Comparable Worth Finds Rockdale
Bill Starbuck was proud to be assigned to the city beat of The Bill, a for two years now, was paying his dues at a small town newspaper, hoping to work his way up to a rigger daily. The city beat would mean that Bill could draw on his background in journalism and political science Wabash College to write news stories with substance. His prior assignment the features section The Rockdale Times was interesting but not intellectually stimulating.
Bill's first major assignment was coming up in two days with an invitation to cover a breakfast meeting with the city council. Clyde Langston, Rockdale's city manager, was scheduled to present the revised city budget. Bill prepared for the meeting by calling one of his contacts in the city office for some "inside" information. Bill had been dating Jill Bateman, a secretary to the HR executive director and he was confident he could learn something about the breakfast meeting agenda
As Bill hung from his call to Jill, he won dared what the rumor of a raise for some city employees could mean. If anything, the city was expected to trim its budget because of a slowdown in the local economy and loss of revenues due to shutdown of two plants in the community within he past year. According to Jill, rumor was that some of the clerical and administrative staff employees were scheduled for midyear pay adjustments. The figure working the hallways was a three percent pay raise, which would come as a pleasant surprise to the 95 employees in the office clerical positions
As Bill arrived at the Wednesday breakfast meeting, he quickly scanned the room to identify the four city councilmen and one council. Oman. Bill wanted to interview at least three the members his story, which was due by 1:00 p.m. After Mayor Ernie arrived, the city council, city manager, and local news reporters finished a quick cordial breakfast. Clyde Langston called the group to attention with a rap on his water goblet, and the cordial ban. erring quickly subsided. Clyde distributed a five- page report of the preliminary budget. Bill quickly