The Michigan Daily-Sunday, September 10, 1978-Page 7
Big city postal
strike unlikely
WASHINGTON (AP) - A group of
big-city postal union officials is
drumming up support for a nationwide
mail strike Wednesday, but they may
have trouble finding workers who will
march to that beat.
"Let's face it, we're a very
conservative workforce," said William
Burrus, president of the Cleveland area
local of the American Postal Workers
Union.
WE'VE ONLY had one strike in 2006
years - in 1970," added Burrus, who is
chairman of the group of militant
APWU leaders behind the strike call.
He said the group represents 250 to
300 of the largest locals in the 299,000-
member union, with strong bases of
support in such cities as New York,
Cleveland, Philadelphia, Denver, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Dallas
and Miami.
Burrus and his colleagues want to
stage a mid-week nationwide strike to
pressure their national leaders into
reaching a negotiated contract
settlement with the Postal Service
before a 10 a.m. EDT Sept. 16 deadline
the bargainers have set for themselves.
BURRUS SAID in a telephone
interview that strikes in all major cities
beginning Wednesday night would
demonstrate to APWU bargainers that
a contract settlement through
arbitration "is not acceptable to postal
workers."
But he acknowledged that a final
decision to call a strike depends on how
many workers would support one.
Burrus said his group will be taking the
pulse of their members during the next
few days to see "if we would have broad
support" for such a walkout.
The postal union officials concede
that postal workers - unlike
disciplined rank-and-file members of
industrial unions such as the United
Auto Workers - cannot be counted on
to walk off the job any time their
leaders give the signal.
FOR ONE thing, mail strikes are
barred by federal law, a potent
deterrent to walkouts. Violators can
lose their jobs, be fined and go to jail.
- In addition, the current dispute led a
federal judge to issue a temporary
restraining order barring a postal
strike. The judge could order the
immediate jailing of workers or union
leaders who violate his ban.
National officials of-the APWU and
two other unions representing more
than 500,000 postal workers currently
are bargaining with management
under a unique arrangement that must
produce either a voluntary contract
settlement or a settlement through
binding arbitration by the Sept. 16
deadline.
THE 15-DAY bargaining procedure
was adopted by the two sides to avert
nationwide mail strikes that leaders of
two of the unions threatened to call
after members rejected an earlier
settlement.
The two sides have been meeting
under the new arrangement since Sept.
1, but reportedly have made no
progress toward resolving their
dispute. They scheduled no sessions for
Saturday, but planned to resume
negotiations today.
A new settlement reached by the
parties would have to be resubmitted to
members for their ratification. But if
they cannot settle on their own, the
arbitrator will set final contract terms
for the two sides, thus precluding a
vote of approval by union members.
The unions are seeking a better wage
package than the 19.5 per cent increase,
including cost-of-living adjustments,
contained in the three-year pact voted
down last month. The rejected three-
year contract wage offer would have
boosted a typical worker's average
annual pay from about $15,900
currently to $19,100 by 1981.
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I
M
74 0 w W4 0 p " a
Alfred Hitchcock's 1946
4§ NOTORIOUS
§ CARY GRANT, G-man, convinces the playgirl (INGRID BERGMAN),
daughter of a Nazi spy to accept a dangerous mission near the end of §
WW 11, taking her to Brazil and into the arms of Claude Rams. "This
is truly my favorite Hitchcock picture." Truffaut. Suspenseful Romance. . .
Tuesday: Hawky His Girl Friday
TONIGHT at OLD ARCH. AUD. §
§ CINEMA GUILD 7:OOand9:0 $1.50
Last fling
A group of students enjoyed a last breath of summer in the Arb yesterday before
buckling down to the books.
Gas compromise bill
still too close to caxll.
- - - --
WASHINGTON (AP)-Senators are
finally getting a chance to act on the
complex natural gas compromise
which is being championed by the Car-
ter administration, but even on the eve
of debate no one seems to know for sure
whether it will fly.
It's still too close to call because of a
large uncommitted block, most prin-
cipals agree. A week of heavy lobbying
on both sides swung some votes but
failed to produce a clear winner.
SENATEMAJORITY Leader Robert
Byrd. has announced he will take the
deregulation bill up tomorrow and that
both sides will just have to take their
chances.
* Byrd told reporters yesterday at his
weekly news conference that suppor-
ters of the bill are not yet in the
majority, but predicted the Senate will
"rise to the occasion" and pass it.
He said, "my personal contacts with
at least 70 senators and my knowledge
of the uncommitted bloc and the iden-
tify of those senators making up the un-
committed bloc, leave me increasingly
optimistic."
AN ASSOCIATED PRESS survey
showed that as of this weekend, 28
senators still listed themselves as un-
decided. For the rest of the Senate, the
opponents seem to have the upper
hand-with 38 against the compromise
or leaning against it to 34 favoring it or
leaning infavor of it.
But an afialysis of who is on the "un-
decide" list shows the White House may
be ble to narrow that gap and even pull
ahead in the days ahead.
There are twice as manyDemocrats
as Republicans among the uncommit-
ted-something which could make a
difference as the battle becomes in-
creasingly partisan.
AND AMONG THOSE senators are
. many who have supported the admin-
sitration in key votes in the
past-Walter Ruddleston of Kentucky,
Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, Dale
Bumpers of Arkansas, John Glenn of
Ohio, Ernest Hollings of South
Carolina, and Adlai E. Stevenson III of
Illinois, for instance.
Both sides were scurrying for last-
minute converts.
Several senators favoring the com-
promise suggested that Carter's vic-
tories in the House last week-the wide
sustaining of his nuclear carrier veto
and rejection of a Republican attempt
to strip him of the power to impose oil
import fees-added immensely to his
prestige on Capitol Hill and could help
him win votes for the gas bill.
"Those victories were
psychologically very important. It's
just like in the stock market," said Sen.
Richard Stone (D-Fla.).
Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie's
decision Friday to support the com-
Ia.f
UO I
promise-and to bring a number of
other undecided senators along with
him-was seen as a big plus for the ad-
minsitration.
SOURCES AMONG opponents,
meanwhile, reported it seemed to be
getting more difficult to win over
senators, adding they still were far
short of the majority needed. However,
they said the decision of Senate
Majority Leader Howard Baker of Ten-
nessee to join their camp could bring in-
to the fold a number of undecided
Republicans.
It took House and Senate negotiators
more than nine months of mostly secret
sessions to produce the compromise
which would lift fedral price controls
from newfound natural gas on Jan. 1,
1985.
The first showdown vote is expected
on Wednesday or Thursday on a motion
by opponents to return the entire
measure to the conference committee
that produced it.
SENATE LEADERS say that would
hve the same effect as killing the
measure outright.
That could deal the ultimate death
blow to Carter's 16-month old energy
program since the other major element
of his plan-a tax on crude oil-is
already considered dead in Congress
for this session.
If opponents lose on this vote, then
they may mount a filibuster-but the
leadership claims that it has the votes
needed to half such delaying tactics.
The opposition consists of an unlikely
coalition of liberals who claim the com-
promise is too costly to consumers and
conservatives who say it doesn't
deregulate enough gas.
Estimates on the costs vary. Op-
ponents claim it will cost consumers
between $29 billion and $41 billion bet-
ween now and 1985. The White House
puts the cost at less than $5 billion over
the same period. And the Congressional
Budget Office estimates a cost of $15
billion during that time.
The longest pass play in the Big Ten
in 1976 was an 82-yarder for a touch-
down from Marshall Lawson of
Michigan State to Kirk Gibson. It was
against Ohio State.
n---
Ann Arbor Civic Theatre
201 S. Mulholland off W. Washington
w
announces
Open Auditions
FOR "The Unexpected Guest"
by AGATHA CHRISTIE
Sun. Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m. and Mon. Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m.
AT
PI
Ann Arbor Civic Theatre Building
201 S. Mulholland, Ann Arbor
ORODUCTION DATES
OCT. 25-28
U I
AUDITIONS
FOR
UAC Musket's
MAN OF La MANCHA
SEPT. 15-16-Pendleton Room
MICHIGAN UNION
MASS MEETING-SEPT. 14
7:00 Pendleton Room
Michigan Union
"a
elipse
4
4qk
L0 0
CINEMA II
PRESENTS
2 HITCHCOCK FILMS
THE BIRDS
0*
AnnArborJazzFestival
In Celebration of the Music of
DI IKF Fl 1 INGTON
IHill Auditorium
September 21-2
This Hitchcock thriller is enough to make you stop bird-watching and put
the old bird feeder to the axe. In a small California town, birds assume a
horrible malevolence as their pecking increases to mass attack on hun-
dreds of people. Superb special effects create a terror that will be etched
on your memory for a long time to come. with TIPPI HEDREN, ROD
TAYLOR, and SUSANNE PLESHETTE. 7 ONLY.
MARNIE
Marnie's sexual, romantic and emotional emphasis give it a richness
that sets it apart from Hitchcock's other films of the 60's. An amateur
psychologist (SEAN CONNERY) is obsessed with a beautiful kleptomaniac
(TIPPI HEDREN) who is haunted by strange dreams and the color red. A
masterpiece of cathartic climax and Connery's escape from his Agent
007 role. 9 ONLY.
THURS,21st8pm FRI,22nd-8pm
MARY LOU WILLIAMS JOHNNY GRIFFIN
STAN GETZ DEXTER GORDON
MAX ROACH Ot./ARCHIE SHEPP FREDDIE HUBBARD
- -- Y - - - - ~ - -
SAT,23rd-8pm
STANLEY
TURRENTINE
KENNY BURRELL
SUNRA
SUN,24th-lpm
II V I ORCHESTR
CHICO FREEMAN
HUBERT LAWS
SUBSCRIBE TO THE
DAILY-Call 764-0558
SUN,24th-8pm MERCER
MOSE ALLISON
ART BLAKEY
r
ELLIK'GTON/
DUKE EWNGTON
ORCHESTRA
--Iw
WORLD CHAMPS
U M MEN'S GLEE CLUB
FESTIVAL SERIES TICKETS NOW ON SALE
AT MICHIGAN UNION BOX OFFICE
(M-F 11:30-5:30) $30, 25, 20
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS GO ON SALE