ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702210002
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
IF AT&T IS CUTTING JOBS, for example, Johnson & Johnson might be interested in looking over those workers' credentials.
Ten major companies are starting an unusual partnership to pool job postings, training programs and other work-force information.
The nonprofit ``Talent Alliance'' stems from concerns that companies must do more to help their workers at a time of upheaval in the labor market, the charter members said in announcing the multimillion-dollar project.
The Alliance will be located in Morristown, N.J. Members are AT&T Corp., DuPont Co., GTE Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Lucent Technologies, NCR Corp., TRW Inc., Union Pacific Resources Group, Unisys Corp. and United Parcel Service of America Inc.
Three of the companies have ties to Western Virginia. DuPont operates a nylon plant in Martinsville, UPS has a parcel sorting hub in Roanoke and Johnson & Johnson last week announced plans to acquire Roanoke-based Innotech Inc.
``The restructuring at AT&T was painful to all involved, and made us think long and hard about the U.S. labor market,'' said Hal Burlingame, executive vice president of human resources at AT&T, which spearheaded the idea.
``It was clear we were not alone in facing these difficult issues,'' he said. AT&T has cut jobs and made other changes as part of a split into three parts.
To keep member companies from raiding each other's work forces, job-matching services will sometimes be restricted according to member wishes.
For example, if a company is cutting jobs, it might help its employees by offering their resums to Alliance members or the general public via the Alliance. During stable times, Alliance members could restrict employees from job-searching.
``The Talent Alliance will help people needing to find new job opportunities and help companies needing to find talented new people,'' said Ralph Larsen, chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson.
The Alliance will offer three other main services to members beginning in April:
The ``FuturesForum'' service will offer research and policy statements from academics, consultants and business leaders. In addition, an annual conference and frequent forums will be held to discuss workplace issues.
The ``Training and Education'' service will offer shared courses and training materials.
The ``Career Growth Centers'' will offer career management services, including professional counseling, networking opportunities, or training for interviews.
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