3we Mi44a DtiI Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, M1 48109 Tuesday, February 22, 1977 News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan GEO faces a tough ight Well, the University has denied it a thous- and times since negotiations with GEO be- gan, but it's beginning to look as though the charges were accurate - the adminis- tration is out to bust the union. This is a powerful charge, and not one that we make lightly. But, in view of the University's actions over the weekend, we would be hard pressed to reach any other conclusion. Thursday, GEO presented a proposal to the Regents to end the haggling that has been going on since last spring over a con- tract for the 1900 GSA's at this University. Yesterday, the details of that proposal were released. The union basically complied with the offer that the administration made on November 18, the day negotiations broke down. On that day every item of the con- tract wassettled except one - the clause determined who was covered by the agree- ment. The union had (and still has) a, griev- ance pending against the University con- .erning this clause, and the administration's bargainers refused to sign a contract un- less this grievance was withdrawn. Al- though GEO refused at the time, it has re- considered, and decided to accept its fate and withdraw the grievance. But, although the union's proposal of last week is es- sentially the same as the University's last offer, it is the administration who now re- fuses to settle on those terms. In a statement released yesterday, chief University bargainer John Forsyth told GEO President Doug Moran that the Uni- versity intends to fight this matter in the courts, and with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC). This is simply unbelievable. They are trying to settle a contract that will be retroactive to September 1, nearly 5 months ago, and yet the University has spurned a most reasonable offer in favor of dragging this matter out even further. Since any MERC decision can be appealed all the way to the courts, this single dis- pute could forestall the signing of a con- tract for up to four years! This morning at 10:00, the two sides will meet with a MERC representative in the first step of the legal battle to come. GEO has tried everything to avoid a long delay in this settlement, but the University has been totally unresponsive. It seems clear the University never took the union serious- ly once the strike vote failed, and it seems equally clear that the administration is out to destroy GEO. For example, at to- day's meeting the University plans to pur- sue the legal question of whether or not GSA's are employees or students. As ludi- crous as this sounds, the University ac- tually has precedent on its side. In a simi- lar case, the teaching assistants at Stanford University were ruled to be students, not employees. If the administration wins this case, it would spell the end of GEO, for without employees there can be no union. Without a union, GSA's would be at the University's mercy - a familiar depend- ence to all us undergraduates, and one that we would not like to see inflicted upon anyone, much less GSA's. But, since the administration has firmly stated that it in- tends to fight this matter to the end, we no longer even have much to hope for. A speedy settlement is out of the question, and we can only pray that the courts re- cognize the University's intentions of de- stroying the union, and will rule in favor of GEO. But whatever way the decision goes, it will take a long time. And that's no good for any of us-except the Univer- sity. c6 G71n , . I, A NOW THAT THE federal straitjacket is off, the nat- ural gas business may become profitable enough to encourage new drilling and exploration. And now that consumers will be forced to play what natural gas is worth, they may finally abandon their spendthrift habits. Higher energy prices are probably the best way to ensure energy conservation. Everyone understands mon- ey. But an equally compelling reason was broached by President Carter (during a rare fit of sanity) in his fire- side chat. The amount of energy Americans waste is roughly equal to the amount of foreign energy - gas and oil - that we import. Therefore, Carter observed, we can achieve energy independence almost immediately through a concerted program of energy conservation. ENERGY INDEPENDENCE should be a foremost na- tional goal. If the United States is to maintain its po- litical strength and independence, its slavish dependence of foreign energy must be broken. Actions which tend to compromise the strength and independence of the United States cannot and must not be tolerated. The current prodigal and senseless waste of energy compromises our independence, and must be brought to a halt. Rising prices and voluntary sacrifices will cut con- sumption somewhat. But stronger measures will be nec- essary. Incentives should be provided for conservation. Tax credits for the installation of storm windows, in- sulation, and more efficient heating systems would be a good start. But such incentives must be coupled with penalties for continued prodigality. A heavily graduated tax on home consumption of fossil fuels and electricity would encourage citizens to limit waste. Greatest of all will be the psychic rewards of con- servation. Energy independence will provide a pacific means for inflicting on third-rate Middle Eastern poten- tates the humiliation and degradation they so richly deserve. TO TI MAR- My KCUAlS 'by CHUCK ANESI LOW MEMA XREEN)T DOWRM R HOOP, CUT P AMRSgA5,A ISE" GIIVE ~TO T-HGE o .a Not just another love story Should AFSCME settle ? THIS afternoon, hundreds of campus food service, maintenance, hospital and grounds workers will vote on whether to accept the terms of a new contract with the University. It's not our policy to make any recom- mendations to a local branch of the Ameri- can Federation of State, County and Munic- ipal Employees (AFSCME), but seeing as their decision may determine whether stu- dents have to suffer the effects of a mas- sive strike and a possible shut down of this campus, we feel our views are fundamen- tal. To AFSCME: Face, it, the offer of about a five per cent wage increase is all you are going to see this year from your employer. That amount is all any of the other campus unions have seen. You couldn't realistically have expected to receive the 15 per cent increase which you were seeking. The Uni- versity's financial problems which you read about every day are not the figment of some fat administrator's imagination. In- flation is not only a problem facing you, it is threatening the students, the programs and the principles of this University. Your bargaining team worked to make up eco- nomic disappointments by establishing new benefits in the way of job promotion and transfer procedures, and upgrading in work classifications. While wages may mean the most to you as individuals, they are only a small portion of the settlement. Think about the rest of your contract, and ask yourself, frankly, if you could really get any more than you have already re- ceived. TO THE University: While you would like to think of yourself simply as an institution for learning,the fact is you are also an industry. You function through peo- ple, and these people must eat. When you tell AFSCME that your cupboard is bare, you are only saying that the cupboard is bare for AFSCME. It's an old tactic that is year by year more infuriating. The time has come to change priorities. You may not be able to do anything about changing your priorities this year, but you've go to do something about it next year. All the unions on campus took five per cent pay increases this year while the cost of living went up nearly seven per cent. This is an outrage. Our AFSCME employees already make less than their counterparts at every other Uni- versity in this state, and now they are being asked to take what amounts to a pay decrease! Well, they aren't going to take it much longer. The time has come to reallocate funds so that you'll be able to offer employees a contract that doesn't in- sult them. It is time to give them wage parity with the other campus service work- ers in the state. Their jobs may not be very prestigious, but they, like your faculty, are the workhorses of your industry, and they deserve better. HAVING A JOB which requires my attendance H during the evening hours, I rarely have a chance to sample TV's treats. (It is for this reason that I have, thankfully, missed Char- ley's Angels). But every now and then I luck onto a program that is worth watching. One of which is often Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show. Just the other night, for example, they had a remarkable pair on the show, by name of Mr. and Mrs. Burt Pugach. Pugach is (was?) a lawyer from New York who was very much in love with a woman named Linda. So much, in fact, that in a fit of jealousy and rage he hired three men to throw lye in her face, blind- ing her, as he says, so that no one else would want her. To make a long story short, and to avoid having to mention dates of which I am not sure, Burt Pugach was sent up the river; did in fact about fifteen years of time, and of course was disbarred. During the course of that time, he wrote letters to Linda, which she received and complained vocally about to the police (though, as she told Snyder, she actually en- joyed receiving), and also received phone calls. Pugach was really quite ingenious about getting hold of her unlisted number. He did some kind of fandango with a con artist he met in the pen. It seems that there was some kind of flaw in this guy's case, and Pugach agreed to do legal work for him if he'd procure T.inda's phone number. The man got trie numoer. tnougn Pugach never said if he delivered with the legal help. Let us hope so. In any case, after he was paroled, under the terms, he was not allowed to contact Linda per- sonally in any way, shape, or form. But ap- parently the idea that she might contact Burt was not excluded.. So he was invited onto two separate talk shows in New York - one on Channel 5 and the other on Channel 11, and proposed to her right there and then, over the air. Well, she got into contact with him and ac- cepted, also virtually on the spot (this was 1974), and they were married. And for once in my life I wished I was Tom Snyder. Thing of all the marvellous questions one could ask!! Of course, Snyder got off quite a few all on his own. At one point he asked Linda, after first obtaining general agreement to the statement that all married couples have their quarrels, doesn't she ever have the urge, in anger, to throw this thing back in his face, to say, in effect, "look what you've done to me!" Up and .COMMng By JEFFREY P. SELBST - She replied that, no, once she decided to marry him she put all that behind her, some- thing that's obviously there (she said as she pointed to her dark glasses) but not talked about. I guess that's fair. She knew what she was marrying after all. Snyder asked Pugach how he would handle his case, were he another lawyer to whom Burton Pugach had come for defense. Pugach responded, after a moment, that no, what he himself had done would not affect the confi- dence any would-be client should have in him, were he to have his license to practice law reinstated. Snyder paused a moment. Clearly this wasn't a question he had asked. And just as he was rephrasing the one he had intended to (and in fact did) ask, the show cut for a commercial. . It seems to me that Pvjgach and Linda must share a certain non-hearing kind of capacity that allows answers to be given questions never asked. I wonder how it would be possible to survive otherwise. Think of the mental anguish the two of them probably have to go through, enduring the embarrased behavior and con- strained uncomfortable silences the two of them must have to endure from well-meaning ac- quaintances. I think aural selectivity niust be- come automatic, as a defense mechanism. Well, the two of them are begging for it. They wrote a book just out, called "A Differ- ent Kind of Love Story," which I'll concede is probably a fair assessment, and have done the talk-show round to promote it. Linda describes the agony of reliving their ordeal as a needed therapy. What it amounts to, is self-aggrandizement of a punishment seeking type. This should sur- prise no one. They must both be gluttons for it. But it rebounds on them, of course, for Sny- der's next guest was Max Rabinowitz, author of "The Day They Scrambled My Brains at the Funny Factory," also just out. Anyone who watches much Snyder will know that he com- poses thematic programs, and lumping the Pugaches together with Rabinowitz becomes a subtle editorial comment on their mental health. Which I think was rather unneeded, because obviously the point is certainly made without help from some sly producer. Oh, well. Ho-hum, dorm rates are up ITS GETTING TO BE monotonous. On Saturday, the Regents made official what was already a foregone conclusion- raising dorm rates 8.4 per cent. What this means in terms of dollars and cents to a university community nearing the financial breaking point is that those who wish to live in the solitary splendor of a dorm single will now pay $1,906 for the privilege. Those wishing to partake in the experience of hav- ing one roommate must dish out $1,638, or if they want to have this experience on a low budget, they can have a dorm "econo- my" double or triple for the low, low price of only $1,444. Where is it all going to end? THE UNIVERSITY of Michigan offers its students the highest dorm rates of any state-supported institution of higher learning in Michigan. Our dorm rates are also sig- nificantly higher than any university in the Big Ten. Edintriat Staff What do Michigan dorm residents re- ceive for all of the extra money that they spend? Michigan dormitories give residents 13 meals per week. Other Big Ten universi- ties offer their dorm dwellers either 20 or 21 meals per week. No fringe benefits there. Many Big Ten schools provide linen ser- vice in the dorms. Here at Michigan, we have broken down, lint infested washing machines that are located in the dusty dorm basements and cost 25 cents a load. Cer- tainly no fringe benefits there. So where then is the difference made up? Housing Director John Feldkamp alluded to one possible answer when he said that our dorm rates are "below the rates charg- ed by our academic peers." Aha! We're paying for prestige. All of the extra money is spent propagating the mighty Michigan myth that it is the educational equal of Harvard, Stanford and Yale. IN LIEU OF more plausible explanations, we can only assume that we are pay- ing exorbitant housing rates as a status symbol. Whatever the reasoning, it is bla- tantly obvious that students living in Mich- igan dormitories are paying higher rates and receiving inferior service that fellow institutions in the state and among its con- ference affiliated peers. Coupled with a possible tuition hike, the .V I jUMM v.6WE a) -)- '4 I Editorial Staff LIPINSKI Editors-in -Chief ANN MARIE1 JIM TOBIN s // \/ stir--r-l i Nl~ r - , - ___ J 0 -mo II 11 i