TUE
Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students at the
University of Michigan
Wednesday, August 7, 1974
News Phone: 764-0552

t

Letters to the


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clerical concern


The Maynard St. Massacre?

Vote with your feet
NICHOLS HOUSE dies this week. It will come apart in
bits and pieces, as it has ever since McDonald's de-
cided it needed an outlet in the student ghetto to haul in
the cash along with Gino's and Burger King; since City
Council decided it was more important to serve corpora-
tions than community.
The death of Nichols House is not surprising; it is
simply further evidence of an anti-human trend in land
use in this city and county. The lovely Victorian house
on Maynard Street next to Nichols Arcade is being can-
nibalized by the same crows and vultures who sacrificed
the beautiful Georgian house at State and Washington
for Gino's, and who made a farm on State Road into the
asphalt desert called Briarwood.
Clearly the powers that be in this town are not going
to bow to public opinion and need when there are coffers
to be lined. When citizens presented City Council with
thousands of signatures from voters protesting the de-
struction of Nichols House and the construction of Mc-
Donald's, Diamond Jim Stephenson couldn't have been
less interested.
O WHAT CAN anyone do? Nothing, if you're content
to let your community be razed by duly constituted
authority. But, sometimes, when the "system" breaks
down, people just have to find different ways to get done
what needs to be done. And if people in Ann Arbor are
ever to have any say in their environment and economy,
they may as well start now.
As long as the destruction of Nichols House con-
tinues, there should be pickets all the way around the
block every day to remind people what is happening.
Every home in the area should be leafletted and visited
so that the vultures are not able to operate in a vacuum
of silence. Petitions should continue to circulate.
The new owners of the Maynard Street site are
planning to construct a fence so that their carnage will
not be visible to passers-by. It should never go up. And
folks should contemplate the kinds of civil disobedience
that have been used in other places to put pressure on
colonizers. The site could be occupied and used to feed
people in a more humane way than McDonald's ever will.
ND NOW MORE than ever, pass up those mouth-
watering Big Macs (and tell McDonald's why), in
order to exert economic pressure on one of America's,
and Ann Arbor's, corporate giants.
No more greasy spoons in our community!
-MARNIE HEYN

To The Daily:
IN RESPONSE to the letter of
Tuesday, July 23, in the Daily
from AFSCME, I would like to
make the following comments.
The main issue among the se-
cretaries and clerks at the U of
M is which union can give us
the most support, the best wag-
es, the best repi-esentation, and
the MOST for our dues.
The letter from AFSCME
thoroughly disgusted me. The
CCFA UAW has never wanted
to get into a mud-slinging con-
frontation with AFSCME be-
cause we have more important
business at hand. And besides
AFSCME has been burying
themselves in their own mud.
The CCFA UAW has never tried
to "push or bombard" our lit-
erature on our fellow em-
ployees. We are always glad
to help in anyway we can, but
we don't force ourselves on oth-
ers. I've had many employees
tell me everything they turn
around - wham - there's ano-
ther AFSCME organizer trying
to force their literature on
them. They have "paid organ-
izers" to sell their pitch, where-
as the CCFA/UAW does 98 per
cent of its communication for
free, on our spare time, be-
cause we sincerely believe the
UAW is the best - no one has
to pay us for what we say, we
believe it!
I PERSONALLY was handing
out some literature one after-
noon and I asked a young wo-
man if she would me interested
in reading some important facts
that could benefit her. She said
"oh no - not more AFSCME
junk"; I replied, no this isn't
junk, this is from the UAW.
She said "oh good" and was ex-
tremely happy about the UAW
information.
I don't believe in rumors or
hear-say. I've gone right to the
source - the AFSCME em-
ployees themselves. For every
person who is satisfied, I've
talked to 10 that arehextremely
dissatiufied, and have said,
"don't go with AFSCME".
On the other hand, I've talk-
ed to people who are or were
covered by the UAW and I hon-
estly haven't heard anyone who
is dissatisfied or who thinks
there is a better union.
As for legislation - the UAW
has done an outstanding job in
lobbying, not just for "auto-
workers" but for everyone.
YES, THE UAW is relatively
new to the university scene BUT
- in only 10 years the TOP
(Technical, Office and Profes-
sional) section of the UAW has
over 85,000 in its unit alone.
The UAW represents the cleri-
cals at Wayne County Commun-
ity College and the UAW have
made their salaries publicly
known to us. I haven't seen any
kind of salary documentation of
other institutions from AFSCME.
And no wonder - a file clerk
at WCCC starts at $147.20 a
week and the minimum salary
of an employee at the U of M
and covered by AFSCME is
$116.00 per week. At the end of
a 6 month period, the same
UAW employee would be mak-
ing $150.40 a week and the
AFSCME employee only $126.80
a week.
More than one employee has
told me "we were sold down
the drain at this last contract"
and that AFSCME "wouldn't
even wait 1 more day for the
fact finder to make his recom-
mendations".
Many AFSCME employees are
very upset due to the contract
the trades settled on. AFSCME
only got their people 90c an
hour (that includes cost of liv-
ing) over a 3 year period,

whereas the trades union got
their people $1.60 an hour more,
over a 3 year period - and that
is pure salary increase, plus
they also got longevity.
NOW - about the great gains

AFSCME has made at the U of
M. I will use their own exam-
ple; in 1967 a food service em-
ployee was making $1.82 an
hour. After 7 years they will be
making $3.17 per hour. They call
THAT progress. In seven years
that rate rose only $1.35 an
hour. In one contract the trades
got $1.60 an hour, for pete's
sake.
I wold also like to remind
the AFSCME UM Organizing
Committee that we clerks and
secretaries have been here for
a long time. Where in the world
has AFSCME been? Many times
they were approached and asked
to help us, and they never lifted
a finger. Now that the UAW
has offered their support and
guidance to ts - out of the
blue comes AFSCME singing
songs of praise for their organ-
ization, and what marvelous.
things AFSCME can do for us.
I'm sorry to say CCFA has
not had the experience with the
problems of the technicians,
and therefore CCFA felt we
couldn't campaign for them.
However, the UAW has not giv-
en up on them. Again I state
the UAW has the TOP organiza-
tion which specializes in tech-
nicians, office workers, and pro-
fessionals. The clerks and secre-
taries would hardly "go it
alone" (as stated in AFSCME's
letter) with a union that repre-
sents over 1,250,000 employees.
WE NEVER emphasized strik-
es or strike funds. It's just ano-
ther of the many benefits the
UAW offers. And there is NO
special assessment for it. As
stated many times before that
is included in the dues, which
is only 2 hours of pay per
month. Thirty per cent goes ip-
to the strike fund, 30 per cent
to the international, 3 per cent
to the Family Education center
fund, and 37 per cent into the
local union. (Which is one rea-
son why the UAW locals are so
well financed).
AFSCME's own President,
Jerry Wurf stated there were
30 strikes in July alone. That's
a lot of people without any in-
come coming in.
Ifor one would be proud and
confident to have a leader like
Leonard Woodcock or D ou g
Fraser to help and guide our
employees. Look at the past re-
cords and accomplishments of
both organizations, listen to the
people who are covered by their
contracts. Cesar Chavez, at a
UAW convention said, without
the UAW's help "we'd be dead."
The UAW is so far ahead of
AFSCME that it's not funny.
If the example of what pro-
gress AFSCME has attained is
here at the U of M - then heav-
en help them.
I'LL ADMIT . . . AFSCME's
better than nothing . . . but
why settle for that, when the
UAW is soooo much better.
-Vicki Connell
July 25
taxation W/O
representation
To The Daily:
WE THINK that students,
having read about the new or-
ganizations proposal just passed
by the Regents, should be aware
of the victory that this repre-
sents for student organizations,
and for students, in general.
Now, we can draw one of two
conclusions from this whole af-
fairs: 1) that the Regents are
basically just nice guys who
are truly concerned about serv-
ing our interests, or that 2)
they were forced to do what
they did by the united action of
students.

The original proposals put be-
fore the Regents was one which
would have allowed for the to-
tal expropiation of all student
organizational funds in ex-
change for the use of Univer-
sity facilities by said organ-
izations, and secondly, that all
funds derived from fund-rais-


Daily
ing events would have to spent
in a manner deemed appropri-
ate by the University, thus giv-
ing Henry Johnson, Vice-Presi-
dent of Student Services, virtu-
ally dictatorial control over
our funds.
The first part of the proposal
was defeated; the second part
remains, albeit in a somewhat
diluted form. In this new pro-
posal, the duty of punishing re-
clcitrant organizations has fal-
len to joint board, to be com-
posed of- two SACUA-appointed
faculty, two students, and Hen-
ry Johnson.
ONE NOTICES at a glance
that students are "decisively"
in the minority. This falls some-
thing short of our demands and
expectations. What we were
calling for, and will continue to
demand is the absolute control
of student organizations (and
this includes funds) by stu-
dents - if there is to be any
regulation of financial matters,
this is to be the self-regulation
of students by students.
We are not opposed to the con-
cept of "financial accountabil-
ity," but it is a question of ac-
countability to whom? It would,
on the other hand, be a serious
error to neglect-this concession
for the victory that it is. Now
while it is true that we were
not as bold in our opposition as
we might have been (this was
evidenced by the utter contempt
that Fleming and certain of the
Regents displayed for the opin-
ions at that meeting - needless
to say, this could only occur in
a situation in which they felt
the students to be helpless
pawns), and while it is true
that we were on the defensive,
we can now take this oppor-
tunity, this lull in the fighting,
to switch over to the offensive.
UP UNTIL NOW, the issue
has been one of the accountabil-
ity of students to the adminis-
tration-what should be the is-
sue is the accountability of the
university to students. Like for
example:
" What right did the univer-
sity have in donating some
$300,000 (which should have
gone to needy students) to tISR,
an institute devoted to the re-
search and development of so-
cial control programs; and .. .
* Why is it that the Student
Activities Building which was
paid for out of student fees is
not available for student use?
* Why is it that so many
university facilities lie dormant
at night when they could be put
to good use by students;
and...
* Why is it that more facili-
ties are not made available to
the community?
* Why is it that there exists
no Asian Advocate when, in
fact, Asian students constitute
the second largest minority on
campus?
* Why is it that Black stu-
dents are not allowed a voice
in determining the policies of
the Afro - American Center;
and . .
* Why is it that the univer-
sity feels justified in spending
some 60 per cent of its capital
in corporations that do business
with South Africa?
ALL OF THESE questions
will have to be raised, though
obviously they can't be raised
all at once. They must be raised
svstematically, one at a time,
and with regard to the concrete
needs of students. The "passiv-
ity" of students is a myth-they
(the administration) haven't
seen nothing yet.
-Revolutionary Student

Brigade
Letters to The n-i' >' -^,1'
be mailed to the Editorial
Direc tor or delivered to
Mary Rafferty inthe Student
Publications business office
in the Michigan Daily build-
ing. Letters should be typed,
double-spaced and normally
should not exceed 250 words.
The Editorial Directors re-
serve the right to edit all
letters submitted.