NOVEMBER 4 - 10. 1985 THE CITIZEN
co
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e Ing
now responsible for coordinating
public and private financing
efforts and educating fellow
banker concerning economic
development financing.
Guyeskey, will inform mem
bers and guest how the State
Chamber of Commerce serve
an dvocate for small busi
ness particularly in the area
of political networking .
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DEPARTING TREASU ER - Ric rdo Johnson, Finance
Director for the city of Ben on Harbor, rived a pi que
from ayor Wllce Cook. at th October 28 city comml
on m tlng, Johnson'.,. gn tlon aft r a three-year
Int at th city wa. effectl Oct. 31. Th Twin City Branch
AACP also comm ndeet Johnaon for hi. ork with the
group by pr ntlng two pi gu t t. m. m tlng. (H-
P photo)
Funds for poor
available to group
Berrien County has been
cho en to receive '27,353 for
emergency food, helter, and
utili tie , according to Richard
,
,
Grigo , ch irman of the cal
board that ill di tribute th
fund to qualifyin organi-
zation .
Or anization, to qualify
mu t: be nonprofit; hav an
ccountin ystem and conduct
an annual audit; practice non
di crimination; have demon
strated the capability to deliver
emergency food and shelter
program; and if they ar a
private voluntary organization,
they should have a voluntary
board.
All qualifying organization
are urged to aply.
Gri os encouraged all
interested or anization to call
the United Way Office at 983-
3511. He stated that the
deadline for ubmis ion
Nov. 20.
ST. JOSEPH - The South
we tern ichigan Development
Company Inc. ill hold it'
fourth annual meeting Thur
d y, ovemb r 7, 1985, t the
Round 0 Re t urant, Do a
gi c, announced SOC's Presi
dent, Duane Her.
The meeting, scheduled to
begin at 1 :30 p.m., will feature
Su Pool, Economic Develop-
o
Co ncil
ment Coordinator for Fir t of
America Bank Corporation, and
Phil Guye key, anager of Small
Busine Programs for the ichi
gan State Chamber of Com
merce.
Pool will discu the impor
tance of a local private/public
partnership. A former Eco
nomic Development Coordinator
for Van Buren county, Pool is
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support each other in the event
of a plant closing, rna layoff,
strike or other job action.
Olexa said that local unions
ould be entitled to repre
sentation ba ed on their size.
The next meeting' will be
held on november 4, 1985,
at' 7:30 p.m. and is open to
any interested union repre
sentative or officers. The
meeting will be· held at the
lAM Local 1918 Union Hall,
2655 U.S. 33 in Benton
Harbor.
that one maintenance positioin
ould be eliminated.
According to Piggee, if a
maintenance posirion.Is elimi
nated, and at the same time a
ne position is created, the new
position should be filled by pre
sent p ronnel.
"We had to go through a cos
tly grievance procedure to bring
people back to wor ho h d
been laid off. And, at the same
time Mr. Shurn hired a foreman
from outside the school system.
I call that 'union bustin and a
misuse of the taxpayers'
money,' tt Pi gee said.
Farrakhan
Contlnu d from P ge 1
and retailing Black produced
items.
Farrakhan also dealt with hi
image in the major media, not
ing that last he had been
likened to Adolph Hitler.
"Why did the pre not
say'you remind me of Jesus?'
Jesus had a controversy with the
Jews. Farrakhan has a con
troversy with the Jew. Je u
was hated by the Je
Farrakhan is hated by the
Jew ." he aid.
He also launched into a bri -
tling ttack on ayor Edward
Koch, ayin , "Dear Mr. Ko h:
The Black peopl of e Yor
City liv in hell, and you ar th
keeper of th hell and you mu t
the pure devil him elf."
Blacks die
Contlnu d from P g 1
from 1979 to 1981. During that
period the ta force found
nearly 60,000 'excess" Black
deaths. Translated, the ord
"exce " means that if BI ck
health conditions h d b en the
same as tho for whites 60000
fe er Blacks would have died
during the 1979 to 1981 period.
E T HELP
LIITLE GOVE
EXPECl'ED
Despite her stated concern
over the disparity bet een Black
and white health Secretary
Heckler told a ashington ne s
conference she would not call
for an increa in vemment
pending in order to tackle the
problem.
Inste d; Heckler aid she ill
be focusing on ne initi tive
uch as "outreach' pro rams to
m e the public better a are of
th problem. She aid th de
p rtment hoped to ccomplish
much with existin re ource .
Labor leadership in South
western Michigan h formed a
Labor Council according to John
Olexa, Acting Chairman.
Olexa, who i the busines
m r for th Laborers Inter
national Union of orth
America (UUNA) Local 819,
. d that the Southwestern
. chipn Labor Council
(S LC) has appro ed it con
stitution and h t the per
capita rate for locals to affil
. e and has agreed to make
I
B De ayne • Keller
BENTO HARBOR
"Io eph Shum' refusal to grant
me an intervie for the
foremans' job, for hich I filed
a timely application, denies me
my right of due process of
law."
Thu claims George Piggee,
president of Local No. 953, the
American Federation of State,
County and unicip 1 Em
ployee (AFSCME) and a 14-
year employee of the school
y tern.
Jo ph Shurn, Per onnel
Director for Benton Harbor
Area Schools (BHAS) refu ed
to comment on Piggee's cha
r e .
According to Piggee the
chool district created two ne
foreman' po ition earlier this
year; one for the custodial
dep rtment and one for the
tnaintenanc dep rtment.
Dan Skinner, chapter chair
per on, id: "One ye r ago, in
a hard bar aining proces , we
negotiated a contract in which
the bo rd combined the
grounds maintenance, me
chanical maintenance, plumb
in and carpenter classi
fications into a ingl general
maintenance c ification. The
board' objective apparently
to f cilitate th hirin of
out ide contractor. But, em
ployee in the general main
tenance c iflcation have the
ill and experience n ce ary
to p rform grounds main
tenance, mechanical main
tenance, plumbin and car
penter or and by the letter of
th bar reement are en
titled to perform uch wor
b fore ny out ide contractor
can be u d except in emer
ge�cy ituations or in c of
pplication for an
charter.
The council
affiliated with
AFL-CIO and
State AFL-CIO.
AFUIO
ould then be
the ationa!
the Michigan
The purpo of the- Labor
Council is to open communi
cations be een area local
unions; to provide educational
program for union members;
political action; and for com
munity services according to
Olexa. The council could pro
vide a way for local union to
lac of manpo er or equip
ment,"
The school district recently
gave two men in maintenance
the option of taking a pay cut or
of being laid off, according to
Piggee and Skinner. Ru 11
Humes, a licensed plumber,
took a cut in pay, the men
explained, while Ken Garten
cho a lay-off.
Skinner said that hile Gar
ton as laid off the hool con
tinued to u e outside contrac
tor to do his ork, The union
filed grievances on behalf of
Humes and Garton. Humes
reimbursed for his lost
wage and Garton called
b c to ork ·th full back
p y.
"It would eem to me that a
commitment by BHAS to use
their own employees ould
better serve the taxp yers,"
Skinner said. "It costs the tax
payer money to pay lawyer to
fight legitimate grievances. to
Skinner noted that hen a
public employer uses outside
contractors to replace their
employees there is al ay the
strong temptation of greed.
Piggee believe that ther is
a concerted effort not only to
eliminate job classificatio ,
but to cripple and finally
eliminate the union itself. He
y th t the union has been the
mo t effective weapon the
employee have had in the b t
tle a ainst egr gation and di
crimination in the hool
y tem.
Piggee pointed out that the
198 court order for de egre
ga�g the B nton Harbor
hools require th uperin
tendent to report annually on
the di trier' progre in achiev
in th goal of 50 percent Black
repre entation in school nur-
, ecretarie and main-
tenance per onnel. . "That
nece arily includes administra
tive employees in the main
tenance department," Piggee
said.
Joseph Shurn contends that
the nMrly-created foreman's
po itions ere not covered l::1y
the court order.
Piggee admits th t the fore
men's position did not exist at
the time of the court's de egre-
gation order. "But," he
explains, "it is ludicrous for
anyone to believe that a court
ordered desegregation plan
would not include the fore
men' job by implication."
Piggee originally applied for
both the custodial foreman and
the maintenance foreman
positions in the hope of getting
either one. "I was then told by
the custodial superviso, Lee
Kienzle that I hould withdra
my aplication for the main
tenance foreman position and
concentrate my efforts on the
custodial foreman's job. He told
me that my chances ould be
much better for getting the cus
todial (foreman's) po ition. I
folIo ed hi advice, but to my
di may, I was never even given
the courte y of an intervie .
"I believe the board is de
liberately circumventing the
court order and trying to avoid
the union contract. And, in 0
doin ,they are violating my civil
ri hts."
Le Kienzle could not b
reached for comment.
Board member Lynn
Haye and Jane Strand con
firmed that the board was a are