Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Fri, Apr 10 1992 Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 05:43:42 EDT Message-ID: 04-10 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update April 10-12, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Friday morning in USA TODAY: Unions; Blood; Neuharth. TODAY'S DEBATE - LABOR UNIONS: USA TODAY'S OPINION: The contract dispute between Caterpillar and the United Auto Workers has emphasized labor's and management's division this week. But the five winners announced in today's newspaper for the Rochester Institute of Technology:USA TODAY Quality Cup epitomize a different trend - toward partnership. ... Those efforts represent the best in a wave of 30,000 employee-participation programs that have been established in recent years. But a 1930s labor-law provision threatens to stop many of them cold. ... The goal: force employees into unions to give unions more clout. That would be foolish. Unions cover only 12% of private industry, down from 30% in 1970. Without worker-management committees, non-union workers could be left with no say in decisions affecting their jobs. ... In today's competitive world, government must encourage managers and workers to join hands. OTHER VIEW: LANE KIRKLAND, president of the AFL-CIO: Assuring employees a genuine voice in decision-making at the workplace is precisely what U.S. industries should be doing to compete in the world economy. That kind of labor-management participation is what trade unions are all about. Yet we've been opposed at every turn by employers who may talk cooperation but who really want unilateral control of the workplace. ... By nature, no arrangement that has the employer sitting on both sides of the table can ever foster real worker participation. Upholding the labor laws as they were written will enhance true cooperation. ... A loophole in the labor laws that says you can't be fired for striking but can be "permanently replaced" is so destructive to the U.S. economy. ... Our labor laws were first passed to prevent such ruinous industrial strife and to help foster agreements that will keep people working and the economy growing. We could do no better than to live up to that intent. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON SAFETY OF BLOOD SUPPLY: STAMFORD, Conn. Thom Wojtkun, 23, sales representative: What happened to Arthur Ashe was truly a tragedy because AIDS screening wasn't done back in 1983. But while I do feel confident of the overall safety of the blood supply, I would donate my own blood if I had the option. I'd like to minimize the risk, however minuscule. WATSON, Ill. Susan Feldhake, 42, novelist: The test can't be 100% foolproof; there's always that window of time when the virus does not create evidence that it's present. If I were to have surgery, I would stockpile my own blood or I'd turn to my husband's huge family or to my children for donations. MEMPHIS, Tenn., Susan M. Tant, 37, credit union manager: I am concerned. We don't know everything about AIDS yet, so we may not know all the precautions that we need to take. I would be very cautious and go to authorities I know before I had a transfusion. BALTIMORE, Md., Joseph Lerner, 77, salesman: I'm definitely worried about it. Everyone in our family who has had to get a blood transfusion got someone in the family to give blood or used their own. I don't think the blood supply is safe at the present. LOS ANGELES, Calif, Joe Lewis, 45, detective: (Arthur Ashe) isn't the first person who's contracted HIV from blood. I would postpone surgery until I could give some of my own blood. I've been a blood donor; I don't worry about the safety of giving blood. They need to close skid row blood banks, where so many donors are drug users. TOPIC - NEUHARTH: AL NEUHARTH, founder, USA TODAY: This does not look like a good year for incumbents in politics. But it is in sports. Duke's defending NCAA basketball champions demonstrated that by demolishing Michigan Monday night. Minnesota will twin the 1992 World Series crown with the one it won last year. ... I can't resist these ratings for our national pastime. ... American League East: Toronto tops again. ... American League West: Minnesota. ... National League East: New York Mets muddle through. ... National League West: Los Angeles best. It will be the Dodgers and Minnesota for all the marbles in October. ... There were actually three big winners last weekend. Duke. Minnesota's host committee. And Executive Director Dick Schulz and his superb staffers who balance the bouncing ball beautifully among players, coaches, fans and the media. What a contrast to baseball boss Fay Vincent. With that commissioner, confusion and controversy lead the lineup. ... Vincent is another incumbent who probably won't be around after next season. That fits. Because he's more a politician than a sports spark plug. Issues & Debate Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM