Work load

Chicago Journal

Protestors out again over UIC medical center actions

By JACOB WHEELER
Contributing Reporter

Customer service employees at the University of Illinois-Chicago Medical Center picketed their employer last Friday, protesting a management demand that the workers increase the number of patients they register per hour.

In late February, management upped the quota from five to eight to match what UIC considers national productivity standards.

"We're hoping to increase the productivity level because we currently fall below national standards," said Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez, associate director at the UIC Office of Public Affairs. "That's not something we feel is inappropriate."

But Regina Russell, a 47-year-old customer service representative, thinks eight an hour is too high.

"That may be the going rate for the industry, but other [medical registration] people may not do as much work as we do [per patient]," said Russell, who has worked at UIC for 11 years. "We have to call every hospital, every insurance company and make calls for referrals."

Russell and other customer service reps claim that they'll make more mistakes if they try to speed up a sometimes slow and arduous process to complete one patient registration every seven-and-a-half minutes.

"Patients' bills might not get paid correctly because we're in a hurry," she said. "We might write the wrong address or the wrong insurance information, or make the wrong referral. It's not good for the patient to get the bill when they're not supposed to."

Though UIC has officially instituted eight registrations per hour as a "goal," 52-year-old customer service representative Ernest Yates fears there will be repercussions for anyone falling short of the target.

"They say no one will be penalized, but we know that eventually something will happen," said Yates, an eight-year employee at the medical center. "They'll want to sit with you to see why you're not reaching a certain amount, and that creates a pressure situation."

The workers are organized with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73. Joe Iosbaker, a member of the union's executive board, worried that the quota increase will eventually lead to job cuts, though he has no concrete information to support his claims, and UIC hasn't announced any such layoffs.

"As near as we can tell, their impetus for doing this is because they think they can push this and push that, and do the same amount of work with 50 people," down from the 70 currently employed, Iosbaker said. "Just think about it. Seventy people are doing five registrations an hour, or 350 total an hour. If you can get 50 people to do seven registrations an hour, what are you going to do with the other 20? It's not like there will be 30 percent more patients coming here anytime soon.

Iosbaker worried about the health of the customer service employees whose workload has nearly doubled overnight. Many, he claims, already suffer from repetitive motion injuries. And registering a new patient every seven and a half minutes would give them no time to rest their hands. Regina Russell, for one, has already undergone surgery for Carpal Tunnel syndrome, and she may need it again.

About 30 customer service representatives attended last week's rally, held during lunchtime near their building at Damen and Ogden. Other UIC workers driving everything from recycling trucks to police cars occasionally drove circles around the picketing employees and honked in solidarity.

Public Affairs Assistant Director McGinnis Gonzalez said the medical center treats its employees well.

"We pride ourselves on taking our employees very seriously and taking patient care very seriously," says McGinnis Gonzalez, who watched the rally from the sidelines. "We have quality patient care at the forefront of our minds."

The picket was the second time this spring medical center actions inspired a protest. In early March, union members, student and Pilsen residents decried a medical center decision to close a Pilsen clinic that specializes on women and children's health.

No really, lady, at this sports bar you drink beer

CenterStageChicago.net

Relax on Milwaukee could be called a sports bar, what with a surfboard on the wall, framed Tecate boxing shorts, the pool table and dartboard. But this Logan Square dive is more of an alternative sports bar, which appeals to the young, hipster crowd moving deeper and deeper into Logan Square. Bartender Dave resembles Jack Black in Nacho Libre as he warns a girl in tight jeans and go-go boots about ordering the wine. “It’s great wine!” No really, lady, at this sports bar you drink beer.

Relax offers drink specials every night of the week: pitchers of PBR, LIENI, Labatt’s or Stella on Mondays for $4-$9; pints of Okocium BTLS or Porter on Tuesdays for $2.50; PBR pints for $1 and all Jim Beam drinks for $2.50 on Wednesday (hump day); cans of Strohs & old Milwaukee for $1 on Thursdays; Jaeger bombs and cherry bombs just $4 and Stellas $2.50 on Fridays; all micro brews $2.50 on Saturdays, and giant Bloody Mary’s with the Beatles for $2.50 on Sundays. All of this goes well with the free popcorn.

Owner Ray is a Beatles aficionado and owns every one of their songs on his iPod. There’s a framed portrait of John, Paul, George and Ringo on the wall, near the TouchTunes jukebox. If you come for karaoke night on the first or third Friday of every month, you can sing along to “Strawberry fields forever” or “Hey Jude,” depending on your mood.

The band, “Medium Rare Wolf” occasionally plays here, and Relax has also become home base for the Rat Patrol, i.e. those kids pedaling around on the really tall bikes. Talk to Kirsten behind the bar if you want to join them.


EZ Inn

The crowd at EZ Inn on the western edge of Ukrainian Village grows younger as afternoon fades to evening and the hipsters join the neighborhood stalwarts at the bar. What remains constant is the dive bar atmosphere and the smell of decades-old cigarette smoke embedded in the walls. Not to mention cheap drinks, darts and billiards. Yuba, the Ukrainian bartender, will serve you domestic beers or vodka for $3 or $3.50. Stop by on Sunday for a $2.50 Bloody Mary (brunch not included): the owner, Zinn, claims he makes the best in Chicago. If this is your last stop of the evening, don’t be afraid to ring the doorbell if the door appears locked.

This joint is a mix of blue-collar America and Eastern Europe. As such, the jukebox plays both Leonard Skynard and Ukrainian music. An Old Style sign sits in the neon window, and a patriotic, POW MIA (prisoner of war, missing in action) banner hangs above the pool table, while a framed portrait of a Cossack warrior from the Middle Ages watches over the bar.


Sabor a Café

Step into a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel at this northwest side Colombian cafe. Papagayo birds, colorful lanterns, clay jugs and thatched roof eves create an aura of magical realism. But what’s truly authentic at Sabor a Café is the food. Start with the empanadas stuffed with meat and rice ($1.50) or the corn cake with sausage ($3.99). Then graduate to the grilled meats, which are delicious and affordable. If you’re ravenously hungry, order the char-grilled chicken breast, steak and sausage, served with potatoes and fried plantains for $18, or hone your taste buds on the Creole blank steak, sirloin steak or chicken or beef skewers (just $7.50). Marta recommends the Bandeja Paisa, the traditional Columbian plate served with rice, beans, steak, sausage, a fried egg, corncakes and sweet plantains, for $15. Top off your meal with the rice pudding or the sweet plantain with guava and cheese in the middle.

Sabor a Café features live music on the weekend: romantic bolero ballads on Fridays and hip moving salsa by Angel de Cuba y su Cuarteto on Saturdays. Bring a date and put yourself in the mood with a cocktail. Marta makes her mojito with a stick of potent sugar cain, and Sabor a Café’s liquor cabinet includes Columbian firewater and Ron Viejo de Caldas. Salud!


Grillroom Chophouse & Wine Bar

Located across the street from the Bank of America Theatre, this steak house with vintage 1920s décor will satisfy all your pre- and post-show cravings. Follow their recommendations and order the entrée and wine pairing printed on the walls. Or stop by at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday for complimentary drinks ranging from Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs to Irish whiskeys and bourbons, Mojitos and Cosmos to tequilas and Gran Marnier. And if you’re catching a show on a weekday, the Grillroom offers half price on appetizers between 3 and 6.

The starters feature great seafood including oysters, Ahi tuna, calamari and crab cakes and a seafood platter, ranging from $10 to $15. Vegetarians, don’t miss the baked goat cheese ($10) or artichoke and spinach dip ($9). Warm up with the New Orleans seafood gumbo or soup of the day if it’s windy outside (you’re just blocks from Millennium Park and the lake). Salads range from $6 to the grilled prime steak Cobb salad for $15.

The sandwiches are super affordable and include grilled chicken, burgers, fish sandwiches, prime rib, crab cake and lobster rolls, for $11 to $18. The Grillroom’s Mahi, Atlantic salmon, tuna and lobster tail cost $17 and up. Or before heading to an Italian opera, feast on the cheese cannelloni, lobster lasagna, pecan-crusted tilapia, grilled pork chops, London broil or New York strip, from $15 to $36. Break a leg!


Muqdisho

Duck into this unpretentious new Somali restaurant in Lakeview, and you’ll enter a different world. The purples drapes over the windows shield you from any view of the neighborhood bars. Instead, the reddish clay-colored interior and wall hanging of Mecca lit up at night transport you to Muslim North Africa, where sweet tea and modest hospitality charm you. No liquor is served here, and don’t try to bring your own.

The cuisine will be mostly Somali with a touch of Ethiopia — both African countries were colonized by Italy, and it’s apparent in their rich cuisine. Look for chicken or beef stew on a bed of rice or pasta with spicy sauce and sweet chopped bananas on top.

Muqdisho features a large flat-screen TV, where the neighborhood Somali boys gather to watch sports, especially European football.


Palette Bistro

Palette Bistro, a romantic restaurant with dimmed lights and a cozy, wood-lined interior, has replaced Lucca’s, the Italian joint in the Lakeview neighborhood. By all means, start off your evening with the bacon-wrapped sea scallops on a bed of spinach leaves, or the palette Portobello mushroom topped with baked brie. For the main course, you can still have your pasta alla vodka, Sicilian lasagna or Mediterranean penne (pasta prices range from $13 to $20) because there’s still an Italiano in the kitchen. What’s new on the menu is the seafood and steak. Trout, Ahi Tuna, Blue Marlin Steak or Bacon-wrapped Sea Scallops are yours for $19-$28. Or if your palette prefers land animals, enjoy the filet, ribeye steak, New York strip, short ribs, meatloaf, mushroom-crusted Iowa pork chop or braised veal shoulder for $13 to $29.

The bistro offers cocktails at the bar (where the martini bottle casts a warm glow on the pine wood) but this is primarily a dinner place, owing to the predominance of families in the Lakeview neighborhood (kids eat free). If all goes well, Palette Bistro will begin serving brunch next month.


Baja Sol

The Baja Sol Tortilla Grill plans to open numerous locations in the Chicagoland region, and this one, in Oak Lawn, south of Midway Airport, is the first. Baja Sol (“under the sun”) opened in Minneapolis in 1995, and has since spread its south-of-the-border cuisine to sun-starved Midwesterners in 14 other locations … the fresh guacamole and genuine spice don’t hurt either. So if spring break in Cancun isn’t in your immediate plans, at least stop by for a delicious Mexican meal.

Start with a meat, veggie or fish taco and take advantage of the bottomless chips-and-salsa bar (between $5 and $7.50). If you still have room in your estomago, feast on a barbecue, fajita or chicken burrito ($6), a sierra sandwich wrapped in a fresh flour tortilla ($6.50), a quesadilla or enchilada ($6-$8). Baja Sol offers an affordable kids menu for tykes under 10 years old ($3.50). And make sure to wash down your meal with a delicioso smoothie. The beaches of Playa del Carmen won’t feel too far away.


Mint Julep Bistro

This casual fine dining restaurant boasts an aura of relaxed southern hospitality. The Mint Julep Bistro near the railroad tracks in Palatine opened in September and occasionally hosts special evenings that cater to the bourgeois, such as a “Dinner on the Titanic” evening, to be held on April 14. But the rest of the time anyone can enjoy its southern charm, and without mortgaging the entire plantation in the process.

Lady D moved up from Savannah, Ga., to open the Mint Julep Bistro. A true southern lady, she settled in Palatine because, as she told her staff, “the city’s too big for her.” On the walls you’ll see pictures of Lady D riding her English jumping horses with purple ribbons from competitions she’s won. The staff takes advantage of the atmosphere. I was here on Fat Tuesday, and everyone on the clock wore Mardi Gras beads around their necks.

For lunch, start with the Fried Okra ($6) or the Crab Cakes ($10.50) and then move on to a Southern BLT with applewood-smoked bacon and fried green tomatoes ($8), or if you need something heartier, try the Brunswick Stew ($11) or the Chicken Pot Pie in a flaky crust ($13). Lunch entrees range from $7.50 to $13. For dinner, Chef Rich, who makes everything from scratch, recommends the Southern Fried Chicken ($16.50), the Shrimp ‘n Grits ($16) or the Shrimp, Crawfish & Andouille Jambalaya ($15.50). Dinner prices range from $11 to $29. Top it off for dessert with a Peach Cobbler or Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie ($6.50)

But don’t walk out the door without trying the locale’s staple drink, the House Mint Julep ($6.50), a fresh, bourbon delight, and a nice prelude to spring. Lady D allegedly learned this drink recipe from the official bartender of the current Gov. of Kentucky.


Pappadeaux

Want seafood, then look no further. At Pappadeaux’s outlet in Arlington Heights (not far from Ikea’s Schaumburg location, hungry shoppers!) you can watch your fish or your lobster being cooked, fried, battered — everything short of pulled from the ocean. The kitchen is an island in the middle of the restaurant, surrounded by dining rooms and a couple sportsmen’s taverns that are decked out with deer antlers and framed black & white pictures of prized catches.

Your seafood is flown in fresh from the Gulf Coast on the same day you eat it. Start off with a dozen pieces of shrimp cocktail for $10, or dive right into the oysters for $12. Feel like eating a reptile? The crispy fried alligator in Creole dipping sauce is yours for $12.45. Or chop down on the pan-seared frog legs cooked in spicy garlic butter, tomato and herbs for $9. If it’s still chilly outside, order a bowl of the gumbo (shrimp, seafood, sausage, crawfish or lobster) for $9. For your main course, the fried seafood dishes (shrimp, oysters, crab, chicken, crawfish or catfish) run between $15 and $20 for a large portion. And the Cajun menu goes on and on. Laissez les bon temps rouler! Or if you’d rather dine down under, combine the filet mignon & Australian lobster tail for $50.


Ttowa Dumpling House

Headed to Milwaukee for a Cubs-Brewers game? Stop off in Morton Grove, just off I-94, for delicious and affordable Korean food at Ttowa Dumpling House. The atmosphere is unpretentious, the service is friendly, and if you are adept at using chopsticks, Anna will complement you.

The baseball-size dumplings cost between $6 and $8 and typically contain pork, vegetables and kimchi, though a veggie option with tofu is also available. The Korean businessmen I met there recommended the hearty Gaesung Mandu dumplings, which are named after a city in North Korea. Try the Potjjinbbang steamed red bean bun for $6 or bring a date and order the Mandu jungol spicy hot stew with dumpling for 2 ($20). Looking for something familiar? Ttowa offers sweet and sour pork or chicken, on a bed of noodles (Yangnyum) or roasted beef with Korean barbecue sauce on rice (Bulgogi) for $10. Or if you’re feeling adventurous, order the sliced squid (Ojinghuh bokkeum) or sliced octopus (Nakkji bokkeum) with veggies and spice sauce for $10. Meals cost between $6 and $13 per person.

Dumpling meals are typically served with a corn tea, iceberg salad with homemade ginger dressing and sampler plates of kimchi, dandelion, pickles, grated potatoes and radishes, all of which you can dip in a spicy red pepper sauce.

Look out for items on menu that are labeled with two red peppers, indicating “very spicy”. Stop by in the summertime (July and August, especially) for the Haemul kalgooksu or Yulmoo Nangmyun seafood stew noodles and vegetables for $8. And wash it all down with a large Korean Beer (Hite & OB) for $6, or something stiffer, Soju, Baekseju, Plum Soju or Korean Wine, $10-15.

Orion Energy Lights Path To Big Energy Reductions

Apollo News Service

Orion Energy Systems, a Wisconsin manufacturer of energy-efficient light fixtures, controls, and other renewable energy technologies is viewed by state officials and industrial executives as something of a Midwest darling. In 2001, just five years after it opened its doors, the clean energy company won the Wisconsin Emerging Company of the Year award. Three years later came the Wisconsin Small Business of the Year award.

This year, Orion Energy, which operates production plants in Manitowoc, where the company is based, and in Plymouth, took the Wisconsin Manufacturers of the Year award. It also was honored with Platts Global Energy Award for the single most innovative and sustainable green technology of 2008.

Orion offers competitive wages to its staff of 280, plus employee healthcare that is 100-percent company-funded. It also takes a couple of distinctive steps to care for its workers, such as providing fresh fruit to its manufacturing workers.

Manitowoc Expansion

In 2005, Orion purchased 266,000 square feet in Manitowoc’s Mirro Aluminum Company plant, a maker of aluminum cookware that had operated in the region since 1885 but had shipped its manufacturing operations overseas. Over 1,000 people lost their jobs. Orion has steadily hired some of those workers for its Manitowoc plant. One of them is Scott Jensen, the chief financial officer, who said he appreciates the job security that Orion and its made-in-America values now provides.

“I learned that I never wanted to go through that again,” said Jensen. “A lot of people there had been with the company for 25-30 years and had never worked anywhere else. All of a sudden you found yourself in the job market again. I enjoy working for a company now that’s more interested in retaining jobs than sending jobs overseas.”

Underlying the company’s rapid growth is the Illuminator, a high-intensity fluorescent technology that doubles light levels while reducing electricity by more than 50 percent. It also allows companies to retrofit their plants’ lighting at lower cost.

The technology was designed by Neal Verfuerth, Orion’s chief executive officer, who proved his invention in 2002 when the company retrofitted the Bemis Manufacturing Sheboygan campus in Wisconsin, shocking the local utility company when energy consumption dropped by 7 percent.

All About Innovation

Other industrial companies took notice. In 2005, Orion began lighting General Electric facilities, and signed a contract to light more than 500 Coca Cola facilities in North America. Today it works with 90 Fortune 500 companies including Kraft Foods, SYSCO Foods, Toyota and Newell Rubbermaid to improve their lighting efficiency.

Orion said in February it has provided energy efficient light systems to 4,387 facilities, completing 1,000 of those project just in the last year. Its revenue in 2008 was $80.7 million, or $32.5 million more than in 2007.

“In the early days the company focused on the hospitality and agriculture sectors, a natural fit since we’re located in Wisconsin,” says Jensen. “But we realized that the larger opportunity was in the commercial industry. Many facilities had used the same lighting for 20 years, and even if they tried energy-efficient techniques, they were unable to fit the old with the new.”

Verfuerth understood that retrofit lighting was the future. Orion worked to improve light output and reduce costs by 50 percent.” The company is well positioned to benefit from the economic stimulus, which provides $34 billion over the next two years to spur energy efficiency in homes, government buildings, and other installations.

“Companies that are conscious about driving down costs and looking at solid investments at a very good return are flocking to us,” says Jensen. “We believe we can do things as cost-competitively as anyone else in world.”

El Salvador’s Left Turn?

In These Times

Mixed results for ‘el frente’ in the country’s congressional elections.
By Jacob Wheeler

The day after the U.S. presidential election, Salvadoran presidential candidate Mauricio Funes congratulated President Obama.

“These winds of change have begun to blow from the United States to refresh the global atmosphere, in need of more democracy and greater social justice,” Funes said in a statement. “The Americans have not been afraid to choose change, as they have staked out the future and not the immobility of the past.”

Funes, who himself is on a nationwide “Caravan of Hope” tour, is the new face of the Faribundo Marti National Liberation front (FMLN). The party—born from five bands of leftist guerrillas during El Salvador’s civil war from 1980 to 1992—is on the verge of winning its first presidential election on March 15.

A popular former TV journalist, Funes enjoys a double-digit lead—as high as 17 percentage points, according to one December poll—over his opponent, Rodrigo Avila of the incumbent right-wing National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party, which has held the presidency for 20 years.

Despite Funes’ poll numbers, the FLMN received mixed results in the national assembly elections on Jan. 18. El frente (or “the front”) as the party is known in El Salvador, gained three seats, giving it 35 out of a total 84. Meanwhile, ARENA lost two seats to give it 32. But the conservative Party of National Conciliation (PCN) won 11 seats, continuing the right-wing coalition’s legislative majority.

FMLN won the mayors’ offices in three other large cities in El Salvador—Soyapango, Santa Tecla and Santa Ana—and increased the number of municipalities it will govern by 90 percent. But the party lost the mayor’s seat in San Salvador, the capital, which incumbent Violeta Menj’var had held since 2005. FMLN had controlled the capital as a strategic stronghold for the past 12 years.

Evidence of possible voter fraud surfaced during the election. FMLN representatives, and groups such as the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), reported that buses of Guatemalan, Honduran and Nicaraguan nationals were detained in border provinces, allegedly on their way to the capital to vote for ARENA. Others, the opposition fears, may have gotten through. CISPES Executive Director Burke Stansbury also believes that ARENA brought rural Salvadorans into the capital to tip the balance there.

As the incumbent party, ARENA controls access to the citizen registry and, before the election, it prevented FMLN and outside observers from comparing the registry to voter rolls.

But Geoff Thale of the Washington Office on Latin America says he doubts that alleged voter fraud made a difference in the capital.

“Violeta Menj’var lost San Salvador because the party was overconfident and failed to run a strong campaign [and] because the mayor’s record in office wasn’t that impressive in terms of municipal services and city management,” Thale says. “Violeta’s predecessors were viewed as effective managers; she wasn’t.”

Thale adds that ARENA presidents have made life difficult for FMLN mayors of San Salvador, “squeezing them on budget issues and being uncooperative on issues like garbage disposal and dump sites.”

Tim Muth, who runs a popular blog called Walking with El Salvador, says the mixed results from the Jan. 18 election may shows signs of a maturing democracy.

“What happened in San Salvador is that a certain portion of the voters appeared to split their votes on National Assembly and mayor,” Muth wrote on his blog. “They were voting based on who they thought (rightly or wrongly) was the best able to govern, rather than voting strictly on party lines.”

FMLN’s motto on Funes’ Caravan of Hope tour has been “Nace la esperanza, viene el cambio” (Hope is born, change is coming). While el frente didn’t expect citizens to actually vote for change in San Salvador’s mayoral election, the party expects its biggest victory to come on March 15.

If poll numbers hold in Funes’ favor, another Latin American democracy will turn to the left.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4277/el_salvadors_left_turn/