1997_12 The Daily Collegian December 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Monday, December 1,1997
Opinion
Telephone: (209) 278-5732
Part-time work an
issue for millenium
By Michael Moses and Praveen Nayyar	
Early in the next millennium,
part-time work will likely be the
norm in the United States rather
than the exception. If properly
planned, part-time employment can
be a win-win proposition for both
employers and employees.
About 20 percent of today's*
workers hold a part-time job, but
trends will cause that share to in¬
crease for both white-collar and
blue-collar employment. There are
several reasons for the shift, includ¬
ing continued growth in the service
component of our economy.   ,
Meanwhile, demand patterns
will remain highly individual and
variable, the pressures of world¬
wide competition will increase and
Americans will continue to demand
individual lifestyle choices.
Lastly, government efforts to
reduce unemployment around the
world will encourage part- time
work.
Understanding and adjusting to
this phenomenon will be crucial in
the first quarter of the upcoming
century. Decisions on this issue
could well mean the difference be¬
tween a happy and unhappy popu¬
lous.'"""   \ s~^
The United States has moved
and is continuing to move to a ser¬
vice economy. This trend almost
certainly will not change.
A defining difference between
service and manufacturing is the
inability of a service organization
to inventory the act of service.
If the demands at New York's
George Washington Bridge or the
San Francisco Bay Bridge were
constant over the course of a day,
there would be a need for only one
deck. However, commuters cannot
be inventoried like air conditioners.
Second decks and additional toll-
takers are needed to handle peak
traffic.
Responding to peaks in a service
business requires additional capac¬
ity in some form.
This capacity can be capital,
such as extra lanes on a bridge, or
human, such as adding early morn¬
ing sorters at United Parcel Service
(one of the issues in the recent
strike).
Peaks can also be seasonal. Tax
preparation, crop harvesting and
holiday travel are obvious ex¬
amples.
Store-front tax offices like those
run by H&R Block utilize part-
time, free-lance accountants. Mi¬
grant workers historically have sat¬
isfied farm requirements.
Companies providing holiday
travel try to level demand by price,
mechanisms but, unfortunately this
is a far from perfect solution.
Going to grandma's for Thanks¬
giving is close to immutable.
Hiring someone for a full day
when only half a day of work is re¬
quired raises costs substantially and
contributes to inflation. It leads to
noncompeti ti veness not just domes¬
tically but in the new globalized
markets.
Featherbedding played a major
role in throttling the railroad sys¬
tem in this country. In a global mar¬
ketplace, it will prove equally fatal
to any organization.
Computer hardware and soft¬
ware companies handle the major¬
ity of their customer questions be¬
tween 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. But
glitches, as many of us know from
personal experience, have little re¬
spect for the hours designated even
by titans' such as Microsoft and
IBM.
The alternative to part-time do¬
mestic employment is to hire full-
time employees at substantially
lower wages in nations an appro¬
priate number of time zones away.
This explains why some com¬
puter companies havr more brogues
at the end of technical support
phone lines than can be heard in an
Irish pub on St Patrick's Day.
Companies employing offshore
help for off-peak demand may soon
transfer their prime- time work load
Please see WORK, page 4.
School of Agriculture should
be team player with arena
i
Since roughly 30 seconds after
Jerry Tarkanian was hired asVresno
State's men's basketball coach, it
was a foregone conclusion that the
day would come when the athletic
department would announce that an
on-campus arena would be built to
hoyse the new national power¬
house.
With advisory committee meet¬
ings reaching a fervent pace in re¬
cent weeks, it appears that the an¬
nouncement is a matter of weeks,
if not days, away from fruition. And
there is only one piece left that can
complete the dream and ensure that
the athletic facilities at Fresno State
are among the absolute best in the
nation.
By now it appears that all of the
private funds have been secured to
build the arena, but that is not the
final hurdle. It now becomes an is¬
sue of placement, and there is no
better place for the on-campus bas¬
ketball arena than on the northeast
corner of Barstow and Cedar av¬
enues.
That is land currently controlled
by the School of Agriculture. That
has been the one sticking point
throughout the planning phase, get¬
ting the School of Agriculture to
agree to a compromise that would
allow for the arena to be built across
from Bulldog Diamond and caddy-
comered from Bulldog Stadium and
Beiden Field.
Toss in the new tennis stadium
on the corner of Bulldog Lane and
Cedar avenue, and the basketball
arena would place that block among
the most densely populated and
beautiful in the country in terms of
on-campus athletic sites.
The alternate site for the basket¬
ball arena would be near the corner
of Chestnut and Shaw, well-re¬
moved from our other first-rate ath¬
letic buildings. It would be a shame
to see one school within the univer¬
sity prevent what could be a tremen¬
dous source of pride for everyone
on campus and in the community.
It is not often that Fresno State
has the opportunity to regard itself
among the top universities in the
country in any matter, and we hope
that the School of Agriculture un¬
derstands this clearly. Plenty of uni¬
versities have forged their reputa¬
tions through their athletic depart
ments, and it is a mystery why this
university seems to constrict its ath¬
letic department whenever given
the chance.
According to publjshed reports,
the School of Agriculture has been
offered ample compensation for the
parcel of land. No one is discount¬
ing the success of the school or ask¬
ing for it to close down and give up
all of its land. We are just asking
them to be a team player. We are
just asking them to do what is right
for the greater campus community
and set aside selfish reasoning.
We all know that the on-campus
arena is close to being reality and
simply getting out of Selland Arena
is a victory in itself. But once again
we find ourselves on the cusp of
greatness, with only the School of
Agriculture left to thrust us into the
national athletic spotlight for some¬
thing other than a negative reason.
Let's all do our part to make sure
that Bulldog Stadium, Beiden Field.
Please see STADIUM, page 5.
California State University, Fresno
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University, Fresno.
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