Tuesday. August 13, 1974
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Michigan Bell
has tentative
accord with
area workers
By DELLA DIPIETRO
A tentative agreement was reached
this weekend bewteen employes and the
Michigan Bell T e I e p h n e Compan,
which should put an end to sporadic
wildcat strikes across the state.
Employes have been striking for wage
increases and better working conditions.
ACCORDING to 1H a r r y Kenworthy,
spokesman for the phone company, the
agreement reached Sunday night pri-
marily involves an adjustment of the
pay scale for employes outside the De-
troit area. Cities and towns across the
state are placed on pay scales which
vary according to the desirability of
the area and differences in cost of
living.
A nationwide contract between the
Bell system and its employes was work
ed out earlier in the month.
The wage increase was handled pri-
marily on the national level said David
Sarah, vice president of Communica-
tions Workers of America, local 4011.
"I think everyone is getting a 10.7 per
cent increase, which is not a hell of
alot," he commented. Originally nation-
wide negotiators had been seeking a 14
per cent wage hike.
KENWORTHY estimated that the
state and national contract will cost
Michigan Bell $34 million during the
first year, with an approximate total
of $100 million for the total three year
period the contract will cover.
The agreement will be retroactive to
July 18, three days after most of Bell
Telephones contracts expired.
Dther issues settled in the state agree-
ment include one additional holiday per
year, amnesty for everyone involved in
the strike, and full 40 hour pay during
jury duty, Sarah reported.
SARAH SAID, however, that Ann Ar-
bor traffic controllers, which include
all information and assistance operators,
have not yet been totally appeased.
Last week's wildcat operator strike
here ended Friday afternoon as manage-
ment officials met with operators'
spokespersons. A list of 20 demands
were presented and local management
agreed to 18 of them, saying the other
two were out of their control.
Ilasically, Sarah isserted, the oper-
ators were objecting to "the wiy they
were treated -like little children. For
instance, they don't need to raise their
linds like little girls when they have
to got) to the hathroomi."
A\pparently, their grievnces ire beitg
worked out, although Sarah would not
be specific.
Kenworthy would only say that nian-
agenent is "pleased" that the strike
ended and they are operating according
to the current contract.
Nixon adite
obstruction of
j ustice,AB
president says
HONOLULU Ui)-The president of the
American Bar Association (ABA) said
yesterday that former President Nixon's
admission that he withheld evidence per-
tamning to Watergnte 'was tantamount to
a confession of obstruction of justice."
ABA chief Chesterfield Smith of Lake-
land, Its., said he wtis referring to,
Nixon's statement last Monday -- three
days before he resigned- that he was
releasing additional tape recordings
whichecontained information previously
withheld,
"I believe that when President Nixon
released the tapes of June 23, 1972, and
made the statement that he did, he was
giving what in my mind was tanta-
mount to a confession that he had par-
ticipated in the obstruction of justice.
"AS TO whether he ought to be pro-
secuted for that, I think that should be
left to the authorities. I don't believe
in a blanket immunity to Mr. Nixon sim-
ply because he is a past president,"
Smith said,
"I don't want to be a blood-thirsty
fellow," Smith told a news conference
See ABA, Page 10
AP Photo
JOHN VALENTINE, left, and Norman Sherman, partners in a computer mail
firm that operates out of Bloomington, Minn., pleaded guilty yesterday to
aiding and abetting illegal corporate donations to political campaigns by milk
producers.
Former Humphrey aide
took illegal donations
ST. PAUL, Minn. A)-Sen. Hubert
Humphrey's former press secretary
pleaded guilty yesterday to aiding and
abetting illegal corporate donations to
political campaigns by milk producers.
Norman Sherman and his business
partner, Jack Valentine, who also plead-
ed guilty, each posted a $1,000 personal
recognizance bond in U.S. District Court
at St. Paul. Each man faces a maximum
sentence of one year in jail and a $1,000
fine.
JUDGE EDWARD DEVITT ordered
the probation office to conduct a pre-
sentence investigation.
Sherman and Valentine were named in
a criminal investigation by the Water-
gate prosecutor's office. It said the two
aided and abetted the use of money from
the Associated Milk Producers Inc. to
purchase computer-mail lists used in
Humphrey's 1972 presidential campaign
and in a number of other Democratic
campaigns, including that of South Da-
kota Sen. James Abourezk.
Both Humphrey and Abourezk have
said they were unaware of the nature
of the contributions.
SHERMAN WAS Humphrey's press
secretary when the Minnesota Demo-
crat was vice president. Sherman and
Valentine later formed a computer mail
firm with offices in Minneapolis and
Washington.
Valentine and Sherman have said they
accepted the corporate money on legal
advice from Humphrey's campaign man-
ager at the time, Minneapolis attorney
Jack Chestnut. Chestnut involked the
Fifth Amendment and refused to testify
about the incident before the Senate
Watergate Committee.
The charge, filed July 30, said the
Associated Milk Producers Inc., the na-
tion's biggest dairy-farmer cooperative,
used $82,000 in corporate money to buy
the computer lists from the Valentine-
Sherman firm,
The money, according to the govern-
ment complaint, was given to the pair
from July 19 to Dec. 21, 1971, for voter
lists in Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa
and other Midwest states.
The lists were used only in political
races, and did not give any business
benefit to the coop.
Watergate strains show
in Nixon's handwriting
"There's nothing left," a
handwriting expert s a y s
after studying Nixon's sig-
nature. "Only a shadow.
His ambitions are over."
NEW YORK () - A handwriting ana-
lyst claims that since Watergate Presi-
dent Nixon's signature disintegrated
markedly, evincing "a person sinking
within himself."
Felix Lehmann, who runs a printing
concern and is interested in graphology,
discussed Nixon's signature in connec-
tion with a scheduled auction of auto-
graphs, including two by the former
president.
"HIS autographs became much more
valuable than before he became involved
in the scandalous affairs of Watergate,"
-said Charles Hamilton, a dealer in auto-
graphs and letters, who is sponsoring
the auction.
Lehmann studied three examples of
Nixon's signature - the first written
shortly after he took office in 1969, the
second several months ago and the third
very recently.
'tTremendous capitals," Lehmann said
of the first signature, "show pride, but
the long thread at the end of his name
shows he wants to leave room to maneu-
ver. The striving for recognition and am-
bition are overpowering in his handwrit-
ing. I would say he came froma non-
descript family and wanted to make
good for himself. That is shown by the
Richard being more clear than the fam-
ily name."
See NIXON, Page 9