Eighty-three years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Dignity and a
living wage
Wednesday, September 11, 1974
News Phone: 764-0552
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104.
General pardon: A betrayal
SAY IT AIN'T SO Jerry! Say it ain't
so. The announcement yesterday,
that President Ford is now consider-
ing a general pardon for all the fig-
ures involved in the dark morass of
crimes, arrogance, and deception
known collectively as Watergate
raises some chilling and horrifying
questions: Where does it all end? To
what lengths must men go before
they will be prosecuted for their
crimes? Rule by law and not by men
-lauded so highly just one brief
month ago - has never been so ser-
iously threatened in our nation's his-
tory.
It is reprehensible - and appar-
ently irreversible and uncontestable
--that Ford pardoned his predeces-
sor. The pardon seemed to be an ar-
ticulation of the Spiro Agnew rule
of law: if you're highly placed you'll
be slapped on the wrists and then
freed. Agnew had to plead guilty to
a bill of particulars - all Nixon had
to do was admit to "mistakes in judg-
ment." According to yesterday's New
York Times, Ford tried to pressure
Nixon into admitting some guilt, but
the former President balked and got
his way.
PRESIDENT FORD is now headed on
a course which seems destined
to deprive history of any solid ans-
wers to the Watergate affair. If all
the other Watergate figures are par-
doned, the scheduled Watergate trials
will never come to pass. And the
answers will likely never emerge, for
under the terms of the pardon Nixon
will be allowed to destroy crucial
tapes in three years, and in the
meantime he will be allowed to deter-
mine who has access to them -
How long will it take until the
story begins to change? How soon
will we be told that Nixon was hound-
ed out of office by his tradidtional
enemies, the liberals and the press?
The colossal arrogance reflected by
the events of the last several days is
staggering. Ford, who came to office
promising openness and candor, has
tarnished his one-month reputation
severely. His action in pardoning Nix-
on is as terrible as the worst excesses
of the preceding administration.
IN ONE SENSE an extension of the
pardon is inevitable and perhaps
just. It would be an absurd mockery
to make John Ehrlichman and H. R.
Hadleman stand trial while the man
they served is set free. It makes no
sense to go after the small fry, and
it's hardly equal protection under the
law.
Still there is little we can do, for
Ford has presented us with a fait ac-
compli. He has acted within his legal
perogatives. But this does not pre-
vent us from raising our voice to
join others in expressing our harsh-
est disapproval for the ill-considered,
morally repugnant actions taken.
-STEPHEN SELBST
Editor's note: This is the final seg- ed to send
ment of a serial interview with Bob therefore in
Alpert and Myra Wolfgang of Local 24 the increase
of the Hotel and Restaurant Employes And that g
Union. The Daily welcomes your cor- well. I don'
respondence on this issue. Please ad- a shortagee
dress all responses to "Letters to the union-negoti
Editor." wouldn't be
* * tals and do
By MARNIE HEYN that people;
Bob: There is something that Win The whole
Schuler's would like to say, as other em- booming as1
ployers say too, "We really don't have ed if it wer
to bargain with you." But it's not true. pensation th
The fact is, and life itself tells you this, have been
wherever the unions bargain wages go months. We'
up, conditions improve, and the benefit sion here,<
package goes up. And that's an import- 'what's going
ant element which employers consistent- There's b
ly deny, and which fact belies. I think cyclical boo
we can even accede, for example, Win Myra: Wh
Schuler's had a health package - so- going to bea
called - right in the middle of the cam- Isn't ther
paign, they said, "We're going to im- wage struct
prove it."' hotel and r
Myra: A couple of days ago, Hans I was worki
Schuler came out here to announce flat rate out
that, and some of the employes said, determined
"I've been here since the place opened cial Secuit
and I've never even seen Hans Schuler support me
before. Why am I so lucky now?" But, the a
Bob: Take premium pay for holidays. mined by m
Win Schuler paid premium pay on La- paid Social
bor Day, an enormous premium pay - hour deduc
And they should. ported. I wo
Bob: Of course they should. But they Social Secu
never did it' before the union came hour - that
knocking on their door. So, as the re- but I never
sult of merely filing a petition, some my employe
benefits have been won. Now, those Now, pres
benefits can only be kept if it's put in be paying m
black and white. As Myra says, "Will compensate
you love me in December like you love practice of
me in May?" jeopardize t
But the point is they'll have to love employes w
you if you have a signed, sealed docu- it, to emer
ment that says, whether you like it or that law im
not, we're wed. And that's the collective of people w
bargaining agreement. It's interesting to lives?
see the way developments take place in Bob: Well
the kinds of benefits that accrue simply get totals on
because of the presence of a union. if they don'
Myra: I don't think that students here the option o
who are part of the work force can pendently a
divorce themselves from what's going it: but yes,
on in society and in other social organiz- the employe
ations. They can be critical of the labor Myra: Thi
movement - and the labor movement the governm
deserves and needs criticism - they the employ
can be critical, and they are, of the gov- tips, the em
ernment and the government deserves it shold be
criticism, but you can't withdraw! as it is in th
Now, I doubt if Win Schuler's would But in this c
have been built in Ann Arbor, or there government,
would have been a need for a Marriott off scot free
Hotel, if it wasn't for the fact that the And that's
UAW a long, long time ago had put up the National
the struggle so that the working class raise he's
finally became a middle class, and start- that's why
'U'studen
By DAVID GARFINKEL
PARIS - While nearly 40,000 students are getting
ready for another fall term in Ann Arbor, 48
students from the Universities of Michigan and Wis-
consin are passing a leisurely week at the Hotel
Paris-Latin in preparation for their year.
If it sounds like fun, this reporter can assure you that
it is. But perhaps "leisurely" is the wrong word. For
the students in the Michigan-Wisconsin Junior Year at
Aix-en-Provence, life has become a mixed bag of
tricks.
Amidst wine, wild stories and bird calls in the middle
of the night, things have taken on a fantastic aura.
"Culture shock" immediately became a serious subject
of conversation. Jet lag meant going into a trance at
any given moment.
But ours is an instant age. Many of the people had
been to Europe before. After the jet lag had been
slept out, and the culture shock had been talked out,
(this took about 48 hours), everyone made a little pro-
found discovery: "I'm here and the United States
is over there." The realization then came that we are
now in France for a year; there are real differences,
to notice and to deal with.
"I LIKE PARIS, and I'm surprised how friendly the
people have been," Randy Nash, from Wisconsin, said.
"But sometimes I feel like I'm walking on air."
Everyone I interviewed was having a good time,
but usually there was a minor complaint. Jill Enz-
mann, from Michigan, said she found Paris fun and
safe, and she liked the cafes. "But I miss my ten-
their kids to college, and
creased the enrollment and
in business.
goes for the professionals as
t think there would be such
of dentists if it weren't for
ated dental plans. There
such a shortage of hospi-
ctors and all ,these things
aspire to go into.
economy wouldn't have been
far as, Michigan is concern-
en't for unemployment com-
at the laid-off auto workers
receiving for the last few
d be in a real, real depres-
and I have great fear of
gto happen when it runs out.
een a boom, but isn't it a
im?
en the comp runs out there's
a problem here.
e a problem in the whole
ure as it exists presently for
restaurant employes? When
ing as a waitress, I paid a
of my reported income, as
by my employer, into So-
y, which' will theoretically
when I can't work any more.
amount I get then is deter-
ny income now. And I only
Security on the 24 cent an
tion that my employer re-
uld have been willing to pay
rity on my total tips per
is, if I'd had a living wage-
had the opportunity because
er reported for me.
umably in the future I will
ore FICA on my income and
for that. But doesn't the
employers reporting tips
he retirement years of those
ho aren't able, as you put
ge from the industry? Isn't
poverishing a large number
ho've worked hard all their
, employers are supposed to
tips from the employe. But
t do that, the employe has
f reporting that income inde-
nd paying tax and FICA on
the way the law is written,
loses for years to come.
Js is the only industry where
vent is picking up the tab for
er. On the declaration of
ploye pays the full amount;
matched by the- employer,
e case of all other industries,
ase, it's only matched by the
so the employer is getting
why Win Schuler belongs to
Restaurant Association, be-
saving money from it, and
his employes should have
their own association.
Is Ann Arbor notoriously bad as far
as wages go?
Myra: Yes. We found wages here that
we've never found in Detroit. There are
people working here for a dollar an hour,,
inviolation of the minimum wage law.
Of course, until a few years ago, the law
excluded hotel and restaurant employ-
ers, and shops that had fewer than 15
employes, or weren't involved in inter-
state commerce. All of which goes to
show, without a union or a legal require-
ment, the employers will not pay a de-
cent wage.
What's the pattern of unionization in
cities like this?
Myra: Well, the International Union
has been successful in some college
towns, and place like New Haven, San
Francisco-Berkeley. But we don't have
a pre-arranged pattern; we go where
we're invited.
Who works at Schuler's? Are they
mostly students?
Bob: About thirty or forty percent are
students. About the same percentage of
people who signed cards were students.
Myra: Most of the employes, though,
who aren't students are young, of student'
age.
What issues affect them most? Is it
wages?
Bob: The most important issue really
is to feel that you have something to
say in terms of relating to your employ-
er on an equal basis.
Myra: But a lot of them have specific
grievances: Why am I not given a fair
station? Why does one waitress have
eight customers when another has 16?
They feel that often these things are
discriminatory and want to have some-
one to take it up and point that out.
Questions come up, too, of upward
mobility in the industry - someone has
been a waiter and wants to become a
bartender, someone who's worked as
a busboy or room service clerk and
wants to be a waiter, or someone wants
a certain day off, or having some kind of
scheduling.
It's not only a question of human dig-
nity, but one of real income as well, be-
ca'ise all those things determine how
much money you're going to take home
at the end of the week.
What sort of resistance to unionization
do von get from employes?
What sort of things are they afraid of?
Are these reasonable fears?
Myra: What they're afraid of, first of
all, is not the union. They are afraid of
incurring the employers wrath, and
therefore losing their job. And I think
the employer is successful in many in-
stances of exploiting those fears, by sav-
ing, "If the union comes in, there will
be mandatory fines and assessments,
and you'll have to go on strike."
These charges can all be answered,
but you have to write 90 page leaflets
to answer them. There is no such thing
as a mandatory fine or assessment. The
law prohibits that. It says, "There shall
be no increase in dues, in initiation fees,
in reinstatement fees, without a. vote of
the membership."
I think the other enemy, in the Tense
that we are fighting, is that 'many peo-
ple don't care what happens because
they don't plan on staying in their jobs
forever, all they need is the money to
get through school. They're thoroughly
mobile; that's one of our greatest prob-
lems in organizing the industry.
Bob: Something else the employer
does, he says to somebody who's only
going to be working there five or six
months, "Listen, why should you pay
dues; you're not really going to be able
to enjoy the benefits., It's really not in
your interests to join a union because a
union indicates a certain kind of contin-
uity, a commitment."
Very often people fall for this line-
and it's really a false line - because
very often students find that they're go-
ing to need this kind of employment lat-
er when they move from place to place.
'And the advantages of having a union
card - take for example, somebody
working in a restaurant here moves to
another part of the country, and that
card is an entre, an introduction, it's
knowing that you can go to a strange
place and find a friend there, and one
who will protect you on the job.
Myra: It's not a reasonable fear, but
something else employers play on is,
"The union's going to charge exhorbitant
dues. Often they say, "You're paying
union dues to keep the union officers in
their black Cadillacs." Nobody on our
staff - including me - drives a black
Cadillac, or any other color either.
Win Schuler did me the incredible
kindness of saying that people had to
pay dues so that I could indulge my
taste for Picasso's on the wall of my
office.
How many Picassos do you. have in
your office.
Bob: I have three prints that I got
during a special Marlboro sale for a
couple of bucks apiece.
Myra: And I have three original Wolf-
gangs and one Van Gogh print.
And how much dues do union employes
pay?
Myra: Five dollars a month. And the
real reason Win Schuler's doesn't want a
union is that the union will cut his love-
ly profits. That's it, and not that they've
been one big happy family.
f
n year
Kissinger image tarnished
TE REPUBLICAN administration
which has brought to life such
great phrases as the ever popular
"stonewalling," the pizzazzy "inoper-
ative" and the all-time, heavy duty
favorite, "executive privilege" has
spawned yet another misguided
term, "destabilization."
This term, coined by William Col-
by, director of the Central Intelli-
gence Agency, when applied to the
coup d'etate in Chile means active
U. S. participation in and encourage-
ment of the right-wing overthrow of
the legitimately elected Marxist gov-
ernment of Salvador Allende. Accord-
ing to the Colby testimony recently
uncovered, the United States author-
ized in excess of $1 million to defeat
Allende in the general election and to
bribe members of the Chilean Senate
to reject his election.
The polite sobriquet "destabiliza-
tion" also means active United States
support of murder and suppression.
A5OF THIS writing, not one State
Department official has denied
the Colby testimony, preferring, in-
stead, to claim that the United
States does not engage in covert ac-
tivities and adopted a "hands-off"
policy towards Chile.
It is not only the English language
Editorial Staff
DANIEL BIDDLE
Editor-in-Chief
JUDY RUSKIN and REBECCA WARNER
Managing Editors
KENNETH FINK ................... Arts Editor
MARNIE HEYN .............. Editorial Director
SUE STEPHENSON...............Feature Editor
CINDY HILL ................ Executive Director
STAFF WRITERS: Prakash Aswani, Gordon At-
cheson, Laura Berman, Barb Cornell. Jeff Day,
Della DiPietro, William Heenan, Steve Hersh,
Jack Krost, Andrea Lily, Mary Long, Jeff Lux-
enberg, Josephne Maircotty, Beth Nssen, Cheryl
Pilate, Sara Rimer; Stephen Seibst, Jeff Soren-
son, Paul Terwilliger.
Sports Staff
MARC FELDMAN
Sports Editor
GEORGE HASTINGS
Executive Sports Editor
ROGER ROSSITER .... Managing Sports Editor
JOHN KAHLER........Associate Sports Editor
Business Staff
which has taken a beating in this
little escapade south of the border,
but the reputation and announced
intentions of Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger, as well.
Kissinger chaired the meetings
which decided the final use of the
funds. And though State Department
sources now point out that no action
can be taken without the full and
unanimous consent of the five voting
members of which Kissinger is one,
this does not in the least diminish
Kissinger's guilt.
His vote could have prevented the
blood-letting. Can anyone seriously
say that the action would have been
undertaken if Kissinger, the secre-
tary of state, had wanted it other-
wise?
WHAT THE CHILEAN revelations
lay bare is the rather preverse
Kissinger conception of foreign poli-
cy. It is a conception based on power
politics by the big and the powerful,
which brush aside the internal and
domestic concerns of nations which
have little pull in the power broker-
ages of the world.
Power politics have borne some
bitter fruit. It was power politics
which embroiled the United States
in Vietnam. It was power politics
which caused the Dominican inter-
vention. And it was power politics
which fueled the present economic
crises.
Add to this indiscriminate use of
power, the politics of personality
starring the dashing Mr. K. and the
great foreign affairs advances which
the defenders of the Nixon-Kissinger-
Ford triumverate are so proud of
trumpeting stands revealed as
fraudulent, dishonest, and counter-
productive to the cause of peace.
Such a nakedly pragmatic foreign
policy is near criminal when prac-
ticed by a super-power which must
bear the responsibility of power with
a set of well-practiced principles. It
is ironic that while Kissinger will not
intercede with the Russians over the
fate of Soviet Jewry, he is more than
willing to subvert the electoral pro-
cess of Chile. Principles, the Chilean
adventure reveals, are not Henry
"Peace is At Hand" Kissinger's forte.
--DAN BORUS
is abroad
begi
speed bike," she said. Tom McMurtrie, from Michigan,
said he was enjoying himself, although he thought the
prices at the cafes were outrageous.
Eventually one can't help but make comparisons
to life back home. "I wandered around Notre Dame
(a cathedral in the Latin Quarter) which is sort of
like the Diag - a lot of North Africans and French-
men hanging out ther," noted Amy Dishelle, from
Michigan. "People dancing, playing music, hanging
out - very fun!"
"THE STREET people here are a lot crazier: less
mellow and more aggressive than in Ann Arbor," Tom
McMurtrie said. One student said she felt that the city
"pulsates," and almost everyone mentioned the very
fast pace of Paris.
Of course, there are adjustments to make, and some
are difficult. For some, food and its logical conse-
quence are in this category. Everybody smiles when
they bite into the hard crust of a breakfast tartine beur-
ree (real French bread, someone says with a contin-
ental air), but by lunchtime many have backtracked
by showing up at one 'of the five McDonalds' here.
If only to warn future travellers, it must be told
that later on one finds out that many of the toilets
do not have seats (you're supposed to squat), and
to make things worse, French toilet paper is the rough
equivalent of American waxed paper.
ter a day of sightseeing at Chartres, the group's bus
got stuck in a half-hour traffic jam comparable to the
everydaye "rush hour" around dozens of American
cities. The tour guide, a Parisian, apologized to the
group at great length and then explained that Les
Grandes Vavances, the month of August when every-
one who has a car leaves Paris, were just today
coming to an end. In short, this traffic jam, so com-
monplace to urban Americans, was an Annual Event
in France.
On another tour, the guide pointed out Paris' only
skyscraper near 'the Military College. After it was
built, he explained, popular pressure against it be-
came so great that all -future plans for new. skyscrap-
ers were quickly dropped. Outside San Francisco, this
type of popular influence in the United States is prac-
tically unheard of.
AFTER AWHILE, the beauty of this city loses pre-
cedence to its less pleasant aspect: the constant hustle
and the incredible expense. The girls get tired of be-
ing hassled. The guys get ,tired of really having to
hassle the girls to get any attention.
And so it's likely that this week will end with a
mixture of sadness and relief. By the middle of next
week everyone will be trying to make a new home in
Aix, birthplace of Cezanne, in the south of France. Tim
Dickensin, from Michigan, has already been there and
describes the old Provencal town as "an Europeanized
Ann Arbor." Most of us are looking forward to that,
you know, because maybe you can't go home again,
but you always keep trying.
IN FACT, many customs and
different here, but it's hard to
sheltered 'tourist' role, except in
standards are very
notice, being in a
a rare situation. Af-
i
Letters
to
The
Daily
cle ricals
To The Daily:
ABOUT TWO months ago I
wrote a letter to the newspaper
explaining why I felt unioniza-
tion was just as important to
myself as a long term employe
of the University as to new cler-
icals. At that time I did not
endorse any one union. How-
ever, as the election draws clos-
er it is imperative for all cler-
icals to decide what is the best
course of action for themselves
as well as the group as a whole.
The choices are: CCFA-UAW,
AFSCME, or no union.
Growing up in a labor union
famil T have ha the onnnnrta-
have a strong local run by the
members themselves.
After hearing from both UAW
and AFSCME, I have come to
the conclusion that we will have
that kind of a local with UAW
but not with AFSCME. I feel
this way because right after
UAW was invited on campus by
members of CCFA (Concerned
Clericals For Action) AFSCME
started broadcasting that they
were the union for public em-
ployes and UAW had no busi-
ness being on this campus (re-
gardless of how clericals felt
about it).
Also AFSCME is always ad-
vertising what nod w me inv
undemocratic their local is run.
THE WAY THE campaigns
have been managed convinces
me that UAW would be our best
choice. AFSCME hired trained
public relations people to come
in and run the campaign and
they hired about twenty student
organizers to do soliciting. We
have all seen their literature
telling us how much support
they have from clericals on
campus. Maybe this is so but
the people that are seen con-
ducting meetings are being paid
to tell us how great %FSCME is.
I wonder if these same people
had hen offered inh h TiAW.
sent clericals.
Because CCFA-UAW is a
grass roots organization with
strong local participation, many
clericals are afraid that ]JAW
will not give us strung enough
support at the bargaining 'able.
However, what many people do
not realize is that tie reason
that UAW is not on this campus
with twenty paid organizers,
etc., is because CCFA request-
ed them not to. CCFA waited
to run their own campaign and
UAW has been very coopera-
tive in helping out where neces-.
sary. When the time comes for
serious bargaining UAW will he
there tn heln nur ncalg et what
beef
To The Daily:
MR. KAHLER'S editorial in
today's Daily berates us for
consuming too much beef. He
broods over the fact that
"steaks and hamburgers are
synonymous in the popular
mind with meat." Several col-
umns to the right Mr. Warren
informs the reader that "rodeo
has little bearing on modern
American life." How can the
role of cowboys have "outlived
its purpose in society" in view
of the "American addiction to
beef?" I guess that-it all de-
.r_ n a - , tk