Are female employees bumping their heads on a glass ceiling at First Midwest Bank, an Itasca-based banking chain?
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission thinks this could be the case, according to a preliminary decision issued recently.
The EEOC made its determination after investigating a sex discrimination complaint by Eileen Frank of Wilmette, who is vice president/senior lender at the company’s Lake Forest facility.
The agency found “reasonable cause to believe” that First Midwest did not promote Frank because of her sex. She has worked for the firm since 1988, the last three years in her current position.
As well, the EEOC found evidence the company discriminates against female employees as a class when making promotions to senior lending officer positions at larger facilities and to the position of banking center president at any of its 50 facilities in Illinois and eastern Iowa.
The EEOC has asked the parties to try to reach a settlement in a conciliation process. If that fails, the EEOC could file suit.
The EEOC and First Midwest declined to comment on the case.
Organizing: A Wal-Mart store in upstate Wisconsin is the scene of what union organizers hope will be a historic vote this week.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the giant discount retailer based in Bentonville, Ark., is well-known for its opposition to unions. In his autobiography, the late founder, Sam Walton, dismissed unions as unnecessary at the company, which pointedly refers to employees as “associates” to distinguish them from mere hourly wage-earners.
On Friday, however, the 94 hourly employees at Wal-Mart’s store in Merrill, Wis., will vote in an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board on whether to join the United Steelworkers of America.
In Wal-Mart’s 35 years, there have been “a handful” of union elections around the country and none in the Midwest, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday.
“Our associates, every single time, have resoundingly said they don’t need anyone to represent them,” said Betsy Reithemeyer.
The Steelworkers already have one of the more than 2,000 Wal-Marts organized, although not in the United States. At a store in Ontario, labor authorities ordered the company to bargain with the union. Reithemeyer said the company is appealing the ruling.
Career confidence: Given the job eliminations that have rocked the landscape, there is widespread belief that employees are feeling less-than-secure in their positions.
Enter a monthly “career confidence index,” reported for the first time in July by Right Management Consultants of Philadelphia.
A survey of 1,000 full-time employees indicated 93 percent said they were confident of holding their jobs for the next year, and 77 percent felt confident of their ability to advance. Of Midwest respondents, the responses were 96 percent on holding their jobs and 76 percent on advancement.
What gives?
“It is kind of odd,” acknowledged Bill McCusker, index honcho at Right Management. “I suspect if you were to focus on white-collar, middle-management type of people at companies that already have gone through downsizing, you would see a different result.”
Does a feeling of job security translate into loyalty? Not necessarily, according to a new study by Chicago-based Aon Consulting Inc.
Of 2,000 full- and part-time workers, Aon found 80 percent of respondents said they would recommend their firms as the best place to work. Yet 40 percent said they would leave their jobs for only slightly more pay.
