news
briefs
SYMANTEC’S
UNSTABLE JOBS
Symantec announced last week that it will
double its jobs in Springfield to about 2,000,
but it’s uncertain whether the
call center jobs will out-
last the tax breaks in
the volatile indus-
try.
Symantec
has been a
leader in the
controversial
practice of out-
sourcing jobs to
India,
where
salaries and benefits
are a small fraction of
what U.S. workers earn and
taxes and regulations are negligible. In 2002,
Symantec outsourced about 400 jobs to a
subcontractor in its old downtown Eugene
building to cut salaries and increase profits.
Last year, Symantec terminated that contract,
throwing 400 people out of work, and out-
sourced the jobs to India.
“We have outsourced the majority of our
worldwide consumer support functions,”
Symantec reported to stockholders in its
2004 annual report, which discussed the ter-
mination of more than 500 workers.
The call center industry is notorious for
moving jobs to seek tax breaks, taxpayer sub-
sidies and lower and lower wages. Call cen-
ters are easy to move because they lack heavy
equipment and don’t need to be close to cus-
tomers, raw materials or highly skilled work-
ers.
Despite the layoffs, Symantec has re-
ceived millions of dollars of enterprise zone
tax breaks and will receive millions more for
its expansion. Another big subsidy will come
from the $150 million I-5/Beltline inter-
change overhaul just down the street from
Symantec’s traffic-inducing location on the
edge of the urban growth boundary.
Unstable, layoff-prone industries place a
high burden on local social service providers
and taxpayers who must then care for the un-
employed. The low-wage, cubicle jobs at call
centers (where individual performance is
often monitored by computer) are rarely
unionized. Symantec boasts in it’s annual re-
port that except for in Europe, it’s union free.
Besides outsourcing, another occupa-
tional hazard for Symantec workers is com-
petition. Microsoft has recently entered the
computer security business providing direct
competition for Symantec’s most profitable
products. Symantec notes in an annual 2005
report filed this month that Microsoft has
“significant advantages” including much
more money, marketing and technological re-
sources as well as control of the underlying
Windows operating system and the ability to
bundle security features. — Alan Pittman
GIUSTINA IN
LOGGING SPAT
A property fight is developing between
the owner of Forest Floor Farms and Giustina
Land & Timber Co. According to farm owner
Randy Sturgill, who bought the Creswell
property in April, Giustina claimed to have an
easement on 1.5 acres of Sturgill’s land, in-
cluding his driveway. Sturgill retained a
lawyer, who found that the company had no
such easement. The company then admitted
that it only had a deed from a 1991 land swap
with International Paper, Sturgill says.
Giustina began clear-cutting about 10 acres
of adjacent forest land and felling trees on
Sturgill’s property regardless, he says.
“They straight up lied to me,”
Sturgill says. “They’re felling trees
across the fence line and damag-
ing my land. They’re clearly tres-
passing.”
Cary Hart of Giustina de-
clined to comment.
— Kera Abraham
TAKE PULSE,
CHUG SUGAR
Eugene School District 4J plans to buy
240 Polar wristwatch heart rate monitors and
related equipment for about $58,000 using
federal grant money.
Polar markets the
monitors, which allow
data to be downloaded
into a software pro-
gram, as a way to more
accurately track student
performance. For exam-
ple, a slow student in a run may still be trying
hard if his or her heart rate is in a target zone.
4J is using the federal grant money to help
combat the national childhood obesity epi-
demic with a fitness program. However, the
district still contracts with soda pop corpora-
tions to deal soft drinks loaded with empty
calories. It takes a child about an hour of
strenuous exercise to burn off the calories in
one can of pop. — Alan Pittman
BIKE RIDING
MADE LEGAL
So you’re biking along in one of Eugene’s
many bike lanes and the lane ahead is
blocked by a big pile of leaves, so you go out
into the empty traffic lane to go around them.
Later, there’s a left-turning car stopped in the
traffic lane. No problem, the bike lane is clear
on the right so you roll through.
Bikes do this every day in Eugene without
incident, but it’s illegal. Current state law re-
quires bikes to use the bike lane at all times
when there is one, and forbids passing
stopped or slower vehicles on the right.
The law is about to change. Last week the
Legislature passed a bill to allow bikes to
stray outside bike lanes and pass on the right
when necessary in many situations.
The current law is rarely enforced, but
Critical Mass bike protesters have com-
plained in the past that police have used such
obscure traffic laws to harass them.
— Alan Pittman
MORE SCHOOL
DROPOUTS
Oregon’s high school dropout rate for the
2003-04 school year was 4.5
percent, up from 4.4. percent
the previous year, the Oregon
Department of Education re-
ported June 16. This is the
first increase in state’s
dropout rate since 1997-98.
State Schools Superintendent
Susan Castillo blamed a “disin-
vestment in our public
schools” for the higher
dropout rate and stalled
achievement test scores.
According to the Oregon
Education Association, the
Legislature has scaled back K-
12 public school funding by $800
million in the past three years, result-
ing in larger class sizes, cuts to elec-
tive programs and higher teacher
turnover.
The biggest dropout rate in-
crease was among Hispanic
students, rising .5 percent to
reach 9.6 percent, the highest rate
of all ethnic groups. Asian students
have the lowest dropout rate at 3.3 percent.
The 7,756 students who dropped out of
high school in 2003-04 most frequently cited
“lack of parental support for education,”
“working more than 15 hours per week” and
“too far behind in credits to catch up” as their
reasons.
Eugene 4J dropout rates were lower than
the statewide averages. Both Sheldon and
South Eugene rates fell to 1.2 percent, while
the North Eugene rate increased slightly to
1.3 percent. Churchill in 2002-03 had the
lowest 4J dropout rate, at 1.1 percent, and
now has the highest, at 1.5 percent. — Kera
Abraham
CAMPUS
SEX ‘PERK’
The Salem Statesman Journal published
an investigative series last month faulting the
state’s higher education system for covering
up and failing to aggressively confront
the problem of sexual harassment on
campus.
The paper found that state institutions had
failed to: survey students about the preva-
lence of sexual harassment, set up harass-
ment hotlines, publicly identify confirmed
sexual harassers and establish clear policies
prohibiting professors from having sex
with their students.
The paper found 39 complaints of
sexual harassment against campus
faculty or staff in the past six years,
with 22 resulting in discipline from
formal apologies to firings. The
Statesman Journal called for
reforms including a bill to pub-
licly disclose the identity of
abusers.
“Sex with students is kind of, for
many of these people, their personal
prerogative. I’ve called it one of the
perks of the profession,” Billie Dziech, a
University of Cincinnati professor and
author of books on campus sexual ha-
rassment, told the Statesman Journal.
— Alan Pittman
CORRECTIONS/
CLARIFICATIONS
Our June 9 cover story, “Incision
Decisions” incorrectly stated the human ges-
tation period. According to the medical refer-
ence book Williams Obstetrics, the average
pregnancy is 40 weeks. The story also incor-
rectly defined a classical c-section incision. A
classical c-section is defined by the location
and direction of the incision on the uterus,
which is different from the incision through
the skin. Most modern c-sections involve a
lower risk incision on the lower portion of the
uterus.
JUNE 23, 2005 7