ORKAND HAS 150 MORE JOBS; SEARS FOLKS A FIT, VEC SAYS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 12, 1993                   TAG: 9302120238
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
ORKAND HAS 150 MORE JOBS; SEARS FOLKS A FIT, VEC SAYS
The Orkand Corp. said Thursday it needs 150 more full- and part-time employees for its Salem postal bar-coding center.
When coupled with the Maryland contractor's need for 200 on-call workers, this would raise the center's employment to 950, said John Gracza, director of company operations in Salem and Lynchburg.
Orkand works under contracts from the U.S. Postal Service. Workers at its centers use computer terminals to put bar codes on mail that otherwise cannot be read by automated mail-sorting machines in post offices.
The expanded work force is needed to handle a growing volume of mail that is sorted electronically from Buffalo, N.Y., and Northern Virginia, Gracza told a Salem news conference called by the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership.
The center has 550 employees, slightly more than initially announced by the partnership in June. The on-call or casual workers can substitute for absent workers who have a full schedule, Gracza said.
The Virginia Employment Commission office in Roanoke will take applications and screen the applicants.
The new jobs "will fit nicely" for the 1,200 Sears telecatalog workers who face layoff when their Roanoke operation is closed, said Marjorie Skidmore, job service manager for the VEC.
"We think it will be a good transition for the Sears workers," Gracza said.
Orkand pays $6.50 an hour and benefits including individual medical insurance, paid vacation after a year and holidays.
More of the growth in volume is in the Northern Virginia contract, Gracza said. Two-thirds of the 150 will be added to the 300 who handle Northern Virginia mail. Fifty will be added to the 250 working on Buffalo mail. Also, 125 on-call workers are needed for each contract.
About half of all applicants are passing the company's typing requirement of 40 words a minute. To meet that requirement, Orkand and ECPI Computer Institute offer a course in keyboard skills. Applicants for that course, which costs $80, must be able to type 25 words a minute.
About half of the force is working full time, he said. The center operates 24 hours a day; and all on the night shift, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., are full time.
Many part-time personnel come in from 5 to 9 p.m. after completing an all-day shift at another job. Part-time people work from 23 to 34 hours a week. Those on call are guaranteed two shifts a week.
Some bar-coding workers drive from Radford, Blacksburg and Covington to the Salem plant.
Gracza said there is space for the new employees in the 24,000-square-foot center, a former Brendle's store. When needed, he said, another 15,000 square feet of space is available next door.
The Salem operation could grow. Another round of U.S. Postal Service contracts for bar coding will be awarded in March and April. Twenty-three additional contracts are awarded each quarter, Gracza said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB