Chicago Tribune (CT) - Sunday October 18, 1987
Michael L. Millenson; Tribune Staff Writer

The topic: a frank discussion about AIDS.

Silverman is president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Though the foundation has found an attentive ear in the entertainment industry, the group has not been a hit with mainstream American business. That appears to be changing rapidly. Silverman says Smith assured him of top-level support for an AIDS education and prevention program for workers at the nation's largest industrial corporation, with 1986 sales of $102.8 billion, and its largest private employer with 519,000 workers at the end of last year.

"We certainly believe (AIDS) is an extremely serious issue and are developing plans for an education program," said a GM spokeswoman. "We hope to launch it as soon as possible."

The decision by GM to take an active role in the fight against acquired immune deficiency syndrome is just one indication of an important shift in the attitude of companies toward the disease.

Once dismissed by many executives as a regional problem likely to affect only certain urban areas, AIDS is being recognized as a genuine epidemic that business must help combat, for humanitarian and financial reasons.

The attitude change is recent-no more than six months old, say officials of business groups, AIDS groups and the government. They give much credit to the kind of blunt warnings delivered to business by Dr. C. Everett Koop, surgeon general of the United States.

"The time for a company to educate employees about AIDS is before it has its first case . . . and they will have their first," Koop told an AIDS conference in Chicago last week. "I think employers have an obligation to convey information on how AIDS is spread and how AIDS is not spread."

The theme that AIDS will inevitably affect most businesses has been bolstered by the relentless growth in the AIDS toll. To date, there have been about 43,000 cases and more than 20,000 deaths from the disease. Another 1 million to 1.5 million Americans carry the HIV virus, which causes the disease, the Centers for Disease Control says. Direct medical costs in 1986 alone are estimated at $1.1 billion.

Meanwhile, 33 percent of the companies responding to a survey by the American Society for Personnel Administration reported a case of AIDS in their firm, up from only 9 percent as recently as late 1985.

"The Vietnam conflict cost 47,000 American lives," says G. Todd Swim, a researcher for Allstate Insurance Co. "By the end of 1987, the same number of Americans will have contracted AIDS since the first reported case in 1981. Over half of the 47,000 will have died by the end of this year, and the remainder will be well on their way to death."

Says B.J. Stiles, interim president of the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS: "Rock Hudson made the story national. Dr. Koop made the story serious. The numbers are now making the story universal."

It has not been easy to get managers preoccupied with other worries-from foreign competitors to takeover fears to a poorly educated work force-to take on another problem. The nature of AIDS has made the job even tougher.

"It's a very touchy issue for people to deal with," says Sharon Canner, director of employee benefits for the National Association of Manufacturers. The association was a founding member of Stiles' National Leadership Coalition.

"It does get down to the fundamentals," says Canner. It's talking about sexual behavior and sexual orientation and drug abuse. That's difficult to handle."

Nonetheless, some important steps are being taken, some just since the beginning of October, AIDS Awareness Month.

- The Business Council, a group of executives from some 125 of the bluest of the nation's blue-chip firms, were briefed by government officials about AIDS at the group's semiannual gathering earlier this month. The session drew praise from chief executive officers of companies like Johnson & Johnson, American Telephone & Telegraph Co. and Manufacturers Hanover Corp.

- In Chicago last week, about 225 executives gathered for a conference called "AIDS: Corporate America Responds," sponsored by Northbrook-based Allstate Insurance Co. In addition to hearing speakers like Koop and Silverman, attendees broke into small workshops to plan a private-sector initiative dealing with how the disease affects everything from medical costs to customer relations.

Larry Williford, Allstate's vice president of corporate relations, said the company hopes to present a broad-based package to the White House for its endorsement at a followup meeting in Washington in January.

- Meanwhile, Sears, Roebuck & Co. is launching its own AIDS education program. The four divisions of Sears-its stores, Allstate, Coldwell Banker Real Estate and Dean Witter Financial Group-employ about 487,000 people, making Sears the nation's second-largest private employer after GM.

That educational effort, and Sears' sponsorship of an AIDS conference, are thought to carry particular impact because it represents a response from a "heartland" company that symbolizes Middle America.

- The Chamber of Commerce has established an AIDS Task Force to put on educational programs and publish guidelines on dealing with AIDS in the workplace. The conservative group has 176,000 corporate members, 90 percent of whom are small to medium-sized companies with fewer than 100 employees. Recently, the chamber ran a four-part series on AIDS on its morning cable television show, "BizNet."

Locally, the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce reports growing interest in AIDS programs, especially since a state ruling that AIDS victims are legally protected from discrimination as "handicapped" individuals.

In some cases, labor unions also are joining in the educational effort. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the country's largest unions, has been conducting AIDS workshops since 1983, when the union was approached by worried members who are prison guards and who work in mental institutions. And the Service Employees International Union, which represents many hospital workers, calls its AIDS information the most- requested material ever printed by the union.

Still, officials of both unions say that hospitals are not doing enough to protect employees from the disease; both have asked the Department of Labor to intervene.

The educational programs appear to be having some effect. An informal survey of companies shows that most intend to treat AIDS like any other illness. The urge to require mandatory testing of employees for the disease or to isolate its victims-most likely illegal steps, anyway-seems to be fading.

Meanwhile, worker education may help conquer one of the biggest fears of businesses-that they will be boycotted by customers if it's known that one of their employees has AIDS. Points out James Klein, manager of pension and health benefits at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "Employees are also consumers in the general marketplace."

CAPTION: Photo: Tribune photo by Ernie Cox Jr. B.J. Stiles (left), interim president of the National Leadership Coalition n AIDS, and Larry Williford, vice president, look over signs about various AIDS programs during the Corporate America seminar at the Nikko Hotel.

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