Abstracts

Weatherington, R. 1986. Your eroding right to fire without cause. Agrichemical Age 30 (1): 27-29.

For many years an employee not covered by an employment or union contract has been able to quit at will. Since the employee could walk without a reason, employers also had the right to terminate an employee at their will, without reason. This balance has generally existed since the start of the industrial revolution. But, because of an explosion in state laws and court rulings, the dogmatic employment-at-will tradition is dead or dying in most states. The absolute right to hire and fire has basically changed. Laws covering civil rights, age discrimination, and equal employment have been in place for years, but courts are increasingly being brought into the relationship between employers and employees in new ways. Now, in more than two-thirds of the states, owners have lost some type of wrongful discharge lawsuits, and there is no slowdown in sight. Some estimates project that unjust dismissal suits could skyrocket to 300,000 filings a year. All firms should have their attorneys check their company employment practices, and they should review these practices at least once a year so timely adjustments can be made. It is possible for a handbook written today to be out of date a year from now.

Haller, J. M. 1986. The ideal arborist—one professional opinion. Arbor Age 6(7): 22-24.

I would like to propose my explanation for the alarming shortage of qualified personnel. The problem seems to be that people the industry needs are exceptional types—types that occur infrequently in nature and that are not mass produced in schools. The ideal arborist should be intelligent, dedicated, sensitive, with an inexhaustible curiosity about all things arboreal and a reverence for all forms of plant life. In addition, he should be physically strong and agile enough to perform all phases of tree work in his own person. It is not enough to stand on the ground and direct all operations by telephone. Such a remote-control operator becomes a kind of glorified bookkeeper. Unfortunately, the educated, studious person is seldom the physically able type, while contrariwise the physically able type is seldom educated and studious. Those who can climb do not study, and those who study do not climb. Nature doesn’t produce the requisite ideal type in sufficient numbers. Sadly, the conscious or unconscious goal of every climber is to get out of the tree and into the office. The born arborist is the man who works in trees because he prefers it to any other activity whatsoever, the man who couldn’t be persuaded to do anything else, the man who loves his work with all his heart and soul.

• © 1987, International Society of Arboriculture. All rights reserved.