Posts for February 4, 2010

HOUSE COMMITTEE OKAYS RESOLUTION TO REDUCE AUTO IDLING

February 3, 2010 “UMA on the Hill”

With the help of about 30 sixth graders from Morningside Elementary School Representative Carol Spackman Moss introduced her resolution HJR-5, Joint Resolution on Clean Air to the House Health and Human Services Standing Committee this morning.

The sixth graders performed for the committee outlining the provisions of the resolution that calls for reducing idling of vehicles at schools, shopping areas and even businesses. UMA followed the video and live presentation of the students with testimony before the committee supporting the effort and applauding the sponsor for recognizing the need to clean our air by focusing on automobile emissions. HJR-5 calls for “no idling zones” wherever possible to reduce emissions for the benefit of personal health and the environment.

UMA president Tom Bingham reminded the committee that most of the successes in cleaning the air in Utah have come from industry and that the real issue, especially along the Wasatch Front, is a result of auto emissions. He urged passage of the resolution and any efforts that can reduce emissions from automobiles. The resolution passed the committee unanimously to the floor of the House.

RETAILERS EXPECT POSITIVE JANUARY SALES RESULTS

February 4, 2010 - Anne D'Innocenzio, AP Retail Writer - Manufacturing.Net

NEW YORK (AP) -- Retailers elated by stronger-than-expected holiday sales are expected to report Thursday that they saw an unintended consequence in January: sales up only 1 percent from last year by one measure.

Stores ordered so conservatively for the holidays that they ended December with relatively little excess inventory -- and less than usual to mark down in January.

As a result, some stores pushed up deliveries of spring items from jumpsuits to sandals. But bargains were all that most consumers wanted.

"During the Christmas season, they rewarded themselves," said Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Richard Jaffe. By last month, Jaffe says, shoppers were "hunkering down" again and didn't buy much of that regular-price spring stock.

Michael Niemira, chief economist at The International Council of Shopping Centers, predicts retail chains reporting Thursday on their sales at stores open more than a year will show a 1 percent rise in January.

The figure -- which Niemira estimates rose 3.6 percent for December, compared with December 2008 -- is considered a key indicator of retailers' health. His calculation excludes Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, however, because Wal-Mart no longer reports its monthly sales.

The figure fell 4.8 percent last January from January 2008, and the month is generally considered retailers' least important. So many merchants are more worried about the next few months than January's modest showing.

For January, luxury chains are expected to offer a bright spot, as affluent shoppers -- seeing their worth beginning to rebound -- kept spending.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect Nordstrom Inc. to post a 5.5 percent gain at stores open more than a year, for example. They see Saks Inc. reporting a 2.8 percent increase.

Bolstering those forecasts, cosmetics company Estee Lauder Cos. reported last week that even some of its most expensive offerings fared well in its fiscal second quarter, including an anti-aging treatment that costs $47.50 per ounce. Estee Lauder's profit rose 62 percent for the period.

Lower-price retailers like Costco Wholesale Corp. and Target Corp. also should show healthy gains as shoppers refocused on essentials like food after the holidays. But stores that offer middle-income shoppers nonessentials, including many department stores and mall-based clothing chains, could show sales fell or increased only slightly.

Until the job market improves, many shoppers are likely to remain frugal. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters estimate that employers added 5,000 jobs in January, following a loss of 85,000 in December. But government figures coming Friday are expected to show the unemployment rate ticked back up to 10.1 percent in January from December's 10 percent.
Some forecasters expect the retail industry to post a 31 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit compared with a year earlier, but they say the current quarter will be more challenging.

Economic recovery in the U.S. rides large in part on consumer spending, including major expenses like health care and housing, because it accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, according to the federal government.

Manufacturing grew last quarter as businesses moved to replenish their inventories, but they will cut back again unless consumers spend more, economists say.

FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR STATE UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FUNDS
OUR CAT IN THE HAT ECONOMY

February 4, 2010 – Wisconsin Manufacturers Association

What is now becoming known as the Great Recession—the recession of 2008-2009—may have ended. But we continue to see volatility in almost every market place—housing, automotive, and most significantly in the jobs market. Only economists can confirm an end to a recession, after the fact, when the nation’s economy experiences two consecutive quarters of growth. The more important data points going forward when the recession has ended will be how fast the economy improves, and the degree of growth and especially job creation.

A major continuing challenge for Wisconsin’s economy will be the level of unemployment of our workforce. Wisconsin depleted the reserves in our state Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund nearly a year ago, and the state has been borrowing money steadily since then in order to continue paying UI benefits to unemployed workers.

Wisconsin employers are currently paying UI taxes in the highest set of rates in our UI tax structure. In addition, employers are also paying those rates on a higher wage base of eleven thousand dollars of wages per worker since January of 2009. Yet, those higher rates and the wage base increase, as well as two additional wage base increases scheduled for 2011 and 2013, will not return the UI Trust Fund to solvency until the end of this decade.

The Wisconsin Unemployment Advisory Council is reviewing options to address the Trust Fund borrowing, and the steps necessary to return it to solvency. However, the only real long term solution to re-funding the UI Trust Fund is a return to robust economic growth in our state. When fewer workers are receiving UI benefits, because more workers are returning to the workforce and receiving wages, there would be less fiscal pressure on the Trust Fund.

However, in the past year policy makers in both the state and federal governments have adopted new taxes and regulations that will hinder future economic growth. Causing further harm, elected officials continue to deliberate over policy measures that create great deal of uncertainty and heighten the sense of risk in businesses’ decision making and among those who finance business expansion. Business owners see risks of higher operational costs for fundamental components of their operations--as increased labor costs through health care mandates, and energy costs through cap and trade and climate change legislation.

Consequently we are seeing the affects of a “Cat in the Hat economy” while elected officials artificially continue this sustained economic uncertainty. To briefly recap that children’s story by Dr. Seuss, the narrator, a little boy and his sister are home alone on a rainy day. The Cat shows up at their door with the intent of entertaining them. The Cat’s idea of entertainment is to balance a series of fragile objects, including the children’s pet fish, precariously in the air. As they feared, the Cat drops these objects and the children do not find the Cat’s antics amusing or entertaining.

When the items have fallen to the floor in disarray, and the fish, who is no longer in his fishbowl but is in a teapot, tells the Cat that he must stop what he is doing and clean up the mess he has made. The Cat’s response is to bring in Thing One and Thing Two, two creatures who simply expand on the damage being done. The happy ending is when the children’s mother is seen approaching, and the Cat goes through the house with a machine that puts things back the in place.

American citizens are feeling much like the fish in the story. The wrenching unemployment that has lingered now over two years has affected most of the nation, and millions of families. Voters in those states that have recently held elections are sending a clear message that the change they were seeking in 2008 has not materialized.

Unfortunately, the now epic saga of Washington’s deliberations on omnibus changes to the American economy through health care taxes, cap and trade environmental regulations, as well as climate change legislation pending here in Wisconsin, along with various other tax and regulatory proposals that would add significant costs to businesses, are artificially suppressing hiring decisions and general business expansion. Like the Cat and his assistants, too many elected officials are willing to undertake extraordinary policy risks with fundamental elements of a still fragile American economy without regard to either their immediate or long-term consequences for job creation.

Elected officials inherited an economy that had flat-lined over a year ago, but their first responsibility at that point was to do no further harm. In the ensuing year little has actually been accomplished, and at this point in the economic cycle when private sector hiring should be heating up, the resounding message from the Capitols in both Washington, D.C. and Madison to the business community is that there will likely be higher taxes and more regulation on the way. Businesses cannot risk expansion in this unstable political and policy climate.

Decision makers in both Washington and Madison should take a deep breath, and then rethink and reset their priorities, focusing on initiatives that will encourage immediate and sustained private sector job creation. They must stop enacting new costly regulations that only inhibits and discourages job creation—even to the point of reconsidering the taxes and regulations that are already burdening business expansion and job creation in this state and nationwide.

FREE WEBINAR ON HRANSWERSNOW FEBRUARY 10

February 4, 2010 – Employers Council

Join us one week from today, Wednesday, February 10th from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., for a free webinar to help you understand and utilize HRAnswersNow -- our new online HR research tool. No need to leave your office, simply join the webinar online. This informative training will help you to use HRAnswersNow with more precision and ease.

Bill Harmon from CCH will facilitate the webinar.

Upon receipt of this email, please click on the link below to run a System Check:
Check your system prior to the webinar so that you can ensure your computer is set up and ready to use Office Live Meeting. If you do not pass any portion of the system check, you will be guided through the proper steps to correct the problem. Once the System Check is complete you will be able to participate in the training session next week.
On the day of the webinar: please join the session at least 10 minutes prior to the official start time. To participate in the webinar, follow the instructions below.

1. Enter the visual part of the session by clicking on this link Join the meeting

Please type in your full name. Click on the link and everything else should fill in automatically. If you are prompted for the meeting ID, then enter bill.harmon. You can leave the Entry Code space blank if it presents itself. See example below.
Meeting ID: bill.harmon
Entry Code: [no key]

2. For the audio portion of the session please dial the number below on your telephone and then enter the participant code:
Dial the conferencing service directly, and enter the participant code shown below:
Toll-free: 1-866-845-3658Participant Code: 604173

3. For problems logging into the webinar, follow these steps:

1. Copy this address and paste into your web browser: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/wkusa/join
a. Meeting ID: bill.harmon
b. Location: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/wkusa

2. Still experiencing a problem or need assistance with Live Meeting? Please call the Live Meeting Support Line at 1-866-493-2825 for assistance.

FDA TRACKING RISKY IMPORTS

February 4, 2010 - Manufacturing.Net

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration is using an automated system to sort through millions of foreign shipments and identify food and drugs that are most likely to be contaminated.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the plan will help inspectors "target shipments for inspection that pose the greatest risk."

The computer program, PREDICT, assigns a risk score to each container based on its contents, country of origin and the manufacturer's safety record.

Under the current system, imports are often inspected randomly.

More than 20 million imports of FDA-regulated products are expected this year, according to the agency. Typically, less than 1 percent is inspected.

The FDA hopes to have PREDICT deployed nationwide by the spring.

PERSONNEL FILES & RECORDKEEPING - February 17, 2010, Legal Breakfast Briefing

February 4, 2010 – Employers Council

Attorney Carolyn Cox of Holme Roberts & Owen will guide you through the rules on what to record, what to file, and how and where to store information. She will also discuss how long you should retain various types of records. Get practical guidance on organizing and maintaining personnel files -- including who should be allowed access and under what circumstances.

The briefing will be held on Wednesday, February 17, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Radisson Hotel, 215 W South Temple, Salt Lake City. The price is $79, which includes full breakfast buffet, validated parking, and materials. To register, reply to this email or download the registration form at www.ecutah.org/lbb.pdf.

Certification: The briefings are approved for 1.5 general recertification hours toward PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification through HRCI. They are also approved for 1.5 CLE hours for Utah attorneys.