Wednesday, December 1, 1971
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
J:
Page Seven.
Wednesday, December 1, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven
.. _ _
af,
Contemporary Discussions
rAAR
Student wage
presents
Arthur M.Schlesinger, Jr.
* Advisor to President Kennedy
* Pulitzer Prize Winning Author
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2
Michigan League Ballroom
4:00 p.m.
FREE ADMISSION
Contiiued from page 1)
"Students do the same thing
as the counter lady does," says
one worker in East Quad. "If she
is busy the students take over."
"The work is more than the
money," says one Markley stu-
dent employe. "If you wash 1000
dishes. $1.75 just doesn't seem
worth it.'
In fact, according to the hous-
ing student employe policy, stu-
dents are expected to do the
same work as other employes.
"When accepting employment
in a specific residence hall, you
assume responsibilities the same
as regular employes do and
must do your work to the satis-
faction of your supervisors," the
policy reads.
In addition, students feel they
have no recourse but to accept
the things they are told to do or
face being fired.
"When we are unhappy about
something which is happening to
us in our job and the University
refuses to do anything about it,"
says one student, "we have no
choice but to quit."
And the University seems to
have little trouble filling their
openings, since most of the
dorms have waiting lists for
jobs.
In addition, students who want
to find work in Ann Arbor find
little choice open to them but the
University - the city's largest
employer. "It was the only place
to get a job," said one student.
"I looked all over the city and
the University was the only one
hiring," said another.
Students, who need work.
therefore, generally have to work
for the University, regardless of
conditions.
r "Temporary workers are com-
PETITION NOW
for a central committee chair
MAR
,-)A-
scale:
pletely at the mercy of their
employer," says Joel Silverstein,
one of the organizers of the new-
ly formed Temporary Employe
Association (TEA). "They have
nothing to fall back on."
"There are lots of instance.
of no efassification," Silverstein
continues, "and employes don't
hesitate to tell students to do
whatever they want them to."
East Quad Food Supervisor
Linda Colhurst says that stu-
dents are hired in as "general
kitchen help." "We can't set up
classifications for students, be-
cause scheduling changes means
they don't always do the same
job."
Another student says, "I do
whatever the head cook wants
me to."
Students have had no recourse
in the past if they are unhappy
about treatment in their jobs,
other than complaining to the
supervisor-who is usually the
one telling them what to do. And
they have had little on which to
base their complaints since they
have had no job classifications.
This situation, however, may
soon be somewhat remedied, as
Thiry says that while the ques-
tion of temporary employes is
under study, the University is
planning on classifying these
employes beginning Jan. 1. Spe-
cific plans for this are still
vague, though, he says.
But even in this situation, sup-
ervisors will retain hiring and
firing power over the employes.
Many student employes !:ave
been getting paid more than the
flat $1.75 an hour rate, however.
These students generally wo k
in the hospital and on Univer-
sity transportation jobs.
Here, Thiry says, there is no
difference in expectation at jobs
between the students and non-
A losini
student temporary employes.
Yet, these students also get paid
a salary below that of union
workers, since they are still paid
under the schedules agreed upon
>y the union and the University
.n their now expired 1968 con-
tract. Thiry attributes this to
limited funding.
For the most part, therefore,
the University employs tempo-
rary employes, especially stu-
dents, at a lower rate than
unionized workers.
According to union President
Charles McCracken this situa-
tion "hurts the student and it
hurts the bargaining unit"
"It is much cheaper to have
students do the job," he explains.
"Take a student working 25 hours
a week at a job which the con-
tract says allows us $3 an hour.
"Adding in the vacation time,
sick time and health benefits we
are getting, it adds up that the
University is saving over $1.60
an hour per employe. 25 hours,
30 weeks a year, the total comes
to $1,200 savings a year per
worker.
"Considering there are close
to 500 to 1,000 students working
20 hours a week or more, the
University saves over $15,000
monthly," he continues.
In an effort to guard against
the University turning union
jobs into student employment,
contract has a special provision.
which reads:
"A position filled by a full-
time employe which becomes
open will not be split into two
or more part-time positions in
order to provide employment for
a student employe, unless the
position cannot be filled with an
employe on a full-time basis."
In addition the contract pro-
vides that "work regularly and
customarily performed by an
g proposition?
in the Ist annual
World Traying Championship
1
chairmen
following
needed in
areas:
GENERAL PUBLICITY
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employe shall not be performed
by a student employe or tem-
porary employe to the extent
that it results in his layoff or
removal from classification."
But the contract is vague re-
lating to students filling part-
time openings, formerly held by
a union member. According to
Thiry, "If we have a part-time
opening and fill it with a stu-
dent, we are not violating the
agreement. A job represents
work the University has to do-
not student jobs or union jobs,
just work."
McCracken strongly disagrees.
"The University cannot hire a
student into a part-time job
that a bargaining unit employe
was previously working in. The
unit takes the position that the
job was a union job and filled
by a union member and that the
University cannot change its
status in that way."
The problem with the whole
disagreement, McCracken says,
is trying to discover if this stu-
dent replacement in part-time
jobs is actually occurring.
"One way to tell if the bar-
gaining unit is being eroded by
the University in this way," says
McCracken, "is by comparing
the number of student hours
worked with the number of
union hours worked over the
past two years. We have asked
the University for that infor-
mation, but they haven't given
it to us yet," he adds.
The Daily also asked for these
statistics but was told they were
"unavailable" by several Uni-
versity officials.
"The Union has been asking
us for those statistics, too," says
Robert Parker, assistant mana-
ger of compensation, plans and
personnel, "but it just isn't
available. The union doesn't be-
lieve me either. It involves hand
counting."
While union workers have
their collective clout and re-
cognition as a union to fall back
on to legitimize their demands,
students feel they have nothing
except the "good will" of their
individual supervisors.
Students, as a unit, have been
excluded from the AFSCME
bargaining unit, because,. ac-
cording to University Attorney
William Lemmer, "students
have a different community of
interest than union workers."
Lemmer defines community of
interest as "ages, hours, work-
ing conditions used in determin-
ing whether any given group of
employes has an inherent co-
hesiveness so as to comprise an
appropriate bargaining unit."
"For students," he says, "work
is secondary to their education
and schedule flexibility is im-
portant in determining their
hours of work. Their work is not
a means of livelihood as it is
with non-student workers, but a
means to an end."
Legally, it has never been de-
termined whether students do
in fact constitute a separate
community of interest from oth-
er workers.
Any group, before it is desig-
nated as a bargaining unit, must
petition the Michigan Employe
Relations Commission (MERC)
for approval.
In addition, there has never
been a test as to whether stu-
dents, who are working for a
university can in fact organize
into a union. In Michigan his-
tory there has only been one
such instance received by the
board, involving the mailroom
clerks at Wayne State Univer-
sity.
Before deciding, however, on
the larger question as to wheth-
er students could form a bar-
gaining unit, MERC rejected
the students' petition on the
basis "that. it only asked for
unionization of a small portion
of the total student grouping,"
Lemmer says.
Thus, the question has re-
mained unresolved.
Meanwhile, students at the
University have been trying to
form TEA, which they feel
would be potent even if it never
becomes a formal union.
To apply, come to UAC offices, 2nd fl.
Union. Applications due Mon., Dec. 13.
L - __ '-- - ~-~~---- -- -
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NOON BOOK DISCUSSION
THURSDAY
3545 Student Activities Bldg.
EDUCATION AND
ECSTACY
reviewed by John Ellis
I
*
Next Week
DIALECTIC OF SEX
reviewed by Claire Jeanette
OFFICE OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS
Michigan Union, 3rd floor
ATTENTION: Students Receiving
Degrees by August 1972
GRAD 11
Computerized Job Opportunity Matching System
is available for the second arid final time this academic year.
This system can be helpful in searching out potential employers.
Come in and pick up the forms. Deadline for completed forms:
4:30 p.m., Wednesday, December 8.
STUDENTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE LAST
CYCLE OF GRAD II, PLEACE COME IN
AND PICK UP YOUR PRINTOUTS
CAREER PLANNING & PLACEMENT
3rd Floor, Student Activities Bldg.
764-7460
Programming and Development
present
1971 Dynamite Awards
I
Honor
in the
the outstanding mistakes of the past 3 years
following categories:
worst building on campus
worst student contribution to student
worst general contribujtion to student
worst student PR job
worst campus PR job
worst player of the year
worst fight of the year
Submit entries to the UAC offices
2nd floor union by December 9.
life
life
TRANSCENDENTAL
MEDITATION
as taught by
Maharishi
Mahesh
Yogi ...
LAST COURSE OF SEMESTER
Transcendental meditation is a natural spontaneous tech-
nique which allows each individual to expand his mind and
improve his life-SECOND INTRODUCTORY LECTURE
TONIGHT, Wedrnesday, Dec. 1-8:00p.m.
UGLI--Multipurpore Ro-'m
for further info, call 769-0471
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