The Astron Road Show

Ahh...the crisp, cool air, the changing from green to gold or crimson, football: it must be the great month of October. This year, October will be even better since Astron Solutions will be hitting the road, and hitting it hard.

Our first stop in October will be on the 6th and 7th, where Astron will be exhibiting at the 18th Annual SHRM-Atlanta Conference. You can find Director, Client Services, Paul Hart Miller and Marketing Specialist, Stephen A. Lella here, enjoying some warmer weather. The very next week, we see National Director, Michael Maciekowich and Paul Hart Miller at the 2008 Wisconsin SHRM State Conference held from October 15th through 17th in Green Bay. In addition to exhibiting, Mike will also present a concurrent session on Friday morning. Paul and Mike are both looking forward to the Thursday evening event at Lambeau Field!

The very next week, we see Stephen A. Lella and Paul Hart Miller at it again at the 2008 Virginia SHRM State Conference, which will take place on October 22nd through the 24th in Richmond. Exhibiting hours are held on the 22nd and 23rd.

With so much of the country being covered over the course of October, we will definitely see you on the road!

Mythbusters

Myth: Adults [Canadians] are unhappy about their education system and their personal education they received.

Reality: Most Canadian adults are happy with the secondary education system, and quite a few adults think that their secondary education was helpful. Found on http://hr.blr.com/hrstrangebuttrue.aspx?id=78933, 83% of Canadians said their secondary education helped them with their careers. 64% of Canadian adults are happy with their career choices, with percentages in the 90s coming from those in IT, science, or pharmaceutical industries.

However, 41% of Canadians said they would study something completely different given the opportunity. 12% said they flat out picked the wrong career.

So on the whole, most Canadians are indeed happy about their education and Canada’s education system. We’ll be on the lookout to see if a similar study exists for the US education system.

iShuffle

-Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson
-Cool as a Rule by Acoustic Alchemy
-Georgia Peach by Acoustic Alchemy
-As Soon as I Find Out by Big City Rock
-Jambi by Tool
-Good People by Jack Johnson
-The Day That Never Comes by Metallica
-Think About You by Guns N’ Roses
-Sink by Big City Rock
-Another Dimension by Liquid Tension Experiment

Favorite: If I had to choose one song, I’d say my favorite on this list would be The Day That Never Comes. Right now, the new Metallica album is on the top of my list. Sink, Jambi, Another Dimension and Banana Pancakes would be the next favorites, with the rest somewhere down near the bottom.

Least Favorite: On this list, probably Good People, Cool as a Rule; these songs I don’t even know off the top of my head. They are probably songs I put on when I want to fall asleep on the train rides to and from work.

Seen live: I’ve seen Big City Rock live about two years ago, which is actually the only way I ever heard them. I saw Metallica live about three years ago, and it was easily one of the greatest shows ever. I sort of saw Liquid Tension Experiment live – this was a side-project set up by the members of my favorite band Dream Theater. It’s an instrumental version of Dream Theater basically, and at one show they went into all sorts of Liquid Tension Experiment Music, including Another Dimension. The rest I have not seen, yet. I want to see Tool live very badly; I’ve heard nothing but great things.

Although we did not expect Senators John McCain or Barack Obama to change positions on certain topics, we did want to explore if there has been an expansion as to how their campaign promises could be kept. We culled the candidates’ positions from their websites, http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/ and http://www.barackobama.com/issues/.

McCain-Palin

The McCain-Palin ticket still stands by the idea of creating individual personal retirement accounts supplementing other sources of income in retirement. The ticket emphasizes that this should approach should supplement, not substitute, for a well-rounded strategy for retirement income. The ticket is also discussing a tax deduction for companies acquiring new technology to stimulate innovation. Furthermore, the ticket wants to lower health insurance costs through competition. Lastly, McCain would like to see an electronic employment verification system in place that would declare workers eligible for employment.

Obama-Biden

The Obama-Biden ticket supports the Employee Free Choice Act. This would allow employees to have the ability to form unions by card signing, without the inclusion of the employer or the election process currently guaranteed by the Wagner Act. The ticket also wants to amend bankruptcy laws to help stimulate fair pay and stop deductions on pensions. The democratic ticket also supports creating a program that would help undocumented immigrants become properly documented and eligible to work in the United States.

As always, HR representatives need to be able to paint a picture for what could come next for their organizations based on what’s happening on Capitol Hill. Seeing what the candidates offer to solve some of the nation’s problems will allow us to be prepared for what may come, and also to make a sound a decision in the voting booth.

McCain-Palin
	Then	Now
Social Security	• Neutral stance on raising earning cap on Social Security (currently at $102,000). • Supports personal account supplementing: This will allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts which they would manage themselves.	• Supports personal account supplementing: Believes that personal account supplementing should not substitute for actual Social Security.
Employment	• Opposes an increase in the federal minimum wage. • Opposes legislation restricting employers from actively participating in union votes. • Opposes federal non-discrimination law that would outlaw job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. • Wants to establish a permanent tax credit for research and development. • Supports cutting the corporate tax from 35% to 25% and letting companies expense investments in equipment. • In order to encourage investment and economic expansion, a reduction of government regulation of the private sector is endorsed. • Supports tax credits or grants to businesses that offer child care services to employees. • Encourages employers to offer flex-time scheduling, comp-time, and unpaid leave for family emergencies.	• Wants equal pay for everyone. • Still opposes the EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act). • Still wants to establish a permanent tax credit that will equal 10% of wages spent on Research and Development. • Still supports cutting corporate tax to 25%. • Wants to create a First-Year Tax Deduction on new technology expenditures. • Still supports the Family Friendly Workplace Act, which would allow employees to have flexible scheduling and comp-time, versus traditional overtime, when family issues arise. • Supports choice job training assistance to help build skills for better job positions. • Supports a call to commission the Workplace Flexibility and Choice program. This program would bring together a large group of diverse leaders from different realms of the employment industry. The program’s task would be to offer the President assistance in modernizing labor laws and training programs.
Health Care	• Opposes federally mandated universal healthcare. • Opposes requiring American employers to cover a significant portion of the health care costs of their employees. • Supports tax credits to individuals and small businesses to offset the cost of insurance coverage. -$2,500 refundable tax credit for individuals, $5,000 for families -In gaining this tax credit, workers cannot deduct the portion of their workplace health insurance paid by their employers • Supports open health care markets allowing providers to practice nationwide, rather than restricting them regionally, allowing the purchase of health insurance across state lines. • Encourages small businesses to band together to negotiate lower rates with health care providers.	• Wants to improve the quality and cost of health insurance through competition. • Wants to give employees the option of other health insurance besides employer based coverage. -Through a tax credit individuals and families will receive a refund that would be sent immediately to the insurance provider they select. -Remaining funds would be deposited in a Health Savings Account. • Wants to make health insurance portable, allowing the coverage to follow the employee from job to job. • Supports expansion on Health Savings Accounts.
Immigration	• Strongly supports mandating that employers check their workers’ immigration statuses. • Supports immigration reform and legislature allowing willing employers & employees to connect.	• Wants to enact an electronic employee checking system to ensure workers’ status. • Supports creating a program allowing immigrants to work in the United States legally, as well as protect opportunities for Americans to work. • Supports creating a program for the undocumented, allowing them the opportunity to leave or go through proper steps to become legal.

 

Obama-Biden
	Then	Now
Social Security	• Opposes privatization • Supports raising the earnings cap on Social Security, which is currently $102,000. • Supports increasing the maximum amount of earnings covered by Social Security. • Plans include a tax increase for small businesses. • Intends to initiate a payroll tax to keep Social Security capable of meeting financial obligations for the next 100 years.	• Still strongly against privatization. • Does not support changing the retirement age. • Supports tax increase for those making $250,000 or more. -Increase would be 2-4% more. This would eliminate the need to uncap the 12.4% payroll tax rate. • Still intends to initiate a payroll tax that will allow Social Security to continue to meet financial obligations for the next 100 years.
Employment	• Supports creating automatic workplace pension plans. All employers who do not already offer a retirement plan will be required to enroll employees in a direct deposit IRA. -Employees may decline the pension plan. • Supports amending bankruptcy laws to prevent companies from avoiding pension obligations by: -Putting greater importance on promises to workers as debts that companies cannot shed. -Creating laws to prevent cutting workers’ pensions while issuing executive bonuses. -Increasing the amount of unpaid wages and benefits workers can claim in court -Limiting the circumstances under which retiree benefits can be reduced. -Annual detailed pension disclosures for employees to make pension funds more secure. • Plans on creating savings incentives for all workers by matching contributions made by low and middle income Americans. The savings match will be automatically deposited into designated personal accounts. • Supports the Employee Free Choice Act. -This would place strict restrictions on employers dealing with unions. -Employees would have the ability to form unions by card-signing, bypassing the secret ballot election process.	• Still supports an Automatic Workplace Pension. -Would require employers without a retirement plan to automatically enroll employees in an optional Direct-Deposit IRA account. • Supports annual pension plan investment disclosure. • Still supports amending bankruptcy laws to stop companies from avoiding pension obligations. • Supports expanding savings incentives for middle class Americans. -Plan to match 50% of the first $1,000 saved from families that make less than $75,000 into a designated savings account. -80% of these families will be first time savers. • Still supports the Employee Free Choice Act. • Supports passing the Fair Pay Act. -Prevents pay discrimination on women and minorities. -Motivated by the Lily Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. case.
Health Care	• Strongly supports employers covering a significant portion of the health care costs of their employees. • Proposes to initiate universal health care legislation by the end of his first term in office. -Would require employers to share the cost of health insurance coverage. -Employers who do not offer or make a meaningful contribution would be required to contribute a percentage of payroll towards a national plan. Some small businesses may be exempt.	• Wants employers to cover a significant portion of health care costs. • Wants to create a Small Business Tax that would help provide employees with health benefits. • Supports a National Health Insurance Exchange. -Would have private insurance options. -Would help small business and individuals to buy affordable health coverage. • Intends to give tax cuts on premiums for those who need it.
Immigration	• Supports mandating that employers verify immigration status. • Supports temporary guest worker program. • Proposed creating a system to verify employment eligibility.	• Intends to stop employers who hire undocumented immigrants. • Supports a program that will allow undocumented immigrants to pay a fine, learn English, and given an opportunity to become citizens by proper procedures.

In the world of politics, there are rarely clear cut answers and solutions. As seen in the recent $700B economic bailout bill, items unrelated to the bailout worked their way into the bill. While we cannot control everything that happens on Capitol Hill, we can do our best, as interested citizens, concerned voters, and HR professionals, to educate ourselves on the issues at hand. Most importantly, be sure to vote on November 4th in the way that best matches your personal and professional needs.  

Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting? Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues. For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.

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Copyright 2008, Astron Solutions, LLC

ISSN Number 1549-0467