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Corporations Prepared for Immigrant Rallies
Most Companies Expected Labor Slowdown
By MARC LALLANILLA and ERIC NOE 
May 1, 2006 — From the orange groves of Florida to high-rise hotels in Manhattan, the pro-immigrant
rallies and boycotts planned for today have caused many companies to examine their policies and attitudes toward their work
forces.
But will the protests in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere have a lasting effect? In spite of the nationwide
attention the protests have garnered, most economists expect few significant tremors from the work slowdown.
"Certainly, I wouldn't think it would be more than a blip for the overall economy," said Ben Hermalin, economist at the
University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
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| (Nam Y. Huh/ AP Photo) |
"It will have a bigger impact on industries that might have a larger immigrant worker base — things like the construction
industry, and maybe agriculture, where a one-day work stoppage could have a bigger effect," said Hermalin.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, unauthorized immigrants make up 24 percent of all workers employed in farming occupations,
14 percent in construction and 12 percent in food preparation.
"Some individual businesses will see some lost businesses, some lost sales, but personally I don't think it will have much
of an impact on consumers at all. They'll just go shopping tomorrow, or they shopped on Sunday," Hermalin added.
For the full story, go to ABC News
Home Funerals:
An Old Tradition Returns
More Families Are Choosing Home Funerals Over Commercial Services
By MARC LALLANILLA
Oct. 21, 2004 — For centuries, caring for dead relatives at home was a traditional part of
family life. Bodies were laid out in a dining room or parlor, and visitors dropped by to spend time with the family and pay
their last respects to the deceased.
Now, a dedicated group of home funeral advocates is trying to recapture that tradition and, by doing so, change the American
way of dying.
But their efforts may run contrary to the interests of the multibillion-dollar commercial funeral industry.
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| Home funeral guide Jerri Lyons prepares the body of Tommy Odom for burial. (R. Love) |
"The typical American funeral is a commercially created tradition," said Joshua Slocum, executive director of the Funeral
Consumers Alliance, a grassroots organization raising awareness of alternative funeral choices.
"The general line in the industry is that a traditional funeral has a fancy casket and a hearse. But the truly traditional
funeral in America is a home funeral," Slocum said. "The dead were laid out at home, and the family was more involved. Chances
are the casket was purchased from the local cabinetmaker."
Slocum points out how, in most countries around the world, the home funeral is still the norm. "Only in the U.S. and Canada
will you see embalming and putting bodies on public display, then buried in mass-manufactured steel caskets and concrete or
marble vaults," he said.
Honoring the Dead
For Rebecca Love, the best way to honor the death of a close friend was through a home funeral.
"He was like a brother to me," Love said of her neighbor Tommy Randal Odom. "We'd been like family."
An artist living in Sonoma County, Calif., Love found the process of preparing Odom for burial was filled with emotion.
"It's tough, in a sense. He was my friend," she said, "But I wanted to honor his passing. It's a beautiful way of preparing
your loved ones for their final journey, and it's beautiful closure."
For the full story, go to ABC News
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