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Corrections and clarifications

By Patrick Kelley

Originally published 02:18 p.m., February 4, 2008
Updated 02:18 p.m., February 4, 2008

Wednesday in this space we fretted about the state’s apparent slow response to the Tyson firings and asked this question:

Would it be out of line to suggest that the Kansas Department of Human Resources and the governor’s office keep a close eye on the state response to the massive job cuts at Tyson Fresh Meats?

Apparently, the answer is yes.

Thursday brought a phone call from State Rep. Don Hill, who said — very politely — that he thought the editorial was inaccurate is several respects. He was correct.

The editorial said:

The state response to the firings will be handled through the Emporia Job Service Center, an arm of the Kansas Department of Human Resources. But the office is no longer managed by that department. The management of the state’s job service centers has been contracted to a private company, Dynamic Educational Systems.

That was wrong on three counts.

In the first place, Job Service Centers are now Workforce Development Centers.

Second, there is no longer a Kansas Department of Human Resources. Never mind what the phone book says or what pops up on the screen when you Google “Kansas Department of Human Resources.” The centers are under the umbrella of the Department of Commerce now.

Third, Dynamic Educational Systems does not have the contract for the state, but only this part of the state. The company’s contract is not with the state, but with the counties it serves.

We apologize for the errors.

Further corrections came Thursday afternoon, when a spokesman for the Department of Commerce called and said the editorial had the timeline for the state’s response all wrong.

We had written:

The firings were announced Friday afternoon, but it was not until Tuesday morning that a meeting was held in Topeka to plan the state’s response.

Not so, the spokesman said. The department called Tyson within 30 minutes of Friday’s announcement and quickly began the process of assembling information and getting it to the affected workers. We stand corrected.

But the meat of Wednesday’s editorial was this:

The Gazette’s early contacts with the service center and its management gave the impression of an agency that was caught without either a plan to respond to disastrous job losses or the clarity of organization to carry out such a plan.

No apologies there. Whatever was happening behind the scenes or on the phone between Topeka and Emporia, that is exactly the impression that was given. And that is a problem.

When massive layoffs are announced, the state has a responsibility not only to provide help and information to the affected workers, but also to keep the community informed. Layoffs do, after all, affect the whole community.

We are willing to concede that the state has been working hard to get information to the Tyson workers. But keeping the community informed? No.

Sorry.

Comments

Blackshirt (anonymous) says...

I disagree with what you call the "meat" of the article. It appears that all you wanted to do was find someone, anyone to blame for something. A bad thing happened to a lot of good people the day the layoffs were announced and the Gazette decided it needed to fault someone. Are not the employees part of the community? Did you do any research to find someone else to call? Or did you simply shoot from the hip?

February 4, 2008 at 2:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

glarson (anonymous) says...

In fact, our reporter, on Monday morning, began calling everyone she could think of to discover what the state was doing to help laid-off Tyson workers. We based the assumption that something would be done on past history. I myself recall when the Modine plant closed. Within an hour of the company giving us that announcement, we had a press release from the Emporian who worked at Emporia's Job Service Center announcing times for local "rapid response" meetings for workers.

We, in turn, covered those meetings and learned -- along with the displaced employees -- that there were funds available for education to pursue different careers as well as what rights the workers had under federal law when it came to retaining benefits or applying for unemployment.

In the case of the Tyson layoffs, we tried and tried more than 48 hours after the company's announcement to find out who and when someone would meet with workers to provide information. We kept getting passed from one person to the next, and no one seemed to have answers.

If Gazette reporters, who are used to having to dig for information, were frustrated, we could only imagine how frustrated Tyson workers would be. In fact, we know many Tyson workers and could only imagine what that first weekend was like. Many were unsure what the announcement really meant. If they were support staff, did they still have jobs? If they really were out of a job, what rights did they have? What help could they expect?

We at The Gazette hope that whomever is in charge of disseminating information to laid off workers learns from the Tyson situation and provides more rapid response for the next group of workers and community that needs help.

Gwen Larson
Managing Editor

February 4, 2008 at 6:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

77flint (anonymous) says...

Will some one give this guy some where else to post his propaganda. These pages are for discussions.

February 5, 2008 at 11:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )