(T4e £fx tioan Du113
Eighty-three years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Thursday, September 12, 1974
News Phone: 764-0552
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
Need before gradepoint
By REBECCA WARNER
AT NOON TODAY, United Farm Work-
ers (UFW) First Vice President Do-
lores Huerta will speak at a Diag rally
marking the International Grape and
Lettuce Boycott Days. Huerta's appear-
ance here will also kick off a local
"Goodby to Gallo" campaign aimed at
making further inroads into city non-
union wine sales.
The Ann Arbor Boycott Committee, one
of the city's most enduring and hardest-
working political organizations, has spent
years trying to convince local shoppers
and merchants to boycott non-UFW
grapes and lettuce. The fall offensive,
according to organizers, will focus on
wine stores, beginning with Saturday
picketing at the offending stores.
"Gallo is really hurting nationwide,"
to push
1973, but UFW sources estimate the sal-
es drop at 23 per cent.
PICKETERS will ask shoppers not to
buy Gallo or Guild, the two major Cali-
fornia wine brands. Guild has recently
introduced Cribari wine to the Ann Ar-
bor area. "We think that's because they
have lost sales in Wisconsin and Min-
nesota," Super explains.
Presently, none of Ann Arbor's stores
sell exclusively UFW grapes, lettuce or
wine, although the University residence
halls have all agreed to stock union pro-
duce.
Huerta, the highest-ranking female un-
ion official in the country, has partici-
pated in a struggle which began for agri-
cultural workers in the early 1960s.
Since that time, the farm workers have
scored numerous successes and negotiat-
ed contracts with big growers w h i c h
radically changed the wages, hiring pol-
icies, and conditions in the produce
fields.
0
TONIGHT THE STUDENT Govern-
ment Council meets for the first
time this term. Once again, a pro-
posal which can only bring chaos to
SGC and division to the student body
is being brought forward. Council
members Matthewsiand Hoffman are
insisting that the SGC back the LSA
faculty resolution of last winter to
shift "some" financial aid from the
most needy to those with the best
gradepoint. This resolution was not
very subtle repudiation of the Uni-
versity's commitment of 10 per cent
black enrollment by 1973-74-which
is still far from being achieved.
In the face of a strike by three-
quarters of the student body, with
support from many faculty and the
AFSCME workers, the University in
1970 agreed to the demands of the
Black Action Movement (BAM) for
10 per cent black enrollment and the
necessary supportive services to make
this possible.
JN 1970, THE MAJORITY of white
students supported BAM's de-
mands, recognizing that special
measures on a massive scale were re-
quired to overcome the long tradition
of racism and discrimination at the
University and in American society.
Today, the skyrocketing cost of at-
tending the University has resulted
in declining applications from all but
upper middle and upper class stu-
dents, as Admissions Director Clifford
Sjorgen reported to the LSA faculty
on Monday.
Most of us are hard hit by these
rising costs, but this is especially true
for minority and working class stu-
dents. Financial aid to all students
must be increased, but not at the
expense of those who need it most.
The LSA resolution should be re-
scinded, not applauded. Not only is
the resolution bad policy, it is based
on the false assumption that there is
now no financial aid given based on
ability.
I
PERHAPS THE LSA governing fac-
ulty did not know any better.
Certainly, in the light of Acting LSA
Dean Billy Frye's criticism of fail-
ures by the University to substan-
tially increase minority employment
and Admission's Director Sjorgen's
related report on low minority en-
rollment, the faculty should recon-
sider their stance of last winter.
For SGC to endorse the resolution
and the falsehood on which it is
based would make a mockery of SGC
as a representative of students.
THE UNKINDEST CUT in the at-
tempt to line up SGC behind the
LSA resolution is that it would un-
dermine the bargaining efforts of
2,200 of SGC's constituents in the
Graduate Employes Organization
(GEO). GEO bargainers are propos-
ing to the University an affirmative
action program to bring employment
of black, Chicano, Native American,
and women employes up to percen-
tages in line with their proportion in
the state population. SGC should sup-
port this GEO effort to overcome the
heritage of racism and male suprem-
acy, instead of passing a resolution
that would encourage the Univer-
sity in its course of continuing to
use subjective and discriminatory cri-
teria in admission and financial aid
awards.
As a minimum, SGC should reject
the proposed backing for the LSA
resolution. Even better, SGC should
pass a resolution reaffirming support
for the BAM demands, for the princi-
ple of full integration of the Univer-
sity's student body and work force,
and for the current efforts of GEO
along these lines.
STUDENTS ARE URGED to attend
tonight's SGC meeting to see how
their representatives stand. The pro-
posal is due to come up at 8 p.m.,
3rd floor, Michigan Union.
-MARNIE HEYN
wine oc
Paradoxically, the farm workers, some forts,
of the most oppressed and least legal- est i
ly protected employes in the nation, have try.
built a most viable union, in that it store,
speaks directly and forcefully for i t s signif
membership. The UFW has managed to store,
gather a broad political base and na- Hue
tional support. prese
finite
SHOPPERS ALL over the U.S. have
responded to the farmworkers' efforts TIH
by boycotting scab products. But in 1973, and 1
grape growers confronted with unde- ganiz
niable proof that the UFW had strong consu
worker support, borrowed a tactic used head
by lettuce growers, signing "sweetheart" gathe
contracts with the Teamsters union. Inter(
Teamster interference brought a new comm
crisis for the UFW. Workers went out 7:30
on strike, only to face brutal harassment We
from the. Teamsters and police authori- eatini
ties. us, it
Locally, the Teamsters' collusion with To fe
the growers brought new picketing ef- tweer
po tec tire
ycott
which focused on A&P, the larg-
ceberg lettuce sellers in the coun-
Picketing at the Huron Ave. A&P
s slowed business to a trickle, and
icant inroads were made at other
s.
erta is optimistic about the UFW's
nt position, claimirig, "We've de-
ly started to have real impact."
E ANN ARBOR Boycott Committee
MECHA, the University Chicano or-
ation, will use today's rally to ask
mers to boycott non-UFW grapes,
lettuce and wine, as well as to
r support for upcoming picketing.
ested people can also attend the
nittee's next meeting Monday at
p.m. in Alice Lloyd's Klein lounge.
can all afford to think twice about
g or buying non-UFW products. To
t may mean delayed gratification.
armworkers, it's the difference be-
n near-slavery and a decent life.
laws
says committee director David
According to Super, Gallo admits
ing lost 19 per cent of Its wine
since the boycott effort began
-ERA
By JOYCE MAUPIN
THE EQUAL Rights Amend-
ment, fruit of a 50 year
struggle by the women's move-
ment, may wipe out the laws
that ensure healthful and safe
conditions for women workers.
A recent ruling by California's
Industrial Welfare Commission
(IWC) makes women in this
state equal to men - in their
lack of on-the-job-legal protec-
tion.
California, like many states,
has had regulations limiting
working hours, requiring rest
and meal periods, restricting
weight to be lifted and gener-
ally providing special protection
to women workers.
Now California courts m u s t
decide whether these "women-
only" protective laws are un-
constitutional under the Equal
Rights Amendment, which pro-
vides that no legal rights can
be denied "on account of se."
The amendment has been rati-
fied by 33 states of 33 needed
to make it the law of the lard.
IN JUNE of this year, Cali-
fornia's IWC - charged with
regulating wages, hours and
working conditions for women
and minors - announced ~ew
work rules for women which
virtually do away wi'h such
long-guaranteed rightseas the 10
minute coffee break every four
hours; overtime pay after eight
hours in a day or over 40 hours
in a week; and the half-hour
lunch period after five hours.
The new work rules allow a ten
hour day without overtime: re-
move restrictions on the number
of hours worked in a week, and
eliminate scheduled rest per-
iods, rest fancilities and o t h e r
health protections. A I a s t -
minute injunction has stalled
implementation of the new rul-
es.
Professional women working
in offices see laws that limit
their working hour as a ba-
to getting ahead - a view con-
firmed by employers, who often
cite these restrictions a an ex-
cuse for denying wmen ad-
vancement. But for women who
make their living doiaP physical
labor, the vast majority of them
unorganized, sucn laws offer
their only protetio, against
overwork and harsh conditions.
PROTECTIVE I e g i s 1 a t ion
grew out of workers' dsmands
for better pay and working con-
ditions in the period of r a p i d
industrialization that followed
the Civil War. Early in the cen-
tury, nmillions of men in skilled
trades had joined the American
Federation of Labor and won an
eight hour day, better wages
and improved working condi-
tions through collective bargain-
ing. But of 8 million women in
the work force in 1910, less than
one per cent were in unions.
Even today, only 12 percent of
working women are in unions,
against 25 per cent of working
Super.
to hav-
market
in fall
See the world: Join the Daily
threatens
men.
Many women worked 14 to 16
hours a day in sweatshop condi-
tions. Finding themselves re-
jected or ignored by union or-
ganizers, women workers (and
reform groups fighting to im-
prove their conditions, like the
Women's Trade Union League
and the Consumer's League)
turned to legislative remedies.
EARLY attempts to limit
hours for all workers were
foTnd unconstitutional, on } ..
grounds that they interfered
with the workers' "freedom of 1
contract." Then, in 1907, the
Supreme Court in Mller vs.
Oregon declared that hours re-
strictions and other special laws
for women were constitutional
because "women are funda-
mentally weaker than men."
This onened the door for pro-
tective legislation.
THE EOUAL Rights Amend-
mont grew out of the women's *.
s'iffrage movement. Women
workers were more concerned UNIVERSI
with dav-to-day survival than the striker
with winning the vote, and the employes i
sffraae movement drew most
of its sunnort from middle-clasd
women. Its militant wing the used the Ci
National Women's Party, not 1964 as a pr
content with getting the vote in ing special
1920. introduced the Eaal men. Firebo
Richts Amendment into Con- Antioch, Cal
cress in 1923, in essentially the ple, required
same form in which it was hour "back-t
raQsed 50 years later. 150 pounds a
The amendment immediately up rest and
caused a deep conflict which the grounds t
continies today between midle- Act forbidsc
class feminists, who seek legal ed on race
eauality, and women workers a California
who see the amendment as a cided that th
potential threat to protective le- Company w
gislation. criminating
Amendment backers claim employee by
that some of the sunnort for wetifting
nrotective laws comes from weightlifting
male unionists eager to prevent DESPITE
wonmen from comneting for jobs.
nhfenders of nrntective lpaicla- signs, most w
Non renlv that the amendment the Equal R
is endorsed by emnloyer gro" ns would be les
eager to abolish standards tained any
which are costly to maintain. such as "thi
THE SENATE nassed t h e strued to inv
amendment twice, in 1950 and bor standard
153, both times with a rider. Passage of
added at the renuest of labor, ment hadi
snecifving that no protective Shortlv after
legilation would be affected. the amendm
In the House, the amendment America in S
was bottled un in committee ~n ned urovidinF
til it was revived by the wo~ leaving work
men's movement of the late Tndustries, a
19F0's. . ifornia mann
Finally, in 1970, a "pure" ed rest per
equal rights amendment without the gronds
ounalifving language, sonsored none for m
h" the National Oreani7ntion of Inc., a nati
Women (NOW) and a long list household w
of women's professional and so- fornia court
cial organizations, was brought that it was
before the House to enthusiastic pay women
anolause. It received the sup- time-and-a-ha
port of President Nixon and hours of a 1
the U.S. Chamber of Commer- thonlh these
ce. domestics to
Some employers had already against.
TONIGHT AT THE DAILY (420
Maynard, next to the SAB) at
7:30 there will be a mass meeting
for all the folks who are interested in
working here during the coming
months. We'd like yours to be among
the shining faces gathered to offer
themselves up to cranking out a daily
newspaper.
About 40 of us devoted our fatigued
intellects and deflated egos to pro-
ducing a high-quality news source
and reader-oriented paper last year.
We think we did pretty well, under
TODAY'S STAFF:
News:. Dan Biddle, Stephen Hersh,
Cindy Hill, Judy Ruskin, Sue Step-
henson, Paul Terwilliger, Becky
Warner
Editorial Page: Marnie Heyn, David
Warren, Sue Wilhelm
Arts Page: Jeff Sorensen
Photo technician: Ken Fink
the circumstances. The circum-
stances can change for our poor ov-
erworked staff, but only if you show
up to help.
We need writers and layout wizards
for each and every staff. We need ad
salespeople, circulation geniuses, and
delivery masochists. We need people
to answer the phones and clip the
wires. And there's one opening for
an experienced staff photographer
(meeting at 8:30, same night, same
address). Cartoonists and people who
can spell are especially welcome.
THE EXPERIENCE IS great, even if
the fringe benefits are a mite
meager. And for all you coke-a-holics,
The Daily still subsidizes the habit
for five cents a shot.
We need you, and this community
needs the best newspaper we can turn
out. Join up: you have only your
sanity to lose, and all the world to
gain.
-MARNIE HEYN
vil Rights Act of
retext for eliminat-
standards for wo-
ard Corporation, in
ifornia, for exam-
women to work 16
o-back" shifts, lift
minute, and give
lunch periods, on
hat the Civil Rights
discrimination bas-
or sex. In 1968,
District Court de-
e Southern Pacific
as unlawfully dis-
against a woman
T denying her pro-
account or state
limits.
these warning
women's groups felt
Rights Amendment
s ponular if it con-
modifying clause
s shall not be con-
alidate existing ]a-
Is"
the "n"re" amend-
immediate efferts.
California ratified
ent, the Bank of
an Francisco ston-
g taxis for women
at night. Norris
large southern Cal-
nfacturer, eliminat-
ods for women on
that -here were
en. Homemakers.
onal contractor of
orkers, won a Cli-
decision stating
discriminatorv to
household workers
alf for the last four
.2-hour shift - al-
are almost no male
be discriminated
TY EMPLOYES picket during the 1971 AFSCME strike here. A large proportion of
s were women who work at low-paying maintenance and food service jobs. Women
in Michigan still have some protection under the law.
Labor women concerned about
these results are now pushing
for extension of protective laws
to men.
PRESSED by the newly-form-
ed Union Women's Alliance to
Gain Equality (Union WA.G.E.)
the California state legislature
did pass a bill extending protec-
tive laws to men in 1972 -
which was vetoed by Governor
Reagan. A watered-down ver-
sion, giving the Industrial Wel-
fare Commission "power to ex-
tend" protective laws to all
workers, was signed into law
in 1973. A similar law was pass-
ed in the state of Washington.
That state's Department of La-
bor and Industries has since
abolished all special protections
for women.
California's IWC, created in
1913, is appointed by 'he Gov-
ernor and traditionally contains
equal representationfrom labor
and management. It nresentlv
includes representatives from
the state's three largest employ-
ers of women - agriculture,
food, and ele^-roni-s - the wife
of a food chain owner, and a
Teamster's Union official. Iike
department of labor regulations
in other states, IWC rulings
have the force of law.
WHEN THE Commission held
a hearing about its new regna-
tions, men representing Califor-
nia's largest corporations filled
every seat. Women workers sat
in the aisles as officers of Stan-
dard Oil, U.S. Steel, and the
California Association of Masi-
facturers told the Commission
that overtime pay and re 'ric-
tions on work hours placed in-
tolerable burdens on California
industry.
The new rules were formally
adopted at a public meeting on
April 24 - despite 29 petitions
for a rehearing, including one
from NOW. The only dissenting
vote was cast by Teamster
Commissioner Mike Elnorduy.
The change was to be effective
June 1.
An injunction preventing the
Commission from promulgating
the new rules was granted by
San Francisco Superior.Court
Judge Victor Campilongo. Tfo
laws suits were filed by the
state AFL-CIO, whichtargues
that the 1973 law gives the IWC
power to extend - not remove
- protective legislation, a n d
three women in Sacramento who
charge that the IWC is depriv-
ing them of protections which
they asumed were guaranteed
when they accepted employ-
ment. The IWC has appealed
the injunction.
USE OF the Equal Rights
Amendment to equalize down-
wards by states like California
and Washington is convincing
labor organizations to pusn for
protective laws which ex*end to
all workers.
Jog ce Mau/un has been a
trade unionist for 40 years. In
recent years she has been a shop
steward for Office and Profes-
sional Workers Local, No. 29 in
San Francisco. She is thb an.-
thor of "Pioneers of Women's
Liberation," in Voices of the
New Feminism (Beacon Press)
and wrtes on child care and
'working nomen's problems for
a variety of women's Inaga-.
lines and labor publications.
Copyright Pacific News Serv-
ice 1974.
'THE sGErAWAVe CA1; ,
Letters
to
The
Daily
AFSCHE
To The Daily:
MUCH HAS been heard at the
Uniersity of the differences be-
tween two unions'-- AFSCME
and the United Automobile
Workers. But, obviously, enough
has not been said about the sin-
gle, crucial difference between
these two unions - a difference
that cannot be stressed enough
and that has been grossly mis-
represented by some of the
UAW supporters. I refer, of
course, to the fact that AFS-
PUPms a ininfn . ili
will work state-wide and nation-
ally for bettering our wages,
working conditions, and bene-
fits, without placing the n u g e
burden of payment on our own
backs as taxpayers. It is our
right as public employes to ex-
pect wage and benefit equality.
The UAW has little experience
in this field (with one small
public emoloyes' union of 125
people). Its expertise is in the
private industry field -- it has
negotiated with profit-making
management. The University of
Michiqan is not such a .itiiaton.
. ,I ,.- ,- - - -
for collective bargaining rights,
unemployment compensation,
minimum wage laws, improved
pensions, etc. AFSCME is work-
ing toward federal laws for pub-
lic employes. The Automobile
Workers, whose first priority is
the private employe, has not.
AFSCME works to get better
wages and fringe benefits for
public employes without increas-
ing their taxes.
When we look for strergti -
this is what we find. The
strength of the United S t e e
Workers lies in the steel irdus-
ly their priority is the automo-
bile workers. If their negotiat-
ing strength had to be div-ded
between a UAW local in Detroit
and a UAW local here, wher- do
you think their first priority
would be? Certainly, not wth
us. That's what being second-
rate can mean. Public empioves
are AFSCME's ighest nriority
-in fact, they are AFSCME's
only nriority. AFSCMF's loval-
ty and clout are not divided, but
remain cohesive and singula-ly
powerful in determination.
TT- _ _ _ _ '\l drt _ _11 ^
with public employees' lobby-
ing and negotiating. In t h i s
new American era cf credibility,
examine the facts, weigh this
crucial difference in your own
mind, and chdose the honesty,
commitment, and exonrience of
AFSCME. We as public em-
ployes deserve a strong voice in
our employment futures - and
AFSCME will be our vehicle
to success. If we pass up this
chance, we have no one 'to
blame but ourselves.
.-Grtchen Gnur