GRIECO BROS. INC.
THE PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY
Revenues: NA
Employees: 800
Employees affected: 55
Annual cost: $50,000
Start-up cost: $50,000
How do you attract and retain $8.75-an-hour garment workers when labor is a seller's market? That was the problem facing Tony Sapienza, vice-president of manufacturing at Grieco Bros. Inc., makers of Southwick brand men's clothing, when the economic boom hit eastern Massachusetts in 1984. If he didn't come up with something, the 59-year-old factory in Lawrence would be forced to shut down.
Child care made sense. Seventy-five percent of his work force was female. With $50,000 of Grieco family money in hand, Sapienza set out to establish an on-site center.
It wasn't long before Sapienza realized he would need to at least double his capital. He cajoled another nearby mill, Polo Clothing Corp., to sign on with a contribution of $20,000. Foundations kicked in $20,000. The Lawrence city council coughed up $10,000. Still, it was not enough to cover renovation costs. Where would the operating monies come from? And could they find some deep pockets to defray the workers' $120 weekly fees?
Sapienza consulted Ed Clark, regional vice-president of the Amalgamated Clothing & Textiles Workers Union, who agreed to champion a per-employee contribution of 1¢ per hour. That added up to $21,000 a year. "Older employees and some of the immigrants said they had done without child care, [so] why couldn't today's young people?" Clark recalls. "But less than 1% of the 600 people voted against it."
Next, Sapienza hammered out a plan whereby the center would be run independently, by Grieco's predominantly Hispanic work force, as a minority-owned and -operated enterprise. Then Michael S. Dukakis's administration agreed to subsidize low- and moderate-income parents' fees totaling $298,287 per year. A subsequent low-interest start-up loan of $30,000 from the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency put the project "over the top," Sapienza says.
The center opened for business in January 1986. By Sapienza's measures, the program is a success, showing that management and labor can cooperate on shared goals.
Clark agrees. "Grieco did this with not entirely altruistic motives; we saw an opportunity to improve our lot. We got good results because both sides wanted it and needed it."
Sapienza hopes that onlookers come away with the lesson that child care need not be a white-collar, rich-company phenomenon. "Anyone can raise the start-up money if they try."
Operating funds are another story, however. Sapienza acknowledges that state support was critical. "The state spent $110 million on child care last year. Other states don't spend like that. But, of course, they're probably wondering why their welfare recipients won't go back to work."
TAYLOR CORP.
ENABLING WOMEN TO ADVANCE
Revenues: $200 million +
Employees: 5,000 total; 2,200 local
Employees affected: 140
Annual cost: $140,000
Start-up cost: $400,000
Nancy Schwamberger's husband died six years ago, leaving her with two boys to raise -- one age four, the other a preemie with respiratory problems.
Without her employer's on-site child-care center, Schwamberger would have been unable to maintain a full-time schedule and would have had to give up her financial independence. She certainly couldn't have risen to the position she holds today, staff accountant for Taylor Corp., a printing business in North Mankato, Minn. After all, you just don't find child care to cover a six-day, 47-hour floating schedule like hers.
Shauna Brignac, a married mother of three, is another satisfied parent. "In the past, I spent my days worrying and feeling distracted," says Brignac. "I'm sure it affected my job performance. Now, I don't think about the kids all day, probably, unless I'm afraid Rebecca, who's still in diapers, is getting sick. Even then, all I have to do is pick up the phone and say, 'Can I have a report on Rebecca?' "
Taylor Corp. owner and CEO, state senator Glen Taylor, is a major advocate of child-care assistance. He and his brother, Larry Taylor, established the center in 1979, when the company was a 1,000-employee operation in the midst of a growth spurt.
Back then, Glen Taylor recalls, the company was having trouble recruiting and retaining workers. It couldn't assure parents of finding child care in the area. Things had gotten so bad, in fact, that even veteran employees were turning down promotions, fearing that the extra responsibility might complicate their already tenuous babysitting arrangements. When a supervisor named Jean Andersen told the Taylors that her two-year-old had gone through four babysitters in a matter of a few months, they urged her to begin putting together a case for on-site child care.
Taylor invested $400,000 into the construction of a cottage that houses the center, and it subsidizes care at $1,000 per child -- or about $140,000 per year. That's a big overhead item, but recruiting, promoting, and retaining workers -- especially women -- has become easier.
Meanwhile, Glen Taylor is pushing legislation that would give tax credits to companies that establish an assistance plan. If passed, it would be the most ambitious set of child-care incentives in the nation. "As long as business needs employees, and as long as women need to work but can't without adequate child-care options, a problem exists. If we want to keep women in the work force, off public assistance, and, most important, if we want them to advance, we have to recognize the problem that's holding them back. It's lack of child care."
COUNTDOWN TO START-UP
PERCEPTRONICS INC.
Revenues: $38.4 million
Employees: 350
