What’s being preached from the pulpit doesn’t always get practiced by the peeps in the pews.

-Thos003

I think that it is a smart move on Quality Pro’s part to get a third party endorsement and make them members of the board. Hopefully this move will put some meat behind their certification.

-Thos003

Perhaps the old truism applies that “the world is not always fair.” It is what it is and we will see where the chips fall.

I do sincerely wish NRDC/NPMA the best luck moving forward. I would be very happy if it achieves the mutual concerns of both organizations.

As you mention in your blog, companies can become GreenPro certified without any kind of up-front audit of their records. Field audits are random and companies could claim IPM certification for 5 years without anyone ever scrutinizing their actual IPM practices.

I find it particulary troubling that large companies with hundreds of branch offices would only have to submit to a maximum of 30 branch office field audits.

In my 10 years of working closely with PCOs, I have found that branch offices of large companies differ remarkably in their acceptance and practice of IPM. Branch managers set the tone of the branch office, quite aside from the overall policies of the parent company. If the branch manager is well informed and dedicated to the principles of IPM,there is a much better chance that technicians will deliver IPM service. However, I have seen many companies (large and small) whose policies look good on paper and whose managers are well informed about IPM and talk a great talk, but whose technicians don’t deliver IPM services in their day to day work.

I fear that the current lax oversight on the part of NPMA will not provide the kind of confidence and credibility that I am looking for as a customer.

In my current position as IPM Coordinator for the California County of Contra Costa, I am requiring companies that bid on our structural IPM contract to be IPM certified by EcoWise, Green Shield, or GreenPro, with the provision that GreenPro companies must have gone through a field audit or be preparing to do so.

Tanya Drlik
IPM Coordinator
Contra Costa County

The bugs in LA & San Francisco better watch out!

Great post Gerry! Glad to see another like minded PCO out there that is making a difference.

So you might wonder why I would want to force my type of pay structure on the industry. I really don’t. But we need the industry to start thinking along these lines so that the industry is seen as having a positive influence, unlike the cigarette industry.

I don’t just wear one hat. When I am at a PCOC (Pest Control Operator of California) or NPMA meeting, I get into the spirit of considering the common good of the industry. When I write for PMP (Pest Management Professional Magazine), I write without a hidden agenda. I also believe there are a lot of good guys in our industry (in non-competiting geographic areas) that I would enjoy helping in my consulting work, people who want to do the right thing by their workers, but who in general do not have the management expertise.

Back to minimum standards… We live in a society far from pure capitalism. Regulation and legislation has provided a foundation for fair play in life, including the work world. It is part of what makes our country great. In a fair world, yes, the cream will rise to the top… but it takes a lot longer when the playing field is far from even, or when access to basic services is denied to those without the means.

We are so fortunate that we live in 21st century America. We just don’t have the 1st hand experience like those who came before us here and especially in other countries and other times as to how unfair life can be.

I want to thank you again for contributing to this blog and I definitely will recommend your blog to others.

Happy 4th. God bless America!

Gerry

Yes, state intervention can definitely play a negative role in the creation and growth of the economony and have inadvertant negative effects on workers.

I would not have taken this position had I not felt that the industry operated at a very sub-standard level when it comes to benefits. So the real question for me, and I pose this to you is: Should there be some minimal standard for items such as sick leave, medical care, etc? Is minimum wage the only minimum that should be imposed by the state? Or is it in the overall benefit to society that workers have the ability to take minimal amounts, reasonable amounts of sick leave, with some outside support?

Definitely, the left makes a serious mistake when it tries to impose European style sick and vacation benefits. Europe does not have a great record of productivity. The labor force there seems more focused on the next vacation on the Mediterranean than how to produce more efficiently.

But the right makes a serious mistake in thinking that there are no serious repercussions in ingoring basis human needs across society. We may not be our brother’s keeper when it comes to business, but if we ignore minimal compassion, our society will devolve into a condition like that in Latin America or India, where there is a much larger split between those at the top and a large underclass.

I think that the prosper as a nation, we need a strong middle class with safeguards that protect us from falling through the cracks. I read that the primary reason for bankruptcy is lack of proper medical insurance.

As I read your new blog about positive thinking, my thought is that we need to provide a sound foundation for our workers, so that they are inspired and motivated to achieve, but not given so much as to think that everything comes easy.