Reader’s Comments 7/20/2010

-from Nancy RE: Treasure Island Union files unfair labor practice charge against Adams & Associates

So true ALL of it, wouldn’t you think that something that is “suppose to be monitored ” by the DOL, it the last place you would see “discrimination”. Well guess again, because in the Job Corps, particularly one’s run by ETR, discrimination is WORSE than ANY where else in the United States. Trumped up, FALSE reviews, Lies about people that “arent’ SLIME BUCKETS, because they are the only one’s that survive there any length of time at all. Falsified documentation. I spoke with a young man name (removed by Job Corps Fraud), who worked at Oneonta. He’s from the United Emerites, and has “dark skin”. Wouldn’t you think he wouldn’t be discriminated against?????? Well guess again, short of calling him every thing but the N word, that is the treatment he said he got working as and ILA at the Job Corps.

-from Josephine RE: Treasure Island

He was probably discriminated against, not because he had “dark skin”, but because he was perceived as an “Arab” and therefore, a terrorist.

-from Edward RE: Treasure Island

Yes it is definitely a disadvantage to be a salaried employee at Iroquois. Some of them work twelve hours a day and come in on weekends and yet are not allowed to take time off when needed
Regarding the performance evaluations, you cannot attain above a “good” rating. It does not matter anyhow because the raises are so miniscule. Most staff will not receive a raise more than 2%. This enables ETR to have money left over to pay the huge quarterly bonuses to upper management. They get rewarded for manipulating the numbers.

-from Nancy RE: Treasure Island

What difference does it make, ISN’t IT still discrimination.

-from a Job Corps Student on Job Corps An Unfailing REcord of Failure

I am currently attending a Job Corps and am very disappointed. I feel it is below standards.

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Comments, Contractors, DOL, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Iriquois Job Corps, Job Corps, Labor unions, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Reader's Comments, Adams and Associates, below standards, DOL, ETR, Iroquois Job Corps, Job Corps discrimination, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Treasure Island Job Corps, unfair labor practice

Treasure Island Job Corps Union files unfair labor practice charge against Roy Adams

Treasure Island Job Corps Workers’ Union, AFT Local 6319 has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Adams and Associates.  Apparently Roy still thinks he’s above the law and doesn’t have to follow rules.

Read the article here:

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Contractors, Employees, Job Corps, Labor unions, Newspaper Reports, Shriver Job Corps Center, Treasure Island Job Corps Center, Adams and Associates, Roy Adams, Shriver Job Corps, Treasure Island Job Corps, Treasure Island Job Corps Workers Union AFT Local 6319, unfair labor practice

Greed never takes a holiday: meet Roy Adams of Adams and Associates of Nevada

I have a lot of catching up to do for reader’s since my car accident and subsequent recovery.  The newest news is that goliath, err… Roy Adams is at it again.  What else is new? It’s said that Greed never takes a holiday and… good ol’ Roy never tires of ways he can batter out more production for less pay from his already overburdened employees.

Hey Roy, just a suggestion, have you ever thought of taking a Management 101 class?  I urge you to go for it (maybe readers of this site might even donate so this cheapest skinflint alive can go tuition free?) In Management 101, also called “Introduction to Management 101”, one learns that happy employees are more productive, companies have lower turnover rates, (thus reducing costs of constantly re-training staff), there is less loss from employee theft  and indifference and IT COSTS ABOUT THE SAME AS ROY’S PUNITIVE, PUNISHING TACTICS DO.

Me thinks Roy is maybe not a Goliath after all, perhaps he is a Neanderthal with his resistance to the Treasure Island Job Corps Workers’ Union Local 6319.

In addition to his lying about the Union, did you know that Neanderthals, like Roy, are thought to have been cannibalistic and  practice ritual de-fleshing?  Also, Neanderthals aren’t that bright.  Sounds like the CEO of Adams and Associates, doesn’t it?

Please read all the stories about Roy’s de-fleshing of the Treasure Island Employees at these links:

More False Statements From Adams

Adams Rejects Proposal for Immediate Raise

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Contractors, Employees, Job Corps, Labor unions, Treasure Island Job Corps Center, (775) 348-0900, Adams and Associates, Adams rejects proposal, de-fleshing, employees, false statements, greed, Introduction to Management, Management 101, neanderthal, punishing, punitive, Roy Adamms, Treasure Island Job Corps Workers Union AFT Local 6319

Strange Bedfellows: Blackwater, Job Corps and the US Government

Read the article from CBS News Investigates:

As reader’s may remember, Blackwater Worldwide was a private security firm under contract to the US to provide security services in Iraq.  This illustrious firm opened fire and killed unarmed non-combatant Iraqi citizens and was subsequently prosecuted by the Justice Department.  The case was dismissed due to a technicality.

This terrible blotch on their performance record does not affect their ability to work for the government. Instead, we the taxpayers have hired them again to provide security services in Afghanistan.  (And, while Federal prosecutors are engaged in an active appeal against the dismissal of the case.)

“Private security firm U.S. Training Center, a business unit of the Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater, now called Xe Services, was awarded the contract Friday, a State Department spokeswoman said Friday night.”  (From CBS News Investigates)

All of us; students and staff from Job Corps centers throughout the US keep wondering why corporations like Education and Training Resources (ETR), Adams and Associates and Management and Training Corporation (MTC) are still awarded contracts even when their past history proves repeated wrongdoing and fraud.  Really simple. It boils down to who provides the most services at the cheapest price.   Using a numbers based method of  performance accounting does not require quality, integrity and fairness. No. These values are not part of a dollar-based equation… it is assumed if you reach the goals, you must have used quality methods to obtain them.  But, we all know how numbers are subject to manipulation and the media is open to propoganda.

What next? Will Blackwater start to bid on Job Corps contracts?  We already have our own Blackwaters in Job Corps, only the names of the corporations are different.

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Fraud, Job Corps, Newspaper Reports, number manipulation, Performance, Adams and Associates, Afghanistan, Blackwater, Education and Training Resources, ETR, Fraud, Iraq, Job Corps, Justive Department, Management and Training Corporation, manipulation, MTC, performance, propoganda, State Department, strange bedfellows, U.S. Training Center, US Government, wrongdoing, Xe Services

Reader’s Comments About Job Corps 6/17/2010

Regarding St. Petersburg Job Corps Center and the forty million dollar question…

-Allison

“Call the Atlanta Job Corps Regional Office to find out why the center is still empty, or better yet, the National Job Corps Director, Edna Primrose. Or maybe the Secretary of Labor.

With Edna Primrose as Director,  just wait and see how many contracts end up going to Adams and Associates.”

Regarding Oneonta and Iroquois Job Corps Centers and Education and Training Resources Corp:

-Josephine

“How is the latest contractor doing at Oneonta?  ETR is the same company that runs Iroquois Job Corps and the Corporate Liaison for Oneonta is the same person who oversaw Iroquois for the last five years – and we know all about the complaints under her watch at Iroquois.

This 2008 article just quotes the same concerns that have been in existence since Oneonta Job Corps opened about thirty yrs ago. Wake up Oneonta, nothing is going to change unless the taxpayer/voters decide to do something about it.

The conservative corporation that runs the center, ETR, will continue to fleece the taxpayers of this country because they can. Conservatives love to criticize “big government”, but they are first in line when it comes to handouts like Job Corps contracts.

They don’t give a damn about the population they serve, just the profits they can generate at taxpayer expense. Pigs at the trough.

We’ve all seen how government oversight and regulation work.  Just look at the mines, oil drilling, Arizona border issues, the big banks, etc. Big business runs this country and buys off our legislators – Job Corps is just another symptom of our society run amuck.”

Filed under: conservative, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Job Corps Centers, Oneonta Job Corps Center, politics, Reader's Comments, St. Petersburg Job Corps, Adams and Associates, Atlanta Job Corps Regional Office, Edna Primrose, Education and Training Resources, ETR, National Job Corps Director, oil drilling, Oneonta Job Corps Center, Readers comments, St. Petersburg Job Corps Center

More Negativity About Adams and Associates: What Else is New?

It seems that Adams and Associates of Nevada can’t keep itself out of the negative news.  For those of us who worked at a Job Corps Center run by the notorious numbers manipulator, Roy Adams, we are not surprised.  Roy presently reigns over twelve Job Corps Centers in the US:  Atterbury, Exeter, Gadsden, Glenmont, Grafton, Indypendence, Joliet, Little Rock, Shriver, Treasure Island, & Woodstock. Now, Roy is ignoring the law again and apparently is refusing to bargain with the Treasure Island Job Corps Workers Union AFT Local 6319.

Roy’s latest gaffe has the union rejecting his May 25, 2010 pay scheme which includes a pay for performance clause based on employees performance evaluation scores.

I’m going to side-track a bit here:  I worked at Shriver Job Corps in Devens, MA, for almost two years.  During those two years I was often required forego my lunch break despite my working a 8.5 hour day which supposedly included a half hour unpaid lunch. (My job was advertised  as a 40 hour per week position).  During those two years I often worked many hours overtime without pay in order to get my job done.  I never succeeded.  Despite my recruiting more employers to sign up to partner with Shriver than any of my predecessors, and having excellent references from previous employers my two performance reviews from Shriver claimed that I barely met expectations.  I believe that the raise I received amounted to 11 cents an hour. The center was also short-staffed and ill-equipped to do one’s job properly.  Staff were routinely threatened and coerced into submitting falsified reports to the Department of Labor in order to inflate performance reports.  And, as recently as early this year Adams and Associates was required to pay restitution amounting to thousands of dollars to hourly workers at Shriver who were also forced to work overtime and through their lunches in violation of Federal Law. Posts from credible sources (read the comments section of this article) who worked in Human Resource Departments from a few Job Corps Centers have made similar claims that employees are given very low scores on their performance reviews in order to increase Adams’ bottom line  and in addition, the HR employees were unwilling parties to requiring employees to falsify their time cards to state they took a lunch when they did  not.

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Atterbury Job Corps, congress, Department of Labor, Employees, Exeter Job Corps, Gadsden Job Corps, Glenmont Job Corps, Grafton Job Corps Center, Indypendence Job Corps, Job Corps, Joliet Job Corps, Labor unions, Little Rock Job Corps, Shriver Job Corps Center, Treasure Island Job Corps, Woodstock Job Crops Center, Adams and Associates, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, Atterbury Job Corps, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Department of Labor, Exeter Job Corps Center, Gadsden Job Corps, Glenmont, Grafton Job Corps, Indyppendence Job Corps Center, Job Corps, Joliet Job Corps, Little Rock Job Corps, Roy Adams, Senator Mark Leno, Shriver Job Corps, Treasure Island Job Corps, Treasure Island Job Corps Workers Union AFT Local 6319, Woodstock Job Corps

Book Review: Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America

If you’re angry about the corporate greed you endured at a Job Corps Center watch out…  this book will make you angrier!

Arianna Huffington’s book Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America is a well-digested distillation of we have read in this blog about our experiences with some Job Corps contractors.

Apparently, corporations are all cut from the same cloth…you will be shocked to find the Job Corps contractor’s familiar methods of corruption slurping among its pages. Certainly this book is proof of a Jungian Archetype for corporations!

With her acerbic wit and literary style Arianna whets the reader’s appetite in her depictions of greed at the top with such chapters as:  Introduction: Twighlight of the Corporate Gods; Pigs on Parade:Power, Perks and Immunity; The Bloodless Coup: The Corporate Takeover of our Democracy… and other tasty morsels.

I’m sure that readers will re-check the pages again and again for mention of the Job Corps contractors with which we are most  familiar: Adams and Associates; Education and Training Resources; and Management and Training Corporation (to name a few.) Alas, you won’t find these particular Job Corps entities identified by their names, but you will recognize them, by their genetic relationship to the ones in the book.  This is a “must read.”

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Books, Education and Training Resources (ETR), Management and Training Corporation, Pigs at the Trough... by Arianna Huffington, Adams and Associates, Amazon.com, Arianna Huffington, book review, Education and Training Resources, Job Corps, Management and Training Corporation

Topix and 760 responses to Job Corps Expels Four Students

For some very interesting reading please visit Topix to read the 760 responses readers had to the story, “Job Corps Expels Four Students…”

Some excerpts:

“The program is a cesspool of business arrangements between Dept of Labor and private companies. I am involved with 2 in Maryland. At Woodland and Woodstock. The vendor who operates both is Adams and Associates. I have uncovered so much corruption, crime and coverup its unbelievable.”

“I do not want to list the outrageous negative things going on at Woodland for fear of being found out and getting fired. Fear is the operative word here. George Bush could get lessons from Woodland management in how to keep people fearful.”

The 760 comments contain negative responses for Job Corps and also some praises. What makes the reading so interesting is the remarks from employees who work at Job Corps centers, it appears that only a few “insiders” sing praises of the inner workings of their Job corps center, most of the rest talk about corruption and greed.

It makes sense to me that students would not be afforded the opportunity to know what was happening behind closed doors at OMS meetings or Retention meetings where the numbers are manipulated and skewed.  Thus, their experiences might have been different from staff experiences.

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Contractors, Job Corps, Job Corps Centers, Newspaper Reports, number manipulation, Woodland Job Corps Center, Woodstock Job Crops Center, Adams and Associates, corruption, greed, Topix, U.S. Department of Labor, Woodland Job Corps Center

Job Corps and National Labor Unions (Part Two)

First of all, let me explain my position on unions.  They have an important place in our society (and history).  Without unions, the American worker would not have the decent working places or benefits it has today.  In fact, history is rife with examples of the power of trade unions to affect changes in workplace laws that have resulted in better work conditions for all, not just union members.

I also know that there can be problems with unions. As history has also shown, there have been records of corruption and racketeering within its ranks. My personal position is more of a balanced one. I am neither vehemently pro-union or anti-union.  But, as with all organizations, there is the good and the bad.

I have worked in places that were union- run and non union- run for about 45 years.   I have also had the opportunity to work as a “non-union” person alongside union workers (Job Corps). So, I also  have the personal basis for comparison, from my own experience and  from having  a knowledge of history and events that have taken place in my short lifetime of about 60 years.

Filed under: Adams and Associates, Contractors, Job Corps, Labor unions, Adams and Associates, Department of Education, Job Corps trade unions, Job Corps trades instructors, paint students, Shriver, TCU, tradesmen, Transportation Communications Union