The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 57

The Sacramento Bee Sunday March 13 1988 Forum 3 a 7" 7a" rT' -f'V J-'' mtmimnnm -Jk iLJ'i V' V- -Y if Part-time workers who get two-timed By Sar A Levitan and Elizabeth Conway JOB machine has a production-control problem Although most workers want full-time jobs the machine persists in cranking out excessive part-time positions Part-time jobs have grown much faster than full-time jobs during the '80s and more than half of all new short-schedule jobs go to people who want but cannot obtain full-time work The expansion of part-time work has far more to do with desires for a flexible cheap labor force than with preferences for shorter schedules Nearly 20 million Americans Bee file photos says top-rated radio personality fact that others do amazes Umbaughbad taste costs Sar A Levitan is research professor of economics and director of the George Washington University Center for Social Policy Studies Elizabeth Conway is a research associate They wrote this commentary for the New York Times work part time and more than 5 million of them want full-time jobs These part-time workers face a choice between half a job and no job at all The proportion of workers choosing part-time work has remained stable since the The ranks of teenagers are dwindling and other groups are not volunteering for the part-time labor force Workers who would prefer shorter schedules often want the low wages and occupational dead ends accompanying them Part-time jobs are clustered in the lowest-paid sectors of the economy Three of every four part-time employees work in sales non-professional service unskilled labor or clerical positions The low status of part-time jobs contributes to the pay these workers get In 1987 half of all part-timers earned less than $442 an hour compared with a median of $743 for full-time workers The discrepancy in weekly or monthly earnings is larger since part-timers work an average of only 22 hours per week A denial of fringe benefits reduces short-schedule compensation even further Two-thirds of part-timers do not receive health insurance benefits through employment and four-fifths are not covered by a pension plan at work Life insurance paid sick days and vacation time also are rare among part-time workers Employers often argue that low wages and a lack of benefits are not a problem for part-timers These workers they say are not primary earners but teenagers the elderly and wives people who lack commitment to the work force and enjoy other sources of income and insurance Aside from the fact that this argument ignores laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on a age and gender the assertion that part-timers do not need adequate compensation often rings false In some families a part-time earnings do contribute to luxuries such as a costly vacation: in others they put food on the table Nearly half a million families would join the ranks of the poor or near-poor each year if not for the supplementary part-time earnings of a spouse Many part-time earners do not have recourse to a husband or parent with a full-time well-compensated job Nearly 10 million part-time workers have no health insurance and three million part-time workers and their families live in poverty Employers sing the praises o( their low-cost flexible labor force' while taxpayers and charitable do nors get stuck with the bill Medicaid welfare payments and other public and private efforts provide support to a growing population of needy part-time workers and their families Part-time work also had deleterious spillovers Career full-time jobs continue to give way to part-time postions in some industries) particularly retail sales Othei businesses use part-time or other contingent workers to undercut compensation standards for full- time employees or to undermine unions A FEW EMPLOYERS are exploring initiatives to improve the status of part-time workers For example some offer pro-rated benefits to short: schedule employees or pay higher wages to compensate for lost beni efits Most however operate as if in the era when part-timers worked to earn money" Since taxpayers subsidize the cost of the part-time work the government and states have a strong financial not to mention moral interest in correcting inequities Lawmakers are just beginning to address the need for reform' take myself For Rush By Ray Fitts Bee Staff WAS a big day for Sacramento The Regional Transit district was opening the second leg of its light rail system marking completion of the $176-million project RT threw a party It invited dignitaries pumped up balloons invited Rush Limbaugh to be master of ceremonies polished the trains Wait a second Rush Limbaugh? The outrageous oracle of the right wing who hosts a weekday talk show on KFBK radio (1530) was indeed the choice last September of David Boggs then general manager Even Boggs concedes Limbaugh regularly says things that would get most people run out of town on a light rail or otherwise Yet there he was presiding over a major civic event this Huck Finn of River City mischievous and infuriating but to many adorable As master of ceremonies Limbaugh was witty and said nice things about the system that on the radio he had dubbed rail" Then at the end of the program Huck resist slipping a frog down Aunt dress (The dedication necessary to point out took place four days after peace activist Brian Will-son lost his legs when he was hit by a munitions train in Concord) Limbaugh trying to clear the tracks of spectators announced: "If you wish all peace protesters can remain If you want a personal visit from the common-law wife of Daniel Ortega (as Willson received) stay on the Boggs recalls a momentary twinge of panic: geez what do we do A few in the crowd booed but the general reaction Boggs says was a smile and shrug that "good pld was at it again IN A feat worthy of Houdinl Limbaugh 37 has managed to simultaneously: 1) Achieve credibility as a conservative political observer a centerpiece at community events and an advertising pitchman 2) Daily assault the boundaries of good taste in bashing the homeless Rio Linda feminism Ted Kennedy (the of and anything else smacking of liberalism has a very unique way about Boggs says tremendous I know what makes It all tick Most people get away with Limbaugh who came to Sacramento in October 1984 and now boasts that "I own this is clearly getting away with It His radio show easily wins the ratings race for its 9 am-to-noon slot He writes a column for the Senior Spectrum Weekly newspaper Academe keeps strange Company The following is a letter written Oust summer by Stanley Moskow-itz chairman of the Cl A Training election Board jf to Professor no more things like the homeless can serve as feminist put-downs hurt him at all with the 90-member Sacramento Women in Commercial Real Estate an honorary member just admire his guts although we always share his philosophy" says President Frances Knight What about the help-the-ugly line? funny have to be awfully insecure to take it she says Up in Butte County Republicans do take Limbaugh seriously says Tom chairman of the GOP central committee Limbaugh spoke at the Lincoln Day dinner in February is part of the Wilson says he is such a patriot and in the main up here on the right pretty heavily He does what he can to make people good citizens I think he has a very good influence on our party in bringing in ONE WHO convinced that message always encourages good citizenship is Christine Craft the KRBK-Channel 31 news director and anchor who knows Limbaugh from his stint as a commentator at the station show is good not a stupid Craft says Rush can be mean-spirited His show reminds me that there still exists a strong strain of racism sexism and ageism out Rosenberg the Davis mayor and TV debating rival also sees a darker side to success Rosenberg says are two Americas that live side-by-side Rush Limbaugh in his Barnum and Bailey mode speaks for one of those Americas when he knocks the homeless and gays and AIDS patients One America the conservative fundamentalist America loves it and soaks it up other America the more liberal humanistic progressive America they hear Limbaugh spouting his invective and they chuckle about it They say this is showmanship They say he really believe Limbaugh has described his show as of the you think tongue-in-cheek entertainment fine" he told listeners one day you think serious political discussion fine It In an interview conducted over his Republican car he says would much rather make people laugh than try to fill them with information on matters of consequence I take myself seriously The fact that others do amazes me" a regular listener and I take Limbaugh seriously But I want him to lead my parade either recruiting efforts by providing an opportunity for experienced officers to serve as role models to counsel Interested students on career opportunities with the CIA and to respond to concerns students may have about the agency and the intelligence profession The university will gain an officer who can effectively provide practical knowledge and experience to the institution and students The officer is assigned without cost to your institution All funds are provided by the Central A Bee reporter in a story about people living in the streets talked to a young woman sick after nights in the cold He wrote of the "cough of the as a metaphor for the problem Limbaugh stormed: getting too far out of whack on this Next have the of the put up signs saying When find one commentator who says some of the homeless are homeless because of their own actions The message of the media is that homeless because the economy is bad and you all should feel guilty about During the Calgary Games a caller suggested holding a Homeless Olympics in Rio Linda with such events as the 10000-meter shopping cart relay and a high jump over Dumpsters The junked cars would serve as the Olympic Village Limbaugh loved it Another topic high on hit list is feminism feminist Limbaugh said in what has become a trademark insult "was created to allow ugly women access to the mainstream of Thanks to feminists he lamented see as many attractive flight attendants any A few other Limbaugh observations: On homosexuals: would love AIDS to spread to the heterosexual community to take the heat off On Gary Donna Rice weekend: should tell all If say we made love eight times and she was get all kinds of votes He would satisfy curiosity make himself out to be a real guy because everybody would like to do what he On former Attorney General Ramsey Clark: is a flat-out In fairness to Limbaugh when not playing the provocateur he offers a knowledgeable right-wing viewpoint rarely rude to callers His humor can be brilliant as when he lampoons Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the form of news items about the warrior for introduced by the Darth Vader theme What then is Sacramento to make of Limbaugh? It laughs nervously maybe at him but should it honor him? Stan Atkinson KCRA-Channel anchorman and the unofficial Mr Sacramento Is a friend of Limbaugh He thinks harmless of the audience realizes playing the pomposity bit to a Atkinson says is the guy you love to hate He does it with style great grace and a wonderful sense of Atkinson also suggests that laughing once in a while about The Central Intelligence Officer-in-Residence Program provides an opportunity for senior-level officers to disengage from their normal duties by fully participating in the academic life including research and teaching The Officer-in-Residence who is identified as a CIA officer by his presence will demonstrate the quality of CIA people and our commitment to providing US leaders with the very best intelligence we can The program also serves to strengthen our professional ties to a fertile and indispensable source of ideas and technical to enhance the umph His bombastic know-it-all radio personality is funny and creative And Lord knows tastefulness has never been a requirement for success in that field But what about this other business: Rush as the voice of conservatism Rush as the celebrity for every civic occasion think of Limbaugh as an Archie Bunker with polish As was the case with Archie not always clear whether fans are laughing at him or with him In Sacramento though we just laugh given Archie Bunker the key to the city Before trying to figure out this phenomenon tune in for a few paragraphs to Radio Limbaugh His attitude toward the poor and homeless probably best illustrates the boldness of approach Citing a study that showed a growing gap between the rich and poor Limbaugh bellowed: a moral here for poor people START ter was recently released by the university to a journalist investigating the program (and is reprinted here from Harper's) Dear Professor Mann: The Central Intelligence Agency is pleased to learn that the University of California at Santa Barbara is interested in accepting an Office-in-Residence as part of its faculty Our nominee to your school is Mr George A Chritton Jr We would appreciate your considering him for a position in the College of Letters and Science In the political science department A curriculum vitae on Mr Chritton is He has done news commentary for two television stations a solo spot on KRBK-Channel 31 and a debate segment with Davis Mayor David Rosenberg on KOVR-Chan-nel 13 Limbaugh has been a commercial spokesman for beds shoes rib joints jewelry car phones you name it served as grand marshal of the St Day parade testified before the City Council on North Natomas development for it) presided over last Distinguished Sacra-mentan Awards luncheon and dazzled the faithful at numerous Republican Party events Callers seeking the source of his wisdom regularly ask Limbaugh about his reading habits (four daily newspapers 10 to 12 magazines he says) and his education (one year of college and a lifelong "quest to acquire as much knowledge about as many things as I My question is: Why Sacramento self-conscious about Rush Limbaugh? Grant him his show-business tri Dean Mann then chairman of the political science department at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) Moskow-itz directs a new CIA program that offers agents to universities as visiting scholars Three other universities including Georgetown and the University of Texas at Austin have so far accepted an Office-in-Residence George Chritton Jr the 30-year ClA veteran selected by the agency for UCSB received a one-year appointment as a visiting Thirty-eight students were arrested in a November protest against tfye appointment The let.