A week or so ago, I interviewed with the AP about the Wal-Mart thing. I'm the editor of a trade publication serving the cleaning industry. The reporter googled and found me.
But I thought the story never made the wire, or at least my part didn't. Turns out, the reporter spelled my name wrong (I'm Stacie-with-an-i-e), which is why I didn't find it on the wire until now.
But I made USA TODAY!
<snip>
The use of outside contractors has proved popular as part of a boom in outsourcing by U.S. companies, say lawyers, labor experts and others familiar with the cleaning industry. Part of the attraction: the arrangement insulates companies from checking work eligibility and the myriad other responsibilities of having workers on their own payrolls.
The Wal-Mart situation "isn't a highly unusual case," said Stacy Whitacre, the editor of Contracting Profits, a cleaning industry trade publication. "The standard is basically that if you do your due diligence in picking a contractor, then it (employee's legal status) is the responsibility of the contractor.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-11-01-illegal-cleaners_x.htm And this quote made the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Contract cleaning firms, meanwhile, face their own set of challenges. Industry estimates of worker turnover range from 50 percent each year to more than 300 percent, said Stacy Whitacre, the editor of Contracting Profits, a cleaning industry trade publication. That means most firms are constantly looking to hire, while offering pay too low to appeal to many American workers, she said.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1067772677211520.xmlSo the reporter didn't go with any of my "unscrupulous, unethical contractors -- who make the decent folks in the industry look bad -- make a buck on the back of those who are in a position where they can't defend themselves" lefty-isms, but at least I didn't come off too bad.
And I just interviewed with an NPR affiliate in Arkansas (KUAR in Little Rock), so any listeners down there, tell me if I sound dumb. (It was a taped, to-be-edited interview.)