plus 3, U.S. labor leader shares frustration as she prepares to retire - Denver Post |
- U.S. labor leader shares frustration as she prepares to retire - Denver Post
- Caring for relative, holding a job adds up to heavy burden - Cleveland Plain Dealer
- Stress of job demands, fears grows for Dallas-Fort Worth workers left behind ... - Dallas Morning News
- In sour U.S. job market, military recruitment thriving - Dallas Morning News
| U.S. labor leader shares frustration as she prepares to retire - Denver Post Posted: 05 Sep 2010 12:14 AM PDT  Union leader Anna Burger sits on President Barack Obama's left during a July economic meeting in Washington. (Stephen Crowley, The New York Times ) WASHINGTON — After 38 years as a gung-ho trade unionist, Anna Burger is retiring — with unmistakable frustration — from her post as the highest- ranking woman in American labor movement history. Burger, 59, is frustrated because she has dedicated her adult life to building the labor movement, but it has nonetheless grown smaller and weaker. Beyond stepping down as chairwoman of Change to Win, a federation representing 5 million union members, she is also retiring from her job of 14 years as secretary-treasurer of the powerful Service Employees International Union, representing nearly 2 million janitors, hospital employees and others. Burger said many women still have far too hard a time balancing job and family. She is also frustrated that union membership continues to shrink even when workers should be, in theory, flocking into unions during this time of stagnating wages. And the labor-friendly Democratic majorities that unions fought so hard to elect in the House and the Senate could disappear in this November's elections. "The labor movement gave me a chance for a better life," said Burger, the daughter of a Teamsters truck driver. "I worry whether the labor movement will continue to be able to do that for a lot of people." Within labor, many critics say that Burger, like Andy Stern, the former SEIU president, was a divisive figure. She, like Stern, is often faulted for fomenting the schism in the AFL-CIO five years ago and for often bragging that the SEIU is the fastest-growing union with the biggest political war chest. Burger, who first joined a union as a Pennsylvania social worker, boasted, for instance, that were it not for the service employees' multiyear push, the health care overhaul would never have been enacted. "We're the most successful union out there," she said. "There are times people resent us for that." Burger had campaigned to succeed Stern after he announced his retirement in April. Viewing Burger as too top-down, many SEIU officials rallied behind an executive vice president and the eventual winner, Mary Kay Henry. Burger was hazy about her future. She dropped hints that she hoped to land a job that brought unions together with other groups to build a progressive political majority — a vision that clashes with the nation's recent rightward shift. "For me," she said, "there's an urgency to try to make sure we take advantage of having the best president we've had in my lifetime to make this country and make the world work best for everyone." Randel Johnson, senior vice president for labor policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Burger was not going to get her progressive majority and that it was partly labor's fault. "They certainly were successful in electing a more pro- union House and Senate," Johnson said. "But their advocacy of the unpopular health care bill will mean losses this November for many House and Senate members who have traditionally supported unions." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Caring for relative, holding a job adds up to heavy burden - Cleveland Plain Dealer Posted: 05 Sep 2010 04:03 AM PDT Published: Sunday, September 05, 2010, 7:04 AMBy Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press DETROIT -- For eight months in 2006, Elaine Bannon and her husband, Chuck Bannon -- both Ford engineers -- kept a secret at work. He was losing his ability to move and was going to die from Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Meanwhile, Elaine Bannon was embarking on the biggest challenge of her career as chief engineer of the Ford Edge and the Lincoln MKX crossovers. Chuck Bannon tried to keep his life as normal as possible, until he fell down some stairs at work, forcing the couple to tell some coworkers and Ford. "I was just dumbfounded," said Rich Kreder, vehicle engineering manager for Ford Edge. "People who didn't know her probably didn't know something was wrong." A month after the Bannons disclosed the illness, Ford launched the all-new Edge. The vehicle was a success -- more than 400,000 have been sold in the U.S. -- and a redesigned version is due in showrooms in September. Elaine Bannon, whose husband died in April 2009, remains the chief engineer on the new models -- a testament to her resilience. Every day, workers across the country like Bannon try to balance work and caring for an aging or sick relative. It's something employers will be confronting even more as America's population ages. In Bannon's case, she said the Edge project helped give her life a sense of balance during an incredibly difficult, emotional period. "It was keeping me mentally healthy," she said. "And I do think that what we did with these products is something special ... and it comes from personal relationships and I think it comes in part from what I went through." On Sundays, Bannon goes for a run, comes home, and sits by a pond in her backyard in front of a sundial bearing the ashes of her husband. There, she reflects on her marriage of nearly 10 years to Chuck Bannon, a reserved Ford engineer who competitively raced motorcycles until he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. During the three-year ordeal that followed, Elaine Bannon led the engineering of the Ford Edge -- which became one of Ford's most successful new cars of the past 10 years -- and barely slept at night. "The grief will always be with me," Bannon said. "That is not a bad thing. It is part of who I am. And I move forward with it." Chuck Bannon's symptoms started slowly. He noticed that his legs were stiff while walking in the cold one night. That winter, he found himself tripping while running. After initial visits with doctors, the couple suspected ALS was the likely culprit. They hoped they were wrong. "You get that, and it is a death sentence," Elaine Bannon said. In May 2006, they learned they were right. ALS is a progressive nerve disease that affects cells in the brain and the spinal cord. There is no known treatment. Those who get the disease typically live about three years. "I said to him, 'Look: I will never leave you. I will always be here for you ... and we will get through it.' " From that point on, Bannon threw herself into two stressful and demanding jobs: One as a caregiver for her husband and the other as a chief engineer with more than 20 engineers reporting to her. And Ford was relying on the Edge to capture a presence in the emerging crossover market. Bannon was fortunate enough to be able to afford to pay for a caregiver during the day. However, that doesn't reduce the burden at night or the emotional toll, said Sue Burstein, executive director of ALS of Michigan. "You have a demanding job that you work at for eight, 10 or 12 hours ... and then you come home, and you have more to do," Burstein said. "It is an intensive level of caregiving because we are talking about people who need help turning in the middle of the night." Bannon did not take extended time off from work and was remarkably able to balance the dual demands, colleagues say. "Once in a while, it would show when Chuck might be having a bad day," said Tom Ozog, program manager for the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX. "But she was able to keep it together most of the time." Bannon said she thought she successfully separated her personal anguish from her colleagues about 90 percent of the time. "Looking back, I realize I had bad days," she said. "I didn't see that at the time, because you are in survival mode." But Bannon also said her job provided emotional stability and she even believes the Ford Edge and the Lincoln MKX crossovers benefitted from her turmoil because she channeled her pain into a closer relationship with the cars. "I know that sounds weird, but ... I have a connection with these vehicles. They are like kids or like children or like people," Bannon said. Bannon's hard work paid off. Sales of the Edge are up 33.1 percent through July, more than twice the total for the industry. "The Edge has been really successful," said Tracy Handler, market analyst for IHS Automotive. "Their volumes are really strong." Bannon said her husband had a strong will to live, in part so that he could watch their son John, now 7, grow up, and was able to see him learn to ride a bike and even a motorcycle. She did everything she could to make her husband comfortable at home and keep him connected to the world. She installed ramps outside her home and a path leading to a place where he could overlook a pond in front of their house with a fountain he built. He also had a special, sensitive computer mouse that he controlled with two fingers so he could read his favorite Web sites. "I made that promise to him -- that he would die at home with dignity," Bannon said. "I can look back and honestly say I did it right." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2010 09:58 PM PDT 12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, September 5, 2010Kim, a single mother of two children, has seen her pay cut by 5 percent, her health benefits decrease, her 401(k) match disappear and her workload grow after her company cut workers to ride out the recession. The Dallas information technician – identified only by her first name because she fears being fired – took on a second job to help make ends meet. With Kim's daughter turning 18, her child support payments are ending, and college tuition costs are piling up. "It just feels like this weight," she said. "Everybody says, 'Just be glad that you have a job.' " This Labor Day, nearly one in 10 Americans is without a job. But the unemployed aren't the only ones struggling. Many workers such as Kim have seen workloads grow in the wake of layoffs. "Survivor workers" must juggle more responsibilities and stay motivated while worrying that their job could be cut next. Companies in North Texas and across the country have slashed staff and delayed hiring to survive the nation's deepest economic downturn in seven decades. Nationally, about 7.6 million jobs have disappeared since the recession began in December 2007. Texas has shed 172,700 jobs, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area has lost 93,300 jobs. Job cuts and attrition appeared to boost productivity for a while, but recent data might signal that workers have reached their limit. U.S. productivity fell between April and June. In addition, the hiring outlook remains weak – suggesting that worker woes aren't over yet. For employers, the fear is that overworked employees will leave once the economy gains more steam, potentially threatening a fragile workplace balance. Employees such as Kim find themselves surrounded by empty desks, working longer hours for less pay with little chance of a raise. "The whole feeling of discouragement wears you down," Kim said. "I don't know where to go." Survivor workers tend to have high anxiety, low self-esteem and concerns about job security, according to career counselors. They're often reluctant to complain to friends or colleagues who have lost their jobs. "You are still there, but you have seen other people ... let go," said Helen Harkness, founder of Career Design Associates in Garland. "You know you could be next. You are a survivor, but you don't trust the company anymore." She estimated that three-quarters of her clients are overworked and stressed out. The workers Fifty-nine percent of employees feel more has been demanded of them by their employers, according to a July workplace survey by consulting firm Deloitte. "You do have some employees who feel like they are stuck. They're [asked to do] more with less," said Tony Gilliard, a trainer with human resources consulting firm Executive Focus in DeSoto. When downsizing occurs, whether voluntary or involuntary, the same amount of work can't be simply redistributed to a smaller group of people, he said. Data shows companies are spending money on new equipment to increase productivity and posting strong profits without hiring more workers, which is a departure from other post-recession periods. Those trends are helping sustain stubbornly high unemployment. Texas gained 4,600 jobs in July, the smallest increase since February, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. The latest unemployment rates for the state (8.2 percent) and the Dallas-Fort Worth area (8.5 percent) were below the national rate of 9.6 percent in August. A computer technician at Computer Consulting Operations Specialists Inc., granted anonymity because he fears for his job, has seen his workload increase and pay decrease in the last few months. He said his company stopped paying overtime and has been slow to hire. "They can pile more work on us, demand more, pay less and we have no choice," he said. "We're stuck." Other employees are working less because of a drop in business, but they've had their pay cut or experienced other job changes. Robin, a manager at a Dallas architecture firm also identified only by her first name, is working less but is stressed by uncertainty about her future. She survived layoffs that wiped out about 40 percent of her co-workers. Her pay was reduced 15 percent. "It's hard to keep morale up; I've struggled with it myself," she said. "Companies can no longer promise you anything." David Beller, a vice president at another Dallas-based architecture firm, HKS Inc., also is working fewer hours, but his salary and bonus were cut about 25 percent. His wife had to get a full-time job to help provide for their four children. They depleted their emergency fund. Beller is glad to still have a job after a 28 percent cut in staff in two years. "For a while, it was difficult walking through the office. You could see empty spots where people used to be," he said. "I'd say morale is gently climbing." Survivors like Robin and Beller have focused on polishing their skills and gaining certifications for job security. Others have tried to ease stress by spending more time with their families or playing sports. The companies Experts say employers often overlook the impact of unhappy workers. Janine Meinhardt worked for a Dallas publishing company that has cut its staff from 60 people to 20. Her workload increased by 10 hours a week, and she was called in to work a furlough day without pay. She said she was almost "relieved" when she was laid off last month. "If [companies] are going to get through uncertainty, it requires creativity and innovation," career consultant Harkness said. "You are not going to get that if people are dead in the head and heart." Employee morale fell 46 percent in the April-to-June period at 900 companies, according to a survey by human resources consultant Hewitt Associates Inc. If employees don't understand what's going on, they create a scenario from "rumors and a lack of information," said Ted Marusarz, Hewitt's leader of global engagement and culture. "As engagement goes down, productivity goes down." Workplace experts say companies should reward employees either financially or with awards, lunches and in-house training. And communication, they say, is key. Ralph Hawkins, chief executive of HKS, blogs about once a month to update staff on what's going on. He also answers anonymous e-mails from employees on the company's intranet. "I get some pretty detailed questions like, 'Why was this person laid off and not this person?' " he said. "It reduces the rumor mill of what's going on. I try to be as open and transparent as I can." HKS also offers 700 in-house training options, appreciation events such as flip-flop Fridays and monthly "nice job" awards. Dallas-based Balfour Beatty Construction regularly surveys its workers "to take the pulse of our group," CEO Robert Van Cleave said. In one poll, it learned that one office rated poorly on work-life balance so the company took steps to change that, he said. It hired a business coach to help change the office's culture. The 3,300-employee company has cut about 200 people in the last couple of years and froze the pay of two-thirds of its upper-tier salaried workers because of slower growth and the economy. "In difficult times, you ask your people to do more," Van Cleave said. "If you have engaged people, they'll be inspired to do what you need them to do." The outlook Cooper Smith Agency, a Dallas-based public relations firm, has gone from a staff of seven to two during the recession. Founder Cooper Smith Koch is starting to see increased activity but doesn't have the cash flow to hire. "There are so many good people out there right now who've lost their job due to no fault of their own, but I'm still hesitant to hire," he said. Nationally, 1.1 million workers were considered discouraged – no longer looking for jobs – in August. That was up 352,000 from a year earlier. Employers "are just very uncertain, and they're very cautious about financial reforms and how health care will impact the bottom line," said D'Ann Petersen, a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas business economist. "I would hope that as some of the tensions ease ... people are going to have to hire." Texas has seen some jobs gains in energy, temporary staffing, government and high-tech manufacturing this year, she said. Workers who took on more responsibility during the recession ultimately might be rewarded with promotions, said Maureen Marshall, regional director of employment agency Manpower. Still, one-third of working Americans plan to look for a new job once the economy improves, according to Deloitte. Lack of trust or transparency were cited as top reasons for wanting to leave their current employer. "Companies are going to lose their best people," Harkness said. "If they do not build loyalty, those employees are going to be out the door." sjean@dallasnews.com; mrepko@dallasnews.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| In sour U.S. job market, military recruitment thriving - Dallas Morning News Posted: 04 Sep 2010 09:58 PM PDT 12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, September 5, 2010Young lovers Chris White and Beatrice Mahoney sat down and did the math. He's 20, she's 19. They've been together three years. Neither has a career, and the national unemployment rate is 9.5 percent. Here's what they came up with – the Marine Corps. "I've tried to get jobs everywhere," White said hours after he and his girlfriend took the oath of enlistment in Dallas. "I've tried connections from family. I even tried to get a job working maintenance in a trailer park. But unless you have experience, it's almost impossible." In some ways, the Fort Worth residents represent a silver lining in the storm clouds of a troubled U.S. economy. Military recruiting has never been better. For the first time, the four largest branches of the service – the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines – are far exceeding their recruiting goals. About 99 percent of enlistees have a high school diploma, and scores on the military entrance exam are the highest in the history of the all-volunteer force. Those numbers are important, recruiters say, because enlistees with book smarts and discipline are usually easier to train. "We know that unemployment is stubbornly high, around 9.5 percent, and that's high by historical standards," said Curtis Gilroy, the Defense Department's director of recruiting. "When jobs are scarce in the civilian sector, the military is relatively attractive as a post-high school option for young people." But Gilroy said Army researchers discovered something surprising when they polled new recruits about their reasons for enlisting – "service to country" was the No. 1 response. In recent years, most young soldiers marked "job training" and "educational benefits" as their primary motive for signing up. Mahoney isn't surprised. Her father retired as a master sergeant after 26 years in the Marines, and she's never really wanted to do anything else. "It's pretty much the only thing I know, and I love it to death," she said. "This is going to be my career." As to her boyfriend, Mahoney said she hopes absence will make their hearts grow fonder. She ships out for boot camp in July to Parris Island, S.C., about the time he will begin training in San Diego. After that, she hopes the winds of fate will deposit them at the same base. "Our drive to be in the military pushed us together," she said. "I really think this is going to make us stronger." South ripe for recruits Rural areas in the South have always offered fertile soil for recruiters, where patriotism and wanderlust run deep among the military's target demographic, 18- to 24-year-olds. "For our region, the numbers speak for themselves," said Air Force Lt. Col. Brett Ashworth, head of the Arlington-based 344th Recruiting Squadron, which covers North Texas and parts of Louisiana and Arkansas. "We've met our goal 118 months straight, and many of our areas are rural." Southern states account for 36 percent of the nation's young adults, according to the Department of Defense, but provide 41 percent of the nation's recruits. Texas is the top state in the South, supplying around 10 percent of military enlistees each year. Each year, the services sign up between 280,000 and 300,000 new soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines – and, typically, the services have little problem hitting their numbers. What does vary is the relative quality of recruits. When unemployment is low and the economy is riding high, military decision makers are generally more lenient about test scores and more generous with enlistment bonuses. "Recruiting is all about finding the right people, with the right skills, at the right time, in the right numbers," Ashworth said. "Recruiting in the United States Air Force has never been more competitive than it is now." Ashworth and others said the military is no longer a career of last resort for young people. A high school diploma – not a general equivalency certificate – is a near-requirement, brushes with the law are rarely overlooked, and even tattoos can be disqualifying. Petty Officer 1st Class Cedrick Johnson of Pleasant Grove said he's watched the standards tighten during his 10 years in the military. For example, three years ago Johnson signed up a recruit who had been charged with assault for getting into a fight with a high school police officer. The offense was later expunged. "That guy probably wouldn't have been able to get in today because now we're looking at the original charge," said Johnson, 28, who graduated from Skyline High School. "For us, it's time management now. People who come in with a lot of involvement with the police or a whole lot of medical issues ... those people just aren't getting in." Solid student, athlete Sharvell Davis is the face of new recruits. A solid student and three-sport athlete, she grew up a blue-collar kid in southern Dallas. Two uncles and an aunt are serving in the Army, and one of her cousins – Jermaine D. Franklin, 22, of Arlington – was killed three years ago by a roadside bomb in Iraq. "It did scare me a little bit," said Davis, 18, who graduated from A. Maceo Smith High School this year. "And I do think about the risks because I was real close to my cousin. But in some ways, it still made me want to join." Davis originally planned to join the National Guard and study criminal justice at the new University of North Texas at Dallas campus in southeast Oak Cliff, but her test scores did not qualify for part-time service. She also did not qualify for her first choice on active duty – military police – so her recruiter nudged her toward a job as an Army cook. "My mom took it kinda hard because I would've been her first child going to college," Davis said. "It's getting harder and harder out here with the recession right now. "This way, I get guaranteed money from the military, the chance for promotions and college money." Recruiters say the military has always been an attractive option for young people who lack the money, desire or discipline for college. In a sour economy, it seems like an ever-sweeter deal. Even so, Staff Sgt. Marcus Ochoa, a recruiter in Nacogdoches, Texas, said he's never had anyone walk through his door and ask to join the military because they couldn't find a job, or they wanted to get out of town. The military, he said, is a family and a way of life. It requires sacrifice – occasionally the ultimate sacrifice – and imposes order on lives that can be chaotic. Potential recruits, he said, seem to understand that. "There are niceties – education, travel, job security, those things," he said. "But they shouldn't be the reason people join. "Do it because you want to serve your country. That's the right reason." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Add Images to any RSS Feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment