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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1981)
Paga 4 Portland Observar April 23.1981 Police forum Morgan Dickerson discusses allegations that the Portland Police Association does not adequately represent Black officers at community forum on police-community relations, (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Wacker: Asset or Liability? Partlll The City of Portland provided ex tensive economic assistance to Wacker Siltronic in exchange for an agreement to hire city trained C E T A -eligible employees fo r its Portlland plant. At issue is whether the selection and training program excluded per sons who had lower educational status but who could have adequately performed the job. The C ity agreed to provide training for eleven jobs: Silica Grower: seed rod with crystal o f silica. Seed rod rotates to crystal cylindrical. Ingot Processing: Removes silicon dioxide by dunking in acid and rinsing. The ends o f the ingot are cut o ff with a saw. Ingot Grinder: The outer surface o f the ingot is ground to give it a uniform diameter. Ingot Slicing: The ingot is fastened to a carrier, then is sliced into thin wafers. Slice Cleaning: The adehesive used in slicing is removed; surface residue is removed. Lapping and edge rounding: Makes the slice its precise flatness, rounds edges of slice. Slice Etching: Cleans slice by sub merging in hot alkaline solution. One side is polished, the other et ched. Inspection: Measures electrical and dimensional characteristics with instrument. Slice M ounting: Places slices in mountings to take to polishing, held w ith wax. Wax solution must be prepared. Polishing: Polish slice by moving on rotating cloth that is wet with caustic solution. Polisher measures thickness o f slices and determines how much to be removed. Cleaning and Inspection: Cleans slices individually, inspects, places in trays. According to some employees, most o f these jobs are routine and 'equirc little knowledge. An exam ple o f the most routine type job is ‘ ‘ Slice C leaning.” The operator turns on the power and checks the 'emperature o f a tank containing freon. He places trays in a rack, puts the rack in the tank and sets a tim er. When the buzzer rings he removes the trays and puts them in a dryer. When they are dry, he removes the trays from the rack and wraps them. He occasionally cleans ind refills the tank. A somewhat more complicated >b is “ Slice Inspection.” The em- loyee places a slice in his machine, ictween two probes He first sets he machine by measuring the known thickness o f a slice in order to adjust the probes. Then he can measure unknown slices by placing them in the machine and pushing a button. Growers have the most com plicated jo b , which requires that they adjust speed and temperature to make a proper silicon ingot. Two methods of growing arc used, with I loat Z one” having the highest rest.ge. Silicon is “ grow n” in a K ib lc at high temperature. A ed” crystal is placed at the end o f a rod and as the rod is pulled through the chamber, silicon is drawn to it, fo rm in g the silicon ingot. Size, shape and purity o f the ingot are controlled by regulating the speed and temperature. Training for these jobs consisted o f up to six months o f intensive schooling by Portland Community College. The future workers were trained with a sta ff o f 12 professional in structors and 8 technical assistants. This staff o f 20 was hired by PCC, with approval o f Wacker, fo r the duration o f the training period and were offered permanent positions at the Wacker plant. Before the training began, the I2 instructors were flown to Germany to learn the crystal making process. The curriculum was designed by PCC. The City sent a job analyst to the Wacker plant in Germany to ob serve the work. The eleven jobs were then broken down into their basic components, i.e., turn the dial, read the meter, record the reading, etc. Using this analysis, PCC developed the curriculum, aided by a consultant and two engineers from the German plant who were located in Portland. The average trainee had eight weeks of academic training that in cluded mathematics, college level chemistry, electronics and silicon theory. So arduous was this training that 30 percent more trainees were placed in the program than were ex pected to complete it. Six to eight weeks o f “ hands on” training on old Wacker equipment installed in the PCC fa c ility followed. Then, when the plant was ready, trainees trained for another 30 to 60 days in the Wacker plant. A ll o f the trainees contacted by the Observer felt the training was unnecessarily intensive and served to exclude many who could have handled the job. Most feel the jobs are routine and could have been learned in a few days through on the job training - that, in fact, they are training new employees who have not had the PCC training. The math, chem istry and elec tronics is o f no use on most jobs, they say, but math has some utility for growers and slicers. They state that what they learned has long since been forgotten since it was never used. Trainees received $3.10 per hour while in tra in in g , w ith a to ta l o f $1.5 m illion spent for this purpose. The C ity paid PCC $297,000 fo r training. Support services included medical exams, dental work, safety shoes, transportation, etc. Joe Gon zales. director o f Employment and Training for the C ity, said he does not know the cost for support ser vices since this was paid for aoul of a Department o f Labor grant that was not earmarked for specific ex penditures. “ we just spent until it was gone,” he said. Gonzales also said there was 10, 30, 60, and 90 days fo llo w -u p with the trainees, but had no records available. He was under the impression that people over 40, women and young Blacks were the most reliable workers, Allhotigh G onzales has no knowledge o f the numbers who enrolled and failed in the training program, Don Uppendahl o f PCC said 740 people entered PCC training and 60 percent completed the program. The PCC tra in in g program ran from February I, 1979 to July 1980 and resulted in the hiring o f 422 trainees and 20 instructors by Wacker. The training program was then terminated. Ron H am ilton, o f the personnel department o f Wacker, said Wacker hired the 422 persons referred by the C ity as having passed the final examination with a score o f 70 per cent or better He said the company received no additional inform ation on the trainees, no applications and no medical information. He said there had been no follow up by the C ity, to his knowledge, and that the C ity is not continuing to train. The company requests em ployees from the C ity and hires when they are supplied. They also hire “ o ff the street." H a m ilton said the tra in in g provided - math, chem istry, elec tronics - were necessary. He said since the C ity is not supplying trained employees, the company is hiring and (hen providing classes in math and chem istry. He said the trainees were very well trained by PCC. One employee who did not go through CETA training disagreed. “ I knocked on the door and asked for a jo b ,” he said. He was trained on the job and has had no academic tra in in g - neither has he felt the need. Although the C ity/W acker con tract required the C ity to train and provide CETA - eligible persons for replacements and fo r the first ex pansion, the training program has been dismantled. H am ilton considers a reinstate ment o f C ity training fo r the first expansion to be impossible since the equipment has been moved from PCC to the Wacker plant. In effect, the “ firs t source” agreement has come to an end. Those trainees contacted by the Observer - both current and former employees - were nearly unanimous in their belief that most o f the training was unnecessary, that most of those selected are not “ hard core unem ployed,” that the intensive academic training caused many to drop from the program; that far too much money was spent on their training. “ It was interesting. I en joyed the classes, but it was un necessary,” was the summation o f one man. “ I like the jo b , but i t ’ s routine. I’dd call it a manual labor type jo b .” (To be continued) Interested in current books about Civil Rights? Visit: JOHN REED BOOKSTORE In the Dekum Building 519 S .W 3rd Avenue Sixth Floor (Continued from page 1 col. 6) not effective i f it does not address the jo b . He explained that police bureaus have never adequately defined the police role, but the City- County consolidation study has the best d e fin itio n he has seen - “ preservation o f human life” . Regarding recent disclosure o f police crim e, McCabe said you “ never know what people are doing when they are out o f sight.” On hiring o f Black police officers, Peters said a poll showed that 90 per cent o f the officers do not oppose meeting a "quota” o f 50 to 60 Black o ffice rs. His union opposed the tw o-list a ffirm a tive action hiring system proposed by Commissioner Jordan and adopted by the C iv il Service Board. The union won a suit against the system, which is being appealed. The complaint process and Inter nal A ffa irs were discussed, w ith many citizens com plaining about lack o f response to com plaints. Peters said officers do not trust In ternal A ffa irs and cannot believe that citizen complaints are not in vestigated. Bob Lamb noted that while citizens talk about redress, police talk about discipline. Frank W ilson noted that the police want to be judged by their own standards o f conduct while they should be judged by community standards. Regarding the union's efforts on behalf o f the two officers fired over the “ possum incident” , Peters said he believed the discipline was ex cessive based on past practices o f the Bureau. A d d itio n a l problems discussed included harassment, hiring policy, m inority recruitment, opportunity for citizen input, harassment o f ex offenders and parolees, and police standards. A second forum w ill be held on May 2nd, 9:30 a.m ., at Bourbon Street (Northeast W eidler and G rand) to discuss com plaint procedures and the function o f the Internal Affairs department that in vestigates citizen complaints against police officers. O f th e 22 m illio n A m e ric a n s w ho ab ro ad in 1 9 7 9 , over ten million visited T h e n e x t m ost p o p u la r c o u n try was w ith a b o u t fo u r m illio n U .S . v is ito rs E ■' X O D U S aru/ rfts ¡/men/ fâeft/et 1639 N.E. Alberta PORTLAND. OREGÙN 9721 1 284 7997 From the Front Door By Tom Boothe From the front door of the House of Exodus, let me share some vital infor mation with you. For those who would like to help our young citizens to become more responsible Please Read Carefully. YOU SHOULD HELP NOW BECAUSE... In our community, it is our Responsibility to see to it that our young citizens become Responsible, Respectful and Constructively Productive citizens. If we fail to teach and direct them who will? HERE IS WHY YOU SHOULD HELP NOW Most youth crimes are Alcohol or Drug related. Prior to a youth Alcohol or Drug related theft, Burglary or Assault. It cost only about $11.00 per hour, for Preventive Format Educational Counseling per youth at Exodus as com pared to between $30.00 and $40.00 per hour for Treatment Format Correc tional Counseling per youth at Exodus. This $30.00 to $40.00 per hour per youth does not include the cost of pain, damage and loss inflicted upon the victims. Nor, does it include the cost of the Criminal Record that these children will carry with them for the rest of their lives, both costs exceed a simple dollar value. It only makes good social and economic sense to contribute to the ounce of prevention; rather than wait to contribute to the pound of cure. HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP NOW Join with the Exodus Youth Mental Health Offensive. Eleven dollars ($11 00) will buy one hour of time that will be spent toward getting a youth on the right track toward handling responsibility and becoming a productive re spectful citizen. All contributions are tax deductable. Make checks payable to: House of Exodus, 1639 N.E. Alberta, Portland, Oregon 97211. You can't spend your time or money for a better purpose; Join with the Exodus Youth Mental Health Offensive, building our community into a better and safer place to live and raise our children. Major supporters of the Exodus Youth Program are: The City of Portland CETA; The Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) and The North/North- east Mental Health Center. Or call 227 2902 Brought to you as a public service by House ot Exodus < tra v e le d C anada. M e x ic o , in 1 9 7 9 .
