American Airlines
October 2, 2012
October 2, 2012
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal about American Airlines is an excellent illustration of how bureaucracies operate. The article goes into detail about the delays that the airline’s customers are experiencing due to an increase in “pilot-initiated maintenance requests” and an increase in pilot sick leave. There is speculation that the disruptions stem from an on-going labor dispute between the pilots union and management over the pilots’ labor contract. There are three separate bureaucratic structures involved, (American Airlines parent company) the AMR corporation, The Allied Pilots Association (APA), and the federal government. AMR was allowed to void its pilot’s labor agreement September 4th when the corporation filed bankruptcy in federal court. Flight cancellations are now running between 3% and 5% a day and only about half of flights are arriving on time. Industry standards are 1% and 80% respectively.
Earlier this year the APA surprisingly rejected AMR’s “last, best, final offer” terms for a new labor contract voting 61% against it. The six year deal offered pilots “bigger raises than the carrier initially sought and a 13.5% stake in the equity of the new AMR when in stepped out of court protection.” The corporation then followed through with its “parallel plan to abrogate the pilots’ contract and the judge agreed that the savings and productivity enhancements AMR sought were important to its successful reorganization.”
Customers are understandably upset with the airline, the nation’s third largest. Three to five percent of daily flights are now being canceled and only 55% of flights arrive within fourteen minutes of the scheduled time. Flight delays caused by pilots requesting maintenance checks have quadrupled since July 1st from just half a percent to 2.4%. Customers are experiencing delays because of such things as broken tray tables, frayed seatbelts, and broken seats.
The APA is in the process of deciding whether or not to strike. The matter is set for an October 3rd (the due date of this assignment) vote. If the outcome is in favor of a strike, federal mediators would then be faced with the decision to allow the strike to be legally upheld. In 1990 and 1999, the airline won court orders blocking pilots from taking similar actions, the APA being fined $45 million in the latter.
The article is an excellent illustration of the bureaucratic process at work on several different levels. The flight delays caused by pilots requesting maintenance checks is an example of red tape leading to bureaucratic dysfunction (Henslin, 11th edition). The pilots are intentionally utilizing mandatory procedures in order to cause disruptions to put pressure on AMR to renegotiate their contracts. AMR and the APA represent bureaucracies with competing interests. Differing goals within each organization in regard to pilots’ contracts has led to a conflict of interest which is still being resolved. As the residing bureaucracy, the federal government has authority over both entities. It has the goal of avoiding disruption to the nation’s transportation network as little as possible and if necessary will take action to prevent this from happening.
Work Cited:
Carey, Susan, “Delays Irk American Airlines Passengers.” The Wall Street Journal (New York) 25 September 2012: A1, A2.
Earlier this year the APA surprisingly rejected AMR’s “last, best, final offer” terms for a new labor contract voting 61% against it. The six year deal offered pilots “bigger raises than the carrier initially sought and a 13.5% stake in the equity of the new AMR when in stepped out of court protection.” The corporation then followed through with its “parallel plan to abrogate the pilots’ contract and the judge agreed that the savings and productivity enhancements AMR sought were important to its successful reorganization.”
Customers are understandably upset with the airline, the nation’s third largest. Three to five percent of daily flights are now being canceled and only 55% of flights arrive within fourteen minutes of the scheduled time. Flight delays caused by pilots requesting maintenance checks have quadrupled since July 1st from just half a percent to 2.4%. Customers are experiencing delays because of such things as broken tray tables, frayed seatbelts, and broken seats.
The APA is in the process of deciding whether or not to strike. The matter is set for an October 3rd (the due date of this assignment) vote. If the outcome is in favor of a strike, federal mediators would then be faced with the decision to allow the strike to be legally upheld. In 1990 and 1999, the airline won court orders blocking pilots from taking similar actions, the APA being fined $45 million in the latter.
The article is an excellent illustration of the bureaucratic process at work on several different levels. The flight delays caused by pilots requesting maintenance checks is an example of red tape leading to bureaucratic dysfunction (Henslin, 11th edition). The pilots are intentionally utilizing mandatory procedures in order to cause disruptions to put pressure on AMR to renegotiate their contracts. AMR and the APA represent bureaucracies with competing interests. Differing goals within each organization in regard to pilots’ contracts has led to a conflict of interest which is still being resolved. As the residing bureaucracy, the federal government has authority over both entities. It has the goal of avoiding disruption to the nation’s transportation network as little as possible and if necessary will take action to prevent this from happening.
Work Cited:
Carey, Susan, “Delays Irk American Airlines Passengers.” The Wall Street Journal (New York) 25 September 2012: A1, A2.
Ohio Collateral Sanctions Reform Law
October 27, 2012
October 27, 2012
A new law in Ohio has been enacted that allows people with criminal records to apply to the court for a Certificate of Qualifications for Employment. These certificates, which will first become available early next year, are intended to offer proof from the court that ex-offenders have been rehabilitated. Another provision allows those with either one felony and one misdemeanor or two misdemeanors to have their criminal records sealed. Before the new law, only one offense, felony or misdemeanor, could be sealed from the record.
The law, known as “the collateral sanctions reform law,” will allow boards that grant occupational and professional licenses to loosen restrictions that ban ex-offenders from holding licenses on those who receive certification from the court. It primarily targets non-violent offenders that haven’t committed additional crimes. The law was passed in June and went into effect September 26th.
State Senator Shirley Smith, Democrat from Cleveland, is the pioneering force behind the reforms. Motivating her 13 year effort were the pleas of many of her constituents, who “complained it was unfair that they were being blocked from holding a job because of what was usually a non-violent drug offense, often committed decades earlier when they were barely in their 20s.” Over the years, Smith persuaded law makers to see the “unintended consequences of the War on Drugs,” pointing out that in many cases, the only victims are the families of those who can’t get jobs due to convictions in the past. “They want to become tax-paying citizens. They want to take care of their families,” Smith told The Plain Dealer.
Surprisingly to Smith, the bill won the support of Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich and was not opposed by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. According to Stephen Johnson Grove, deputy director at the Ohio Justice & Policy Center in Cincinnati, which helped draft the bill, “1.9 million Ohioans have a misdemeanor or felony record. That’s a huge section of our available workforce.” It has been observed that recidivism rates plummet when ex-offenders get jobs. Jill Rizika, executive director of Toward Employment, a job-training organization that works with ex-offenders and low-income workers that supported the bill, points out that “less than 5 percent of graduates end up back in prison.”
Other provisions in the bill allow for reduced child support payments for felons (who often have to work for less money) and limited driving privileges for those with license suspensions unrelated to driving violations.
The article is a good demonstration of how social mobility and the criminal justice system are interrelated. In Chapter 8, Henslin discussed the criminal justice system. A main principle of that chapter is the gross inconsistencies that exist within that system. Throughout the text, it has often been pointed out that those convicted of crimes do not accurately reflect those who commit crimes. Conflict theory views the criminal justice system as a tool of the powerful used to “protect its position of power and privilege,” (Henslin, 11th edition, 205).
Jump to the next chapter in Henslin’s text and we see an example of social stratification at work in the article. Social stratification is defined as “the division of large numbers of people into layers according to their relative property, power, and prestige,” (Henslin, 11th edition, 220). Taking into consideration the conflict theory view of the criminal justice system as well as what we know about the inconsistencies of who actually ends up in that system, it begins to become clear how the system of stratification is maintained in part through the criminal justice system.
At the heart of the article is the social mobility of ex-offenders. In a time of recession, when employment is hard enough to come by for anyone looking for work, any and all factors that may jeopardize individuals’ eligibility for employment is going to be especially detrimental. The surprising cooperation between the political parties in the polarized political environment of recent years to pass the bill demonstrates the critical need in our current economy for individuals to become employed. For once lawmakers are working together to solve problems that ultimately affect us all. It could be a good sign.
The law, known as “the collateral sanctions reform law,” will allow boards that grant occupational and professional licenses to loosen restrictions that ban ex-offenders from holding licenses on those who receive certification from the court. It primarily targets non-violent offenders that haven’t committed additional crimes. The law was passed in June and went into effect September 26th.
State Senator Shirley Smith, Democrat from Cleveland, is the pioneering force behind the reforms. Motivating her 13 year effort were the pleas of many of her constituents, who “complained it was unfair that they were being blocked from holding a job because of what was usually a non-violent drug offense, often committed decades earlier when they were barely in their 20s.” Over the years, Smith persuaded law makers to see the “unintended consequences of the War on Drugs,” pointing out that in many cases, the only victims are the families of those who can’t get jobs due to convictions in the past. “They want to become tax-paying citizens. They want to take care of their families,” Smith told The Plain Dealer.
Surprisingly to Smith, the bill won the support of Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich and was not opposed by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. According to Stephen Johnson Grove, deputy director at the Ohio Justice & Policy Center in Cincinnati, which helped draft the bill, “1.9 million Ohioans have a misdemeanor or felony record. That’s a huge section of our available workforce.” It has been observed that recidivism rates plummet when ex-offenders get jobs. Jill Rizika, executive director of Toward Employment, a job-training organization that works with ex-offenders and low-income workers that supported the bill, points out that “less than 5 percent of graduates end up back in prison.”
Other provisions in the bill allow for reduced child support payments for felons (who often have to work for less money) and limited driving privileges for those with license suspensions unrelated to driving violations.
The article is a good demonstration of how social mobility and the criminal justice system are interrelated. In Chapter 8, Henslin discussed the criminal justice system. A main principle of that chapter is the gross inconsistencies that exist within that system. Throughout the text, it has often been pointed out that those convicted of crimes do not accurately reflect those who commit crimes. Conflict theory views the criminal justice system as a tool of the powerful used to “protect its position of power and privilege,” (Henslin, 11th edition, 205).
Jump to the next chapter in Henslin’s text and we see an example of social stratification at work in the article. Social stratification is defined as “the division of large numbers of people into layers according to their relative property, power, and prestige,” (Henslin, 11th edition, 220). Taking into consideration the conflict theory view of the criminal justice system as well as what we know about the inconsistencies of who actually ends up in that system, it begins to become clear how the system of stratification is maintained in part through the criminal justice system.
At the heart of the article is the social mobility of ex-offenders. In a time of recession, when employment is hard enough to come by for anyone looking for work, any and all factors that may jeopardize individuals’ eligibility for employment is going to be especially detrimental. The surprising cooperation between the political parties in the polarized political environment of recent years to pass the bill demonstrates the critical need in our current economy for individuals to become employed. For once lawmakers are working together to solve problems that ultimately affect us all. It could be a good sign.
Work Cited:
“Collateral Sanctions reform law will make it easier for job seekers with felony records to get hired | cleveland.com." Cleveland OH Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - cleveland.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/10/collateral_sanctions_reform_la.html
MLA formatting by BibMe.org
“Collateral Sanctions reform law will make it easier for job seekers with felony records to get hired | cleveland.com." Cleveland OH Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - cleveland.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/10/collateral_sanctions_reform_la.html
MLA formatting by BibMe.org
The J.P. Morgan Jam
November 19, 2012
November 19, 2012
Trouble is in the forecast for what appears to be the foreseeable future for our nation’s largest bank as is evident in an article in The Wall Street Journal from Friday
In the next development of a series of legal challenges, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is expected to issue a cease-and-desist order to JP Morgan Chase & Co. for alleged weaknesses in the bank’s antimoney-laundering system.
According to people close to the situation, the anticipated action is part of a broader crackdown on the nation’s largest banks. It is expected that The OCC will require the bank to be more aggressive in its antimoney-laundering procedures and examine past transactions.
The order would be the latest legal challenge for the bank, already facing scrutiny on several fronts. Currently, the bank is being examined by regulators and investigators for a trading fiasco within the company’s Chief Investment Office, manipulation of energy markets in California, and how its Bear Stearns unit packaged and sold home loans before the financial crisis.
Apparently, there has been a peak in interest among law-enforcement, legislators, and regulators in confronting money laundering. Recent months have yielded prominent cases brought against banks by state and federal officials, including Standard Chartered PLC and HSBC Holdings PLC.
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks are required to report any suspicious activity on cash transactions over $10,000. They also must have elaborate systems in place to detect criminal activity within their networks. Failure to comply can result in penalties and prosecution.
The aggressive posturing of The OCC is seen by some within the industry as an attempt to counter perceptions that it has become too lax with banks and as a maneuver to assert itself in the shadow of the year-old Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has garnered much publicity for enforcement actions against banks. In April, The OCC, part of the Treasury Department, ordered Citigroup to improve antimoney-laundering procedures and enhance internal audits, though no fines were issued. It is likely that the actions against J.P. Morgan will mirror the actions against Citigroup.
The unfolding scenario at J.P. Morgan is a fairly straightforward example of state capitalism at work. As usual, there are several sociological concepts that factor into the equation, not the least of which is the transformation of the medium of exchange. As societies progress, means of valuing and exchanging goods and services evolve. In the modern world, as we rapidly adapt to the age of information, it is critical that our banking system can keep up with the pace of technological developments. So too is it necessary for the regulatory systems designed to ensure fair practices by our financial institutions to stay on pace with technology. As we have seen in recent history, it is absolutely critical for the financial sector to be regulated judiciously and monitored carefully to ensure fairness and maintain a balance within society. Although the actions of The OCC and other regulatory bodies were too-little, too-late to avoid the meltdown we are still struggling to recover from, they are steps to avoiding similar events in the future.
Work Cited:
Fitzpatrick, Dan and Sidel, Robin, “New J.P. Morgan Jam,” The Wall Street Journl. vol. CCLX no 117, 16 November 2012, p. c1, c2.
In the next development of a series of legal challenges, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is expected to issue a cease-and-desist order to JP Morgan Chase & Co. for alleged weaknesses in the bank’s antimoney-laundering system.
According to people close to the situation, the anticipated action is part of a broader crackdown on the nation’s largest banks. It is expected that The OCC will require the bank to be more aggressive in its antimoney-laundering procedures and examine past transactions.
The order would be the latest legal challenge for the bank, already facing scrutiny on several fronts. Currently, the bank is being examined by regulators and investigators for a trading fiasco within the company’s Chief Investment Office, manipulation of energy markets in California, and how its Bear Stearns unit packaged and sold home loans before the financial crisis.
Apparently, there has been a peak in interest among law-enforcement, legislators, and regulators in confronting money laundering. Recent months have yielded prominent cases brought against banks by state and federal officials, including Standard Chartered PLC and HSBC Holdings PLC.
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks are required to report any suspicious activity on cash transactions over $10,000. They also must have elaborate systems in place to detect criminal activity within their networks. Failure to comply can result in penalties and prosecution.
The aggressive posturing of The OCC is seen by some within the industry as an attempt to counter perceptions that it has become too lax with banks and as a maneuver to assert itself in the shadow of the year-old Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has garnered much publicity for enforcement actions against banks. In April, The OCC, part of the Treasury Department, ordered Citigroup to improve antimoney-laundering procedures and enhance internal audits, though no fines were issued. It is likely that the actions against J.P. Morgan will mirror the actions against Citigroup.
The unfolding scenario at J.P. Morgan is a fairly straightforward example of state capitalism at work. As usual, there are several sociological concepts that factor into the equation, not the least of which is the transformation of the medium of exchange. As societies progress, means of valuing and exchanging goods and services evolve. In the modern world, as we rapidly adapt to the age of information, it is critical that our banking system can keep up with the pace of technological developments. So too is it necessary for the regulatory systems designed to ensure fair practices by our financial institutions to stay on pace with technology. As we have seen in recent history, it is absolutely critical for the financial sector to be regulated judiciously and monitored carefully to ensure fairness and maintain a balance within society. Although the actions of The OCC and other regulatory bodies were too-little, too-late to avoid the meltdown we are still struggling to recover from, they are steps to avoiding similar events in the future.
Work Cited:
Fitzpatrick, Dan and Sidel, Robin, “New J.P. Morgan Jam,” The Wall Street Journl. vol. CCLX no 117, 16 November 2012, p. c1, c2.
Evolver Social Movement
December 12, 2012
December 12, 2012
I considered several topics for our final installment of the Sociology Today series. As I perused the final chapters of text, various subjects came to mind. I first resolved to write about mycologist Paul Stamets and his efforts to preserve the Old Growth forests of the Northwest in order to protect an endangered species of mushroom, Agarikon, which is showing promising medicinal potential as an anti-tuberal and anti-microbial. Stamets’s work with mycological species is fundamentally groundbreaking in both medical and environmental fields and I would encourage anyone who is unfamiliar with him to look into it. A quick Google search yields a multitude of results. The website for Fungi Perfecti, Stamets’s family run company, can be found at fungi.com.
I next thought it might be more fitting to write about anthropologist Wade Davis for the purposes of this assignment. Davis has worked with indigenous cultures the world over in efforts to both preserve these ancient cultures and glean the valuable knowledge these wise groups possess. I first learned of his work when a friend informed me that a movie of which I am particularly fond, Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow, is based on actual events. I was dumbfounded when I learned this; the movie is about the journey of a young pharmaceutical student at Harvard into the Voodoo culture of Haiti to investigate documented cases of human zombies and uncover the source of these mysterious medical anomalies- fantastical stuff to say the least! Never had I imagined the movie had a basis in reality. Sure enough when I looked into it, I discovered Wade’s original autobiographical account (of the same title as the film) of his travails into Haiti and subsequent quest to return to Harvard with a genuine sample of zombie powder. The Serpent and the Rainbow represents Davis’s rise to acclaim and the body of work that’s followed has been impressive to say the least. I’m sure his work would picque the curiosity of just about anyone with an interest in the social sciences.
Finally it occurred to me that all of my inspirations for the subject matter of this assignment (and much, much more) fall under one roof, the Evolver Social Movement. Evolver is the brainchild of writer Daniel Pinchbeck, author of (among other titles) 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, which can be thought of as the cornerstone of Evolver. The prodigiously written autobiography chronicles the author’s account of his investigation of the Mayan calendar, which takes him on something of a mystical odyssey into the recesses of a South American rainforest. With a background in journalism, Pinchbeck examines the thrust of civilization in the context of ancient prophecy. The result is a convincing testament to the validity of a doomsday scenario given the precarious balance of the natural world brought about by The Anthropocene. It was through this lens that Pinchbeck conceived of Evolver. The goal of the growing, worldwide, interactive social network is to connect individuals and groups inspired to participate in cultural transformation. They claim to now reach 80 million people. Both of the aforementioned individuals have been featured in webinars hosted by the group, along with a litany of other cultural heavyweights. Evolver holds a multitude of online forums as well as events all over the country and around the world. To find out more you can find them on Facebook or visit their website, evolver.net.
I next thought it might be more fitting to write about anthropologist Wade Davis for the purposes of this assignment. Davis has worked with indigenous cultures the world over in efforts to both preserve these ancient cultures and glean the valuable knowledge these wise groups possess. I first learned of his work when a friend informed me that a movie of which I am particularly fond, Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow, is based on actual events. I was dumbfounded when I learned this; the movie is about the journey of a young pharmaceutical student at Harvard into the Voodoo culture of Haiti to investigate documented cases of human zombies and uncover the source of these mysterious medical anomalies- fantastical stuff to say the least! Never had I imagined the movie had a basis in reality. Sure enough when I looked into it, I discovered Wade’s original autobiographical account (of the same title as the film) of his travails into Haiti and subsequent quest to return to Harvard with a genuine sample of zombie powder. The Serpent and the Rainbow represents Davis’s rise to acclaim and the body of work that’s followed has been impressive to say the least. I’m sure his work would picque the curiosity of just about anyone with an interest in the social sciences.
Finally it occurred to me that all of my inspirations for the subject matter of this assignment (and much, much more) fall under one roof, the Evolver Social Movement. Evolver is the brainchild of writer Daniel Pinchbeck, author of (among other titles) 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, which can be thought of as the cornerstone of Evolver. The prodigiously written autobiography chronicles the author’s account of his investigation of the Mayan calendar, which takes him on something of a mystical odyssey into the recesses of a South American rainforest. With a background in journalism, Pinchbeck examines the thrust of civilization in the context of ancient prophecy. The result is a convincing testament to the validity of a doomsday scenario given the precarious balance of the natural world brought about by The Anthropocene. It was through this lens that Pinchbeck conceived of Evolver. The goal of the growing, worldwide, interactive social network is to connect individuals and groups inspired to participate in cultural transformation. They claim to now reach 80 million people. Both of the aforementioned individuals have been featured in webinars hosted by the group, along with a litany of other cultural heavyweights. Evolver holds a multitude of online forums as well as events all over the country and around the world. To find out more you can find them on Facebook or visit their website, evolver.net.