----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronn!Blankenship" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2003 7:38 PM Subject: Re: Equal rights opportunity or numbers?
> I agree with you. I just brought that up because it's the situation that > must be dealt with in America today. I've got a question for you then, Ronn. I'll agree, for the sake of arguement, that quotas for hiring creates more problems then it solves. But, I cannot see how refusing to measure what's happening will solve problems. Let me give a simple example from my work history. A company I worked for in Texas had a RIF (Reduction in Force). In a RIF, in Texas, no reasons need to be given; its not performance based. In this particular RIF, 21 people were let go in engineering. All 21 were over 55. There was 1 person over 55 who was able to keep his job, becasue his boss convinced the company that they couldn't achieve a particular goal if he were let go. Technically this is legal, because the company's position is that they just decided to slash the least important positions. The fact that they created positions that were very similar a few months later and hired younger people to fill those positions was just a coincidence. I consider that obviously false. However, it was impossible to prove this on a case by case basis; which was the requirement. To me, it is obvious that the company decided to get rid of its oldest engineers. The pension liability they would have if they allowed these workers to work till they were 65 was the most likely reason for this action. Another thought was that older engineers were not talented enough because they were old. My questions for you is: 1) Should this sort of action be legal? 2) Do you consider the type of measurement I made be considered a quota? I certainly see the problems inherent in quotas. I don't support quotas. However, I have a hard time accepting the proposition that if we just don't look everything will be fine. My personal suggestion is to look to where affirmative action has been implemented with unprecedented success both in achieving the goals of affirmative action and in achieving the goals of the organization itself and see what we can learn from that. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
