Ghe ftr4tgatt Balti Seventy-Sixth Year * EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNVERSTTY OF MiCHTGA1I UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS ber pi ns Are reee. 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. NEWS PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily expfress the individual opinions of staff writers or the, editors. This must be rioted in all re firts. AT-LARGE Going Left to Meet the Right Ly NEIL SHISTER FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1967 NIGHT EDITOR: PAT O'DONOHUE Strike One: University Refuses To Bargain HE UNIVERSITY'S decision to defy Public Act 379 and not bargain col- ectively with its non-academic employes s a relic of the past which must be dis- larded. The strike yesterday of over 200 killed tradesmen and the possibility of urther walkouts by other service em- )loyes serves to reemphasize the absurd- ty of such a stand. If the University intends to, refight the nti-union battles of the 1930's, it can nly lose considerable prestige and en-' ;ender much bitterness among its em- )loyes in the process. Moreover, the grow- ng trend of unionism among public ervants seems to confirm that such ac- ion would in the end be a losing battle. The University claims to be testing the onstitutionality of the amended Hutch- nson Act (PA 379) passed in the '1965 ession of the Legislature which grants he right of collective bargaining to pub- ic employes. It contends that as an au- onomous institution under the state con- titution it is not covered by such an act, nd therefore is not required to bargain ollectively. The court challenge, which has been elayed in the Washtenaw County Cir-. uit Court, may have merit. But this is ,n irrelevant consideration in making a lecision on whether to bargain collec- ively. Gov. Romney's Advisory Commis- ion on Public Employe Unionism even ,dvised the University to begin bargain- ng collectively, while continuing its ourt fight. The University has ignored' he recommendation. One would suspect hat the court suit is merely a device to tall the initiation of collective bargain- UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT H a r a n Hatcher's remarks before the Califor- nia Bar Association last year seem to reveal the real motivation behind the University's actions. Hatcher commented, "the old and weary bitterness of labor- management strife and warfare should not be carried into the public service sector or into a modern university en- vironment.", Hatcher is mistaken in seeing all union relations as intrinsicly consisting of "strife and warfare." Collective bargain- ing can be an effective and peaceful de- vice for ironing out grievances between management and worker. Only the Uni- versity's outdated reaction to union orga- nization has caused the current con- frontatioh which Hatcher had predicted. ADMINISTRATIONS also fear that by bergaining collectively with non-aca- demic employes they may be opening the door for the unionization of professors and instructors, challenging the long-es- tablished departmental system of tenure and promotion. The University should fight one battle at a time. It has no legitimate case against the unionization of non-academic employes. It has a strong case if the issue should ever be raised in the academic world. President-designate Robben W. Flem- ing, with his extensive background in la- bor mediation, may have different thoughts about the effectiveness of col- lective bargaining. Between now and January when he assumes office, disrup- tive strikes may be a commonplace oc- currence unless the University reconsid- ers its untenable position. THE FIRST NATIONAL Conference for New Politics, concluded this week in Chicago, was a mixture of confusion, disappointment and hope. That there are people who still seem to believe the 'politics of promise' is a good thing for this country, but it seems reasonable to believe that many of them must have been deeply mellowed by their Chicago convention. That the convention occurred at all says something very revealing about the State of the Union this fall. It says that there are many people, over 2,000 of whom came to Chicago, who feel severely estranged from the American political system as it now exists. Contrary to what the mass media and Sander Vanoeur would like to believe, the majority of these do not have long hair nor do they wear sandals. On the contrary, they are 'straight' people, con- cerned enough with the conduct for misconduct, as they believe the case to be) of public affairs to want to change it. For this reason k the Palmer House. convention must have been deeply unsettling to them. BECAUSE IT SEEMS unlikely that Chicago is indeed going to have much of an effect on American politics except perhaps to push it farther to the right than it might otherwise go. The radicals there were rich in flaming rhetoric and sincere in the passion of mtheir indignation, but there appeared also a woeful lack of substantive alternatives or proposals beneath the fury of their condemnations. Although the split between the Blacks and the whites has been most publicized, there was an equally signifi- cant schism there between young and older whites them- selves. The SDS people and those sharing in their phi- losophy believe, I think rightly so, that talk of electoral politics and putting 'good men' in the same offices now held by 'bad men' is premature until local communities have been sufficiently organized to provide a genuine power base for 'new politicians.' 1ut the older groups, like the SANE people and the Women's Strike for Peace and left-over radicals from the 30's didn't see it this way. They were pushing for convention endorsement of a third national Presidential ticket and seemed both uninformed and also a bit leary of community organiza- tion work. The two vote margin by which those advocating a 'year of total organization' defeated those desiring a third ticket. 13,517 to 13,515, indicates the extent of the clevage. This is not to say that this break is permanent, but it seems reasonable to think that many of the people in Chicago were there to nominate a sacrificial Presi- dential candidate for whom they could vote and salve their conscience in 1968, and the failure of the conven- tion to approve one represents a serious blow to them. THE WHITES WERE also split concerning the ques- tion of the Blacks. The Negroes left the convention floor almost at the outset, complaining that they were under- represented on steering and planning committees and were generally being treated in what they considered a disdainful manner. They formed their private Black Caucus, producing a sense of unrest among many of the other delegates who felt any radical movement lack- ing Black support was abortive before it even began. CORE chairman Floyd McKissick stated the basic Black grievance succinctly when he said "It is no longer possible for Negroes to be a plank in somebody else's platform. They must be their own platform." Ultimately the Blacks did rejoin the main body, after having two sets of demands accepted. But one of their accepted statements was and will continue to be costly. both for the Black Power movement and the white radi-. cals who are trying to embrace them. This was their condemnation of the 'imperialist Zion- ist Israeli war against the Arabs.' Although the whites did finally adopt this stand in order to try and bring the Blacks into the convention again, it was extremely controversial. Many delegates were alienated by the Black position and subsequent white endorsement of it, and the wealthy Harvard professor who was one of the principal financial backers of CNP says he no longer wants any part of it. THE BLACKS ARE emerging as a genuine political force and their impact was the strongest thing felt in Chicago. They are beginning to sense their arrival: one can see it in the new proudness in their eyes and hear it in the voices of McKissick, Dick Gregory, James Fore- man and Stokely Carmichael. They talk not of riots as do the whites, but of legitimate rebellions from tryan- nous conditions. They are doing what they must do, and it is no longer in the white domain to provide anything more than advise which hopefully will be considered. In the long-run Black Power will be beneficial, for it represents the permanent breaking-up of the old order. The same can be said for the power of white radicals under 30. But the old, order will not go down without its last- ditch stand, and thus in the near future it seems reason- able to expect a wave of reaction to infest the political climate of the country. And the genuine left, not the fair-weather left, is not yet strong enough to resist. THE NEW POLITICS Convention left Chicago splint- ered and, I think, with a sense of disenchantment. They will continue to talk their position, as they must, and more people will listen to it as the war continues and the ghetto rebellions recur. But if Chicago was an accurate reflection of the temperament and general substance of the movement, the new radicalism is going to have difficulty attracting the non-dissident elements of the society who are looking for tangible and non- revolutionary alternatives to the problems they perceive. Even the convention was split substantially on two issues, and at times it appeared there was no real basis for communication between many of the delegates other than their mutual dislike of the present. The left will be vocal and visible, but it will also be out-voted. This is the ill omen. For the mood of the country seems to be more that of impatience than in- tolerance with its government. And although impatience is the first step towards real reform, its prelude is reaction. But let us hope not. I 4 4 Letters:Can Fleming Really Be That Bad? .V w... To the Editor: WE WOULD like to express our disapproval of Mr. Rapoport's biased article regarding President- Designate Fleming on the front page of the Sept. 6 Daily. Without having met Mr. Flem- ing, one would receive a very un- favorable impression of the man throughthe subtle, sarcastic in- nuendoes which permeate the ar- ticle. Mr. Fleming has been on the campus for all of 48 hours, and already Mr. Rapoport expects that he instantly devised panaceas to all problems of the University,. Having met Mr. Fleming at a reception in his honor at South Quad on Wednesday, we feel that Mr. Fleming gives the impression of being frank, logical in his thinking, unassuming, and that he possesses a sense of humor. This reception was not a "Hatcher Tea." On the contrary, Mr. Flem- ing informally discussed with the stadents everything from labor disputes to sophomore women's hours. In fact he volunteered his disapproval of the Vietnamese war without being asked. Mr. Fleming spoke in a lively, interesting manner, and at no time was he hesitant. While ad- mittedly not possessing all the answers to students' queries (e.g. "What role should research play in the University community?" "What are the University's obli- gations to the state government?" "What stand should the adminis- tration have taken on the obscen- ity case?"), he was honest enough not to write off the questions with sophistries. THOSE OF US who are famil- iar with the Daily's objective edi- torial policies wish that such opinions be confined to the edi- torial page where at least the readers will take them for what they are. --MARK LEVIN Strike Two: For-FUAW Dispute THE UNITED AUTO WORKERS' strike of the Ford Motor Company can come as no surprise to anyone who follows the pattern of UAW-Big Three history that remains regretfully insoluble., The attitude leading to the breakdown in negotiations is a resilt of manage- ment's long-standing refusal to recognize that a man's value to the company is not at all dependent on the color of his col- lar. The issue of contention in the' 1967 version of the triennial contract, wrangle is a UAW-proposed equity plan, whereby hourly workers who labor under the union flag would share in the company profits. REUTHER DEMANDS 'that his unionists be given the same equity that the white-collared, salaried employes at Ford receive. He bases this insistence on an assertion that Ford could prodtice no cars if it didn't have men toiling on the line. While this type of reasoning is in- deed hyperbolic and somewhat naive, there is an important truth here that Ford management refuses to recognize. This truth is simply that not all Ford office employes - already blessed with profit sharing plans of their own-hold jobs that are of greater value or that re- quire more training than the average foundry or stamping plant job. Many white-collared, equity-included positions require minimal training for a five day week of adding-machine pumping. Ford, however, refuses to grant the same bene- fits to blue-collar workers as it does to the white, collar staff because it is un- precedented among the Big Three to rec- ognize the line-worker as more than an hourly-rated numeral. Furthermore, an equity program for 159,000 workers would entail considerable additional expense. IN THE UAW'S FINAL pre-strike offer, Reuther proposed a 35-day strike post- ponement predicated on the initiation of compulsory arbitration. Ford has turned Reuther down because it is the nature of arbitration, per se, that the results of such activity would necessarily include at least part of Reuther's profit-sharing plan., Ford recognizes this, and is running scared at the expense of the auto workers and the nation. -DAN OKRENT - -- -- .. ," ,k 1. P^ r " . ! , l E A " If.. , ° . . } t w ., a ,r r, e . I ., 0 , " t l ,S 7 J ", , ,,,m, ,,., w C r . ,+ ° U .-" _..._...:..-. , tic M h"n/b rr .e yaCSn14 ' N s a s " v ^ I + RI . i L .H "'H , YVI What form would the Daily's condemnation have taken had Mr. Fleming manufactured solutions to all the major problems? Al- ready, Mr. Fleming is "damned if he does and damned if he doesn't." If, as Mr. Rapoport says, Mr. Fleming has the bad habit of offering analyses instead of stock replies, perhaps stock replies would preferable to analyses? Please, gentlemen, let's give the man a chance before we judge him. '-Rich Shulik, '70 -Ken Ke ley, '71 Flaming Judge To the Editor: JUDGE SAMUEL ELDEN'S ad- verse decision against Cinema Guild might impress the unknow- ing, since it is replete with ful- minations against "immorality." He is, however, not even a self- acknowledged expert on experi- mental films, and he seems to have missed the whole parodistic idea behind Jack Smith's "Flam-. ing Creatures," which is a funny and sick humor film that would shock no one except people who expect "David Copperfield." I doubt that Judge Elden has much knowledge of contemporary films and surely no esthetic reaction to them. His is a case of sheer in- competence. He would not squarely say that the film was arousing to "l'homme moyen sunsuel," which has been the acid test in days gone by. He said with no real reason, that it might arouse younger people and would surely arouse homosexuals and transvestites. His public state- ment to this effect shows either a genius for McCarthyite publicity, or an intimate knowledge of de- grees of arousals by homosexuals and transvestites. People may guess, however. -Inez Pilk Riot Aid To the Editor: W E THE UNDERSIGNED mem- bers of SACUA, sensing a deeply felt and widely shared 'de- sire among members of the Uni- versity community to mnake a con- tribution to the effort required to' meet the emergency needs of the displaced families and individuals who are victims of the recent dis- orders in Detroit have made ar- rangements for receiving financial contributions from members of the University community for this purpose to be forwarded to the Interfaith Emergency Center in Detroit. Checks may be made payable to the "Interfaith Emergency Com.. mittee" and mailed or delivered to the SACUA Office, Room 2512, Administration Building, Univer- sity of Michigan. On, Aug. 15. do- nations in the amount of $1,542.50 were turned over to. the Interfaith Center, in the name of the Uni- versity community. All amounts received thereafter and prior to Sept. 15 will also be turned over to the Center, -and the account will then be closed unless there appears to be good cause for its continuation. In view of the purpose and in- tended disposition of these con- tributions, we believe no question can be raised regarding their de- ductibility for income *tax pur- poses. -John Bardach --Irving Copi --Alexander Eckstein -John Gosling -Robert Howe -Frank Kennedy -Thomas McClure -Joseph Payne -James Wendel --Ben Yablonky All letters must be typed, double-spaced and should be no longer than 300 words. All let- ters are subject to editing; those over 300 words will gen- erally be shortened. No unsign- ed letters will be printed. *q 4. Strike Three: Teachers' Vacation THE CURRENT RASH of teacher strikes in 36 Michigan school districts which have extended summer vacations for over 500,000 school children must be treated as a symptom of a deficiency in the state educational system rather than a prob- lem in itself. Although local officials may see the actions of the American Federa- tion of Teachers as a violation-of state law prohibiting strikes by public em- ployes, they may be thankful in the end to the underpaid, overworked teacher who has finally swallowed his pride and taken direct,,militant action. For the teacher walkouts are making it' painfully clear to the communities involved that school boards just don't have enough funds to offer the quality education which is demanded. In the past, inadequate appropriations have proved 'sufficient, but only at the ex- pense of teacher salaries. With increased teacher militancy and concern over the whole direction of education, school boards can no longer exploit the teacher. The teacher strikes in Michigan are the the Republican -Legislature aggravated the situation further by failing this year to raise the educational per-pupil for- mula for elementary and secondary edu- cation, despite heated protests by the PTA and teacher organizations. They cannot escape their share of responsibil- ity for the dilemma. Moreover, voters throughout the state who have consistently and indiscrimin- ately turned down crucial millage in- creases on the premise that school boards should do a little belt-tightening must also be blamed. QUALITY EDUCATION costs a great deal of money and the availability of funds cannot depend solely on the whims of the electorate as it presently does. School boards must be given the power to levy taxes, independent of the elector- ate. If the people do not approve of the additional spending, they can defeat the school board members. School boards must also have their taxation base expanded. School boards The heir that made Milwaukee famous. "No-no-no! . . Not Alexander! . . . George!" Abortions: Gun Michigan Face By JENNY STILLER 'OME PEOPLE call it legalized murder. To others it is the granting of. a long-withheld per- sonal freedom, or "bringing the law in line with accepted stand- ards." To some, "immoral"; to others, "rational"; to some, "play- ing God"; to still others, "putting humans and humanity first." What they are talking about is a legal-medicalrissue graught with social, ethical, moral and religious considerations-the proposed lib- eralization of laws governing ther- apeutic abortion. The state Legislature is cur- rently considering such a law, based, like many others in other states, on the suggestions made bthe +A merien LawTImnstitu1te THE OLD LAW is simple. It is hard to misinterpret. It also in- volves no moral judgment; when faced with the possibility of los- ing two lives or one, opinion is unanimous in favor of sacrificing the unborn child-who would die with the mother anyway - to save the woman's life. The old law is easy for Sunday nralists to interpret and hospi- tals to adhere to without having to get involved with sticky moral and legal judgments, but it is also grossly unjust to a large number of women. One very simple reason for this is thatvwhen a woman has made up her mind to have her pregnan- cy terminated, she will seek a criminal abortion if she is denied nol1 one And criminal hor- AS THE VOLSTEAD Act prov- ed, legally prohibiting something that many people consider im- miral, but an equal number con- sider moral will not stop its prac- tice, but will only drive it under- ground, where, without the nec- essary health standards, more of the innocent "criminal-victims" will be harmed. Immorality can only be prevented by education, not by legislation. But it is debatable that abor- tion is immoral. To those whose religious beliefs include a convic- tion that lifefsbegins at concep- tion, the destruction of the fetus can never be justified. But medi- cal evidence seems to indicate that it is not unreasonable to consider the fetus as somewhat less than the murder of a human being, making abortion criminal seems at best irrational and at worst downright inhumane, Because the social costs of an unwanted child -especially in a world facing im- minent overpopulation-can hard- ly be exaggerated. IT HAS BEEN pointed out again and again that 80 per cent of the women seeking abortions are mar- ried. They want to have their pregnancy terminated not to avoid social embarrassment to them- selves and their families, but be- cause then cq nnot 5ffor'4 toi f'ed another child, do not have the time to give it the care it deserves, or have reason to fear that it will be hrn Adfrnmrd Tt is o-nrlnly ac' abortions should be illegal because pregnancy is preventable is ridi- culous-chiefly because a com- pletely sure method of contracep- tion has yet to be developed. If unwanted conception does occur, abortion is the only answer. For a healthy adult to undergo any kind of medical operation that is not necessary to her health is foolish. But for a woman to bear an unloved and unwanted child is even more so. MANY E'M O T I O N A L pleas against, liberalization of the abor- tion laws come from women who ask, "If I want to take the chance of having a deformed child, why can't I?" It is a pity that such pleas may well kill the legislation.