Preparing youth for employment is joint effort
New Mexico House Speaker, Rep. Don Tripp wrote an article titled “GOP, Democrats can work together to benefit NM.” It appeared in the Jan. 29, 2015 Albuquerque Journal. He said, “We need to make sure that (our children) are prepared to take the jobs in tomorrow’s economy. Improving our schools will set our children up for success in the long run.”
New Mexico House Speaker, Rep. Don Tripp wrote an article titled “GOP, Democrats can work together to benefit NM.” It appeared in the Jan. 29, 2015 Albuquerque Journal. He said, “We need to make sure that (our children) are prepared to take the jobs in tomorrow’s economy. Improving our schools will set our children up for success in the long run.”
A well-trained work force will attract private industry to our state. And building on the contributions of our schools is the training provided by our present employers.
Let me explain. A key quality of a responsible employee is reliability. The employee needs to carry through on the instructions he has received.
An owner/manager of a fast food establishment told me that most of the young people that he hires for entry-level jobs do not follow the instructions they receive. They are frequently late and sometimes don’t show up at all. Businesses do not allow “unexcused absences.” One cannot run a business with that kind of attitude. Many had to be laid off.
Likewise, some employees question his instructions and want to know why the manager wants something done in a certain way. He doesn’t have time to explain all the things he has learned over the years that leads him to adopt a given procedure. Employees need to carry out his instructions without questioning and later look for answers.
Employers with entry level positions provide valuable instruction in preparing responsible workers for more advanced positions. Unfortunately most youth cannot get this experience until they are 16 years of age.
Youth need to be able to start working part time jobs starting at age 12. Can you imagine not allowing youth under age 16 to play football or soccer? With adult supervision youth at age 12 can learn to do most entry level jobs.
Eric McCrossen, a longtime New Mexico journalist and former Albuquerque Journal editorial page editor recently passed away. He began his career at age 11 delivering newspapers.
Tom Broderick, who manages a large accounting firm, was highlighted in the “One on One” feature in the Jan. 12 Albuquerque Business Outlook. He started working at the driving range at the Arroyo del Oso golf course, “largely it involved pulling golf balls out of the arroyo.”
One has to marvel at the accomplishments of the youth who have received special adult instruction. 13-year-old Emily Bear was the featured pianist with the Santa Fe Orchestra at their Dec. 24 performance.
Many of our youth between the ages of 12 and 16 have very little adult contact outside of school and family. They are hampered in making that transition to the adult world. Working part time during those years would help many to learn responsibility. We need to give them that opportunity.
Learning responsibility is like learning to swim. You learn mostly by doing.
In addition to improving our schools, together, we need to allow youth to learn responsibility by working part time. Let us cooperate in reaching Rep. Tripp’s goal of preparing our youth for the jobs in tomorrow’s economy.
Doug May
Socorro
SEC insurer left out important details
Your reporter covered the letter from the Socorro Electric Cooperative insurer, Federated Insurance Exchange, describing the underwriting decision it may have to make due to the co-op’s “apparent pattern of alleged discrimination which named one director as the “primary offender.”
I have a copy of that letter addressed to Mr. Joseph Herrera from William West, the insurance company’s chief underwriter which Anne Dorough read during the meeting. West is a well respected member of the cooperative insurance industry who would never intentionally mislead his policy holders. In his overly-simplified summary of SEC’s problem, he creates a false impression of the problem by not providing several important details.
Underwriters know that the accused party has no control over the party or the number of parties who bring charges. Federated, like all insurers understands the foundation of our justice system which requires that the party filing the claim bears the burden of providing real evidence to prove to a court the truth of the claim.
There have been two cases filed which involve the person referred to as the “primary offender” in the Federated letter of Dec. 8, 2014. The “primary offender” was dismissed by both plaintiffs (accusers) before the two cases were resolved. The third case was resolved before the “Primary Offender became a trustee.
The LULAC letter in early 2010, in which Mr. Martinez describes what he was told by SEC “employees” concluded with his admission that he did not know nor did he attempt to discover if what he was being told was true. He qualified his remarks writing “if true” in closing. Another detail reported to the underwriter by a former SEC attorney about the LULAC letter disclosed that the people meeting with LULAC’s Mr. Martinez were not “employees” of SEC. They were a group of SEC trustees, including three who lost their bid for re-election in October 2009.
Some of the others were trustee who knew they would lose their seats on the board by attrition when the members changed the bylaws reducing the size of the board from 11 to five trustees, in the April 2010 annual Members’ Meeting. At that time, the loss of a seat on the board equaled an average of $48,000 per year, per trustee, in compensation and expenses.
The one pattern identified by Mr. West’s letter was “allegations of discrimination by the same primary offender/director.” He must also be aware of the pattern created by the source of the allegations. The three cases filed since 1999 were created by the allegations of employees from the management level of the co-op.
One of the cases was resolved before the “primary offender” became a trustee the next two cases dismissed the “primary offender” and eventually those cases were resolved. The most common reason for rejecting a corporation as an insured is that the underwriter finds the corporation’s management is incompetent. That is what SEC must change, in my opinion.
The notorious 2010 suit against the members was filed over the opposition of the “primary offender.”
Charlie Wagner
Socorro Electric Cooperative trustee