, and they may not have the preparation," Dungy said. "If we acknowledge that they need this support, we increase their success. Access is not just about coming in, it is persistence and graduation. We do know that it makes a difference, and now here's the research."

However, she did not see this study alone as justification for putting additional funds into student services. Rather, she said, the goal moving forward is to start a conversation in which student services and academic services can collaborate on how best to provide for students in and out of the classroom.

A chorus of others agree that now is not the time to be finding new places to invest funds, but rather to hold colleges and universities accountable for their spending. For example, a report released by the Delta Project in January states: "As an industry, higher education still has not made the transition from cost accounting to cost accountability.... Despite numerous efforts to encourage voluntary adoption of common metrics, there has been little progress in translating cost data into information that can be used either to inform strategic decision making or to show the public how institutions spend their money."

Another study by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity found that "colleges have generally increased their staff relative to enrollment and the number of degrees awarded, especially in the back office." This has raised concerns that continued hiring is creating "administrative bloat."

Richard Vedder, who heads the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, commended the Cornell researchers' work and methodologies, but raised the cost question regarding the report's findings. If you have 1,000 students with low SAT scores (a group whose $500 per student investment would raise graduation rates 1.7 percent, according to the report) national averages dictate that 550 will graduate. Raising the graduation rate 1.7 percent would mean 17 more students graduate. While he admitted this was a positive outcome, he said that it comes at a steep cost of $2 million, if the college invests $500 per student per year. "The elasticity of graduation rates with respect to student services is pretty low," he said.

Instead, Vedder argued that the researchers should have made more prominent their finding that a $500 per student investment in research decreases graduation rates by 0.7 percent. "Schools that spend more on research can actually have negative effects," he said, noting that those universities generally have lower average ratings on ratemyprofessors.com.

"This to me shows there are tradeoffs," he said. "[With research], you may be paying a cost in terms of hurting student services to the point of decreasing graduation rates. For the Cornells it doesn't matter, but at the State College of Last Resort, it does.... I'm just putting more emphasis on it than they are."

— Ben Eisen