Craig Fahle's guest is Kevin Ketels, a lecturer in supply chain management at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University. He specializes in the medical supply chain. They discuss why this massive undertaking of delivering vaccines to 100's of millions of Americans and billions worldwide is so complex. They also discuss what we are learning along the way that might help us if we ever go through this again. 

President Joe Biden has vowed he will be "the strongest labor president you have ever had.” To fulfill that promise, he's thrown his support behind the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The bill cleared the Democratically controlled U.S. House last year but faltered in the Republican-led Senate. Now, Democrats have narrow majorities in both chambers and lawmakers are taking a second crack at passing the PRO Act — and this time, they may have a chance. "It is a very big deal. It's the most significant labor law reform legislative package on the table for decades, and I think the chances of it passing are more favorable than it has been for decades," said Marick Masters, a Wayne State University business professor who studies labor relations. There's been a dramatic decrease in union membership since the 1950s, Masters said, in part due to "defects embedded in the labor law, which is slanted in favor of employers... employers have felt increasingly emboldened over time to use the law to their advantage to make it more difficult to unionize." While Democrats, who are largely in favor of the legislation, control both chambers of Congress and the White House, it will be a challenge to make the bill into law. Proponents of the legislation would need 60 votes in the Senate to stop debate and move to a vote, which would require several Republicans to side with Democrats. They'll also be fighting for airtime amid a proposed COVID-relief package, climate policies and infrastructure priorities that are likely to take precedence. "It has a fighting chance. The odds are probably against it," Masters said. "I think it's going to be very very difficult. A lot depends on how much political capital the Biden administration and the Senate majority have to expend to get this through." 

On this Inauguration Day, all Americans are faced with some grave questions about the past four years and where we’re headed as a nation deeply divided. So many of us are learning just how fragile democracy can be. But clearly, we’re not the first country to learn these lessons. Former Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid has been exploring democracies in Africa, what sustains them, and what threatens them. He’s the producer and narrator of the upcoming documentary, “African Democracy: Hopes and Challenges.” He’ll be talking about his work on this subject Thursday at 6 p.m. as part of a Wayne State University virtual Knowledge on Tap event, which will be moderated by Wayne State University Irvin D. Reid Honors College Dean John Corvino. Reid says the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol represents a grave challenge for democracy here in America. But he says other countries have demonstrated ways we can work toward addressing the issues that led to the riot. “We need to have a commission after what happened two weeks ago,” he says. “Somebody has to do some sort of reconciliation, some sort of truth-telling about how did that come about.” Corvino will moderate Thursday’s event. He says it’s a timely discussion as Americans realize that a functioning democracy is not guaranteed. “We think we’re so advanced,” says Corvino. “Democracy is a fragile thing, and I think we’re realizing that now.”

The Craig Fahle Show featured guests Matthew Roling, founding executive director of Wayne State’s Office of Business Innovation, and Julie Hollinshead, adjunct faculty member of the Finance Department at the Mike Ilitch School of Business. The two are responsible for the launch of a new pilot program, the WSU Financial Capability Center. It is designed to give students access to financial tools and qualified individuals who can support, guide and enable them to organize and stabilize their lives financially and get on the road to financial security. 

Hakan Yildiz and Tingting Yan, both associate professors of global supply chain management at the Mike Ilitch School of Business with Wayne State University, wrote an op-ed regarding COVID-19 supply chain issues. “Global supply chains have been hit hard by COVID-19. The automotive industry is among the primary industries that experienced major disruptions and Michigan felt the economic devastation with record unemployment rates. As supply chain academics, we have been conducting research to understand the impacts of the pandemic to supply chains, how companies have responded and what they should do. In partnership with the Automotive Industry Action Group and QAD, we have conducted a multi-industry, multi-country survey. We have also conducted interviews with professionals and participated in innovation-incubating hackathons.”

Ford Motor Co.'s new CEO Jim Farley's racing hobby is risky business that raises the stakes for shareholders if he is injured or killed doing it, some business experts said. Ford's Executive Chairman Bill Ford has signed off on Farley continuing to race his vintage cars, raising concerns over what measures are being taken to protect Farley and the company in the event he has an accident. Giving Farley the flag to keep racing isn't so bad, said Marick Masters, interim chair of the Department of Finance at Wayne State University, who has studied the risks of executive behavior over the years. “The probability of them dying from these kinds of activities is relatively small,” Masters said. “There are all kinds of engagements company executives participate in, from sky diving to scuba diving to horse jumping. But these are much less dangerous than obesity, heart disease, smoking and drinking.” The death of an executive could hurt the company’s performance in the near term if that executive is pivotal to the company, Masters said. But established companies such as Ford build a bench of leaders to survive any situation, he said. “I’d be more concerned in today’s world whether an executive might abuse drugs, use alcohol or commit sexual harassment,” Masters said. “Those would put the company at risk in that the executive is not performing at an optimal level and could adversely affect the company’s finances.” Masters said it's a safe bet that Ford is "loaded up" on insurance for its executives. Besides, a good leader should come out from behind the desk and live life, he said. "Many executives are very driven people who like to be adventurous, otherwise they wouldn’t be in those positions, and it goes with the territory," Masters said. "Teddy Roosevelt liked to do big game hunting, that’s dangerous. Nobody took more risks in World War II and throughout his life than Winston Churchill did."

Once considered the gold standard of career development, the MBA degree faces a new question of relevance. Business schools in Michigan are struggling to sell the master's programs as they face staggering budget cuts and enrollment declines brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased demand in graduate education often coincides with economic uncertainty, but in the case of a global pandemic, experts aren't so sure. At Wayne State University, Kiantee Jones, assistant dean of graduate programs at the Mike Ilitch School of Business, is thinking about recruitment in a new way. While the raw number of MBA applications this fall is up slightly from last year, the number of people moving past the first phase of the process dropped off significantly, Jones said. There are 223 new MBA students at the school this year, compared to 270 last year. The business school's budget for fiscal year 2020-21 hasn't been finalized, but Jones expects a 5 percent cut. Wayne State's niche of part-time, mainly online classes would seem better protected from the pandemic than its competitors' models, but "virtually" attracting new students has been a headache, Jones said. The work- and learn-from-home age caused a disconnect between the school and companies such as Lear Corp., DTE Energy Co. and the automakers, which provide its main pipeline of students. "We used to get flooded with applications," Jones said. "We didn't really have to put forth a great effort. We were invited to corporations. We were setting up tables. We had a really good connection with the employees at these corporations. It was just easier." Jones said since the pandemic started, the business school launched monthly online information sessions and added virtual grad fairs in hopes of keeping students engaged. Jones said she believes the challenges posed by the coronavirus crisis are long-term, but like her counterparts at UM and MSU, she remains optimistic about the demand for and value of an MBA degree, even if the program is forced to change permanently.

We’re living through one of the worst economic crises America has ever experienced. Roughly 55 million people have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic hit back in March. More than 70,000 small businesses have closed forever. The Aspen Institute estimates one in five renters are at risk of being evicted by the end of this month. With all of the uncertainty and upheaval in our economy and the world more generally, what kinds of decisions should we be making with our own money? What does all of this mean for our ability to plan for the future — or even just get through the day? Matthew Roling is the executive director of Wayne State University’s office of business innovation and teaches personal finance at Wayne State’s business school. He says many Americans are looking for ways to make sure they have cash available to them, instead of being tied up in assets. “Cash is king in a way that it really never has been before because we really don’t know what’s around the corner,” says Roling. “We’re just starting to measure the impact that this has had on the long term [health] of the US economy.” He also notes that while many working-class and low-income people are being hit especially hard during the pandemic, wealthier people are taking advantage of new opportunities to make more money. “This is becoming a tale of two economies,” he says.

Thursday's jobless report from the U.S. Department of Labor is grim, showing around 1.1 million Americans filing for unemployment insurance last week. Executive Director of Wayne State's Office of Business Innovation Matthew Roling said the increase from last week indicates Americans are still struggling to get back on their feet during this pandemic. “It’s not a good sign," he said. "The economists that had been polled had a consensus estimate that the jobless claims would come in at around 900,000. And ultimately we came in at around 200,000 higher than that. And that might not seem like a lot, but that's a city the size of Grand Rapids," he said. “The recovery isn’t happening as fast as everyone would like it to.” In Michigan, the slow re-opening of some businesses offers a glimmer, albeit small - of optimism. Around 2,000 fewer workers applied for unemployment help compared to the previous week. “That’s really upsetting to those families but I think we can look into it and find some positives for Michigan’s economy," he said. However, with Michigan's unemployment insurance just more than $362 per week, Roling said getting that federal assistant is going to be vital for the hundreds of thousands in Michigan still grappling with unemployment.

When Bertie Greer, an associate dean at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University who studies diversity within companies, tuned into a news conference featuring Mayor Mike Duggan and nine executives of Detroit's largest companies, she was surprised to see just how many business leaders were in attendance, and that their words moved beyond the usual language of diversity being good for their bottom line. Instead, they focused more on their impact on the community. This moment felt different to her. “Prior to this crisis, executives were too afraid to upset the other half, and instead made the economic case for diversity,” Greer said. “There’s a crisis, everyone gets upset, we hire (more diverse employees), and then nothing else is done.”

If you’ve ventured out into the world lately, you might be noticing a troubling trend — retail workers not wearing masks. This practice might make you uncomfortable as a customer, but is it illegal? And what’s required of local businesses as Michigan’s economy reopens anyway? Beyond what’s written in the law and the guidance, there’s also what’s best for business. “People really have to exercise a good deal of common sense, stay informed, and make things available to their employees, particularly if they asked to be protected and to wear a face mask,” says Marick Masters, a business professor and interim chair of the Department of Finance at Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business. “If you have the potential to interact with a customer, you are probably best inclined to wear a face mask. I think that trust is absolutely critical, particularly if you’re trying to restart your business and want people to feel comfortable coming back in,” Masters says. ”There are going to be people that are going to be hesitant to come back in if word-of-mouth comes out that people don’t have face masks or they seem casual about it. I think that you are better off from both a legal standpoint and a trust standpoint, and going the extra mile and trying to reassure people, that you’re doing everything humanly possible to protect the safety of your employees and your customers.” 

Walter Reuther is known as the man who gave birth to the UAW, helped create the middle class and fought for civil rights. He introduced the notion of profit-sharing to factory workers and he was a noted civil rights leader, even standing alongside Martin Luther King Jr. during the famous 1963 "I have a dream" speech in Washington, D.C. "He's no doubt iconic," said Marick Masters, a professor at Wayne State University who specializes in labor. "He provided progressive leadership that showed the union not only as a bargaining organization, but a leader of social change too." Right up to his death, Reuther was critical of the AFL-CIO for not organizing minorities and workers in the South, Masters said. At the time that Reuther passed away, the union was at the height of its power, Masters said. But there were the early signs of challenges. "You saw the very beginnings of foreign auto companies, they were gaining some traction and he saw that as a call for alarm," Masters said. "I think if he'd have been alive, the way the unions and the companies responded to that threat would have been different."

Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson has been hosting hour-long specials on 101.9 WDET where local experts answer listener questions on COVID-19. For this special, Marick Masters interim chair of the Department of Finance at Wayne State’s Mike Ilitch School of Business, joined other experts to answer questions from tweets, email and call-ins. Economists say Michigan is now at depression-level unemployment. One million people are now jobless. To help residents, Congress passed a stimulus package and expanded unemployment benefits to self-employed and gig economy workers, among others. That has meant an unprecedented surge of jobless claims and applications, which has challenged the state’s unemployment agency’s ability to handle that volume of claims. When eligibility opened up for workers who were previously denied unemployment benefits, the state’s unemployment website malfunctioned under the weight of all of the people hoping to take advantage of the expanded benefits. As of April 17, Michigan has paid out $823 million to 765,000 Michiganders, with about 300,000 more residents expected to receive benefits for the first time next week. 

As more Michiganders file for unemployment and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay at home order is extended through April 30, the question now turns to how do we get Michigan open again, when some of the restrictions are lifted and people can start going back to work? Everywhere you look it's like a ghost town. Businesses are closed and millions of people are looking for work. However, after all of this passes – how do businesses get back on track and bring customers back? How does Michigan open up again? "Well to put it into perspective, the Michigan economy has already taken a very hard hit," said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University. With hundreds of thousands of businesses closed across Michigan, the state's economy is feeling the pain. "Payroll has gone down from about 4.5 million to under 3.3 million," Masters said. "It’s estimated that in Michigan this quarter unemployment will jump to 24 percent." However, Masters says there is some hopeful news. Depending on when this pandemic starts to slow down, we could start seeing a resurgence of local businesses.

Nearly 3.3 million people are out of work in the United States, according to the most recent jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor; quadrupling the previous record set in 1982. "These numbers are unprecedented. 3.3 million jobless claims. I think the high water mark in the 80s was 600,000. No one saw this coming," said Matthew Roling, executive director of Wayne State's Office of Business Innovation. And in Michigan, unemployment claims are also way up. There's been a 550 percent increase in the number of claims filed compared to those usually filed during this time of year, according to the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. "And I think it speaks to the total lack of clarity that most employers feel right now," Roling said. He added that small businesses in the state have been hit especially hard under the "Stay Home, Stay Safe" executive order. “Employers don’t really have the freedom or flexibility with their balance sheets the money that they have available, to keep these employees on. And so the most humane thing for them to do is to let these folks go so that they can seek benefits," he said. But Roling also pointed out that Detroit's automakers shifting gears during this crisis, to help make vital medical equipment, is moving Michigan in the right direction in the both the short and long-term. “While obviously making ventilators might not employ the same number of people as making pick-up trucks, a lot of Michigan’s economy is based manufacturing," he said, noting that industry tends.

It’s been a wild roller coaster ride on Wall Street this past week. Last week saw one of the biggest drops in the Dow’s history. Yesterday, the market saw its biggest single-day jump in history. Matthew Roling is the Interim Chair for the Department of Accounting at Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business. Roling told Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson that “the market rewards patience, diversification and low fees.” He says the large drop last week in stocks was undeniably a reflection of the interconnection between the U.S. and Chinese economies, adding that the consensus cause of the dip by economists was the coronavirus outbreak in China. “It was a realization by the market that what’s going on with this virus might seriously wreak havoc on our economy.”

Jackson College students wishing to pursue a business management degree from Wayne State University soon can do so without the commute. Starting May 4, business tools and applications and advanced organizational behavior classes from Wayne State’s Mike Ilitch School of Business will be available for enrollment for the summer semester at Jackson College. “We hope to expand our schedule in the future to include additional majors within the Ilitch School,” said Carol Baldwin, WSU’s manager of marketing and communications of educational outreach. “Students also have the option of enrolling in online courses.” The Mike Ilitch School of Business faculty will teach all courses, including Prity Patel, who is available to meet with Jackson College students from Monday to Wednesday and by appointment. “Jackson students can transfer up to 82 credits to Wayne State by following an articulation agreement that is in place between our two institutions,” Baldwin said. WSU Provost Keith Whitfield believes the partnership is equally beneficial for them. “As a public institution, we are thrilled about this new partnership with Jackson College because it will allow us to serve a new group of students that we haven’t previously reached directly,” Whitfield said in a news release. “Most of our partnerships are in the tri-county area, so this is a big and exciting step west for us. We’ve had great conversations with President Phelan and Jackson’s leadership team, and the idea of bringing a four-year business degree to this campus is exciting. We are proud of what we do in Detroit and we believe this partnership will be an asset in Jackson as well.”

The General Motors lawsuit accusing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and its predecessor entities of corrupting labor negotiations as far back as 2009 is a bombshell, but several labor experts say its impact on current bargaining between the UAW and FCA could be limited. That's not to say the allegations in the 95-page complaint filed Wednesday in federal court, naming FCA, Alphons Iacobelli, its onetime lead labor negotiator and a convicted felon, among others, won't make the task of ratification harder. But it's not clear the issues raised, many already suggested by the ongoing federal corruption probe, will be a deciding factor. Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University, said that if nothing else, the lawsuit puts an even bigger spotlight on negotiations. "I think they have to be extraordinarily careful that what they're doing is being watched microscopically by many parties," he said. "I think they will be extremely careful to avoid the appearance of any background deal (and be) as transparent as possible." Any impact on talks or how workers view a deal is not fully clear, but  deviation from the pattern could generate skepticism. The pattern deal, which includes gains for temporary and in-progression workers, would be costly for FCA because of its heavier reliance on them. "If the agreement between Chrysler and the UAW were to deviate in any way (from the pattern at GM and Ford) to the disadvantage of workers, people would say, 'We told you so, you'd better look in to this,'" Masters said.

Armed with care packages, clothes and clinical supplies, medical students in Detroit are learning outside the classroom. They are putting their knowledge and boots to the pavement, providing free health care to the city's homeless. Each week, students under the supervision of a registered physician or nurse practitioner get on their bikes and look for those in need. Programs such as Michigan State University's Detroit Street Care, Wayne State University's Street Medicine Detroit and the University of Michigan's Wolverine Street Medicine work together to treat as many of the city's homeless as possible. Jedidiah Bell, a fourth-year med student at Wayne State University and president of Street Medicine Detroit, says seeing issues from lack of health care access in his home country of Zimbabwe made him want to participate. "When I moved to the states for university and medical school, I saw the similar things [lack of access] with the homeless population," said Bell. "When I saw street medicine, I appreciated the model of how can we take medical care to the street and build up trust to bridge the gap between the homeless and the medical world." While the programs provide a vital service to the community, Bell says the real-world experience teaches students things the classroom or clinic can't. "It teaches medical students to hone-in on, not just medical conditions of patients, but to be able to sit down and form relationships and discuss other things that might be contributing to [patients'] health but might not come up during a traditional medical encounter." Bell says there's a widespread belief that the "students take away more from people on the streets than they take away from us." Anneliese Petersen, a second-year medical student at Wayne State University and volunteer with Street Medicine Detroit, says the experience also shows upcoming medical professionals another side of health -- the social determinants. "Things that are not strictly medical-based but have a strong impact on health and well-being. Income, access to health care, access to medication, being able to eat well, sleep well, to be able to relax and not be under chronic stress."

The UAW strike against General Motors is now in its second week. After 9 days of striking, where do negotiations stand? And how does this strike compare to other auto worker strikes throughout history? “It is a sliver of impact that is potentially had in this strike compared to what you had 50 years ago,” says Marick Masters, a labor expert and professor of business and interim chair of the finance department at Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business. “And I think that speaks to the decline of labor.” According to Masters, a major strike in 1970 saw approximately one million workers striking against GM, while today, there are fewer than 50,000 people involved. One significant hurdle to overcome before both sides reach an agreement is addressing the disparity between full-time and temporary workers. ”I think it’s going to be very difficult to get a tentative agreement,” Masters says. “You have the use of temporary workers… who don’t get all the benefits that so-called legacy workers do. This is sparking a discussion about the role of the middle class.” In addition to the gap that exists between full-time and temporary workers, Masters points to the increasing divide between executive and hourly worker pay, saying that executive salaries are going up while typical workers’ wages have stagnated or even fallen. He says this is making it “harder for those in the shrinking middle [class] to get ahead.” UAW workers are compensated $250 per week while on strike, and last week General Motors announced that they were dropping health-care plans for striking workers, increasing the tension between both sides. In the face of those economic implications, is a strike the most effective way to get a point across? According to Masters, yes: “A lot of the protections that we take for granted in the workplace today were won by unions and they were hard-fought battles by workers who made great sacrifices.”