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December 6, 1999

Don't back down	Does pro-union equal anti-minority?
Stomping up a storm	Saving local news
Gloom amidst the boom	A slight trim

Don't back down

The November 8 issue of InfoWorld, a computer technology magazine, featured an article on diversity in the workplace. The article notes that it may be difficult for department managers to deal effectively with discrimination in the workplace if the company they work for has no official diversity initiative. "You have to be aware of the politics of the situation," acknowledges Norma Carr-Ruffino, professor of management at SF State. But then she adds, "Use as much influence and power as you have--you may attract positive attention. If you are punished for it, you may ask yourself if that's really the type of company you want to work for. Many companies have lost good managers that way."

The San Francisco Examiner reported on November 8 that San Francisco is considering a labor deal that would prevent nonunion contractors from bidding on city construction projects. Critics say the proposal would limit women and minority participation in city contracts. Although the laborer, roofer, and plasterer construction trades are more than 60% minority, the higher paying trades, such as plumbing and electrical, are more than 73% white. None of them has more than 3% female membership. Said Brenda Cochrane, director of the Labor Studies Program at SF State, "There's a long way to go, but I don't think they're doing any worse than corporate America."

Clogging, a vigorous, loud-stomping, American-born folk dance and forerunner of tap, was the subject of an article that appeared in the October 29 San Francisco Chronicle. Jerry Duke, professor of dance at SF State and author of "Clog Dance in the Appalachians," provided some history of this style of dance, which started in the mid-1800s and includes many variations. He said, "Many styles of the dance developed in regions of the mou ntains and has been heavily influenced by the African Americans, the American Indians, and the Germans"

The Oakland Tribune interviewed Helene Whitson, SF State archivist, for its October 19 issue. Whitson talked about her work archiving local television news footage, a job for which she was recently honored by the Bay Area Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. One of the things she spoke about was how the use of videotape has changed perceptions of the value of local news. "Young people in the industry have no understanding of the time before tape. They are seeing news being taped-over all the time and don't know what a huge wealth of mater ial is being lost. But studying what happened in the Bay Area, Miami, New York, Minneapolis and others, it put events into local perspective."

Rich DeLeon, SF State professor of political science, contributed to an October 26 article in The Washington Post that analyzed Mayor Brown's reelection bid. DeLeon said that recent economic prosperity in the city is a "double-edged sword" because residents fear that it will change the character of their neighborhoods. He adds, "Anywhere else, Brown would seem to have everything going for him for reelection."

Economists from SF State's Urban Institute have cut $40 million from their estimate of the cost of a living-wage law, according to an October 30 San Francisco Chronicle article. Michael Potepan, professor of economics, said that the biggest reason for the lower estimate, which brings the total down to $210 million, was a reduction in the number of workers who would be covered by the law. The Urban Institute report is based on an $11 an hour minimum wage. The researchers are now working on the cost to the city and businesses of a $9 or $10 an hour wage.

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