[Jobs] industries for the blind

[J. Michael Jones]

yep

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ashley, Kathy J" <Kathy.Ashley at fssa.in.gov>
To: "Jobs for the Blind" <jobs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Jobs] industries for the blind


> Hmmm, and he is concerned about absenteeism!!  I can understand why
> there is a problem.  Is Mr. Roden still employed at AIB?
> 
> Kathy Ashley, MS, CRC
> Program Director for Blind & VI Services
> Vocational Rehabilitation Services
> 1-800-545-7763
> 317-232-1352
> Fax: 317-232-6478
> 
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> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jobs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:jobs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of J. Michael Jones
> Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 11:57 AM
> To: Jobs for the Blind
> Subject: [Jobs] industries for the blind
> 
> 
> Here is a letter that some production workers at the industries for the
> blind got to me, I will let you determine the attitude of the writer.
> it is the plant manager writing to his supervisors.  See how he refers
> to sighted workers and see how blind workers are looked  upon.
> enjoy, Mike
> 
> From: Charles Roden, 
> 
> (mailto: [Roden.charles at aidb.state. al.us] 
> 
> Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 9-27 AM 
> 
> 
> 
> As supervisors, all of you know that absenteeism is excessive and seems
> to be getting worse, not better. Billy Sparkman mentioned this in his
> last quarterly plant update, but that emphasis did not create any change
> in this habitual absentee problem. I want you to continue to work with
> Terry McKee to document, via disciplinary actions, those cases of
> excessive absenteeism. The only way we can change this: culture" is to
> document, document, document counsel, counsel, counsel--and in doing so,
> create personnel records that are sufficiently documented to support
> more excessive disciplinary,, actions. 
> 
> 
> 
> As we are continuing to identify, and document excessive absenteeism, I
> would like for each of you over the next several weeks and as time
> permits, to have a brief (3-5 minute) personal conversation with each
> and every production employee under your supervision to discuss this
> excessive absentee problem and to let them know the significant negative
> impact that this has on AIB. There is no specific timeline for
> completion, but it is something that we need to address as quickly as
> possible. In that brief conversation, you need to mention these things: 
> 
> 1) JWOD ratio-We MUST maintain a 75% blind ratio. We have no wiggle room
> or excuses that will make a ratio less than 75% acceptable to the
> Committee for Purchase. This should be emphasized to our blind workers
> particularly. Their excessive absenteeism reduces our 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> p,3 
> 
> 
> 
> direct labor blind hours and directly reduces our blind ratio
> percentage. 
> 
> 
> 
> 2) JWOD Compliance--failure to maintain the JWOD ratio means increased
> scrutiny by both NIB and the Committee for Purchase and in a real sense
> jeopardizes the future of continuing the federal contracts that we
> currently have and certainly jeopardizes our ability to get new
> contracts awarded to us. Due to some situations nationwide where JWOD
> ratios were not maintained or were reported incorrectly, this is an area
> that is under the microscope of the Committee for Purchase, NIB, the
> federal government and the national media. We simply cannot afford to be
> an agency that fails to meet the blind ratio requirement. 
> 
> 
> 
> 3) Product delivery every product we manufacture has a series of
> operations leading to a finished product. If even one operator in that
> series of operations is absent, it impacts the flow of that
> manufacturing process possibly creating a bottleneck and a slowdown in
> the rate that we are able to finish the product. Our federal customers
> do not differentiate between JWOD products and commercially produced
> products. They want a first quality product delivered ON TIME.
> Absenteeism certainly creates situations where it is difficult to ship
> finished products on time. If we don't ship products on time and this
> becomes a repetitive problem, we come under criticism from both NIB and
> the federal customers and this, like the blind ratio situation, leads to
> questions about our ability to deliver product and that uncertainty can
> manifest itself in real terms as cancelled orders, orders transferred to
> other agencies or possible future work being directed toward another
> agency or commercial supplier. 
> 
> 
> 
> 4) Sighted production worker absenteeism In looking at this, I am not
> differentiating between attendance requirements for blind versus sighted
> workers, but it needs to be addressed as a separate issue. Obviously,
> due to the blind ratio requirements, we need to utilize as few sighted
> production workers as possible to get the job done. We try to hire
> talented sighted production workers who can get the 
> 
> job done and who can assist us in moving product through the various
> production jobs. Sighted workers generally perform highly skilled tasks
> that cannot otherwise be performed by blind workers due to specific
> tolerances, visual placement or safety related issues. As you know, we
> REALLY depend on our sighted workers to be "superstars" who can do every
> job well and who can support our mission of employing visually hnpaired
> persons. The absence of even one of our sighted workers creates real
> problems in our production lines, especially now  that we are
> particularly "lean" in our sighted production worker population. In
> having this brief conversation with sighted production workers, you need
> to stress their role in helping AIB perform it's mission of employing
> visually impaired workers and they need to be aware of the severe
> negative impact their absences have on our production. 
> 
> 
> 
> There may be other, even more practical, situations that you can bring
> up in this brief conversation with each employee to illustrate how
> excessive absenteeism is effecting your department and you can be
> specific about those situations. We've simply got to tackle this problem
> head on and do whatever it takes to get the production workers focused
> on improving their attendance and reducing this excessive absentee
> problem. This exercise in and of itself will probably not change the
> mentality that much, but we need to do this as a first step in educating
> and counseling each worker and then continue the process with counseling
> and disciplinary actions for those employees who will not change these
> habits. 
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Roden  
> 
> Plant Manager 
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