Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 30

AGE D2 STAR TRIBUNE Business TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8 1996 FOR EXECUTIVES ONLY The workplace Iff ects of GM strike Readers say they're happy they sued employers Canada spreads to U.S. Workers sent home parts they intake aren't needed ''Associated Press so! claims. The first was successful after four years, and the second was settled before it went 'to court. I do not agree that it is a negative process. I received a lot of empathy from my coworkers, and there never have been long-term consequences for me.

The best reward is how I feel about myself. I know that what I did was right. People have said they admire me for what I did. Hi I do recommend exhausting other resources before suing. I will be far more careful about whom I work for in the future.

I would not dispute that it is a difficult experience, but I would do it again if I had to. Nancy Sue says: Thanks to all of you who took the time to respond and share your experiences. I know I've learned a lot, and I am sure many other people have, too. Sue Morem is founded and president of Premier i Presentation a Twin Cities consulting and training i i company. You can call with questions or opinions on her Star Tribune message line at 673-9042, fax letters to 557- 51 70 or send e-mail to I pursue legal action, employees have virtually no leverage and no ability to ensure fair treatment in the workplace.

Marshall H.Tanick Suing an employer is like diving for a sunken treasure it can be fun and rewarding, but it also can be fatal. Sure, there are situations in which you never should sue, and times when you must. I brought two suits against employers, both of them Fortune 500 companies. Yes, it was worth it, and yes, I would do it again. Successfully Sued I was in such a situation and suffered personal and professional setbacks, yet I have no regrets.

If you have valid complaints that are not handled by the company, you need to take legal action. It is an upsetting experience, so be prepared because it can drag on for a couple of years. At one point I did question whether I should continue, but I knew that I should pursue the principles I believe In. Been There I have been involved in two actions against two employers for sexual discrimination Taking care of business Sue Morem and enjoying every minute and every dollar. As a result of the litigation, I was able to retire at 55.

Robert A. Welsh As an attorney who frequently represents employees and labor unions, I recognize that there are serious limitations in pursuing legal actions, including, some of the practical considerations that attorney Rick Ross mentioned. However, employees should not be misled into believing that threatening litigation, or actually undertaking litigation, is fruitless. Without the ability to assert their legal rights, those rights become meaningless. There are sound practical reasons why employees should use restraint in anticipating or pursuing litigation.

They also should not be adverse to exercising their legal rights when warranted to ensure a more level playing field in the workplace. wunoui an opportunity to ifiJ-J 11 general Motors -(Wid off at least 1,850 U.S. em-Pjoyees Monday as a strike by Canadian Auto Workers began to affect the automaker's U.S. pro- duction. The workers were sent home because the parts they make for Canadian plants aren't needed; 1,050 of the layoffs were at a GM Powertrain plant in Tonawanda, pN.Y., near Buffalo, said GM i.

spokeswoman Darla Park. A transmission plant in Janti, west of Detroit, had 800 layoffs, she said. The Tonawanda plant employs 4,000 and the low Run plant in Ypsilanti has 5,500, she said. The New York workers make six-cylinder engines for Chevrolet jl Luminas and Monte Carlos as-sembled at GM's plant in Ontario. The Willow Run workers make a variety of trans-j missions for Canadian-built vehi- cles, Park said.

The strike by 15,000 auto-workers began Wednesday in Oshawa, Ontario, and St. Therese, Quebec, and spread Sunday to a St. Catharines, Ontario, plant Dear Readers. Last week I printed some responses to a column in which a reader, "Bill," was considering suing his employer and wondered about the long-term consequences. Last week's comments were from people who regretted suing and advised Bill to think twice.

Some readers found that the suit affected their employment future, and others said the experience cost them their health and quality of life. Today's column is devoted to those who are glad they sued and would do it again. I successfully sued my company. It took three years to get the case to a jury, four days of testimony, 20 minutes of jury deliberation and three years while the company appealed all the way to the state Supreme Court twice. I continued to work hard for the company in question and, In fact, was promoted three times during this time.

I made it clear to everyone in my division that the case was between "corporate" and myself and had very little to do with my boss. Would I do it again? Given the same conditions, yes! I am now retired from that company Its difficult A VOUne executive ramn intn my office recently in extreme distress. He had spent months selling a company on the idea of using his client as its national spokesman. The company had suffered several public relations setbacks in recent years, and our executive had approached the company's CEO and advertising agency with the idea that being associated with our client in a clever marketing campaign would offset these setbacks quickly in the public consciousness. Before doing so, he made sure to get the green light from his client.

Eventually, the company offered a multiyear contract with a healthy seven-figure payout that would mean several hundred to do, but sometimes you must say no urcvc ta i urn vx I There's a day recognizing almost everyone; here's why What Auvin said she remem- Visibility mixed Visibility mixed TTkDAfW A 5 i vumvu 1 1 urn U4L Data show tobacco firm debated acknowledging risks Tl 1 where about 5,300 CAW members walked out. Employees shut down St. Catharines assembly lines after 10 p.m., lit fires in barrels and dug in for what some predicted would be a lengthy strike. "I'm ready to bog down for a long one," said Les Thiesen, a GM employee for 13 years. "Three days, three weeks, three months whatever it takes." Among their biggest concerns is the company's proposed "outsourcing" giving more work to outside contractors.

By Wednesday, the strike could spread to include 4,600 workers employed at GM plants in Woodstock, London and Windsor. CAW President Buzz Hargrove suggested that if General Motors doesn't bargain seriously, the union might move on to talks with Ford of Canada. Jim Hartford, a spokesman for Ford, said his company is ready to start contract talks with the CAW at any time, even though it would be unusual to do so while the GM strike goes on. The CAW reached agreement last month on a contract with Chrysler Canada and the union had hoped to carry much of that agreement over to GM and Ford. The strike already has caused about 1,000 layoffs at two firms that haul parts for GM.

For now, he appears to have his work cut out for him. An informal survey of Twin Cities-area banks found none was even aware that Teller Appreciation Week looms. "Is it really?" said a surprised Dick Schoenke, chief executive of Firstar Bank Minnesota. "I'm going to go find out what we're going to do." When told he might also want to check on what's afoot for National Boss Day (Oct. 16), Schoenke laughed and said "I don't think I even want to know about that.

But I do want to see if we're doing something for our tellers." Bill Cooper, CEO of TCF Financial Corp. was less enthusiastic. "We don't pay much attention to those special weeks or days. I don't expect it will have much of an impact," he said. By not charging for entries, Johnson said, the Chase's directory has more leeway to reject entries it doesn't consider appropriate (Leading some rejected contenders, no doubt, to consider the directory a suitable nominee for National Grouch Day, Oct.

15). "Every once in a while you get something a little on the crass side. You look at it and say, 'Nah, I think we'll pass on this she said. At the same time, it gives Chase's editors freedom to publish entries for what seem to be less-than-bona-fide causes, such as the one for National Sarcastic Awareness Month. The directory says the event is "to help people everywhere understand the positive and negative aspects of sarcasm." Oh, sure.

ing cash and loans would cover its purchase of Cheyenne, which had $250 million in revenue last year. Completion of the deal is subject to federal antitrust review and shareholder acceptance of the offer. In May, software maker McAfee Associates Inc. withdrew a $1 billion offer after Cheyenne announced that it rejected the deal. And this past summer Computer Associates said it would go ahead with a $1.8 billion purchase of rival software maker Le-gent Corp.

after agreeing to conditions set by government antitrust regulators. Computer Associates, based in Islandia, N.Y., said it would keep all of Cheyenne's 800 employees. Cheyenne, based In Roslyn Heights, N.Y.. will operate as a division of Computer Associates, which has 9,000 employees. bers most about Dps.

mnno ctmt i in Woodbury is how callers would I A I 1 1 lean wnen ne toenailed himself. "People would say things like, 'Yeah, right. Sure you're the she said. Chicago-based Contemporary Books which publishes Chase's, doesn't charge for en-i tries to the directory. It makes money by selling the directory by direct mail, mostly to libraries i and radio and TV stations.

The current cost is $49.95 per copy, plus shipping charges. The company declined to say how many I volumes it sells. Public relations firms are an-; other big category of buyers, us- ing the directory to find clients to they establish special designated dates or to help them publicize events and causes, Johnson said. I Dale Clark, CEO of Easy Systems Inc. of Kirkland, jused his firm's public relations agency to prepare news releases Teller Appreciation Week (Oct.

14-19). But the idea for the event, which is new this year, was all his. Clark's company sells software systems for bank tellers to about 300 banks nationwide, and said he thinks Teller Appreciation Week could be an excellent vehicle for boosting the sales of jfcis privately held company. Clark said he's been notifying ibanks of the event, which he Jhopes "can set the tone" for bigger future celebrations of Teller Appreciation Week. Among other phings, he said he is searching for fi financial services trade association such as the American Bankers Association to co-sponsor the event to give it more visibility.

SOFTWARE from 01 The plaintiffs allege that tho privileges are being used improperly to shield damaging material. The 1980 confidential document explores the possibility of acknowledging that tobacco products can be "harmful in excess" in an effort to appear more credible and socially responsible in the United States and other countries with vigorous anti-smoking contingents. The "New Company Approach" also proposed admitting that smoking is addictive. The document recognized that in making the admissions, the company ran the risk of alienating the rest of the tobacco industry, which historically has denied any explicit links between tobacco and health risks especially in court. "The problem to date has been the severe constraint of the STRIKEromDl mzbiznizaol.com.

I assured the young executive that anyone can say "yes" to a deal. It's a lot tougher to say no, especially if it costs you money. But you more often are judged by the deals and opportunities to which you say no than by those to which you say yes. The most compelling reason to say no is that it builds trust in the relationship. There's no better way to demonstrate to a client that you are more interested in his or her welfare than to walk away from easy money.

i Mark McCormack is CEO of International Management Group, which represents a number of high-profile athletes. His column is distributed by King reuiures. that the company's research and development departments were doing what they were supposed to be doing looking for ways to respond to these issues in the responsible way you would expect the company to do." Plaintiffs filed the memo as part of their motion to gain access to documents that may provide evidence of destruction of controversial materials. As for assertions about the destruction of materials, York said that it's "transparent and absurd to suggest that, in light of the fact that this document was created and preserved by the company for more than a decade before Skip Humphrey sued and then it was produced in the course of litigation. i "There seems to be a correlation between the hearings in this case and disclosures of documents by the attorney general's office," he said.

A hearing is scheduled for today to consider the plaintiffs' discovery motions and other issues. Staff writer David Chanen contributed to this report gation. He also had no answer to the question of whether the company will hire replacement workers. "Our focus is on resolving this right now," he said. Under Judge Carey's restraining order against the union, pickets are prohibited from blocking driveways to company property.

The strikers also are pfohibited from interrupting vehicles. "However, nothing in this order should be interpreted to prevent Teamsters Local 1145 from retaining all of its rights under the law to picket and handbill on public premises for the purpose of advising the public and its members that it has a labor dispute with Alliant," Carey wrote. jeeting of oil are called, have been losing money. A Texaco-Shell-Saudl Aram'co union would realize most of Its cost savings through greater accessibility to pipelines, shared environmental costs and greater' flexibility In swapping products and crude oil. layoffs would be" limited, the Wall Street Journal said.

The companies have mole than 23,500 employees In refining and marketing operations. Success secrets Mark McCormack thousand dollars in commissions to our company. To the young executive, it was a stupendous home run and cause for great celebration. Then he took the deal to the client. And the client said no.

Even though he had approved the idea, he had second thoughts about the company's reputation. He wasn't sure that his well-crafted and-well-earned image wouldn't be sullied by the relationship. Our executive wanted to know if I had any thoughts on how we could turn the client around. American leeal document stated. "This problem has made us seem to lack credibility in the eyes of the ordinary man in the street." i Even though the proposed admissions were couched in qualifying terms and emphasized that the vast majority of smokers suffer no ill effects, they still represented significant departures from previous industry practice, said Richard Daynard of the Tobacco Products Liability Project.

"Everybody assumes that the tobacco companies have behaved in a slightly more responsible manner than they have." Daynard said that the British American document illustrates that even a "grudging half-admission" ultimately was deemed too risky. 'A baby step' "A suggestion that they make Court alleging that the company has not fulfilled a promise it made last October to bring new union work to the Twin Cities. In making the promise, the company gained a major concession from the union, said Bill Tyler, secretary-treasurer for Local 1 145. Tyler said the unfulfilled deal has spawned mistrust in the union. Those feelings contributed to the decision to strike, he said.

Tyler said the company approached the union last year asking for a two-tier wage scale un- Sieminskl noted, however, that a 15 percent market share for a combined company Isn't considered anticompetitive In other Industries such as auto Fortunatelv. I didn't if i haH the young executive probably would have gone back to the client with them and dug himself into a deeper hole. In the end, it would have been apparent that the executive was more interested in saving our commission than in serving the client's best interests. I doubt if the client would have been impressed by this sort of zeal. These situations are painful in our business and not uncommon, particularly with megastar clients who can afford to turn down lucrative offers.

But over the years I've learned that the client is always right even when he or she is wrong! The only course of en-nun: usien to me client. a small baby step away from the elaborate disinformation campaign obviously got slapped down," he said. Also filed Monday was a 1982 handwritten memo from a Philip Morris research scientist that states, "You may shred this document, have it typed as is, incorporate the suggestions in a position paper for upper management, or use the document any way you see fit." The scientist, J.L. Charles, expresses concern about persistent "smoking and health allegations" from the private and government sectors. "Let's face the facts," he wrote.

"Cigarette smoke is biologically active." Joe Loveland, of the Minnesota Attorney General's office, alleged that the term "biologically active" is "sort of the code word that they use for 'carcinogenic' Michael York, attorney for Philip Morris, said the document talks about all kinds of scientific issues inside and outside the company, such as the effect of tar and nicotine. "The document is evidence der which new hires could be hired at lower rates. The union consented on the condition that the company move mechanical and electrical fusing operations from Janesville, to the Twin Cities within 12 to 18 months, said Tyler and union lawyer Robert J. Hennessey. Hennessey said the company proceeded with plans for the move from November until March.

At that point, the planning process shut down without explanation from the company. Union inquiries about the situation have not been answered by the company, Hennessey said. The suit alleges breach of contract. Bitz said the company could not comment on the pending liti- British Petrolpnm Pir nA XI l-'l BllU Mobil Corp. agreed this year to combine their refining and marketing operations in Europe.

An attempted union between Phillips Petroleum Co. and the Conoco Inc. unit of DuPont Co. Icll apart when the companies couldn't agree on the values of the refineries Involved. Such deals are being considered because "downstream" operations, as the refining and mar- Judge puts limits on pickets in Alliant Techsystems strike Gomputer Associates has deal to acquire Cheyenne Software Alliant.

a $1.2 hillinn maUr nf military aerospace equipment, torpedos, tank rounds and other tactical instruments, offered a 15 percent Increase in pension benefits and a 3 percent pay raise to the union. But members of Local 1145 voted overwhelmingly to reject the offer, saying they couldn't accept new contract language that would make it easier for the company to move traditionally union work to outside firms. On Monday, the union filed a lawsuit in Ramsey County District 0IL from Dl Chevenne also mains an ami virus software, which is growing jin utiiiaiiu as lumpanics nook computers up to the Intcr-jnet and expose their computers to more online software. I "The fit is tremendous," said Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Wang. "As Windows jNT becomes more popular), the of storage management is one of the key com-jponents." I However, the deal was no bargain according to some analysts.

(Crook said it would take the wind of out of C.A. because Computer Asso-; Btes ends up paying $50 million Vear In interest to borrow mon-for the purchase, which cost a Iirjep seven times revenues. boards have approved merger. Computer Associates, billion company said exist Three large oil companies may merge some operations Because of Its probably would attract antitrust scrutiny. In some states, the merger would control 5 percent of the petroleum market; In others it could be 30 prrcent..