2A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2005
TUESDAY top10
BY ERIN CASTANEDA
editor@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
Top 10 professions for the class of 2004-2005 and the starting salaries:
10. Registered Nurse: $41,156
9. Project Engineering: $47,827
8. Software Design & Development:
$52,471
7. Design/Construction Engineering:
$A45,734
6. Financial/Treasury Analysis:
$44,501
5. Private Accounting/Public Accounting: $43,003/$42,366
4. Teaching: $30,793
3. Consulting: $48,098
2. Sales: $37,269
1 Management Trainee: $36,491
Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers' Summer Survey; monev.cnn.com
A fixture at the Union for 25 years
▼ ON THE BOULEVARD
FRANK TANKARD
fankard@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Carly Pearson/KANSAN
Her name is Robin Kidney - "K-I-D-N-E-Y, like the bean," she says - and she's worked as a dishwasher in the Kansas Union for 25 years.
It's Friday afternoon, and she's reaching into the soapy green water that fills the big stainless steel sink to the brim. She pulls out a bowl and scrubs away the crumbs with a blue pad.
crumbs where bad plants are If you look around the University of Kansas, you'll find a lot of people who've been around as long as Kidney.
In the administration, Provost David Shulenburger has been here for 31 years. In the history department, professor Norman Saul started 35 years ago. In facilities operations, Paul Verhage has been a storekeeper for 31 years.
Yes, a lot of people have stuck around this place for 25 years. Just not dishwashers. Kidney's the only one. In the dishroom, the part-timers have come and gone "as often as you change your socks," she said, and the full-timers have stayed a little longer. All the while, since June 30, 1980, she's been in the Kansas Union, washing.
"Mostly what I do is just wash, wash, wash," said Kidney, 46, short and slight with glasses and short brown-gray hair.
Robin Kidney has been working at the Kansas Union for 25 years as a dishwasher. She's been through three chancellors, three Kansas Memorial Unions directors and too many supervisors to count off the top of her head.
"Only once in a blue moon do I do anything else."
In her first year, she worked part-time loading the dishwashing machine with plates, trays and silverware. Since then, she's worked full-time, hand-washing pots and pans, pans and pots.
Kidney is something of a fixture among the people who work in the dishroom behind The Market food court in the Kansas Union: In at 7:30 a.m., out at 4:30 p.m., every day.
"She's like clockwork," said Joe Wilson, 22, who's worked in the dishroom for a year.
This day isn't particularly fast, so she walks over to the giant conveyer-belt dishwashing machine - it's the length of two cars and roars like a freight train - grabs a few trays from the conveyer belt and stacks them.
She helps out with the dishes sometimes, but usually the pots and pans keep her busy enough.
She walks back to her sink – "My office," she calls it – and drains the lukewarm soapy water. She refills the sink with hot water and soap, and gets back to washing.
Kidney thought about quitting a couple of times in the mid-'80s. She didn't like her boss at the time, but she outlasted her. She likes the way things are now, likes the people she works with, the atmosphere.
On June 30, her co-workers threw her a little 25th anniversary party in the kitchen. They even made a cake.
"Anymore, I'm getting a lot of respect, more than I ever have in the bunch of years I've been here," she said.
Plus, Lawrence is her kind of town. She moved to Lawrence with her fam
ily as a teenager. After graduating from high school in 1978, she got a job on a dairy farm shoveling manure and hay for a while, then worked a stint at Kinko's before coming to the University.
When her family moved away, she decided to stay.
She now lives by herself in a house in East Lawrence, spending most of her nights playing in no-limit Texas hold 'em tournaments in local bars.
She takes a break from the pots and pans and walks through the kitchen saying "hi," to everyone she passes, then steps outside and spots Bob Hoyle, director of food services.
"He's doing a story on me," she said, with a smile.
"You're just part of the woodwork around here," he said.
"I kind of am."
And she walks back to the dishroom and reaches into the green water, washing, as she has for 25 years.
Editor's note: University Daily Kansan reporter Frank Tankard writes a weekly feature on KU students, faculty and staff who have a story to tell. If you have an interesting story or know someone who does, e-mail Frank at ftankard@kansan.com.
Fair-weather friends
Edited by Theresa Montaño
Allison Taylor, Topeka sophomore, left, and Andrea Hasenauer, Olathe sophomore, share a laugh on the steps of Budig Hall. The two KU sophomores said they tried to hang out on the steps when the weather was nice. Jared Soares/KANSAN
Wal-Mart execs knew about illegal workers
LABOR
BY MARCUS KABEL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The affidavit, unsealed last week, was part of an investigation of Wal-Mart by federal immigration officials that led to the 2003 raid on 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states, and the arrests of 245 illegal workers. The retailer agreed to pay $11 million in March to settle the case. It has maintained that top executives neither knew of nor encouraged the practice, but that is contradicted by the newly released documents.
The affidavit was filed by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to secure search warrants for a 2003 raid on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A pair of senior Wal-Mart executives knew cleaning contractors were hiring illegal immigrants, many of whom were housed in crowded conditions and sometimes slept in the backs of stores, according to a federal agency's affidavit.
The document was unsealed Nov. 2 by a U.S. district judge in Fayetteville, Ark. at the request of a New York attorney representing more than 200 former employees in a civil lawsuit against the world's largest retailer.
Tell us your news
Contact Austin Caster,
Jonathan Kealing,
Anja Winkla, Jack Bickel,
Ty Beavage in film at
864-4810 or
864-4810
@kansan.edu
In the affidavit, investigators said testimony and taped conversations from 2003 showed two executives at Wal-Mart headquarters knew that contractors and subcontractors cleaning its stores in several states employed illegal immigrants from eastern Europe and elsewhere.
Federal raids later found immigrants crowded into small apartments or trailers in sleeping bags and, in some cases, sleeping in the backs of Wal-Mart stores, carrying their personal belongings from job site to job site.
MEDIA PARTNERS
Kansas newroom
11 Stuart/Fint-Hall
143 Jaweshvil Bvd.
Bvd. Juham Villa
(7486) 864-4810
(7486) 864-4810
NEW!
KUJH
For more new turn to KUJH TV on Sunflower Cause
Channel 31 in Lawrence. The student-produced news airs at 5:30 p.m.; 7:30 p.m.; 9:30 p.m.; 10:30 p.m.; every Monday through Friday. You can check UKJ online at tku.edu.
Whether it's rock n' roll or reggae, sports or special events, KHKR 90.7 is for you.
KJHK is the student voice in radio. In busy there is news, big sports, talk shows and other content made for students,
ET CETERA
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at the Kansan business office, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045. The University Daily Kansan (ISSN 0746-4962) is published daily during the Periodical postage is paid in Lawrence, KS 66044. Annual subscriptions by mail are $120 plus tax. Student subscriptions of are paid through the student activity fee. Postmaster: Send address changes to The University Daily Kansan, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045
What you need, plus didn't know you needed
University Christian Fellowship Tuesday nights-7:30p.m. bible study, worship, fellowship
ECM Building - 1204 Oread [one block north of the the Kansas Union] www.ucf4u.org
Think this ad sucks?
Can you pinpoint what makes it so mind-bogglingly suck-tastic?
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The University Daily Kansan Advertising Staff has openings for Account Executives, Classified Account Executives, Advertising Creatives for Spring 2006. At the Kansan, you have an awesome opportunity to build your portfolio, meet and work with great people and above all, have professional experience while in college. If you are hard-working, goal-oriented and have a knack with people we need to talk
}
---
.