t iffe SMritian at
Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Thursday, February 24, 1977 News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
We should bacli AFSCME,
but it must work both wavs
I
What
are
a
tenants
f
rights?
ACT I - PROLOGUE
There cometh a time in the great affairs of people
when one must enter the private rental market. Alas,
'tis but a limited market and 'one that gouges the
pocket and causeth great misery at that. Yet, at the
same hour, 'tis a market which doth reap mounds
of profit for the Lord of the Land and the financier.
o tenants, awake! Learn thy rights and assert them
and thou shan't live in these miserable conditions
for time everlasting.
ACT II- COMMANDMENTS
Hear ye, hear ye: what follows are important mes-
sages from the heavens (and the Michigan Student
Assembly Housing Law Reform Project) which lay
down the law of the land and refereth to thy be-
loved rights.
Know these when thou search, often in vain, for
thy hovel:
1 - No Ann Arbor landlord may refuse to rent
to you because of your race, color, religion, national
origin, sex, sexual preference or student or marital
status.
2 .- Some clauses in your lease may be invalid
- they are often illegal and unenforceable.bHowever,
we recommend that you sign the lease since most of
your rights are statutory rather than contractural
(that is, they are rights that cannot simply be lost
by signing a rental lease), and moreover, a landlord
might consider you a troublemaker and not rent to
you at all if you question the lease too much.
3 - You have a legal right to sign a rental agree-
ment if you are 18 years old. Sometimes a landlord
might want your parents to co-sign and if you don't
mind, then go along with him. If it is not feasible,
then assert your right to sign the lease (in as non-
agressive a way as possible).
4-By law, a landlord may collect the first month's
rent in advance and a security deposit equivalent to
1' months' rent. So be prepared to pay both the
first month's rent and the security deposit (ie 2V2
months' rent) when you sign the lease or soon after.
(For future reference, if you follow the specific guide-
lines of the Security Deposit Act, available at Legal
Aid or the Tenants Union, you will probably get your
entire security deposit back.)
!TENANTS RIIN
by RICHARD DUTKA
Upon begetting they dilapidated tenement, thy legal
rights abound (however they don't abound to the ex-
tent they should.):
1 - You have a right to move into a clean liv-
able apartment; don't waive this right unless you
have to (ie you have nowhere to go and you must
move in), and in that case see a Legal Aid or Ten-
ants Union lawyer for advice.
2 - Upon moving in, immediately ask for a dam-
age/inventory checklist; this is your legal right and
your only protection against being charged for dam-
ages that existed before you moved in. On the list,
label and write in every bit of damage you spot, re-
gardless of how minor it may appear to you. This in-
cludes scratches, chips, stains, cracks, tears . every-
thing.
3 - Your landlord does not have the right to harass
you, invade your privacy, or enter your apartment
without permission under most circumstances. Ask
Legal Aid or the Tenants Union for advice about
your rights to privacy.
4 - Michigan law gives a tenant the right to with-
hold all rent if a landlord does not make needed re-
pairs. Withholding rent is a tenant's most powerful,
and often only, leverage in any dispute with a land-
lord. Don't be afraid to assert this, or any of these
rights since a landlord cannot evict you for assert-
ing your rights.
g - Don't use your landlord as your legal consul-
tant; he/she has a great deal of interest in you not
lnowing your rights. See Legal Aid (763-9920) or the
Tenants Union (761-1225) for legal advice.
ACT III - CALL TO ARMS AND FEATS
Arise ye tenants and serfs, the renting hour is
upon us, assert thy rights and organize!
THE AFSCME STRIKE is only one
day old and already some tell-tale
signs of how the picketing will be
conducted are surfacing.
Are tl ie picketers going to use the
students as pawns in their struggle
with the administration? If this is
true, then AFSCME is embarking on
a very perilous path, a path that
might lead to the loss of vital student-
sympathy for the strikers.
Yesterday, AFSCME members at.-
tempted to prevent the student buses
from running. No one was beaten up
or physically intimidated, but
AFSCME m e m b e r s reportedly lay
down in f r o n t of passenger-filled
b u s e s, preventing movement. And
some went so far as to beat on the
buses with picket signs.
We cannot condone any intimida-
tion a c t s of this sort. We support
AFSCME's walkout.-They have legiti-
mate grievances against the adminis-
tration of t h i s University and we
hope. that they achieve their desired
ends.
RUT THIS IS a free country and as
they are so aptly proving by their
strike, people have the inalienable
right to dissent. And AFSCME mem-
bers must realize that not everyone in
t h e University community sympa-
thizes with their grievances. Every in-
dividual has a right to an opinion and
AFSCME has absolutely no right to
use any type of coercive or intimida-
tory t a c t i c s to alter that opinion.
AFSCME has a right to make its posi-
tion known to anyone who cares to
listen to them. But their persuasion-
ary rights do not extend beyond this
point.
AFSCME's grievance is with the ad-
ministration of this University, and
not 'with its students. Impeding the
students' ability to reach their classes
does not hurt the administration, it
only hurts the students.
We fervently hope that yesterday's
actions were only the individual acts
of a few 'overzealous picketers, and
not union-wide strategy. If acts of
this kind continue, AFSCME faces
the risk of losing student support and
respect, two invaluable weapons in
their hope for a quick and equitable
settlement.
How to keep
your own name
U. S. Steel and Marvin
Esch deserve each other
By CHARLOTTE SEBASTIAN
In last week's column, Charlotte Sebastian spoke of
her feelings on keeping her name rather than adopting
her husba'nd's. This week she presnts information on
how to kep your name upon -marriage, or to change it
back to your maiden name.
men to retain their names is still active in a wide
not be lost," said Lucy Stone. Well, increasing num-
bers of women are choosing not to adopt their hus-
bands' surnames - to retain their "maiden" names.
The concept is not new; Lucy Stone, quoted above, is
probably its best known and earliest proponent. The
Lucy Stone League, formed in 1921 to encourage wo-
book, from the name tag on the mailbox or from
variety of women's rights issues.
Women's reasons for keeping or returning to their
birth names (or hyphenating -their name with t h e i r
husbands') are varied. A few cited in the Booklet
for Women Who Wish to Determine their Own Names
After Marriage are:
"I did not want to disappear from the telephone
"legitimate" baby - all without assuming your hus-
charge plates. Exchanging my name for my husband's
name would be a denial of all that I was before I was
married."
"By becoming 'Mrs. Him' would contradict not
only the identities each of us has built up for ourselves,
but also our definition of the relationship we have
together.
"I am a Chicana and my Spanish heritage is very
important to me. This name, Cassell, is foreign."
Women are expected to give up not only their last
name, but their first name as well. What a clear re-
presentation of how society views the status of the
two people involved in the marriage. He stays John
Doe . .. she becomes Mrs. John Doe. The two become
one, and the one is him.,
"But what about the children?" is usually the first
question asked by most people. For those who choose
to have children, there is a whole range of possibilities;
the most popular seems to be either to hyphenate the
parents' names or to use one of the surnames as the
child's middle name.
If you want to retain your own name after you
marry, you don't have to do a thing! Simply coptinue
using your name as you always have. It is absolutely
legal. Yes, you can purchase a house, obtain credit and
credit cards (though it's a real struggle to get cards
issued for two different last names on the same ac-
count), file joint income tax returns, and even have a
"legitimate" baby - al without assuming your hus-
band's name!
The only institution (besides parents and in-laws)
which still can't always cope with the situation is the
Social Security Administration. The SSA may try to
convince you that you're using the wrong social security
number, but a couple of letters of clarification usually
sets them straight.
For women who have already been using their
husband's name, the process to change back is slightly
more complex. You have to, of course, backtrack and
change your name on all the records our bureaicratic
society thrives on. Although some people feel more
comfortable going through an actual legal proceeding
(with a lawyer, legal fees, etc.), a name change does
not require such a process. Your name is whatever you
want it to be, as long as you're not changing it for
fraudulant purposes. A birthcertificate or marriage
license will suffice to get the Secretary of State's
office to change your name on -your driver's license.
Once you have your driver's license in your new (or
rasher "old") name most of the other records are rela-
tively easy to change.
For more information consult the Booklet for
Women who Wish to Determine their Own Names
After Marriage compiled by the Center for a Woman's
Own Name. (Check a Woman's Bookstore in Ann Ar-
bor.) Also contact: The Lucy Stone League, 133 E. 58th
St., New York, N.Y. 10022, or Feminist Legal Services
- University of Michigan, Hutchins Hall, (phone 763-
4158).
On the Majority Side is presented by the University's
Comrmission For Women. Comments and column ideas
are welcome. The CFW is located at 108 Administration
Building, 763-2203.
WE CAN'T SAY itcame as much of
a surprise to hear that former
Second District U.S. Rep. Marvin Esch
has taken on a job with U.S. Steel as
the company's-new Washington lob-
byist.
Esch, who was defeated by Demo-
crat Donald Riegle in his attempt to
win the U.S. Senate seat left vacant
by the late Philip Hart, has accepted
the job of "director of federal rela-
tions" for the steel conglomerate,
and will start work next month.
Essentially, Esch's new job will be
to approach his former associates on
Capitol Hill and try to persuade them
as best he can to vote for the interests
of U.S. Steel. This, presumably, will
mean a g r e a t deal of legwork to
defeat or emasculate environmental
legislation, antitrust proceedings, and
other governmental infringements on
the rights of free enterprise.
I.S. STEEL IS to be congratulated;
we find Esch remarkably well-
suited for this new line of work. He
has certainly had a lot of experience,
as the record shows. During his ten-
year career as Second District Repre-
sentative, Esch was a frequent friend
and ally to the Big Business interests.
And at times he has put those in-
terests above those of the nation's
poor and underprivileged.
In fact, much of Esch's time as a
congressman was taken up with the
same tasks he will be employed at as
a lobbyist: hustling votes and buying
time for the industrial dinosaurs of
the American economy.
We hope hsch enjoys himself, as
much as a lobbyist as he did as a
congressman. He'll at least be getting
good money now. And it'll finally be
coming out of the steel company's
pockets instead of ours.
TODAY'S STAFF:
Letters
to
the
News: Phillip Bokovoy, Greg
Jay Levin, Stu McConnell,
Norton, Shelley Wolson
Editorial: Mike Beckman, Ken
ion
Krupa,
Mike
Parsig-
Arts: Susan Barry, Lois Josimovich,
Dobiafas Matulionis
Photo: Pauline Lubens
CHEY, Y XNoW, E, DON-'
BYGONES ARET BYGONES -T
ALL IN THE PAST4""NOW ,9BOFr
THOSE PRICE CONTROLS ON STE1EL...
RIEGLE
~ --
MAR.Y
.... '.
AFSCME
To The Daily:
WHY AFSCME
IS ON STRIKE:
With rents, utilities, and food
prices all going up, workers
can't live on what the Univer-
sity is offering. This is what
the proposed contract included:
1) a 55 cent wage increase
spread over 2 years (this doesn't
even make up for the 57 cents
that the workers lost in the last
contract due to inflation and the
ceiling on cost-of-living pay-
ments): 2) no cost-of-living pay-
ments this time (the last con-
tract bad ,cost-of-living provi-
sions with a 15 cent ceiling),
3) no improvements in medical
insurance or sick time -- no eye-
glasses or dental; 4) the classi-
fications that 'were upgraded
were compensated by an equal
number that are scheduled to
be downgraded; 5) no increase
in the number of holidays; 6)
a 100% increase in the cost of
parking. This "package" is be-
ing accompanied 'by elimination
of jobs, and speed-up for those
who remain. The workers felt
strongly enough to reject the
contract by an overwhelming
margin, and voted to go on
strike, despite the absence of
strike benefits.
WHY WON'T THE
UNIVERSITY OFFER
A DECENT CONTRACT?
There is an economic crisis
in this country, and the Univer-
sity is affected. The crisis is
resulting in *uts to education
and other social services, and
the U. is responding by cutting
back in the areas they consider
the least important and which
offer the least resistance. On
the one hand, they raise Flem-
ing's salary and build presiden-
tial libraries; on the other, they
raise dorm rates and tuition
yearly, and refuse to give the
workers a wage that keeps up
with the rate of inflation. It's
convenient for the U. to blame
these hikes on the increase in
workers' wages, but what are
in their struggles, and have a
common interest in resisting
these attempts to make us pay
for the crisis.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
1) Don't scab for the Univer-
sity. Refuse to cooperate with
efforts to have us empty gar-
bage, fix meals and fill in for
AFSCME.
2) Boycott dinner lines, and
if you're a STUDENT EM-
PLOYEE, stay off the job or
avoid doing union work.
3) Help picket at your dorm,
or someplace on campus if you
don't live on the dorms.
4) If you would like to help
with leafletting or other activi-
ty, call us at 995-8957 or 663-
5364.
5) Come to the rally at noon
on Friday on the Diag - we
will be marching over to Presi-
dent Fleming's house to demand
that he grant the Union's de-
mands.
The Revolutionary
Student Brigade
To The Daily:
The administration has bust-
ed the clerical's union. They are
in the middle of legal attacks
on the Graduate Employees Or-
ganization's right to exist as a
union. Tuesday, AFSCME voted
not to let this happen to them.
The AFSCME Student Support
Committee urges students to
support the AFSCME strike. The
average wage of AFSCME em-
ployees at U-M is less than $4.40
an hour. This is lower than the
United States government's low
budget standard for a family
of four. While Robben Flem-
ing's salary of $71,429 makes
Daly
him the highest paid state offic-
ial, the "great University of
Michigan's" AFSCME wages
fall far below most of the state's
schools and colleges.
AFSCME has been our tradi-
tional ally against tuition infla-
tion. Also, icutbacks in services
hurt both students and work-
ers. When dorms don't serve
breakfast, students go hungry,
and workers are laid off. If the
university stops free bus ser-
vice, both students and workers
will suffer.
When the university fought
student efforts to start a student
bookstore, AFSCME supported
the subsequent sit-down strike.
As a result, the University Cel-
lar was formed. During the
Black Action Movement strike,
AFSCME again supported stu-
dents. Now AFSCME is asking
for our support.
How can students support
AFSCME?
DEMAND FULL SERVICES
and- complain about any reduc-
tion in present services.
DON'T SCAB for the univer-
nity. Refuse to cooperate with
efforts to have us empty gar-
bage, fix meals and fill in for
AFSCME. ESPECIALLY IF
YOU ARE A STUDENT EM-
PLOYEE refuse to substitute for
union jobs.
WRITE LETTERS to The
Daily, President Fleming, and
the regents urging serious nego-
tiations and a quick settlement.
Join the student support com-
mittee. For more information
call 761-1237 or 764-0650.
Ilene Moskowitz,
Debra Goodman,
For the AFSCME
Student Support
Committee
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