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Have the bullies met their match? You will soon find out in New York state. Earlier this year, a few groups challenged the teacher-tenure laws of California. They argued that tenure laws violate the civil rights of students — because they protect many incompetent teachers. The argument is that kids are damaged by the incompetence […]
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Have the bullies met their match? You will soon find out in New York state.
Earlier this year, a few groups challenged the teacher-tenure laws of California. They argued that tenure laws violate the civil rights of students — because they protect many incompetent teachers. The argument is that kids are damaged by the incompetence that is protected.
A Los Angeles judge ruled for the students and against California’s tenure laws, and against the teachers’ unions.
The New York City Parents Union has filed a similar lawsuit — to overturn New York tenure laws similar to California’s. [Editor’s note:Less than a month after that suit, the Partnership for Educational Justice, a group of families led by former TV news anchor Campbell Brown, also filed a legal challenge against New York state’s teacher-tenure laws.]
In California, billionaire David Welch contributed $3 million to the legal effort there. His advocacy group hired pit-bull attorneys to argue against teacher-union lawyers.
Welch has now said his group would fund and coordinate the New York City Parents Union’s suit. And thus, the battle is joined.
The unions’ first response was to attack wealth. One union president said New York City is used to meddling billionaires trying to destroy public education. He was referring to former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Bloomy pushed charter schools big time. Charters that employ non-union teachers.
The union leader claimed that “…New York parents realize due process helps teachers defend their students’ interests.”
He has to know he speaks rubbish. His union bought the support of the city’s new mayor with mega-buck contributions. When Mayor Bill de Blasio moved against charter schools, the roof fell in. Parents roared. He has since backed off.
Let us imagine that the New York legal challenge succeeds. If it does, we could witness the end of the old tenure system. More importantly, we could see the end of incompetent teachers hanging on like leeches. We could see the handcuffs come off administrators and school boards.
The unions deserve this. They have been hard-headed on the issue. They have rejected compromise. They have knowingly protected some horrible teachers for years. They have forced school systems to create “rubber rooms.” Principals send the worst of the worst to these rooms. To do nothing. While taxpayers have to keep paying their salaries.
If the lawsuits succeed, the unions will change their tactics. That is my guess. They will offer compromises. They will try to negotiate changes. Changes that still protect good teachers. But make it easier to boot the worst. Call it “tenure light.”
Meanwhile, the tactic of citing billionaire-meddling will fail. It will fail because parents can see through it. They know the tenure system stinks. They know many teachers don’t support what the unions advocate. Many teachers don’t like being forced to pay high dues. Many don’t like their dues ending up in coffers of corrupt politicians.
Many taxpayers will feel the meddling by billionaires levels the playing field. If groups of parents challenge tenure laws they cannot afford much of a challenge. Teacher unions spend fortunes fighting them. That is why I called them bullies at the start of this column. They use the millions from dues to try to steamroll any groups that oppose tenure laws.
It could not be more clear that the unions have ignored the needs of children. Especially kids in lousy inner-city schools. It is clear the unions have ignored the wishes of many teachers.
The unions’ first concerns are salaries. And tenure. And as much control over education policies as they can get. To achieve these goals they grease the palms of politicians. They threaten to try to oust any politician who steps out of line.
Against this power, our kids deserve to have someone in their corner. Taxpayers who feel current tenure laws are rotten deserve the same.
At the moment, it looks as if David Welch and his lawyers have moved into that corner. Round one is coming up.
From Tom…as in Morgan.
Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows and TV show. For more information about him, visit his website at www.tomasinmorgan.com
Take Charge of Your Internal Communications
In any organization — whether you are a CNY Top 100 corporation or a much smaller business — employees should be your number-one audience. The most successful organizations are those with engaged employees who are involved in frequent two-way dialogues with leadership throughout the organization. These top-performing companies give employees the chance to provide their
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In any organization — whether you are a CNY Top 100 corporation or a much smaller business — employees should be your number-one audience. The most successful organizations are those with engaged employees who are involved in frequent two-way dialogues with leadership throughout the organization. These top-performing companies give employees the chance to provide their own feedback and ideas.
Good internal communications will not only make your organization stronger, but it will also come in handy if any changes or crises come along. Employees need to be the first ones informed of any change in the company — before your external audiences. You never want your employees to find out that there will be big changes at work by watching the evening news or hearing it second-hand from people from the outside.
When you communicate with employees first, the support of an internal community can help to keep your organization’s reputation on track. Employees’ engagement directly affects company morale, productivity, and also customer experience.
More importantly, internal communications needs a strategy of its own. It should be more than a simple plan of tactical message deliveries about business activities. This needs to be tied in with your business goals.
Ask yourself how well your employees understand the business strategy and how connected they are to the organization. Who do your employees influence when they are in and outside of the office? They likely have much more of an impact on your company’s message and reputation than you are aware of or believe.
Once you develop an internal communications strategy, you can then improve the answers to these questions. Your organization’s reputation depends so much on user experience, impacted by their direct communication with your employees.
Take charge of your internal communications, and mobilize the army inside your organization.
Are you being heard?
Crystal (Smith) DeStefano is the president and director of public relations at Strategic Communications, LLC, which says it provides trusted counsel for public relations, including media relations, employee relations, and community relations. Contact DeStefano at Crystal@stratcomllc.com
Spotlighting Central New York’s Top 100 Corporations
In this week’s Central New York Business Journal, we feature and list the Top 100 Corporations, ranked by the total number of Central New York employees. As a shortened, spin-off version of past years’ Business Journal 500, this special publication focuses on the largest private-sector corporations in our 16-county region. Collectively, these 101 businesses (it’s
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In this week’s Central New York Business Journal, we feature and list the Top 100 Corporations, ranked by the total number of Central New York employees. As a shortened, spin-off version of past years’ Business Journal 500, this special publication focuses on the largest private-sector corporations in our 16-county region. Collectively, these 101 businesses (it’s 101 companies due to ties) employ nearly 6 million people worldwide, including about 97,000 in CNY alone.
The Top 100 Corporations report includes all employees working and offices located in Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, St. Lawrence, Seneca, Tioga, and Tompkins counties. Of those in the Top 100, about 40 of the companies are headquartered in CNY. Look for the [SYMBOL] that indicates which ones are homegrown. About half of the companies on the list are publically traded, while the other half are privately held.
Much time and effort go into compiling the data that you see in this special publication. It’s not a quick, easy task. To identify the companies that rank among the Top 100, the research department conducts a thorough analysis of available data. Though the list is primarily based on data from surveys the companies completed and submitted to The Business Journal, we also gathered information from local chambers of commerce, industrial-development agencies, and other news sources, when necessary.
The methodology is designed to make a fair comparison among companies operating in a wide range of industries across the region. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the data in this publication.
Additionally, this list includes several companies that have never appeared on any previous Top Ranks lists or in the Business Journal 500, making it a more comprehensive snapshot of the region’s employers and indeed, its economy. On the following pages, you’ll also find brief write-ups on some of the news the Top 100 companies have been making, as compiled by the editorial staff.
Many thanks to the local companies and organizations for supporting and providing the information for this publication. I hope you will find this new Top 100 Corporations special publication to be a valuable resource.
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BJNN 100 #1
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
CNY employees: 5,497
Wegmans was recently named one of “America’s Best Companies to Work for” by the online financial news and opinion website, 24/7 Wall Street. The Rochester–based supermarket chain, with 84 stores across six states, ranked number 46 in the nation. 24/7 Wall Street identified the top 75 companies to work for in the U.S., based on company ratings provided by current and former employees to the website Glassdoor.com.
“Wegmans has a long history of taking a unique approach to supermarket retail. The company has been repeatedly honored for hiring workers with disabilities. Additionally, Wegmans operates a culinary innovation center where chefs conduct research and development for the grocer. Employees, too, clearly endorse the company’s strategies, with 89 percent approving of CEO Danny Wegman,” 24/7 Wall Street wrote in its ranking report.
Wegmans operates supermarkets in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. The company will reach its 100th anniversary in 2016.
BJNN 100 #2
Oneida Indian Nation Enterprises
CNY Employees: 4,500
Included among the Oneida Nation’s many business enterprises are the Turning Stone Resort’s three championship golf courses. The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of America has picked Turning Stone to host the 49th PGA Professional National Championship in 2016, 10 years after it first put on the event.
The PGA Professional National Championship is a tournament for golf-club professionals and golf teachers who are members of the PGA of America.
The 312-player championship, previously hosted by Turning Stone Resort in 2006, will be played June 26-29, 2016, according to the PGA. Atunyote Golf Club and the Shenendoah Golf Club are the two resort courses that will be used for the tournament.
“We look forward to showcasing our world-class destination resort and challenging courses for the PGA Professionals who will compete here for the 2016 Championship,” Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation Representative and Nation Enterprises CEO, said in a news release.
BJNN 100 #4 (tie)
Walmart
CNY Employees: 4,000 (BJNN estimate)
The global discount retailer Walmart operates about two dozen stores and a distribution center in our region.
The company formally opened its new Walmart Supercenter in Clay in early June. The new 152,000-square-foot store is situated at 8770 Dell Center Drive, next door to Walmart’s previous smaller store at 2949 Route 31, which was about 115,000 square feet.
The newly relocated store employs about 300 people total, an increase of about 85 jobs over the prior location. The new Walmart is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers a full line of groceries, including organic/natural food, a bakery, and self-serve deli. It also provides pharmacy services.
Holding company Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) says more than 245 million customers and members visit its 11,302 stores under 71 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 10 countries. With fiscal-year 2014 sales exceeding $473 billion, the company employs more than 2 million people worldwide.
BJNN 100 #17 (tie)
Welch Allyn
CNY Employees: 1,300
Welch Allyn, Inc., a global medical-diagnostic-device company headquartered in Skaneateles Falls, in June announced the acquisition of certain assets from PediaVision Holdings, LLC, based in Lake Mary, Fla.
The transaction included the corporate name, customer list, and a new generation of vision-assessment technology marketed under the brand name “SPOT.”
“SPOT is a fast, portable, easy-to-use binocular-vision device designed to screen for refractive error,” says Richard M. Farchione, Welch Allyn’s senior global category manager.
Stephen F. Meyer, Welch Allyn’s president and CEO says, “PediaVision is a good fit for us. It offers Welch Allyn an opportunity to not only expand the company’s current vision-screening technology [such as the SureSight, the Vision Screener, and the Autorefractor] but also to offer our customers a more expanded suite of early detection solutions for health care. We have the global distribution reach to take SPOT to the next level.” Welch Allyn expects to rebrand the product later this year.
BJNN 100 #34 (tie)
ITT Goulds Pumps
CNY Employees: 900
ITT Goulds Pumps, a unit of ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT), on Aug. 4 formally unveiled a new $22 million test and production facility at its corporate campus in Seneca Falls. The expansion project added 75,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 50 new jobs. The facility will fill an increase in market demand for highly engineered pump products used in the oil, gas, and mining industries. ITT Goulds Pumps hired VIP Structures of Syracuse to design and build the structure.
Before completing the test and production center, ITT Goulds Pumps began with an expansion of its research and development facility that wrapped up at the end of 2013. That project added new space to house more engineers at ITT Goulds Pumps. All told, the company’s expansion efforts totaled $27 million.
BJNN 100 #45 (tie)
Community Bank, N.A.
CNY Employees: 700
Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE: CBU), parent of Community Bank, N.A., reported net income of $45.9 million in the first half of 2014, up from $41.4 million in the first six months of 2013. Earnings per share rose almost 9 percent to $1.11 in this year’s first half from $1.02 in the year-ago period.
On July 16, Community Bank System boosted its quarterly cash dividend by 7 percent to 30 cents a share from the 28 cents it paid in each of the four prior quarters. This marks the company’s 22nd consecutive year of increased dividend payouts to shareholders.
The banking company operates more than 190 branches across upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania. With assets of about $7.5 billion, DeWitt–based Community Bank System says it ranks among the nation’s 100 largest financial institutions.
BJNN 100 #71
POMCO Group
CNY Employees: 441
POMCO Group, a Syracuse–based third-party administrator of self-funded health-care and risk-management plans, has added 65 new employees at its corporate headquarters as it administers a new plan offered through the Affordable Care Act.
The employee growth is to accommodate the “continual rapid growth of the company’s plan membership” due to the impact of Health Republic Insurance of New York (HRINY), the Affordable Care Act’s consumer operated and oriented plan (CO-OP), according to POMCO.
CO-OPs are private, member-governed, health-insurance companies that are forming nationwide as part of the Affordable Care Act.
The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services used $174 million in no-interest and low-interest loans to launch the New York CO-OP. The Brooklyn–based Freelancers Union, a national nonprofit organization that serves independent workers and has 170,000 members, is sponsoring the CO-OP.
Freelancers Union was also responsible for choosing POMCO to administer the CO-OP’s benefits.
HRINY is one of 23 CO-OPs nationally and offers health benefits for both individuals and small businesses, POMCO said.
POMCO Group partnered with HRINY at the start of 2014 to serve as its claims administrator, customer-service call center, and medical-management provider. POMCO’s partnership with HRINY is the “largest factor” behind the firm’s need to recruit additional people, the firm said.
POMCO, headquartered at 2425 James St. in the Eastwood section of Syracuse, has hired more than 150 new employees since the beginning of 2013.
BJNN 100 #82 (tie)
First Niagara Financial Group
CNY Employees: 400
First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) generated substantial loan growth in the second quarter across its various product lines and markets, the banking company reported on July 25.
The Buffalo–based parent company of First Niagara Bank N.A. said average total loans increased 7 percent annualized in the second quarter from the first quarter, driven by continued growth in the company’s commercial lending, indirect auto, and home-equity portfolios, its earnings report stated.
Average commercial loans, which include commercial business and commercial real-estate loans, increased to $13.5 billion in the latest quarter, up 8 percent annualized from the previous quarter.
First Niagara is the fourth largest bank in the 16-county Central New York market ranked by deposit market share.
First Niagara says it is a multi-state community-oriented bank with about 410 branches, $39 billion in assets, $27 billion in deposits, and 5,900 employees serving New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
BJNN 100 #92
KeyBank
CNY Employees: 375
KeyBank is the second largest bank in the 16-county Central New York market ranked by deposit market share, with more than a 10 percent share of total deposits, according to the latest FDIC data available.
The bank’s holding company KeyCorp. (NYSE: KEY) recently reported that net income from continuing operations totaled $474 million, or 53 cents a share, in the first half of 2014. That’s up from $389 million, or 42 cents per share, in the first six months of 2013.
Contact Collins at ncollins@cnybj.com
Cushman Wakefield / Pyramid Brokerage Company announced that David Marnell, Jr. has joined its Syracuse office as a commercial real-estate agent. He was previously with Marriott
Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS) has promoted Chris Coville to research analyst. He has worked for RMS since 2010 as a senior research associate.
McIntosh Box and Pallet Co., Inc. has promoted Adam Davis to vice president. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Penn State University and his MBA
Indium Corp. announced that Brian Reid has joined the company as vice president of operations. He has more than 14 years of international manufacturing experience,
Bousquet Holstein PLLC announced that Natalie P. Hempson has joined the firm as an associate attorney in the Business Transactions and Real Estate practice groups.
Preferred Mutual Insurance Company
Daniel Colone was recently promoted to associate auto physical damage claims representative at Preferred Mutual Insurance Company. Prior to this position, he was a representative trainee
John S. Robertson, M.D., has joined the ACP Washington Mills Medical Office. Prior to joining ACP, he was a family physician/department head for the David
Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.