Actions legal but not right

The Courtyard by Marriott laid off 12 housekeeping employees in October and November 2001. There was no stated reason and no warning. One worker was sent packing just a week after she was named employee of the month. The workers say foreign employees replaced them, and the management of the Marriott declined to confirm or counter any of their complaints. \nClearly the business acted on behalf of its profit margin by contracting out work and leaving employees in the cold. This is a rational business decision and perfectly legal in Indiana, but it points to a problem in Indiana law that could allow for a wave of unemployment even greater than the state has already experienced. \nThe workers who felt they were treated unfairly took their case to the Worker's Rights Board, an advocacy group headed up by former IU philosophy professor Milton Fisk. The board heard the complaints and recommended that the Courtyard by Marriott adopt a policy more fair to workers. \nThe Board fills in where the state government leaves a gaping hole in the fabric of workers' rights. Indiana is an at-will employment state, which allows employers to dismiss workers at any time and for any reason. This eliminates the accountability a company owes its employees. Job security is a joke, and expected worker loyalty is not returned. This system provides no stability in terms of workers' rights and regional economic continuity.\nIf companies can go on firing sprees to offer jobs to the cheapest laborers, the opportunity for people without a college education to make a decent living is deeply undercut. Bloomington has already seen a 20-percent drop in its manufacturing sector from 1997 to 2001, according to the Indiana Business Magazine. In June 2001, 922 people lost jobs from the General Electric refrigerator plant, and in August, 460 were laid off from the Otis Elevator Co. \nOne can argue that because it's cheaper to make refrigerators overseas, the benefit passed on to thousands of refrigerator buyers for many years is greater than a one-time loss of hundreds of jobs. It's globalization: good for the country that gets the new jobs, and good for Americans who get cheaper products.\nGlobalization is a beautiful economic argument, but basic rights are sometimes trampled in its wake. When the manufacturing jobs leave the U.S., a logical place for the jobless to seek employment is the service sector -- places like the Courtyard by Marriott. If the state is content to sit back and let Indiana businesses scavenge for the cheapest workers, lawmakers should provide educaiton and retraining funds for those who lose their jobs. \nOtherwise a whole lot of Hoosiers won't be buying refrigerators at all.\nStaff vote: 10 - 1- 3\nyes - no - abstain