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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-03-04, Page 27Times -Advocate, March 4, 1981 Unhappy with Manpower, hunts help himsePage ISA lf By MARY ALDERSON Inside the oiflce door of Easton Trailers, one of those little wooden gag signs hangs on the wall. "We advocate a time -proven incentive program --- those who work, get to keep their jobs," it reads. But after you talk to owner -manager Rod Easton for a while, you realize that the sign is less of a joke•For the past few months, Easton has been looking for someone to take a job, and he'd be glad to let that person keep it. Easton is the proprietor of Easton Trailers on Highway 4 near Centralia. He manufactures 22 different standard trailer models for agriculture and commercial use. They range from huge floats capable of hauling a few large tractors, to small ten foot utility trailers. They will also build special custom trailers. Obituaries ROBERT JOHN NORRIS Robert John Norris, RR 1, Fullarton passed away at St. Marys Memorial Hospital in St. Marys, Friday, February 27 following a brief illness. He was born in Hibbert Township on October 8, 1913, a son of the late Hugh Norris and the former Minnie Dow. On September 12, 1935 he was' married to the former Mona Kathleen Smith. Surviving is son Ivan, RR 2, Staffa; two daughters Mrs. James (Audrey) Bearss, RR 1, Kirkton and Mrs. Ronald (Ruth) Howard, RR 2, Kippen and four sisters Mrs. Arnold (Oriole) Westlake, Zurich, Mrs. Eva Parker, Mrs. Ida Pinder and Mrs. Alden (Helen) Williams all of Mitchell. Also surviving are twelve grandchildren. He was predeceased by one sister Margaret and one brother James. Funeral service at the Lockhart Funeral Home in Mit- chell was held Monday March 2 GEORGE GOSSMAN Suddenly at his late residence, in Dashwood, Saturday, February 28, 1981, George Gossman, husband of the late Lauretta Couser (1969), in his 84th year. Dear father of Melvin (Bud) Gossman, of Port Huron, Michigan (Thelma) Mrs. Harold Pinkston, of Tall, Texas. Dear brother of Mrs. Annie Westlake, Petrolia. Also surviving are four grandchildren and a number of nieces and nephews. Rested at the T. Harry Hoffman & Son Funeral Home, Dashwood, until Tuesday noon, then at the Arthur Smith Funeral Home, 1230 Seventh Street, Port Huron, Michigan where the funeral service will take place on Wednesday, March 4, at 3 p.m. Interment in Lakeside Cemetery, Port Huron. Mr. Gossman served in the U.S.A. army in France 1917-1919 and was the second last member of a family of 15. «✓ 474 0"irks rOy Tre'W 'i'IV MO r 1"�r r411100PgY Business is good, Easton says. But with more em- ployees, it could be better. He is behind 16 units now, and is not taking any new orders until he can get caught up. To get ahead, he needs to hire more help. It should be easy to pick up some qualified welders in these times of unemployment, right? That's what Rod Easton thought when he registered his request with Manpower, in early January. "I always thought Man- power was the first place to go when you're looking for help. You want to take someone off unem- ployment," Easton says. But several weeks went by after he put in his request for welders at the Exeter Manpower office and Easton received no response. He called again, and this time was given three names. "They gave me three names, that was it, bang," Easton says. It was up to him to contact the people. Manpower did not offer to get in touch with the names for him. He called the three people, but none of them wanted jobs. Two were laid off from work, and expected to be called back in the spring. In the meantime, they were quite happy collecting unemployment, Easton explains. The third, he said,was laid off fromGM in London, and wouldn't consider working for less than $11 hour. He too, was collecting unemployment benefits. l 4 r STANDING ON THE CORNER — Taking part in the "Standing on the corner" number in Sunday's Zurich -Grand Bend figure skating carnival were Douglas Finlay, Derick McGee, Kevin Overholt and Cam Rader. Staff photo t IN MEMORY OF TIIosE YOU HOLD DEAR ... lIttsI$ R 1190 -- 1111 H1LEN J 110) — Ilii NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO CHOOSE A QUALITY CEMETERY MEMORIAL • While selection is at its best. • With all sizes, shapes and colours and price ranges in stock • All priced well below current prices • Plus cash discount • Over 240 memorials in stock • Many are one of a kind. • Will be ready for installation as soon as possible in Spring • Each can be custom designed to meet your needs. Now 18 also the time to order Cemetery lettering and Markers. SAVE UP TO X500 May we have the privilege of serving you with your memorial needs PRYDE MONUMENTS 293 MAIN ST., EXETER PHONE 235-0620 1 None of them knew exactly when they'd be going back to work, but they didn't want to take another job in the meantime. "Can you figure it out?" Easton asks, shaking his head. By thistime Easton's nine workers were getting further behind, and he was desperate for help. "Can you understand how hot I was getting?" he asks. Easton says he didn't ask Manpower for anyone with special training. "I didn't need somebody with tickets," he says. He asked for someone - with welding experience, but he was willing to train the person for his needs. He would pay in the $6 range for a starting salary. When he received no further word from Man- power, Easton put a help wanted ad in The Times - Advocate last week. He asked for a welder fitter, who was aggressive am- bitious and willing to learn. He said wages were negotiable with experience, and told people to apply to his office on Highway 4. From the time the paper came out Wednesday morning until Thursday noon, he was deluged with applicants. More than 30 hopefuls came to see him and fill out the form. All were qualified welders, all were unemployed. Most lived in the area, Easton says. "Why didn't Manpower know about these people?" Easton asks. A check with Manpower revealed that the manager had been trans- ferred three weeks ago, and a replacement had not yet been named. Two employees were not able to talk to the press.Theyprovided a name and phone number in the Goderich office but that l' • person was not available. But why weren't these 32 or so unemployed welders not registered at Man- power? Easton speculates that there Is a "stigma or something like that" at- tached to having your name listed at Manpower. He says that some of his employees have said that they don't like to leave their name there because it's"degrading, it's the next thing to welfare." They will go into the office and look at the bulletin boards, but if they don't see anything, they'll leave, they tell Easton. Easton remembers that one man did come from Manpower to apply for work. But he had no experience as a welder and was not qualified for the job. He asked Easton to sign a card saying that he had applied for work, so that he could continue receiving unem- ployment. Easton's dissatisfaction with Manpbwer goes back further than his latest search for employees. Last Sep- tember he wanted to put an addition on his two year old building. His welders could put together the beams for the new addition and he wanted to hire labourers to put them up. He registered his request for labourers with Manpower. "They sent out a few, but they didn't last long," Easton said. By December, when the addition still wasn't complete, Easton was forced to take qualified welders off the manufacturing work, and put them on the job erecting the new addition. Thus they were even further behind in their orders. Easton says he can't un- derstand why he couldn't find unemployed con- struction workers to help with his building. Unfor- Mary's musings BY MARY ALDERSON How do the paint com- panies expect us to decide the whole future of our kitchens with one tiny bit of colour less than an inch square? You decide you're going to paint the cupboards, and you come home from the store with a handful of those little tiny colour samples. You hold them up to the wall paper. the countertop, the flooring. You check them out against the curtains, and even the china. Finally you pick one little tiny spot of colour that is just perfect. Until you come home with the can and start spreading it on the cupboards, that is. Actually, it wasn't time to paint the cupboards. But one thing led to another, and here we were, painting the cupboards before their time. It all started when the hot water tap seized up. That happened one night when the dishwasher was ' hooked up to the tap. We couldn't shut the tap off, and we knew that we couldn't disconnect the dishwasher or we'd have an instant geyser. Anyway. the plumber said we needed a new tap - one of those modern ones with a lever in the middle, rather than the two spearate hot and cold taps. Well. he didn't have to talk too much to con- vince me - I'm all for anything more convenient. So he came one Saturday morning to install the fancy new tap. But unfortunately the new taps just wouldn't fit on the old sink. Once again, I needed little convincing. I never really liked that old white enamel sink anyway. Everytime you poured a few drops of tea down the drain, you had to use a whole can of Comet to take out the stains. It wasn't too long before we had a new stainless steel double sink shining along with the fancy new taps. Well, if that just didn't make the old countertop look terrible. It was such an ugly shade of green and grey anyway. And I think the previous owners didn't believe in cutting boards. Oh, yes. I nearly forget to mention the warps. Quietly, I reminded Vic- tor of that first day when we walked through the house with the real estate agent. After the complete tour, I had said that the only thing in the whole place I didn't like was the kitchen counter- top. After some talking, I con- vinced Victor that if we were ever going to get the new countertop, now was the time to do it, before the new sink was completely install- ed. And of course, we'd have to replace the old arborite on the wall between the upper cupboards and the lower cupboards. There went another weekend - sawing, cutting, measuring. gluing. Soon we had a new countertop (the sink even fit the hole Vic- tor cut!) and a new wall behind it. Well. naturally, that led to the necessity of painting the cupboards. It also led to me purchasing a can of golden - orange coloured paint, which looked great on the little tiny sample. but terrible on the cupboard. Which led to the purchase of a can of green paint, much closer to the ex- isting colour. Anybody wan- na buy a can of golden - orange paint? Well, therewent another weekend. as we painted our way around the kitchen cup- boards. And before we knew it we had painted ourselves right around to the other side of the kitchen to the bar, which is actually a room divider between the kitchen and the living room. We were out of my territory - I had my all new kitchen. But the bar, now that was Victor's territory. And as he was painting the cupboards underneath the bar. he remarked about how shabby the bar top looked. Sure enough. it was stained and streaked. it had seen better days. What could I say? He had gone along with everything on my side of the kitchen. I had to let him have a new bar top. And surprise, surprise, he knew just what he wanted. You see friends of his recently purchased the old bowling alley in Forest They're tearing out the in- terior to make a gym- nasium. You guessed it - a piece of an old bowling lane will soon be our new bar top. Now I've gotta wax the kitchen floor. There's just no other way. AILSA CRAIG REPAIR Farm & Industrial Equipment Repair Welding hydraulic hose general farm supply Ph 293-3502 or come in to see us at 109 Main St. AILSA CRAIG tunately, people won't go off unemployment to take a temporary job, he says. His secretary also has a horror story to tell about Manpower. She says that she was registered with Man- power for secretarial work for several months, and he had contacted Manpower looking for a secretary at the same time. Finally, six months later, they got together. Easton admits that during that time he had a "stam- FLOODED BY APPLICATIONS — Rod Easton of Easton Trailers sorts through 32 job applications he received in a day after placing an ad in the T.A. Prior to that, he had waited about a month for Manpower to come up with a welder. Staff photo pede of students" looking for work, sent by Manpower. But he wanted an ex- perienced secretary, he said. "We've been growing at a steady pace and as long as we've been in operation we've always been looking for help," he says. He can't figure out all the talk about unemployment. Easton moved from a small shop in Crediton to his new premises two years ago. After he received such a good response to his ad- vertisement in the T -A, he called to thank the newspaper. "I don't know why they don't close the Manpower office, and use the money to put ads in the paper," he said. By Friday he had a new employee already on the job as a result of the ad, and was still perusing the applications looking for more workers. Easton said he tried to call MP Murray Cardiff to ex- plain his dissatisfaction with the Manpower office. But he was simply told at the riding office to put his complaints in writing. Oh, yes, his ad has been clipped from The Times - Advocate, and it•hangs on the wall in the Manpower office. Advance poll announced An additional advance poll will be provided for qualified Ontario voters in the 32nd Ontario General Election, Chief Election Officer Roderick Lewis announced yesterday. Provisions have been made for a third advance poll to be held on Thursday. March 12th. This date will be particularly useful to those qualified voters planning to be away on vacation. Aovanc•e polling days are scheduled for Thursday, March 12. Saturday. March 19 and Monday, March 16 for the convenience of voters who expect to be unable to vote on polling day. Advance polling hours are from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Elderly and handicapped voters, es- pecially. may find it easier to vote at the advance polls to take advantage of more accessible locations. RE-ELECT The Man Who Works For.You! t Jack Riddell is a graduate of the University of Guelph, with a B. Sc. in Agriculture. He is a former high school teacher, having taught at Clinton and Exeter. He owns and operates a 200 acre cash -crop farm in Stephen Township. He is married and has a family of five - one son and four daughters. A Liberal member of the Legislature since 1973, he was the Agricultural critic for the Liberal Party in the last session of the Provincial Parliament. VOTE FOR Jack Riddell HURON -MIDDLESEX JACK RIDDELL GIVES ASSURANCE OF: EXPERIENCE 8 years in Queen's Park as a member. MARCH 19th RE- DEDICATION Jock has worked hard to protect our local hospitals and local government. ELECT SERVICE Jack works for "all" in Huron -Middlesex JACK RIDDELL 0 FOR ELECTION INFORMATION OR TO VOLUNTEER AS A WORKER IN THE JACK RIDDELL CAMPAIGN, PLEASE CALL: CLINTON 402-9439, EXETER 233-1445, GODERICH 321.2229, SEAFORTH 527-1712 Published by the Huron Middlesex Provincial Liberal Association YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND: THE JACK RIDDELL "BEEF -ON -A -BUN' 1 THURSDAY, MARCH 12TH - 5 PM TO 8 PM PINE RIDGE CHALET (WEST OF HENSALL, JUST SOUTH OF HWY. NO. 84) ENJOY A PROGRAM OF ENTERTAINMENT BRING THE WHOLE FAMILY AND JOIN JACK RIDDELL IN THIS OLD FASHIONED GET-TOGETHER EVERYONE WELCOME --- EVERYTHING FREE