josetted's Blog

As Long as We Look Good, work product doesn\'t matter
Date: Feb 24th, 2005 8:04:22 pm - Subscribe
Mood: burdened


What to wear
on workers' minds

Cheryl Caswell
Daily Mail staff



Thursday February 24, 2005

John Wheeler hasn't been told yet whether he'll have to change the way he dresses each day for work at the state Division of Motor Vehicles.

But like many other state employees, it's on his mind since Gov. Joe Manchin said he wants state workers to dress more professionally.

"I have on blue jeans today," said Wheeler, who usually works in the stockroom but fills in several times a day in the information booth of the DMV building's main lobby.

While he is manning the booth, Wheeler is only visible from the waist up. And his clothing choice is a sensible one for the stockroom, where he can usually be found completely out of the eyes of the public.

"But they may say I have to wear a suit because I'm here several times a day," he said Tuesday. "If they do, I'll have to go buy one."

The governor has said that he wants state employees to don "business attire" and answer the phone professionally. While a specific dress code has not been announced, he has directed workers to answer phones with the grammatically correct "May I help you" instead of "Can I help you."

Kathleen Gallagher, who works in the Bureau of Employment Programs, spends nearly all of her day behind a desk, inside a cubicle, deep in an office on a third floor.

"The most the public sees of me is when I'm eating lunch in the cafeteria," Gallagher said.

And she's not happy that the governor is planning to dictate what she should wear.

"I've been dressing myself for 50 years, and I don't need Joe Manchin to tell me how to dress," Gallagher said.

Many state workers are just hearing rumors of women being required to wear dresses, pantyhose and specific nail colors and men being required to wear suits. But Gallagher has already gotten a directive from her department head. And she does not approve.

"I want to be able to wear clothes that are suitable for the weather, and for what I'm going to be doing that day," she said. "Sometimes I have to pick up and carry a lot of boxes. I'm not doing that in a dress."

The memo Gallagher received this week suggests that dresses and suits are acceptable choices, but not the only ones. It also allows for dress slacks, khakis and skirts.

The directive, which Gallagher said applies only to her department as far as she knows, calls unacceptable clothing choices "muscle shirts, tank tops, cutoffs, sheer clothing, spandex, T-shirts, sweat shirts and any hats."

"I don't get a clothing allowance," she said. "If you want me to wear certain clothes, then you have to supply it."

Gallagher also questions whether a dress code for state workers is legal. She cites a Mason County high school teacher who was fired for not adhering to a dress code in 1988. A Kanawha Circuit judge called the dress code unconstitutional and ordered the jeans and boots clad teacher reinstated.

"It's not enforceable," Gallagher said.

Not all employees think the governor's idea to dress them professionally is a bad one.

DMV customer service representative Kristy Peterson said, "Do I think we all need suits and ties, no. But I think it's important to have a professional appearance. We represent the state."

Peterson deals with a steady flow of people applying for a commercial driver's license. On Tuesday, she was dressed in a suit.

Across the hall, DMV customer representative Darrell Cunningham sported a bright green long-sleeved T-shirt. But he said he's no stranger to dress codes.

"I worked in the Kanawha City regional office," Cunningham said. "And we had to wear shirts and ties there. If they tell me to do it again, I will."

Another DMV employee representative, Nellie Brown, said she thinks a dress code is a good thing.

"It's your job. But every time we get a new governor, this happens," Brown said.

Brown said she has been a state employee for 23 years. She has worn jeans when working in jobs that didn't require her to be in contact with the public.

"But it doesn't bother me if there's a dress code," Brown said. "I think you should dress nice."

In the Secretary of State's Office, Chief of Staff Ben Beakes wears a suit and tie each day. There's no code, he said.

"(Secretary of State) Betty Ireland has a standing rule," Beakes said. "She says, ‘When you get up in the morning, look in the mirror and ask yourself -- do I look all right if the president of the United States walked in the office today?' "

"There's just an understanding in this office," he said. "The men wear a suit and tie, and the women know how to dress."
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Lawmakers scrutinize Manchin\'s cuts
Date: Feb 23rd, 2005 7:24:03 pm - Subscribe
Mood: mature


by The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Legislators have begun reading the fine print of Gov. Joe Manchin's proposed $3.26 billion general revenue budget, and not all of them like what they see.

Manchin proposes to increase general revenues by about 5 percent over the current budget year, which ends June 30. But his budget would reduce spending in at least 10 agencies, and some of those cuts have caught lawmakers' attention.

The Senate and House Education Committees learned Tuesday that Manchin proposes to zero out general revenue funding for the state's eight Regional Education Service Agencies.

Created to help counties pool their purchasing and technology resources, RESAs now aid low-performing schools and staff development. They received $4.4 million in this year's budget.

State Schools Superintendent David Stewart told the committees at a joint meeting that he was in the dark about the funding change.

"It will be revealed to us in due time, but right now we don't know why," Stewart said.

Manchin administration officials said RESAs have other sources of funding, including federal dollars.

The proposed budget also erases funding of a tax credit for firms that provide venture capital to businesses.

Some lawmakers are rallying around the Health Sciences and Technology Academy. The program aims to encourage low-income, minority and other students considered disadvantaged to enter health professions by helping them boost their math and science skills.

Though it also relies on private and federal funds, the HSTA received $1.07 million from this year's budget. Manchin has proposed cutting that share to $482,381.

CopyrightThe Herald-Mail ONLINE
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Manchin touting health measure
Date: Feb 23rd, 2005 5:15:02 pm - Subscribe
Mood: perturbed



Therese Smith Cox
Daily Mail staff



Wednesday February 23, 2005

Gov. Joe Manchin wants to improve the health of state residents by beefing up physical education requirements, removing soft drinks from most schools and setting up a Healthy Lifestyles Office.

His Healthy West Virginia Act of 2005 was to be proposed today to lawmakers.

Among other measures, it establishes the office under the Secretary of Arts and Education, recommends a voluntary food labeling program for restaurants and restricts the sale of soft drinks and unhealthful snacks in schools.

"There is a health-care crisis based on the high number of obese individuals in the state and the resulting incidence of chronic disease that burdens the health care infrastructure of the state," Manchin's proposal says.

He first suggested the measure in his State of the State address two weeks ago.

"Just like children must be taught to read in order to be successful, they must also be taught the skills that will help them stay healthy throughout their entire life," Manchin said in the speech to legislators.

A coalition of members appointed by the governor would oversee the Healthy Lifestyles Office, with the first lady of the state as a "special advisor." The coalition would develop an action plan, with the help of a clinical advisory committee.

The office also would establish a voluntary menu-labeling program for restaurants, coordinate higher education training programs for dietary and exercise physiology students with rural health care providers. Officials would report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resource Accountability.

A separate, special revenue account will be known as the "Healthy Lifestyles Fund."

The proposal would prohibit the sale of soft drinks in elementary, middle and junior high schools but permit sales in high schools as long as the vending machines also offer healthful beverages -- water, 100 percent fruit juice, low-fat milk and any drink that contains no more than 10 grams of sugar per serving.

Sens. Truman Chafin, D-Mingo, and Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, previously had proposed legislation that would also specify what beverages will be allowed to be sold in schools.

"A lot of studies show our children are on top of the obesity scale," Chafin said. "We think kids are taught very early."

Chafin said he was discouraged to see unhealthful products sold at his daughter's school.

"I object to schools letting that be available," he said.

Currently, state requirements for physical education, which could be different for county school systems, are in flux. However, a report from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education reports that, in West Virginia, physical education is required every year and that grades nine through 12 must complete one class.

On the other hand, Manchin's bill would require 30 minutes on three days a week for grades kindergarten through fifth and not less than one full period each school day of one semester a year for grades six through eight.

High school students would take one full course credit of physical education for graduation.

All students -- no matter what grade -- would be tested annually for their body mass index, a ratio of weight to height.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that only 28 percent of high school students in the country attended a daily physical education class in 2003. Yet 38 percent watched at least three hours of television a night.


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More people on W.Va. payroll in 2004, state auditor reports
Date: Feb 22nd, 2005 5:30:41 pm - Subscribe
Mood: interested


By TOM MILLER - Special to The Herald-Dispatch

CHARLESTON -- The state’s payroll included 45,430 employees on Dec. 31, 2004, according to the annual report from State Auditor Glen B. Gainer Jr. That’s an increase of 892 people from the previous year.

At his budget hearing before a House Finance Committee, Gainer also said 76 percent of all state workers now are paid by direct deposit.

One of the biggest events during the first full week of the 2005 regular legislative session was Gov. Joe Manchin’s ceremonial signing of the workers’ compensation reform bill enacted at the six-day January special session. He signed the bill Wednesday, surrounded by the same collection of business and labor leaders present when he announced his plans for the special session a month earlier.

The Senate passed the so-called "Laci Peterson" bill in a single day by a 32-2 vote Feb. 15 and sent it on to the House where Judiciary Chairman Jon Amores, D-Kanawha, indicated it would be given more deliberate consideration.

The bill that also passed the Legislature in 2004 only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Bob Wise would allow separate criminal charges for both the mother and fetus in violent crimes against pregnant women.

The Senate also was working on a bill submitted by the Manchin administration to remove a gag order in a new ethics law also approved at the January special session. Manchin said he agrees the one provision inserted in the bill at the last minute that prohibits people who file complaints with the Ethics Commission from making public comments until a review board finds reason enough to accept the complaint.

The corrective legislation was sidetracked temporarily on the Senate floor when Sen. Frank Deem, R-Wood, offered an amendment to prohibit free receptions for legislators.

"This doesn’t prevent lobbying groups from having a receptions, only ones where there is no cost to the legislators," he said. "This same provision was approved in the Senate at the special session and then removed by the House of Delegates."

But when the Senate finally considered the amendment Thursday, it was rejected by a 23-10 vote and then passed unanimously and sent to the House.

The governor also announced that 80 percent of the 12,000 people who responded to a public opinion poll about the new design of the State Capitol dome favor a lead-gray background with gilded highlights instead of covering the entire dome in gold.

On Friday, the Capitol Building Commission agreed, voting to go ahead with the public’s choice.

At a budget hearing in the House Finance Committee, new Commissioner Troy Brody of the State Culture and History Division said he’s committed to completing a new multimedia design state museum in the Cultural Center even though the project is likely to cost more than $10 million.

"This is the best museum design we can bring you," he told committee members. "Does it cost more? Yes. This is a ‘wow’ museum."

He said he is looking at ways to find the $6 million of additional funding needed to complete the project.

Following release of a report that the state’s prison population has doubled in the last decade, Chief Justice Joe Albright of the State Supreme Court told legislators in both houses that the increased costs of maintaining more than 5,000 inmates at taxpayer expense is greater than the entire budget of the state’s court system.

Albright, a former House Speaker, suggested the Legislature consider changes in state laws relating to sentencing of persons convicted of nonviolent crimes as a way to deal with this problem.
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Dress Code Update
Date: Feb 22nd, 2005 5:23:32 pm - Subscribe
Mood: perturbed


Following the Governor's contention that a well dressed and polite office is all that is needed to solve the mountainous debt and unemployment rate here in WV, the State Auditor's Office has enacted a new dress code. Apparently, no one can wear button up shirts without jackets (the jacket of course will restrict movement and result in even more popped buttons on the well endowed) and no open toed shoes without hose. Many of April's shoes have straps between the toes, so I don't know now she would wear them if she had to comply with this dress code. Maybe there are hose gloves out there with individual toes sewn in.
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A Little Background
Date: Feb 16th, 2005 4:57:30 pm - Subscribe
Mood: bold


Let me fill you in on a little place I call 'work'. I work for ACME Widget Company (ACMEWC)*, a government affiliated subsidiary of ACME Widget International (ACMEWI)*. In ACMEWC, there are two camps of employees- the SO employees and the Field employees. I am a field employee. I am on the front lines dealing with the customers. The SO employees are housed in a parabolic chamber some 40 miles away and have virtually no contact with customers, the court system and the hard copy of the real details of each account, commonly called 'the case or case file'. Even though the field workers have all the information and the customers on their side, the SO workers like to think they control things. They do not. But it is a constant battle to remind them of their place in the world of ACMEWC, made even more difficult by the management of the SO camp who also suffer from delusions of grandeur and think they have power. Field management does what it can, but the SO is a juggernaut of nonsense and lacks so much logic, a Vulcan's head would explode if forced to deal with them for more than five minutes. I think the logic void is a requirement for anyone receiving government funding.
Comments: (1)

State Politics
Date: Feb 15th, 2005 8:48:48 pm - Subscribe
Mood: jaded


I read an online news story yesterday that stated the WV state legislature was contemplating a payroll tax to help bail out the Unemployement Program. Here's an idea: Why not stop giving unemployment benefits to workers who were fired for being bad employees. I have never understood why a bad worker who gets fired is rewarded with unemployment benefits. But then again, WV state government is rife with examples of bad performance being rewarded. WV Workers Compensation Commission is in such bad shape, they are planning to privatize it within 5 years, but workers for that agency were reclassified into higher pay grades. - once again, bad performance being rewarded.
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Publish or Perish
Date: Feb 15th, 2005 5:30:40 pm - Subscribe
Mood: driven


This blog has been created as a way to express my thoughts about my job with decreased risk of getting fired if anyone at work finds out I've written about them. I read a news story at yahoo.com about people who blog about their jobs getting fired even when they didn't disclose who they work for or the names of the workers they were blogging about. This blog will also discuss WV politics.
Comments: (2)