page three'
Thursday, August 10, 1972 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
BUSINESS PHONE:
764-0554
News Phone: 764-0552
Jacobson employes try
SX r r1Z r R 0
By JIM KENTCII
Despite the suspect firing of an
employe who is active in labor
organizing, attempts to unionize
the work force at the Ann Ar-
bor Jacobson's department store
have met with some success.
An election will be held t h i s
Wednesday, Aug. 16, among the
Jacobson employes to determine
whether or not they want to be
represented in collective bar-
gaining with the Jacobson m a n-
agement by the Teamsters Lo-
cal Union No. 614.
Although Jacobson's is a chain
with stores across the state. the
election will affect only the 236
employes of the Ann Arbor store.
The election will be completely
supervised by the National Lab-
or Relations Board NLRB).
Earlier this year several em-
'loyes began casually talking
about the idea of a union. Then
Mitch Gentile, a friend of one
of the workers and an organizer
for the local Teamsters Union,
put the idea into action.
At least rone third of the work
f'srce must sign union authoriza-
ti-n cards before an election can
be held.
Laura Baddeley, head of the in-
plant organizing committee and
a Jacobsen's employe. coordinat-
ed the petition drive and gave the
signed cards to Gentile.
Baddeley and other employes
approached workers on t h e ir
lunch hour and talked to them
about the union. "It got pretty
sticky at times," Baddeley said.
"There were a few broken
friendships, and some p e o p1 e
just didn't want to be seen talk-
ing to us. Some were sure they'd
get fired it they signed"
In the middle of the drive to
obtain signed authorization cards
from the required 33 per cent,
however, Baddeley was fired. The
management gave "economic
reasons" as the grounds for her
dismissal.
"I was very definitely fi r e d
because of my union activities,"
Baddeley said. "And they would
not elaborate on the economic
reasons for my dismissal."
Suspecting a possible violation
of the National Labor Relations
Act (NLRA), the local Te a m -
sters Union filed charges against
Jacobson's with the NLRB.
An NLRB official found "rea-
sonable cause" to believe that
the NLRA had been violated, and
Baddeley was given a position at
the Ann Arbor store with back
pay for the time lost from work.
"Dealing with management is
like a frosted cake," Gentile said.
"They're pleasant on the out-
side, but inside is another story-"
In a letter to a Jacobson's of-
ficial, Jacobson's president J, R.
Fowler wrote, "I am sure you
know that we do not believe that
a union is necessary or desirable
is Jacobson's."
Fowler declined to comment on
the matter yesterday, saying
only that a union wasn't neces-
sary but that the employes had
the legal right to vote on whe-
ther or not they wanted a union.
Baddeley and other Jacobson
employes, however, cited several
reasons for the necessity of a
union. "You can't survive on
what Jacobson's pays an em-
ploye," said Baddeley. The hour-
ly wage starts at $1.75.
Other Jacobson employes have
also criticized other management
practices. There is no establish-
ed promotion policy, job descrip-
tion list, or wage increase fo,
rises in the cost of living.
Raises that were promised have
been refused, with the exesse
being that "it's a bad time.,'
"The management is Victorian,
See JACOBSON'S, Page 12
The high price of corn
The Lester farm in Delaware has escalated its anti-crow tactics
from inanimate traditional scarecrows to live scarecrows with
live bullets. Local crows have taken note that each ear of corn
they eat could be their last.
Mistrial motion refused
in Pentagon Papers case
LOS ANGELES {N)-The judge in the Pentagon papers
trial refused yesterday to grant a defense request for a mis-
trial and dismissal of the jury sworn three weeks ago.
U.S. District Court Judge Matt Byrne said the 12 jurors
and six alternates would remain a jury-in-waiting at least
for the time being, ready to return to court whenever they
are called to judge Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo on
charges of espionage, conspiracy and theft.
He said he would tell the jurors it is unlikely they
would have to return before October. That is when the U.S.
Supreme Court reconvenes and is expected to decide
whether it will hear a de-
fense petition concerning a
wiretap dispute. The trial
has been stayed indefinitely
pending the high court's
ruling.
SCcharged w sit
insurance sex bias
By MERYL GORDON
Charging that the new Student Government Council's
(SGC) health insurance policy discriminates against
women, several women confronted SGC executive vic,-
president Lou Glazer and insurance representative Dain
Newman yesterday.
The women complained that the policy didn't visibly
cover abortions and that the women's maternity benefits
were optional, costing an extra $60.
"We're very angry that women are paying the extra
money," said woman's advocate Barbara Terry Kurtz.
"Unless you can convince me that women get pregnant on
their own, I think it's un-
fair,"
Glazer explained that SGC Handgun bill
had opted to make maternity
benefits optional to lower the
cost of the policy, Under the
pays for health insurance.da p o e
present policy, a single studcotap r vdp p y
pyfohelhisrne!f maternity benefits were in-
cluded in an overall plan, each - e
student'would pay $77 for full
coverage. WASHINGTON ('--The Sen-
The women were also con- ate passed a bill yesterday. 68
cerned that single women be to 25, prohibiting the sale of
able to receive maternity bene- easily concealable handguns.
fits. The original policy indi- The chief target of the bill,
cates that women must be mar- which now goes to the House, is
ried to participate. Newman the kind of snub-nosed, cheap,
said that single women are elig- lightweight handgun commonly
ible to buy the optional benefits. called "Saturday night specials."
Kurtz demanded that abor- Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Ind.), the
tions be covered under the in- bill's sponsor, said it would
surance plan. Newman responded "take out of the market place
positively, saying that "legal and the weapons used most fre-
See HEALTH, Page 12 quently by criminals." However,
Defense attorneys argued that
the jurors should be discharged
and a new panel selected when-
ever the trial reconvenes. They
suggested thie high court would
be under undue pressure if the
justices knew a jury a-as wait-
illsin Los Angeles for their de-
'rise government had con-
tended that swearing a second
jury would constitute a secoind
trial, placing the defendants in
illegal double jeopardy- but the
defense stated it would waive
double jeopardy.
Byrne said he would keep the
motion for mistrial under sub-
mission, as well as the ofter to
waive dcuble jeopardy.
The jurors' present status as
a jury-in-waiting places them in
a legal limbo until the trial re-
convenes, which may not be
until late October or November.
Y it. would do nothing about the
millions of pistols and revolvers
tsow its private hands,
Bayh estimated the bill would
halt the sale of about one million
of the 21' million pistols and
revolvers sold eaci year sn this
country.
-The bill, passed after three
days of debate during which
tougher controls were rejected
had languished in the Senate
until the attempted assassina-
tion ott May 15 of Alabama Gov.
George Wallace.
The final vote came after the
Senate's 10-27 rejection of ai
Iamendment, which Bayh said
Sould have "uttted his bill.
One effect of the amendment
by Selltoman Hlruska (t-Neb
would have been to permit deal-
'rs to sell the supplies they now
have of the handguns that
osostld be barred by the bill.
It also voud have permitted
the contined sale o all kids
ofis aod--s until the scretIry
of tio T sracted to dis-
appro o_ particuslar models
under the 'tandards se t by the
legislation.
AP those The bill is designed to close
'swhat Bayh and others have
called a gaping loophole in legis-
ing Iong-- lation passed in 1 i68 prohibit-
guns not suitable for sporting
the docks ing the importation of hand-
purposes.
Pickel lif. CoIfront011ion
A freight truck with a broken windshield inches through a tense crowd of police and picket
shoremen yesterday at a wharf on the River Trent in Readby, England. Violence fared at
for the third successive day, and 22 strikers were arrested.