America's Work Stories

We would like to award the following people with the EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR AWARD. This award is based on your dedication to your profession and your persistance of informing the public about our country, REPORTING & PROSECUTING criminal activity, the politicians and the goings on in Washington DC. We reserve the right to add people to the list at any time.

1. JOHN CONYERS (D- MI, US House of Representatives) - for your persistance at gathering evidence of criminal acts of the Bush Administration. You never stop and just keep going. Your persistance is so admirable. You will always go down in the history books as a Congressman who stood for the working people of the United States and for what is right and good about this country. You need to be elevated to sainthood. You are amazing and are greatly appreciated for your work and dedication.


2. MAUREEN DOWD (NY Times Columnist) - because you never give up pounding on the Bushies, their criminal activity and this criminal White House. You and Keith Olberman are the only respected journalists who report the facts and are willing to say it like it is.


3. RANDI RHODES (Air America Radio Host) - your persistance and energy on Air America Radio where day after day you CONTINUOUSLY go after the Bush regime and you just keep pounding. Your reporting to the American people about the wrongdoing and criminal activity of the Bush Mafia is OUSTANDING unlike the main stream media who have neglected their duties as journalists and have FAILED the American people.


4. Keith Olbermann (Countdown Host on MSNBC) - Keith continues to tell the truth and reported on what was transpiring in Ohio right after the November 2004 Selection. He also continues to report the news that other networks are refusing to share with the American people. Your honest and persistance at TELLING THE TRUTH is very admirable and should be awarded. America's Work Stories is looking forward to Keith's coverage when major historical events transpire this year.

Enclosed is a post we found on Craigslist.com in the jobs section. These two organizations need to be REGULATED. They are posting FAKE JOB ADS.

Dear Barry Personnel: < jobbyjoberson > 12/14 07:43:38
I am so M***** F**K*** SICK to DEATH of opening ads and seeing the name of your GOD FORSAKEN agency! CAN you PLEASE either: a) Limit the number of ads you post here. or b) Go to a paying site like a normal F***K*** agency! Obviously you aren't having THAT much success here if you have have to constantly innundate this board with your postings...don't expect me to believe that your demand is that great, what with the fact that there aren't THAT many jobs out there AND there are like seven THOUSAND staffing firms in FREAKING Chicago. SO, Barry Personnel, don't make me get ugly. STOP posting your fake job ads here. Any job seekers as sick of them as I am? P.S. Northbridge Staffing, you're next.

This is something we received from a VERY VERY SEASONED HR person who was OUTRAGED at the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE interviewing skills of Greg who is the Technical Recruiter at Eloyalty in Lake Forest, IL. Enclosed is the letter so you can read it for yourself:

Dear America's Work Stories,

I had the WORST interview with Greg who is the Technical Recruiter at Eloyalty.com. Jackie the VP offered him a full time position and I can't understand it. However, it speaks LOULDY about her judgement. He told me several times in my interview "You're LYING to me". I almost fell on the ground when I heard this. I've NEVER EVER said this to a candidate.
He openly confessed that he's treated other people and STILL he doesn't stop and is ALLOWED to interview people with such a condescending, arrogant, HOSTILE, AGGRESSIVE, RUDE AND BRUTISH manner. He also said he was from a Big Five and was ARROGANT about it. He said that he was a contracter as if he had been promoted to a VP position. HE WASN'T FULL TIME YET. He COULD NOT FOR HIS LIFE understand that some people like to work in smaller organizations and not exist in a large organization. He COMPLETELY FORGOT that he was talking to someone who was seasoned. He said "Now, do you know what type of interview I just gave you.". It was a behavioral interivew and the question was degrading and humiliating. He was COMPLETELY socially UNINTELLIGENT and HAS NO CONCEPT AT ALL of himself. The VP of Recruiting Jackie and the Recruiting Manager who is ARROGANT AND RUDE TO THE JOB CANDIDATES. SHOULD HAVE THEIR HEADS EXAMINED. They both are keeping him and endorse this behavior by retaining people who are incompetent and give the company a bad image. It was like a scene out of the usual Bush headlines of the incompetent people running around the White House.

I don't understand Corporate America's thinking when they retain people like this. They function like the White House, THEY KEEP BAD PEOPLE IN THEIR ORGANIZATION. I know deep down that this bad behavior and their INCOMPETENT management decisions will all come back to bite them you know where!!!!!


STAY AWAY FROM ELOYALTY. THEIR INCOMPETENT AND ARE PRACTIING THE WHITE HOUSE PRINCIPALS OF KEEPING BAD PEOPLE AND REWARDING BAD BEHAVIOR!!!!!

We have intelligence that Norma Williams, who's the CEO, screens candidates over the phone without a resume infront of her. She asked a stupid question about dates of employment and the candidate replied to her "don't you have the resume infront of you?" and she replied "I'm the CEO.". THIS IS UNPROFESSIONAL AND UNCALLED FOR. That wasn't the question and her reply was ABSURD.

Norma, you're supposed to have the resume infront of you when you screen someone over the phone. You don't talk to someone without that material infront of you. The excuse "I'm the CEO." DOESN'T FLY. THAT DOESN'T WORK.

NJW Associates
35 East Wacker Drive
Suite 3450
Chicago, IL 60601
E-mail: info@njwassociates.com
Tel: 312.464.1999
Fax: 312.464.1559

Hewitt has HORRIBLE HORRIBLE issues with the way they recruit and the way they manage their resumes. This situation came to us from someone who emailed them a resume and received an email saying "please go to our website and apply online". If the job market was NOT in favor of the employers, SHE SURE WOULDN'T BE TELLING THE JOB CANDIDATES TO GO ONLINE AND APPLY. This is a HERRENDOUS practice when dealing with the candidates. This is Carrie's email address, please write her an email and let her know what you think of this practice: carrie.carpenter@hewitt.com.

Dear America's Work Stories,

I had a HORRIBLE encounter with one of the recruiters over at Hewitt. I emailed Carrie Carpenter my resume and she emailed me back "to go online and apply on the company website." I was FLABBERGASTED at her response to me. I went to an Ivy League School and have ALOT of great experience. If the job market was in favor of the job seekers, she would of NEVER EVER of treated me like this. Thanks to your website, you have given us the opportunity of sharing with everyone what is happening to the job candidates.

Thank you,

Really Disgusted.

We got this email from someone who interviewed with this agency and said that Anita didn't time the test properly and said she "wasn't good at math" but is giving the test anyway. RIDICULOUS!!!!!

Anita Kurz of The O'Hare Search Group (http://www.osgglobal.com) is administering the Wunderlic test which is ALL Algebra and Geomentry. She said herself she's not good at math and she didn't time the test properly. She came in after the 12 minutes were up. (How's that for professional)

The Wunderlic test DOES NOT measure intelligence. If you haven't been working and studying with the formulas (and who does in the business world? Who is studying the algebra and geomentry formulas when working with financial figures and salary numbers???? How much more stupid does the business world become?) you're not going to remember this from school.

This is a a post I found over at democraticunderground.com. the University of Michigan students asked some tough questions which got Coke to examine their labor, environmental and business practices. Good for them!!!!!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1564940
Coke to Examine Overseas Labor Practices (boycotts works)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- The Coca-Cola Co. says it is willing to examine its labor and business practices in India and Colombia to keep $1.3 million worth of contracts with the University of Michigan.>>>snipAtlanta-based Coca-Cola has for years faced questions about its labor practices abroad, and college students have levied some of the most vocal complaints. The company has repeatedly denied allegations of environmental and human rights abuses, but officials said they would look into the matter.

The student group accused Coca-Cola of draining the water table in India, causing farmers' crops to go dry; distributing bottling plant sludge containing contaminants to Indian farmers as fertilizer; selling products that contain pesticides in India; and conspiring with paramilitary groups in Colombia to harass and harm union members."The main issue ... is that the university is pandering to corporate interests and not necessarily to its constituents, the students," said Saamir Rahman, a 19-year-old junior and member of the group.http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/COKE_COMPLAINTS?...
Boycotts work folks these students show that it does http://www.colombiaactionnetwork.org/boycott.html

The reasons to boycott coke http://killercoke.org/crimes.htm

This is someone who had an interview with Lyssa over the phone..and Lyssa showed how obnoxious and rude HR people can be.

Dear America's Work Stories,

I had a phone interview with Lyssa Bernstein and as an HR professional I was FLOORED at the way she handled herself and the interview. She was the epitome of arrogant, snotty, snappy, RUDE, hostile and outwardly aggressive. I'm ashamed that she's part of our profession.

I would urge all other HR professionals to NEVER EVER interview with her. Tweeter is not getting my business anytime soon.

This is another story of an employee who has no boundaries set for them. McKinsey has a NOTORIOUS reputation for the people they retain in their firm.


Dear Americ'as Work Stories,

I don't even know where to begin. McKinsey has to be one of the worst consulting firms to work for. Beth is the most obnoxious, rude, self centered, competitive person I've ever met in my life. Her family is on the phone with her for multiple amounts of hours of the day and all she does is talk about herself. This place is like a zoo. No one sets any boundaries and is not very intuitive or observant. It's almost lawlessness (kind of like the White House). I thought McKinsey is supposed to be an elite firm? They make PricewaterhouseCoopers look good and that place is a CATASTROPHE inside.

Her supervisor Chris (who's a woman and goes through multiple amounts of nannies because her employees leave her because of her miserable behavior) is one of the most openly aggressive people in the firm. I would NEVER EVER recommend working her for anyone. This group has so much turnover and Mike who's head ALSO has employees get up and leave because he's so unbearable to work with.

If this isn't illegal, unethical and unprofessional in the recruitinng process, I dont' know what is.

Anyone in HR? 06/17 10:25:16
This is a question a few of my friends and I have been fighting over. On a recent interview, the HR person asked for the candidate's previous pay stubs. He was wondering if he forged them, is there any online database that could be used to verify them? I say yes, he says no. What say you?

This is a link that has another link to Colin Powell and Condaleeza Rice saying that there are no WMD's in Iraq and that Iraq DID NOT pose a threat to anyone else.

Please consider this an open thread.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/17/111153/393

This is an email from someone who is in the position of knowing that another employee who is horribly unpleasant is padding their overtime. The employer, who is unobservant and not paying attention, is not aware of what is happening. This poor employee who wrote is pondering whether they should say something. The person who had this Accounting Supervisor position ALSO knew what was happening but was scared to say something also. When is Corporate America going to pay attention to their business?


Tattletale or Professional? 06/16 13:47:15
I am the acctg. supervisor of a small co. with about 40 employees. One of my job duties is to processt he payroll. There are only 5 total employees in the office. We are all salaried, but 2 of my co-workers are non-exempt so they're eligible for overtime. I've been here a year now. I have become suspicious in the last few months that one of these people is heavily padding her overtime. Sometimes she's in the office only 4 or 5 hours a day but when she reports her hours to me she always claims several hours of overtime. She is allowed to work from home.

She doesn't know it but I have access to a report that shows how many hours per day she's actually logged into the system. Based on the time I know she's in the office and the time reflected in these reports, it would appear she is definitely falsifying her time.

This person has been with the co. for over 17 years and has a key role, she does all our billing and they have never cross-trained. Also, she is not a pleasant person at all and has verbally abused me on multiple occasions.

My gut tells me I need to report this to my boss(she and her husband own the co. and are only in the office a for a few hours 3-4 days per week) but I am also afraid of the backlash this will cause once this person is exposed. I have been looking for another job just to get away from this stressful situation, but so far no luck. I recently found out that my predecessor was aware of this situation but was too afraid to expose this.

This reader has found out that Whole Foods doesn't offer time off for holidays.


Whole Foods Vacation? 06/16 18:12:58
Hi all, I know I'm in a better spot than many, as I was offered a job. It was with Whole Foods, but they stated that there are no holidays and one only gets 2 weeks off per year. Does that sound right to folks, or did I misunderstand? I'm used to 10 or so holidays (Thanksgiving, Xmas, etc) and then 10-15 days off or vacation days. 10 business days total (vacation, personal, sick, holidays - everything) sounds low. Have you all heard anything? It seems odd to me for a company that is so highly regarded.

This is an email that came to us from someone who has very intelligently observed one of the greatest obstructions to getting work done in corporate America today....an employee who hasn't been disciplined and is unaware of how he or she is affecting the workplace and others within the workplace.


sticky situation at work 06/16 12:34:08
I was given a major project to run and my manager/mentor warned to me to run with it to make a name for myself. I trust him implicitly. He also warned me that a woman who has zero intelligence but has a lot of tenure with the company (and kisses the head boss' ass daily) will try to take over my project.

She keeps saying she's "not in charge," just a "guide" in helping me through this (since I'm a relatively new employee and she's been here 20 years) but she has a poor reputation and she tends to take other people's work and present it as her own.

I'm in a bind because she's been allowed to oversee the progress of my project so she keeps asking me for ideas to "brainstorm with" but I don't want to! Then again, how can I avoid it? Also, she gave the other key member of this team (a guy I'll be working with on a daily basis in the future) the impression she needs to be in the loop on every conversation we have! When she found out the guy and I were talking back and forth, she goes, "I want to be included in the loop whenever you talk to him... not trying to be 'in charge' just want to keep abreast of the situation." YEAH RIGHT!

I spoke with the guy and diplomatically said, "let's not bog her down with details - she's here to guide the general proces." I was trying to let him know - don't cc her on every e-mail and tell about every conference call we're going to have. I wanted to say, after all, I'm going to be managing this, not her. This one is sticky! My manager's on vacation. I can't wait until he comes back!

This is an email that came from us from someone who has a scoop about the inner workings of a company in Northbrook, IL.

Dear America's Work Stories,

The HR Manager over at Belmont Trading, Karen Ludovice, who's not college educated is the WORST HR Manager I've ever met. She doesn't know how to work with people, doesn't ANYTHING about Human Resources and is just CLUELESS. She's incompetent and unprofessional. This company is very poorly managed and they don't how to work with people in addition to knowing how to function as a great organzation.

Nina at PinnaclePros.com embodies the lack of professionalism and knowledge of how to talk to a job candidate. Her statement of "you just cost me thousands and thousand of dollars" is OBNOXIOUS and absolute the WRONG way to speak to a job candidate. This is just disgusting and give the recruiting profession a bad name and a HORRIBLE reputation.


recruiter vent 06/16 07:48:40
I contacted a recruiter who listed an ad on craigslist about three weeks ago. I left a nice message and waited but got no response. So, I searched online, and found the job posted somewhere else. I applied, the company got back to me promptly that they were looking for someone with specific experience that I did not have (that's another story for another day!), but here's the vent: The recruiter finally called me yesterday...three weeks later! I said, that that job didn't seem like a good fit, maybe she knew of others. She said, "do you realize that you just lost me potentially thousands and thousands of dollars by not applying through me?" I was shocked!

So I fired back that my number one priority was me, not her commission and the nerve she had even mentioning that. She said that she could not take me on as a client because I obviously did not have respect for her--I said, duh...of course I have no respect for you...you didn't call me back and now you admit that all you cared about was your commission? I thought the golden rule in recruiting was to make it appear that all you cared about was helping me get a job (no matter if you didn't even look for me!) What a bitch....oh yeah by the way, her name is Nina at Pinnaclepros.com.

This is a post from a reader who went to an interview with a staffing firm and came away with not not being interested in the job. These staffing firms are the ones filling job orders for companies. This is truly amazing.

should i interview? 06/16 07:58:52
I got called for a second interview at a major staffing company like Manpower. It's for a sales job. The woman who interviewed me was the director and kind of a robot. She talked really loud and I never felt like she was human. Anyway, she described the sales position as working in a "bullpin" atmosphere where there a cubes and you can hear other sales people. and the the other sales people will challenge you etc. etc. It sounded horrible to me. But the money might be pretty good. But i would then be stuck in the staffing industry. Anyone have any advice about what to do. I need to call this person back soon.

Chat Away!!

JP Morgan and Citibank are some of the banks who have some of the worst people working for them and some of the most unethical business and labor practices in the banking world right next to Goldman Sachs...who let's just say LEADS THE PACK!!!!!


Pressure on Banks to End Enron Litigation
Yahoo Link To Story

By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business Writer 2 hours, 8 minutes ago
HOUSTON - Now the pressure's really on. News that bankers JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup will pony up a collective $4.2 billion to make a conglomeration of Enron Corp. shareholder lawsuits go away lights a settlement fire under other banks and brokerages still named as defendants, legal experts said Wednesday.

"There will be scrambling among the remaining banks to settle now," said Thomas Ajamie, a securities lawyer in Houston. "There's clearly enough money to fund the litigation from here to eternity and that just adds more and more pressure."

But shareholders won't see checks in the mail anytime soon, because who gets how much still must be calculated and then approved by a judge.

"No matter how successful we are, we will never get all the money back," said William Lerach, lead lawyer for the University of California, the lead plaintiff in the litigation. "We will get good recovery for people. How much we get remains to be seen."

Enron spiraled into scandal-ridden bankruptcy in December 2001 upon revelations of hidden debt, inflated profits and widespread accounting tricks. Thousands of workers lost their jobs and its once high-flying stock became worthless.

JPMorgan Chase announced Monday it would pay $2.2 billion to settle allegations that the bank colluded with Enron to skirt accounting rules when the energy company counted loans as income to puff up reported earnings. Last week, Citigroup announced it would pay $2 billion to settle similar allegations of participating in dubious deals.

Neither institution acknowledged any wrongdoing, and said they struck the deals to put the litigation behind them. Those who have followed the Enron scandal and other corporate quagmires, such as the WorldCom collapse, say that reasoning isn't just a public relations ploy.
"To me, it doesn't relate to the merits of the Enron case. The possible outcomes are very murky, and it's going to take years to litigate this," said Paul R. Brown, professor of accounting at New York University's Stern School of Business. "In the meantime, it's a drag on the firm from a stock price perspective, a drag on morale, and you end up with a tainted name. These firms have concluded that the drag is too big a price to pay."

That lesson should be ingrained within JPMorgan, which in March became the last major bank to settle the major class-action WorldCom lawsuit, agreeing to a $2 billion payment. JPMorgan had a chance to settle the case in 2004 for $1.37 billion, but held out in hopes of a better deal, which never materialized.

JPMorgan's accord in the Enron case marks the sixth and largest such settlement of the litigation filed in October 2001. Another $491.5 million in settlements have already been reached with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Bank of America Corp., Andersen Worldwide, 17 former Enron outside directors and former Enron vice chairman Ken Harrison. They, too, didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing.

James Holst, the University of California's general counsel, hinted Wednesday that more deals were coming.

"We're going to see accelerated activity in the weeks ahead," Holst said, declining to elaborate.
Remaining defendants in the case include Merrill Lynch & Co., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Barclays PLC, Credit Suisse First Boston, Toronto Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Deutsche Bank AG and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

More than two years ago U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon in Houston and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez in New York ordered the plaintiffs and banks to try to settle and appointed a mediator to help. Those efforts, at least initially, produced no results.
But now the biggest targets are bowing out, said Anthony Sabino, an associate professor at Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John's University.

"This is all about who's going to be left holding the bag and no one wants to do that," he said. "It will probably be hard to see such extraordinary numbers again, but no one wants to go to trial on this."

He added that Merrill and CIBC may have more urgency than the other remaining defendants. In 2003, Merrill and CIBC each paid the SEC $80 million in 2003 to settle allegations of participating in murky deals with Enron. Both banks also struck deals with the
Justice Department' to avoid prosecution by acknowledging that employees may have committed crimes and implementing reforms to prevent such transactions.

Lerach said the plaintiffs are preparing for trial in October 2006 and will be ready "to go ahead with whoever is left standing at the end and we're working on that every day."
Other remaining defendants include Enron founder Kenneth Lay, former CEO Jeffrey Skilling, and former Enron accountant Arthur Andersen LLP.

All the settlements still must be approved by Harmon, who will determine a formula under which some 50,000 claimants would be paid. A hearing for her to consider the Citigroup and JPMorgan settlements hasn't yet been scheduled, and investors might not see any funds for more than a year.

Enron's collapse caused $40 billion to $45 billion in market losses, but securities laws allow investors to seek tens of billions of dollars more in additional damages.
Lerach said investors should keep their records and be ready to claim their share. He said he didn't want to characterize what they would actually receive as pennies on the dollar because "it depends on how much they bought, when they bought, when they sold and how much they lost."
___
AP Business Writers Michael J. Martinez and Joe Bel Bruno contributed to this report.

Bristol Meyers Squibb is up to their usual no good. In another post, someone witnessed one of their employees confess that this person had their credit report cleaned. The amount of dishonest and slimey people in this organization blows my mind.


Bristol-Myers Reaches $300M Settlement
By JEFFREY GOLD, AP Business Writer 1 hour, 17 minutes ago
NEWARK, N.J. - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. agreed to pay $300 million in a deal to defer federal prosecution of a conspiracy charge stemming from an accounting scandal, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey said Wednesday. Two of its former executives also were indicted for their alleged roles in the same scandal.

Frederick Schiff, Bristol-Myers former chief financial officer, and Richard Lane, former executive vice president and president of the company's worldwide medicines group, were indicted on charges of conspiracy and securities fraud.

The company said that it would record an additional reserve of $249 million in the second quarter related to the settlement. Its shares fell 26 cents to close at $25.20 in trading on the
New York Stock Exchange near the high end of the 52-week range of $22.22 to $26.60.


With Wednesday's payment, Bristol-Myers has doled out about $800 million to settle lawsuits and investigations tied to the incentives it paid wholesalers to stockpile inventory, inflating sales and earnings. In March 2003, Bristol-Myers restated $900 million in profits and $2.5 billion in revenue reported from 1999 through the first half of 2002.

"This is a case where Bristol-Myers Squibb failed to disclose relevant information to its shareholders that would have affected its stock price," said Christopher J. Christie, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

Christie declined to answer reporters' questions about why more executives, including Bristol-Myers Chief Executive Officer Peter Dolan, were not indicted. He said the investigation is continuing and more charges are possible.

As part of the agreement, Dolan will relinquish the title of chairman but will remain CEO. Longtime board member and former American Express Co. Chairman James D. Robinson III will become chairman of Bristol-Myers. The company also agreed to have former federal judge Frederick B. Lacey act as an independent monitor of its accounting practices and financial controls. He is already working with the company under a previous agreement with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bristol-Myers reached the deal under what is called a deferred prosecution. Under such arrangements, prosecution is delayed and will be dropped if certain terms are met. Bristol-Myers' prosecution will be dropped after two years if it meets standards such as retaining Lacey, appointing an additional director, introducing more financial controls, and cooperating with the investigation.

The company must also endow a chair at Seton Hall University Law School in Newark dedicated to teaching business ethics and corporate governance. The person holding that position will conduct an annual seminar for Bristol-Myers executives.

As part of the agreement, the company "accepts and acknowledges responsibility" for the scheme, called "channel stuffing," in which drug wholesalers are given incentives to purchase large amounts of product to make it appear that demand is high.

"BMS promoted a corporate culture in which meeting or exceeding company budget targets and the consensus (Wall Street) estimates was considered mandatory. Achieving these goals was known as `making the numbers' or `hitting the numbers,'" according to a statement of facts in the deferred prosecution agreement.

In a statement, Dolan said he was "very pleased" to have an agreement with the U.S. attorney.
"We are determined that the mistakes of the past not be repeated and that the company's reputation for adhering to the highest standards for ethical business practices be fully restored," he said.

Christie called Schiff the company's "chief concealment officer" and said that Lane was "a cheat." If found guilty, the two face up to 10 years in prison and $1 million in fines.

The former executives were charged with instructing staff to create the incentive packages to inflate sales and profit figures, while misleading Wall Street analysts and investors about those measures.

They "brushed aside and ignored concerns expressed by BMS employees about the use of financial incentives to the wholesalers, the costs BMS was incurring from the sales incentives to the wholesalers, and the build-up in excess inventory at the wholesalers," according to the indictment.

It cited, among others, an e-mail Lane wrote May 19, 2000, to worldwide medicines personnel: "Sales continue to be concerningly weak. We need to make our May target! (W)hen will this start to happen??"

Schiff lawyer David Zornow, in a statement, said his client denies any wrongdoing and expects to be cleared. "Mr. Schiff did not operate in a vacuum; his conduct was appropriate at all times and known to many others both inside and outside the company," he said.
Lane's lawyer, Richard Strassberg, said his client is innocent and will be "fully vindicated" at trial.

"The government is attempting to prosecute Rick Lane for innocuous, cautious statements made during routine telephone conference calls with professional Wall Street analysts. Indeed, a federal judge rejected nearly identical claims in a civil case in New York just one year ago," Strassberg said in a statement.

"Anyone closely examining these charges will see a frightening example of government overreaching that sends the clear message that executives should not speak to the public. This is the wrong message to send to corporate America, and it is fundamentally unjust for Mr. Lane," his lawyer said.
___

Here's another merger. Let's see how many American people get laid off? Results should be interesting!!


BNP Paribas pays 1.12 billion euros for US bank Commercial Federal
Yahoo Link to Story
Tue Jun 14, 4:18 AM ET
PARIS (AFP) - French banking group BNP Paribas said that it would acquire US retail bank Commercial Federal for 1.12 billion euros (1.36 billion dollars) under an agreed bid subject to regulatory approval.

BNP Paribas said that the purchase, at a premium of 27.0 percent to the average price of Commercial Federal stock, over the last six months, was to further its strategy of expanding in retail banking in the United States.


Shareholders in Commercial Federal would receive 34.50 dollars per share on the basis of 34.0 dollars in cash and an exceptional dividend of 50 cents per share.


BNP Paribas said that it was mounting the deal via its US subsidiary Bank of the West, and that it expected to save 54 million dollars a year before tax through economies of scale arising from the acquisition. The deal would create value from 2006.


Bank of the West is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas subsidiary BancWest. Once the takeover had been completed, BancWest would manage 4.2 million accounts through 739 branches. Banking under the name Commercial Federal would come under the brand of Bank of the West.
The deal was expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2005, but was subject to approval from shareholders in Commercial Federal and from US authorities.
BNP Paribas said that the board of Commercial Federal had approved the offer for 100 percent of the business. The offer had also been approved by the boards of BNP Paribas, Bancwest, Bank of the West and of Commercial Federal.


BancWest operated through 541 branches in 17 states in the west of the United States, and mainly in California and Hawai under the brands of First Hawaiian Bank in Hawai and Bank of the West on the US mainland, BNP Paribas said.

Commercial Federal, based in Omaha, Nebraska, was quoted on the
New York Stock Exchange operated through 198 branches in the United States and made a net profit in 2004 of 76 million dollars, BNP Paribas said.

This is a letter from someone who's stressed out, is able to look around and knows what needs to be done.

Dear America's Work Stories,

I'm working in a work environment that is incredibly stressful with some very dysfunctional people and a management that is only concerned with the bottom line. There are so many people with poor communication skills and herrendous internpersonal skilils. I'm a father who also has duties at home. I can't sleep and this work environment gets only get worse. The worst part is that the job market is so bad, you can't move anywhere else. I can't believe that we live in a country where there are no checks and balances in the workplace and a Department of Labor who just isn't doing their job. This company has also been in legal trouble.

I'm also hearing from other friends that their companies (in addition to mine) aren't providing any training or development for anyone. This is just something else. The American workplace is in very bad shape. The mainstream media IS NOT talking about this but we thank you for giving us a place to talk about these issues.

This is an article that we found on about.com. It covers the issue of the Toxic Boss.

The Toxic Boss Syndrome
http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/ToxicBoss082697.htm


From F. John Reh,
We all know them. The supervisor who constantly berates their people. The team leader who creates division within the group instead of harmony. The manager who condescends to talk to the individuals in their group, but never listens to their input. These are toxic bosses.
They sap the energy of the individuals in their groups. They are belittling, petty and loud. They consider themselves better than everyone else and they don't care who knows it. All they care about is "getting the job done". Or maybe it's "straightening this place out". In their drive to achieve their goal they ignore or overlook the other people in the organization. And in the end it hurts them too.

It is important to you, as a manager or executive, to be able to recognize these toxic bosses.
They can significantly decrease production and increase cost. They can make a large company an unpleasant place to work, and they can kill a small company.
How to uncover a toxic bossOften all you have to do is walk around. Out of your office, employees may seek you out to point out their toxic boss. If this doesn't happen it may be due to the fear that the toxic boss generates in the organization. Then you have to get the information in other ways.

Talk with clients, or even former clients, of your company. Listen to the side comments they make as they answer your direct questions about something else. Ask them about the managerial strengths of the organization and be sensitive to what or who they leave out.
Look into overhead costs. One of the biggest costs of a toxic boss is in personnel issues. Often these costs are collected into overhead accounts rather than charged to operating units. Even if your company's annual turnover rate is within norms for its industry, look into the numbers.
Does one group have more people quitting (or retiring) than the others? Have there been instances where several individuals from the same unit have left the company in a short period of time? Does one department have higher overtime costs than the others. Have the employees in a particular section been using up all their vacation and more of their sick days than the average?

What to do?An individual who is a toxic boss didn't get to where they are without being good at something. If they weren't good at some particular facet of the business they would have been let go long ago. You need to assess the value of this individual to the company and weigh it against their cost to the company.

If the toxic boss has increased production by ten percent over the past year the stakeholders may not care if the turnover rate in that department is higher than average. However, if you document that the cost of goods sold has increased by five percent during the same period, because of increased training costs, payments to employment agencies, sick leave costs and increased overtime, you will get their attention.

Your actions with respect to a toxic boss will depend on the circumstances. You can recommend coaching or advanced training for the toxic boss. Maybe the individual should be transferred to a position with less responsibility for people. Perhaps the goals set for the individual are unreachable, which has caused their toxic boss management style, and should be adjusted.
Be sure to document and quantify the measurements that you use to determine that a toxic boss is hurting the company. Use overhead expenses as well as direct costs to demonstrate true bottom line impacts. Finally, use the same measurements to quantify the benefit to the company when your actions resolve the toxic boss problem.
-------

The Downing Street Minutes story has legs and a hearing is scheduled for Thursday. These sites are covering what's happening in this story of a war that's was PLANNED month and months in advance: http://www.downingstreetmemo.com, http://www.afterdowningstreet.org, http://www.bigbrassblog.com/bba/.

This is a website that would help employers and executives with many of the different issues that are before them in today's work world. We would especially like to point out that there's a section on leadership that they might find helpful in dealing with other people.


Enoy!!!!

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/index.jhtml

This is a job listing on craigslist.com. Please stay away from this person.


WORKING GODDESS?? 06/14 13:50:11
STAY AWAY FROM THIS WOMAN!
she lists her property for rent all the time on craigslist and steals money from innocent people. do a search and you'll see all of the stuff written about her. her name is lisa miceli, and she lists her email address as studiochezvincent. busy professional mom seeks p/t ast to develop web and manage carreer/personal ast. live in or out. house on beach and mid-city artist studio avail=free rent for right person. less then 20/hrs week gives you time to work other gigs and have your rent covered. please send resume (including recent photo) and any interest, motivation, talent and skills, expreience, education and references ---need as soon as possilbe, but will consider fall and students. Prefer live-in, non-smoker, unencumbured, stable, single profesional.

The Labor Lawyers have sung... and it's not a pretty tune. In fact, what they're reporting is not good. The American people are just being treated horribly inside and outside the American workplace. The following is the information that we've gathered from the attorneys.

1. Sexual Harrassment complaints are UP!!

2. Employers of 50 or more ARE NOT training their employees for sexual harrassment awareness.

3. If someone claims (due to an accident) disability/workman's compensation they are being outrightly fired because the employers don't want to pay the workman's comp cost.

4. Exempt employees are sueing in large numbers in the form of class action law suits because they are not being compensated for the longer hours that they are working. The settlements are ENORMOUS and in the multi million dollar range.

5. Discrimination is OUT OF CONTROL for those over 40 and for those with Masters Degree and Ph.D's who are searhing for a position. Those with a post graduate education are having a HORRIBLE time finding a position because they're well skilled and educated. These are the people who give great advice to the C-level of the organization.

6. The employees are not being treated legally and fairly.

7. Older Workers are being eliminated because they are making to much.

8. Cases with EEOC are moving much slower. Under President Clinton response was better, the response was much quicker. Labor processes (internally) have broken down in some areas of government. The investigative process has to be quicker at the EEOC andthat would take care of a lot of issues. They need to hire additional investigators. Companies get served and it takes 1-1.5 yrs for the case to be heard and that amount of time before the employer is told to remedy their behavior. The EEOC takes too long and is undermanned. There is no urgency to make changes in the way the employers are treating and managing their employees. They’re becoming bolder because EEOC doesn’t do their job. There has to be a provision in federal employement that also providese for quicker remedies such as discrimination in the workplace. They have made it harder for attorneys to get involved in initial stages of the case.
Sexual Harrassment or discrimination goes months without being addressed.

Transportation Security Administration which deals with airports, security..IS ABSOLUTE LAWLESSNESS. There are sexual harassment AND disability discrimination. People have no recourse. People are being fired for no reason at all. A person was forced to take leave of absence because of an injury and an accommodation wasn’t given. This person was put on indefinite leave of absence and was governed by workers compensation. He wasn’t able to work. Then he was dismissed and he was fired. It took A YEAR to get him back on the books. There are alot of unhappy people and the work environment at TSA is in very bad shape.

9. One agency said to someone who they thought belonged to a certain demographic but wasn't a part of this ethnic group "to bad your not hispanic". Those comments are completely uncalled for.

A reader has written in with an experience from the North Shore Staffing Group. This will make you cringe!

Dear America's Work Stories,
I went to apply for a temporary position with the North Shore Staffing Group and when asked where I went to High School, I said the name of the town and the person who interviewed me said "oh my brother-in-law is from there" and made a face that communicated "yuck...you're from there?". This was so unprofessional and illegal. I wish I had some type of recording device so I could of recoreded her body language and facial expressions so everyone could see it. I was appalled. I'm writing to let everyone know about these people so they can avoid them like the black death. Thank you for this blog.

This is a sad story and details the shape of the American economy and the American Workplace.


Trying to understand why I can't find a job 06/13 09:15:37
I have been struggling for over a year now to find a job after graduation. I found a job shortly after graduation, but the circumstances at work were horrible. They hired me in high season, hardly trained me and my boss, the same age without university degree, felt threatened by me and bad-mouthed me to the owners of the company in my presence. I left. Then I was jobless for some more months.

Then I met someone who pulled me into a research project, but expected me to volunteer my time. How can I survive? I worked on a temporary assignment, which is over now. Why do I have such a hard time finding something?

Here my questions to you. Is it because I am a European immigrant (that came here only because my husband is American), is it because of the bad economy, is it because of the degree I have (MA in Social Science) or is it because I don't have many contacts because I did not go to school here? I still have contact to friends in Europe and it seems to go well for them. My cousin works at a film project as a political science major, my sister is one year younger and makes 5000 a month.

Are things so bad here or are my personal circumstances working against me? I am grateful for any input.

When I read this post on Craigslist.com, I was just stunned. They need some consulting something fierce!!! I would think twice if you want to work there!!


*BEWARE* Bally Total Fitness(SF) 06/13 10:22:35
I want everyone to know about this scam and unfair employment that bally has.the process on how bally run the sales structure is a scam. So let me try to explain this the best way i can. when you open a membership there is hidden fees that the sales person does not tell you at all, and sometimes its not even stated on the contract, until you recieve your first bill, which is not even close to the price you agree too. Then the sales guy will tell you that, yea ill go and refund you the money, which wont be done for like 4-5 months. while ur waiting for you refund you are still being charge a over price. And at the end you dont even get your refund back, because bally will tell you all these regulations and rules.

One rule is that if you cancel your contract early you will be charge a extra $325.87. The sales people also pressure you into signing stuff you dont want to sign. The sales people would also lie infront of your face. How do i know all this??? I had a close friend that had a account with them and he told me that bally total fitness his charging him way too much for the monthly payment. At that time i had work for bally and i was trying to help my friend out. When i confronted the managers, they would give me the break down on how they would try to get more money out of customers. But i told them that this is one of my close friends. Managers reply that "friends" are the easiest people to make money from and scam from.

They are also a very racial employment place. The managers of the same race would stick together. And when you have a customer that want to open a membership with you, the managers will steal that customer so he can get the commision. I could'nt bare with the scams and racial status that i encounter at bally total fitness, so at the end i quit that job. By the way i did'nt even get my full pay check for the 2 weeks i work for the, i only got less than half of my pay check. There is so many things that is wrong with bally total fitness that i cant even name them all. Everything that i had said is true! and i can back it up 100%. If you want more info on how bally do these scams! plz feel free to E-mail me. Thank You all for taking the time to read this!

I found this on dailykos.com. United Airlines is up to their usual no good. I refuse to fly with them anymore. Taking pensions away from hard working people is just wrong.



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/13/132911/211

United Airlines Denies 9/11 Pilot's Widow Pension (follow-up)by profmarcus
[Subscribe]Mon Jun 13th, 2005 at 11:29:11 CST[cross-posted at And, yes, I DO take it personally}
the washington post article this morning on the united airlines pension default is a long-overdue acknowledgement of the horrors united airlines has visited on its hard-working employees for as long as most of them can remember... i'm also delighted to see ellen saracini featured... you may remember that i posted her letter two weeks ago saturday both here on kos and on my own blog... i'd like to think that posting and the great group of kossacks had a little something to do with the washington post's decision to write the article... i'm also most grateful for the compassion mrs. saracini obviously has for all the others in the same boat...


"My own situation is not a crisis -- I have my husband's life insurance to keep us secure in our house," she said from her home in Yardley, Pa. "But a lot of other people have real hardship -- medical costs they won't be able to afford, houses they won't be able to keep. If I can help draw attention to them, I'll do it in a heartbeat."
(more on the flip) Diaries :: profmarcus's diary :: :: Trackback ::
i've been threatening to post my perspective on united airlines for weeks and, even though it isn't in the depth i would like, i want to seize the moment... it's gonna be a little long so bear with me...


in the mid-90's after the employee buy-out, when the pilots (and virtually everyone else) insisted that miserable excuse for a human being, stephen wolf, be sent packing, there was a brief period under the new ceo, jerry greenwald, that gave everyone cause for hope... all of a sudden, the front-lint employees were being recognized for what they were - the grunts who make the airline work day-to-day... the buzzword was "employee involvement" and lots of good things started to happen... well, jerry's heart was in the right place but he didn't have a plan, he didn't clean house, and he didn't have a clue about sustainability ... in my role as internal consultant at the time, the phrase i heard repeatedly from senior officers while greenwald was at the helm (always behind his back, of course), was, "this, too, shall pass and then we can get back to running this goddam airline the way it SHOULD be run..." when jerry announced his resignation exactly when he had said he would, the kita (kick-'em-in-the-ass) crowd that had been lying in the weeds, waiting, leaped back into action... sure enough, no sooner had the door closed behind jerry, kita was "re-born," to the tune of "enough of this employee-coddling shit, we're gonna play HARDBALL..."


to show they weren't kidding, senior management opened the pending pilot contract negotiations with a take-it-or-leave it proposal which, everyone agreed, was an insult... all employees had received only bare minimum salary increases for years to support the employee buy-out and in lieu of employee stock awards and most employee groups were considerably behind in industry salary comparisons... probably at least a few of you remember the summer of 2000 when the pilots, in an expression of their anger over what was happening, started to "work to rule..."


anyone familiar with the airline biz knows that there are only two people who can make a departure decision for an aircraft, the lead mechanic and the pilot... the mechanic certifies to the pilot that the aircraft is airworthy and the pilot decides whether or not to accept the aircraft that the mechanic has just certified... if the mechanic decides that the aircraft isn't airworthy, the pilot can't override that decision... but if the pilot decides that he/she thinks the air conditioning mechanism isn't running properly, for instance, the mechanic is required to go back and check... you can see how this this can be turned into a very effective technique for delaying flights... the internal productivity slogan at that time was "on-time zero," meaning all flights needed to depart on time... the pilots slogan became "zero on-time..." needless to say, the summer of 2000 was a nightmare for anyone who was unfortunate enough to fly united...


in late 1999, early 2000, the value of my employee stock was roughly $40K... i was extremely pleased and grateful to have it as it was going to be the core and substance of my retirement assets which, with social security (are you listening, bushco?) and what i anticipated would be a small pension, would keep me off the streets in my old age... by the end of 2000, that stock had lost well over half of its value... like any "prudent investor," even though i was vested, i decided to hold on to it out of the belief that the company, in no small part due to the work that i and my colleagues in organizational development were doing, would turn around and be the company we all believed it could be... all the way up to 9/11, however, the stock continued to depreciate and rumors of doom abounded...


then came 9/11... i was working at dulles airport at the time on an organization development project that involved a teaming approach to the on-time departure of international flights... i was at the airport that day and, without going into the details (i intend to write that up eventually and post it on my other blog), i decided that i needed to do something besides sit behind my desk and wring my hands... i assigned myself as a lobby supervisor and proceeded to work the next 18 days straight, at between 15 and 18 hours a day, helping scared, lost, and hugely delayed and inconvenienced passengers and beleaguered customer service agents navigate the new post-9/11 world... after that grueling stint, i took a long weekend and flew to visit my son and daughter-in-law in tucson... the day after i returned, i was given a layoff notice...


again, without belaboring intervening personal details, united's stock value continued to decline and, on my birthday, december 9, 2002, the airline declared bankruptcy, rendering what little stock value remained worthless... in january, 2003, i filed a claim for a pension that was pitifully small but, i figured, was at least something... i opted for a ten-year payout until age 65... i have collected a little over two years worth now and it appears that may well be all that i will see...


the reason i post this is not to gain sympathy for myself or for anyone else although there are certainly those who not only deserve it but whose plight is far worse than mine... again, i am pleased to see mrs. saracini's situation being used as a lever to pry open the united can of worms... but why i think this information needs to be out there is because united is no more and no less than a reflection of what businesses and the social fabric of the united states has become - monuments to greed and to the insatiable desire of the "have's" to "have more..." it needs to stop but how and when that will be accomplished is the question...

Well, things are just getting worse for Tony Blair and George W. Bush. Another document has been leaked that said that "conditions must be created for the legality of the war". I don't know how much more illegal and wrong it gets. Below is the link that you can read for yourself.

This is an open thread.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1648758_1,00.html

This is an article about how staff data was STOLEN from Motorola. I had to scratch my eyes when I read this because I'm an HR professional who can't understand in this day and age how a computer gets stolen from within an HR department. This one is mind blowing.


http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=8760726&src=rss/domesticNews
In this story headlined "Two computers stolen with Motorola staff data" please read in paragraph 12 "Iron Mountain Inc. an outside data manager for Time Warner Inc. also lost tapes holding information on 600,000 current and former Time Warner workers." instead of "Time Warner Inc. lost equipment holding information on 600,000 current and former employees."

A corrected repetition follows
By Wei Gu and Sinead Carew
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two computers containing personal information on Motorola Inc. (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) employees were stolen from the mobile phone maker's human resources services provider, Affiliated Computer Services (ACS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , the latest in a series of incidents of companies losing control of employee data.

The data on the stolen computers included names and Social Security numbers but no financial information, according to Motorola. The number of employees affected was not disclosed.
"All employees were notified, but to this date there is no indication that any personal information has been compromised," said ACS' chief marketing officer, Lesley Pool. "It is clear that it was just an amateur burglary."

ACS said thieves broke into its office in the Chicago area over the May 38-30 Memorial Day weekend and stole the computers. Police are investigating, it said.
Motorola agreed to transfer part of its human resources systems to ACS in December 2002 under a 10-year contract valued at $650 million.

Motorola said it had e-mailed all of its U.S. employees alerting them to the incident. No personal financial data was in the computers, said Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch.
She also said the computers had strong security safeguards that made it difficult to access the information.

Employees affected by the theft are mostly in the United States, home to about half of Motorola's global work force of some 68,000, Weyrauch said.

The company offered affected employees fraud insurance coverage at no charge, she said. She would not comment on whether the break-in would affect the company's relationship with ACS.
"Right now, we're in the process of finding out how this happened," said Weyrauch. "We're working with the third party provider and the local authorities."

The theft follows a spate of breaches of customer and employee data in the United States. Citigroup Inc. (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said computer tapes containing account data on 3.9 million customers, including Social Security numbers, were lost by United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) .

MCI Inc. (MCIP.O: Quote, Profile, Research) last month lost a laptop that stores Social Security numbers of 16,500 current and former employees. Iron Mountain Inc. (IRM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) an outside data manager for Time Warner Inc. (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) also lost tapes holding information on 600,000 current and former Time Warner workers.
Other companies that have had similar problems include ChoicePoint Inc. (CPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Reed Elsevier Plc's (ELSN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) (REED.L: Quote, Profile, Research) LexisNexis Unit.

My heart goes out to everyone who has to deal with these employers who behave like this. This is a story from Craigslist.com



I need advice please 06/10 10:31:22
I recently quit a part time job that I had for 3 years while I was in high shcool. I gave my two weeks notice, worked up until the last day...did everything right.

But the next week, I didn't get paid for the 27 hours I worked. It turns out my boss did something wrong and terminated me too early. One month later (today), I FINALLY got my last check. I was pretty much over the fact that I had to wait so long- I was just happy that I got my money. Only when I opened it, I see that my boss paid me for 27 regular hours, when 7 of them should have been time and a half (Sunday pay). I'm PISSED. It's not so much the $20 or so bucks that I'm short but it's the principle! And $20 is a full tank of gas for me! Should I go back and tell her? It's been such a hassle to get me my last check, it will probably take another month to get this one. What do you think I should do?

It's Friday...

Enclosed is an article from nytimes.com about some management devleopments over at Nortel.



President and Chief Operating Officer of Nortel Resigns
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Nortel-Networks.html
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 10, 2005
Filed at 10:02 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- Nortel Networks Corp., the Canadian telecommunications-equipment company trying to recover from an accounting scandal, on Friday said its president and chief operating officer resigned after less than three months on the job due to differences with the company's chief executive.

After the news, shares of Nortel fell 23 cents, or 8.2 percent, to $2.58 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Chief Executive Bill Owens, who is also the company's vice chairman, will assume the duties of Gary Daichendt, the outgoing president and COO.

''It has become apparent to Gary and me ... that we have divergent management styles and our business views differ,'' Owens said in a prepared statement. ''I respect him for his decision and I wish him every success in his future endeavors,'' Daichendt, formerly Cisco Systems Inc.'s executive vice president of worldwide operations, took over as president and chief operating officer on March 14.

The company also said Friday that Chief Technology Officer Gary Kunis, who joined Nortel after Daichendt's appointment, will also be leaving the company. Kunis had previously worked with Daichendt at Cisco.

On June 1, Nortel posted a first-quarter loss of $49 million, hurt by $21 million in charges from restructuring activities. But the company said that quarterly report marked a ''turning point'' because it had caught up with financial reporting requirements after restating results dating back to 2001.

In January, in a long-delayed report to clean up a multiyear accounting scandal, Nortel slashed its audited profit for 2003 by 40 percent to $434 million while reporting that a dozen senior executives would repay $8.6 million in bonuses and five board members would resign.

This is an article I found on freep.com. The poor unions are working overtime to help everyone save their job.


http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/delphi9e_20050609.htm
UAW jobs in peril; fear grows at Delphi
Worried union leaders meet today
June 9, 2005
BY JEFFREY McCRACKENFREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
The ongoing angst at Delphi Corp., the country's largest auto-parts maker, and the equally troubling times at General Motors Corp., which this week said it will eliminate 25,000 manufacturing jobs, are bringing UAW plant officials from across the country to Detroit today.
Their likely focus will be how and whether the UAW can help Delphi, either by allowing for more buyouts of Delphi-UAW workers, allowing for more Delphi workers to return to former parent company GM, or allowing Delphi to more quickly sell off certain money-losing plants, say three union officials who spoke to the Free Press.


One UAW official who asked to remain unnamed said a priority at this meeting will be the Delphi plants the Troy-based parts supplier has singled out as unprofitable and pushed into a separate entity that Delphi calls Automotive Holdings Group. That business unit includes 11 plants, seven of which have UAW workers. The UAW represents 7,000 of the 11,100 union workers at the 11 plants, according to Delphi.

"We need to do something for the people at those plants if Delphi wants to sell or close them," said the UAW official.


Today's meeting, at 10 a.m. at the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources, will bring together UAW plant-floor presidents and chairpersons from more than 100 GM and Delphi plants across the country. GM and Delphi management will not be in attendance, though Delphi management sent out letters earlier this week to bring some of the same UAW officials back to Detroit on June 21 for a meeting with Delphi executives, plant managers and plant-level personnel heads.
The UAW International in Detroit has refused to say why it called today's meeting, or what's on the agenda. UAW officials say they are usually told the agenda in advance.
"None of us have been told anything. They just sent the letter and told us to get there to Detroit. They've kept it a pretty good secret from us," said Dave Peterson, president of UAW Local 31 at the GM assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan.

It comes just weeks after the UAW reached a deal with struggling auto supplier Visteon Corp. and its former parent, Ford Motor Co., to bail out Visteon by allowing some Visteon employees to return to Ford and by letting 12 unprofitable Visteon plants get sold off.
Delphi, like Visteon, was separated from its automaker parent a few years back and has been unable to make much money since. Delphi makes products including steering systems and XM satellite radio.


Delphi, however, is more independent from GM than Visteon was from Ford. Most Visteon-UAW workers were entirely Ford's responsibility if Visteon failed. However, if Delphi failed, GM has only some limited obligations to guarantee pensions and health care for certain Delphi retirees -- and those obligations expire when the current UAW contract ends in September 2007.

It will cost Ford about $500 million this year alone to bail out Visteon, plus another $700 million in the future.

"People here want to hear Delphi is getting some sort of Visteon deal; who plays Ford in such a deal? GM won't," said auto analyst Robert Hinchliffe with the firm UBS. "If the union follows the Visteon precedent, some of it would allow Delphi to modestly accelerate the buyouts of some workers and the sale of some plants from the Automotive Holding Group."
Delphi, much like former owner GM, is suffering through difficult financial times.
Delphi lost $409 million in the first three months of the year, after predicting earlier it would lose $350 million for the whole year. Delphi is also in the midst of a government investigation into irregular accounting at the $28-billion company. GM, meanwhile, lost $1.1 billion in the first quarter, its worst loss in 13 years.

Delphi has about 24,000 UAW members. GM has about 107,000 UAW members.
GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said Tuesday there was no reason to think GM was going to bail out Delphi.

"We don't see the relevance to a GM-Delphi type of situation," he said.

Morgan Stanley is another one that got caught!!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050609/ap_on_bi_ge/morgan_stanley_fined
By MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ
AP Business Writer 22 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $2.65 million to settle charges it sold stock in an initial public stock offering it had managed while the shares were still under what's known as a "lock-up" period, the National Association of Securities Dealers announced Thursday.


The NASD, an independent regulator of Wall Street firms, said it fined JPMorgan Chase & Co. $150,000 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. $125,000 for similar violations. All three companies were censured and consented to the NASD's findings without admitting or denying guilt.
According to the NASD, business units of Morgan Stanley sold shares in two public offerings, Breakaway Solutions Inc. and AsiaInfo Holdings Inc., before the company was legally allowed to do so under its business agreements with those companies.


According to the NASD, business units of Morgan Stanley sold shares in two public offerings, Breakaway Solutions Inc. and AsiaInfo Holdings Inc., before the company was legally allowed to do so under its business agreements with those companies.

Morgan Stanley had underwritten the two offerings — meaning that the company managed the first-time sale of those shares on the open market — and had agreed not to sell its own shares, received as compensation for its work, for up to one year. That period is known as a lock-up period.


Morgan Stanley earned $2.5 million from the early stock sale, the NASD said. It was the only one of the three firms fined to have turned a profit on its sale.
NASD ordered Morgan Stanley to disgorge the $2.5 million in profits, and levied a fine of $150,000 for the violation.


A spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley had no comment.
JPMorgan Chase was fined for stock sales by Hambrecht & Quist, and officers of that firm, in four stock offerings that Hambrecht & Quist managed — PlanetRx.com Inc., coolsavings.com Inc., Net2Phone Inc. and Liberate Technologies. An entity related to Hambrecht and officers of the firm sold their shares in those companies before the lock-up period expired.
Chase Manhattan, which merged with JPMorgan in early 2001, acquired Hambrecht & Quist in August 1999.


Goldman Sachs was fined after five individuals "related to employees" of the company sold shares in PlanetRx.com Inc., an IPO Goldman managed, during the lock-up period.
Spokesmen for JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Shares of Morgan Stanley rose 17 cents to $49.61 in afternoon trading on the
New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock Exchange, while JPMorgan shares slipped 22 cents to $35.45 and Goldman Sachs shares climbed $1.69 to $100.04.

NASD was the sole owner of the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. prior to the market's going public in mid-2002.

This is a story from someone who's taken the personality inventories and shares the sentitment of those searching for a postition in this economy and contrasting it with searching for a position in the 1990's.


I don't do personality and aptitude testing. period. I too had a series of group interviews with different companies, and they are senseless. Neverpassed a personality test and never passed a group interview, so it mustmean I wasn't meant for the company. Which suits me fine.On one interview, I went through a verbal one-on-one with the interviewerand before I left, they said, "Oh by the way, can you ....." and there I was sitting in front of a computer taking a test. It's demoralizing, it's only purpose is to determine if you "fit" in the company, and if you are in your right occupation.I can remember when there weren't enough workers to filljobs in the 1990s and companies hired us when we walked through the door. A personality test won't tell a company if you're a killer psycho who willshoot-up the plant once you're downsized.Most Americans are hard workers and that's all we want to do is work, earn adecent living, grow in the job, and go home to our families. Don't make yourself silly by taking those personality tests.

This is a post that covers a work environment that becomes retaliatory after one comes back after sickness WITH PROPER DOCUMENTATION.


Interesting Situation 06/09 04:20:04
Hi! I also posted this in the legal forum.

I just was wondering if someone could steer me in the right direction: I was extremely sick and out of work for three days then returned with a doctor's note. Then in the first three days back I started getting sicker again so I went to the doctor after work on my third day back. He put me on half days at work and wrote a note. He told me he was serious and that I was not well enough to really work at all, but if I was careful a half day would be ok. I took the note to HR and she said I would still receive full pay and that I satisfied all the documentation needed.

Since then both my bosses have been horrible. One has been verbally aggressive and abusive in for the past 5 days. Yesterday if it hadn't been for the nice conference table he would have tried to hit me. My other boss has been making mistakes on all sorts of things and blaming them on me which forces the other boss to yell at me for stuff I wasn't even there for. I have documentation of all of this, and went to HR yesterday. HR set up a meeting with all 4 of us in two weeks.

Where do I reasearch my rights? I don't think much will come of this, but I want to protect myself on all ends. I can prove they are doing the things they are doing but I want to know where I stand with my rights - as all of this has happened because I have been ill. I went on the DOL Web site and didn't find much that applied to this particular situation. I called it "medical work restriction" "work restriction" "medical condition". I just want to be fully prepared in this meeting. I have been told that they are good a bullying people and intimidating them in these meetings and I plan on being fully prepared will ALL documentation.

Any guidance would be appreciatied

An open floor to share ideas and stories.

This behavior by this employer is COMPLETELY uncalled for. The employees should NEVER be asked to support a certain candidate and SHOULD NOT be approached for political causes in the workplace. Again, another strike out for Corporate America.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3818431
Javaman (1000+ posts)
Thu Jun-09-05 08:04 AMOriginal message
Work place political harassment?
Here at my work, my boss (owner of the company) sent out an email regarding a local city council person and how "we" as a company should support her candidacy. He was asking for donations, maximum of $100 dollars. Is there a law limiting or against this type of work place solicitation of a political candidate? Is this considered a form of harassment in the work place?

This is one of the non-functioning and POORLY MANAGED work environments that exist in our country. This is just something else..A CEO who just doesn't know what he's doing.


Dealing with poor HR 06/07 13:03:47
I work for a company that has no structure in evaluating performance, communication, scheduling, let alone attendance. Granted, this company allows work to be performed in "odd-hours", reporting to a superior, and receiving feedback is close to impossible!!! My "boss" who is the "president" chooses not to come to the office when he's free, limiting the amount of feedback on the work, updates on work performed, as well as information I need to maintain and perform a task. I feel like there is no solution to fixing problems because 1. There really wasn't an orientation to set a baseline 2. Tasks performed have not been given any feedback on how and what needs improvement--rather complaints of "poor work" 3. Nepotism runs this company, limiting any possibility of suggesting change. From what I understand NOW, there was a high turnover a few years prior due to the same problems, and more. Is there any advice anyone can give to protect myself?

If you ever encounter a recruiter who charges you a fee....RUN in the opposite direction. You should NEVER EVER pay a fee for a recruiter to find you a position. We found this on Craigslist.com



Executive Search Firms 06/07 14:44:00
Does anybody have any suggestions or advice on executive search firms? I have been in contact with one that seems pretty reputable. They only search for high 5 to 6 figure level executive jobs. The fee is $4800.00 but i have heard great things about the firm. Supposedly they have a 95% success rate, and their services are good for three years. Can any one offer any advice on whether I should pursue this avenue.

This came from Craigslist.com and she's six weeks pregnant and thinks that she might be laid off. This is a horrible situation to be in.


Question: Re Layoff 06/08 10:21:23
There's an 80% chance I'll be laid off from my job. It seems the entire department will be let go. Luckily, I have a little bit saved but not much. My husband is also working but I was the one with the bigger salary. How much can I expect from unemployment? How long does it last? I'm also 6 weeks pregnant, would I qualify for any other assistance? I'm not even telling anyone because my doctor says to wait at least 9 weeks and etc. I know its' hard to find a job when you are pregnant. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

This is something we found on Craigslist.com. These are the types of companies that are in operation. This is sad, pathetic and inexcusable


WARNING TO JOB SEEKERS 06/08 11:00:54
Please advise- there is a company in Chicago that imports European bath products,owned by a older french couple. They tend to hire younger girls. This is the most abusive, hostile work environment out there. Low wages, terrible benefits and an owner(s) that's mentally abusive, threatens and makes discrimitory comments about race, wieght, and age. I know they will be hiring soon. I don't know if can post thethe name of the company legally due to libel but please be aware. The will say they are a luxury importer. It is in the west side ghetto. Please be aware.

This story arrived from a single mother who is making minimum wage and has two kids. This is happening all over America. This was heartbreaking to read.



Dear America's Work Stories,

I'm a single mother who has two children in elementary school. I have two minimum wage jobs and never get to see them. I'm totally missing them grow up. I can barely afford day care in the evening and can't put food on the table sometimes. I can't believe how bad things are in this country. I'm constantly depressed and panic at how I'm going to provide for me and my kids. I'm glad I have a job, some people don't even have one. Thank you for your blog. It's a chance to read what's happening on the ground.

When is this nightmare going to end?

This is an email that we received from someonw who interviewed with this recruiter who didn't know the name of the personality test that she was giving her candidates and didn't know who Carl Jung is. When you give a personality inventory, you're supposed to know about the test, what it is, who's theory it's based on and how to interpret results. Someone within the organization who has a testing background and has been trained in giving personality inventories is supposed to be administering these tests, not the employees who don't understand what their doing and are INCOMPETENT.

Dear America's Work Stories,

I went to register with the Murphy Group in Park Ridge, IL with Beth Trull Parsch and gave me a personality inventory that she said no one else would see but I know that the recruiters go and share these details with their corporate clients. They always lie to the candidates. I asked her what test is this and she replied "I don't know". I thought to myself how can a recruiter not know what test your administering? She said "It's based on Carl Jung". I then asked her "Do you know who Carl Jung is?" and she replied "No". I asked myself again, how can someone who's giving a personality inventory not know who wrote the test and what theories the test is based on?

I have been in the HR businenss for over 12 years and have given personality inventories to job candidates. Beth should be put out of business and prosecuted. I couldn't believe my ears when this conversation transpired. This is just irresonsibility and should be illegal for someone who doesn't understand the personality test to be administering one to other people. I would highly urge other people not to go to her as a job candidate and I would also encourage other corporations not to do business with her because she is incompetent and doesn't understand what she's doing. The ironic thing is that she's the president of the company which really is a statement as to how uninformed, incompetent and unprofessional she is.

Thank you Thank you for this blog, it's a great consumer and job seeker guide to what's happening in the work and job seeker world.

Her address is as follows: The Murphy Group
Beth Trull Parsch, CPC
Suite 180
422 N. Northwest Highway
Park Ridge, IL 60068
T: 847-825-2136
F: 847-696-1662
bparsch@murphyparkridge.com

What's happening?

This was a letter that we received from someone who did some temp work and had an education on how to staff an organization with COMPLETELY incompetent and dishonest employees.

I've never seen an organization with more dysfunction than this one. I witnessed an employee confess that HE HAD HIS CREDIT CLEANED. I almost passed out when I heard that. Also, the employees don't care about the quality of their work and they're not held accountable for their behavior or actions. All I can say is that I'm very glad that I don't work for them on a full time basis. What a catastrophe of a company.

Grateful to be out of there.

Unlawflcombatnt has written another one of his great postings on wages and corporate self destruction. I've also enclosed the URL over at DailyKos.com so you can also view it over there. Enjoy!!!



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/7/151135/1529
WAGE DECLINE & CORPORATE SELF-DESTRUCTIONby unlawflcombatnt
[Subscribe]Tue Jun 7th, 2005 at 13:11:35 CSTWAGE DECLINE & CORPORATE SELF-DESTRUCTION
Until recently, American corporations had been unable to destroy their own consumer market, because they were forced to maintain wages at a certain level. This was due to the limited supply of workers in their native country. The labor force supply-and-demand effect created upward pressure on wages. This prevented American industry from reducing wages below a certain level. In turn, this maintained aggregate labor/consumer income at a high enough level to purchase American products. Diaries :: unlawflcombatnt's diary :: :: Trackback ::

With global labor competition, wages can be reduced drastically. With this reduction, however, comes reduction in the consumer income that purchases American products. This drastic reduction in aggregate consumer income will lead to a drastic reduction in consumer demand. If the average American worker is making $4/day, due to glogal labor competition, who will buy American products? CEOs? Congress? Bill Gates? Martians? Can the super rich really buy enough computers and SUVs to maintain American consumer spending and demand? If not, then where will the profits come from with drastically reduced sales? Can profits be made without selling any goods? Can labor costs be reduced enough to make profits without any sales?
Corporate America fails to understand that maintaining worker wages is to their advantage. It's not only to their advantage, it's a necessity. American labor "costs" actually provide the income to buy American products. (Labor costs = consumer income. Labor cost reduction = consumer income reduction. In reality, it's worse than this. Consumer income reduction is > than labor cost reduction.) To restate this, as corporations lower labor costs, they lower consumer income as well. Corporations decrease the size of their own market by reducing aggregate consumer income. If they continue to increase profit margins by reducing labor income, they'll eventually be unable to sell their products. There won't be enough income to purchase America's production. Remember slavery? Slaves never bought any products. They didn't have any income. If we all become slaves, we won't have any income either. And corporate America won't be able to sell their products to anyone. Corporate America will have destroyed itself, due to its own greed.


Henry Ford said that he paid his workers well so they could buy his cars. Corporate America should take heed of this. The most productive economies we've ever had were when worker wages were at their highest inflation-adjusted level. There are 2 economic principles that are being ignored by Corporate America. Consumer spending is 2/3 of economic activity. They also ignore the fact that consumer spending is the biggest part of the GDP equation.

(GDP=Consumer_spending+investment+government_spending+trade_balance) In reality, investment spending will be self-limited if consumer spending isn't maintained. Production facilities will not be built if no one buys products. In addition, government spending is financed by taxes on consumer income. Thus, it is also very dependent on consumer income. Exports depend on foreign labor income, which creates foreign consumer markets. Since average foreign worker income is miniscule, this will never be a very large number. Imports will continue to subtract from GDP, as long as slave-labor wages are encouraged by "free" trade/slave labor agreements. Since consumer spending is strongly related to labor/consumer income, a reduction in consumer income will also reduce GDP. We're not "growing" our economy by reducing labor costs. We're shrinking it.

unlawflcombatnt

EconomicPopulistCommentaryhttp://www.unlawflcombatnt.blogspot.com/ Investment does NOT create jobs. It only "allows" for their creation. Increased Demand for goods creates jobs, because it necessitates hiring of workers to produce more goods. Investment "permits" job growth. Demand necessitates it.

Building a factory does NOT create jobs. Demand for production DOES create jobs. Goods are not produced if there is no demand for them. Without demand for goods, there is no demand for workers to produce them. Without demand, no amount of investment creates jobs.