Smith is candid in his views on the subject.
‘ ‘AIDS leaves a trail of fear and uneasiness,’ ’ he
told a recent Seattle Rotary Club meeting. “ It
can easily immobilize a workforce.’’
Smith said he recently heard that only 5
percent of companies in the region have AIDS-
education programs. He explained that he
hadn’t always realized the gravity of the situa­
tion, and that he couldn’t think “ beyond the
lifestyles’’ of those most frequently afflicted.
The turnaround. Smith said, came when he
learned that several employees — good
employees — at U.S. West were dying of the
illness.
“ Last year an employee was found dead in
companies to implement their own plans to deal
with employees who contract AIDS.
In a recent letter to 1,000 CEOs throughout
the country, OPM urged industry managers to
f you’re working for a company that has not
take “ corrective or disciplinary action’’ against
adopted a policy on AIDS in the workplace,
you’re not alone. In spite of warnings from legal workers who threaten or refuse to work with
fellow employees infected with AIDS.
associations, insurance companies, and state
U.S. West Communications, your phone
and federal agencies, most employers continue
company, is miles ahead of most Northwest
to ignore AIDS policy until they are suddenly
employers in dealing with AIDS in the work­
faced with the situation.
place. More than one-third of all their
While the federal government continues to
employees have completed a company AIDS
mull a national AIDS policy (Reagan believes
orientation, and the remainder will receive
there are sufficient existing laws to protect the
company guideline talks soon.
infected against discrimination), the federal
U.S. West president of operations Andrew
Office of Personnel Management wants private
Feds urge companies to
adopt AIDS guidelines
I
his apartment,” Smith related. “ He died of an
AIDS-related illness. And nobody knew.”
Apparently the worker was afraid to tell any­
one. Smith speculated how “ very scared and
alone” the young man must have felt.
Another employee took a different route. He
told his supervisor and co-workers. They visit
him in the hospital, and U.S. West has allowed
him to work part time and more recently in his
home.
The U.S. West model AIDS program is
based on three principles: help the AIDS
patient, prevent the spread of the disease and
educate employees.
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R I
L E Y
t is understandable that gay activists are
frustrated this presidential election year.
AIDS and its accompanying civil rights ques­
tions did not become major campaign issues. In
fact, they didn’t become issues at all.
That’s especially disconcerting when major
public-opinion polls predicted less than a year
ago that AIDS was considered a major political
issue by the general United States population.
One poll even suggested that AIDS would
become the campaign issue of 1988.
Although the Democrats and Republicans
have dissimilar views on the finer points of civil
rights and responsibilities, both parties
generally agree that federal efforts to find an
AIDS cure need to be stepped up, that the sick
need to be treated like anyone else with a major
illness, and that outright discrimination against
those afflicted must be prevented.
The two parties disagree as to how many tax
dollars should be spent and to what extent the
federal government needs to protect individual
rights. Bush and Dukakis believed they had
little to gain by doing battle over those
differences.
Part of the failure of AIDS to emerge as a
campaign issue is the cooling of public hysteria
over the disease and the acceptance that a cure
cannot be found overnight. As the death toll
mounts, though, AIDS will continue to gather
momentum as a political item. If the next
administration — Republican or Democrat —
does not show a sincere effort to address the
problems that gays and straights face as the
disease escalates, then it will become a major
issue.
One minor liberal political party, the New
Alliance, has been working on the strategy that
it can draw enough votes away from Demo­
cratic presidential nominee Mike Dukakis to
effect a Bush victory. The party, which bills
itself as women-led, black-led, and concerned
about gays, lesbians, the homeless and unem­
ployed, believes that Bush would last only one
term in the White House and that both parties
would have to field candidates in 1992 who
would be forced to speak to its various issues.
The only problem with the New Alliance
strategy is that we cannot afford another four
years with a Republican in the White House.
The New Alliance aside, history and reality
dictate that the Democratic Party will provide
the safest and fastest vehicle to address prob­
lems heaped on minorities and the poor. In four
more years of Republican leadership who
knows how many more people will suffer at the
hands of the GOP social and economic policies
that have traditionally favored the rich, the
powerful, the white and the male?
•
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J A C K
AIDS no campaign issue
this time around
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Just out . Help us help ourselves.
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