Letters: Blue magic storydistorted
I WOULD LIKE to respond to tions as being defeated by a were trying to keep the lid on ical refusal to make even the theless forced to accept an eco-
The Daily's highly inaccurate Republican-HRP coalition was any meaningful investigation of most modest conciliation to the nomic package much closer to
coverage of Monday's City Coun- a substitute resolution submitted police behavior and method. clerical workers, the University the University's than to their
cil action on the Blue Magic in- by the Democrats because they There is no certainty that the has indicated its intention to own modest demands, while ie-
cident. refused to support HRP's origi- report will be publicly released continue the offensive against treating on their non-economic
Although the article gives an nal resolution. This substitute or any further action taken. campus unions. Feeling the per- demands - class size, affirma-
acceptable account of the actual resolution simply asks the chief This indeed was the whole in- iodic strains of the capitalist tive action. The GEO retreated
incident, nowhere does it men- of police and the city adminis- tention of the Democratic sub- system to which it is integral, on one after another of these
tion that the reason the issue trator to present a report to stitute resolution. the University seeks alleviation issues because it failed to ag-
was before council was because council. The Police Department I suggest that The Daily re- through layoffs, cutbacks, tui- gressively pursue the one stra-
HRP presented a resolution to has already prepared a report porter responsible for the article lion hikes, reduction of r e a ltegy capable of defeating the
have council investigate Ann for the county prosecutor. There stay awake the next time he in- wages, and ultimately crippling University: a campus-wide
Arbor police misconduct in the is no reason to believe that the tends to report accurately on the union to impotence. strike by all campus unions.
incident. HRP's resolution call- report to council will differ to any council action.
ed for a tri-partisan ad hoc any significant degree. This re- --William Wilcox THE SPARTACUS Youth Lea- ONLY THROUGH labor coli-
c o m m it t e e to investigate port according to Chief Krasny, June 18 tue pledges its full support to darity can the working class
charges of police misconduct maintains that there was no the clerical workers in their defend itself, and this funda-
and to make "recommendations misconduct on the part of Ann strike-a-thon struggle against the University, mental lesson applies with full
of possible disciplinary ection if Arbor police present at the in- Fo The Daily: and calls on all unions, left or- force to the CCFA/UAW. The
warranted, as well as recom- cident. T.Tanizations and individuals to illegality of public employees
mendations for handling similar THE DAILY ARTICLE dis- THE UNIVERSITY of Michi- make a similar commitmnent. In strikes, a means by which the
complaints in the future and torted the situation to make it gan, having waged a month-long order to exert maximum pres- capitalist class protects s pri-
for procedural changes which seem that the Democratic party solon-busting stack on the GEO sre on University, we urge vte property andinstutions,
might prevent such incidents and particularly the Mayor had last winter, has not finished its an early September strike as must not be allowed to restrain
imdaio oearlyong y septer ostrikngas rkmust olbeallweity esra
from occuring." taken some kind of initiative in intmdation of that y tactically superior to striking worker solidarity - for t n e
The resolution The Daily men- the situation when in fact they union. The hearings on the tres- fmmediately: in addition to all ro and unconditional right to
passtg charges against 44 GEO the other departments of the strike for public employees! In
ptketers 'ed tonegin. University (hospital, payroll, periods of economic collapse, thie
etc.), the registration of 30,- defensive character of unions is
- Typically, the University bha- D00 students could be brought put to :a decisive test,
The M ichigan D aily law laeofboris t at while ear t "- hu, the call for a campus-
law and order" so as to crush to a haIt, while greater ten-
ditethe faintest signs of militance tial would exist for st-adent sup- wide strike must be linked to the
Edited and managed by Students afth the f hsca1lltn port. demand for one campus union
in the face of this challenge t~ ordeadfroecmu onn
University of Michigan the union's right to strike, all In discussing what road for- i order to inure naximum n-
militant workers, and students ward for the clerical workers, ity against rolng class eon-
must rally to the defense of it is instructive to study the les- stluits. We urge the other
Friday, June 20, 1975 GEO, and demand that the char- sons of the GEO strike. Though casnus unions to mobilze :n
ges be dropped! the GSA's won substantial eco- solidarity with the clericais
News Phone: 764-0552 This defense is especially ar- nomic gains compared with the when they walk out.
gent in view of the impending poverty-line wages they had -Craig Travis
CCFA/UAW strike. In i's cyn- been receiving, they were none- Spartacus Youth League
fA& 'Gk Af°PhT1W.
THE
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TENANT'S CORNER
Revitalized
TENANT'S CORNER is a
weekly Editorial Page column
devoted to the discussion and
dissemination of issues pertin-
ent to tenants and the problems
and policies affecting them.
Any local tenant wyishing to
share a gripe or present a pro-
position for improving the plight
of Ann Arbor area tenants is
invited to submit material for
publication in this column.
-Paul Haskins
Editorial Director
By LARRY COOPERMAN
and STEVE DOWNS
FN LAST week's column we
discussed the development
and impact of the All-Ann Ar-
bor Rent Strike in 199 and 70.
This week we will briefly ek-
plore the reasons behind t
failure of the Tenants Union
maintain the momentum g
erated by the strike until
final demand, that of collect
bargaining, could be achieved
a large scale. We will alsoo
amine the reasons behindt
recent resurgence of tena
Union activities.
The loss of momentm w
engendered by the leng
court process involved in s
tling some of the rent stri
(some cases were still in co
two years after the initiation
the strike) and the high rate
transiency in the student co
munity. This became evid
when many strikers settled -
their landlords outside. oft
auspices of the Tenants Unio
This loss of momentum, by
TU organizing re
the self, does not wholly explain ' effective Tenants Union is great-
to the demise of either the rent er now than it had been at any
en- strike or the Tenants Union it- time in the past, both because of
the self. The other important factor the continued decay of the Ann
ive was the lack of an organiza- Arbor housing market and be-
on tional structure which could cause of the anemic state of the
ex- maintain Tenants Union activi- economy.
the ties, noah as rent strikes. The m ;.urtat tvm.7 -
nts combiation of these two fac-
tors, loss of momentum and "The combined ef-
was lack of an organizational struc-
thy tare, resulted not only in the fects of loss of momen-
set- disintegration of the rent strike, turn and lack of Organ-
kes but also in the lapsing of the
urt Tenants Union into a sporadic izational structure re-
of counseling service for two suited in the Tenant's
:- Union's lapsing into
ent LAST FALL approximately Union' l
ith twenty-five people got together sporadic counseling
the to discuss plans for revitalizing Seryice for two years."
n. the Ann Arbor Tenants Union.
it- They felt that the need for an r. :. <;s . ,,:"::
ners
Since November the main
thrust of the Tenants Union ac-
tivities has been towards build-
ing the organization which will
be necessary to establish the
Tenants Union as a permanent
fixture on the Ann Arbor hous-
ing scene. At present the Ten-
ants Union is engaged in an or-
ganizing drive whose ultimate
aim is the creation otf such an
organization. A dozen more vol-
unteers could make a great
deal of difference in tha suc-
ces of this drive. If you are in-
terested in helping, contact the
Tenants Union.
Larry Cooperman and
Steve Downs are staff mem-
bers of the Ann Arbor Ten-
ants Union.