The Michigan Daily
Vol. LXXXVI, No 4-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Saturday, May 8, 1976 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
|Woodcoc supportsCarte
Henry Ford jumps
on Dem's bandwagon
From Staff and WireReports
Jimmy Carter was endorsed
yesterday by United-Auto Work-
ers head Leonard Woodcock,
who compared the former Geor-
gia governor to the late Presi-
v dent Kennedy, and by Ford
Motor Co. Chairman Henry
- Ford It, who said Carter has
"captured the imagination of
the American people."
Woodcock said he decided to
support Carter for the Demo-
cratic presidential nomination
after they met last February.
Woodcock said it was a "gut
reaction . . . I was very im-
pressed. It reminded me of
when I met Jack Kennedy in
October of 1959. I was also tre-
y mendously impressed with
him," he said in his endorse-
ment at Metropolitan Airport.
CARTER said he believed
Woodcock's endorsement "will
have a great effect on the
Michigan primary" on May 18.
"The people want to get
somebody outside of Washing-
ton to go to Washington to
straighten out some problems,"
auto executive Ford said later
at a fund-raising event.
Also attending the airport re-
ception was Democratic Mayor
Coleman Young of Detroit, who
LEONARD WOODCOCK, president of the United Auto Workers, anoonoces his endorsement told reporters he was main-
of former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination as mer Georgia governor which he
Carter looks on. The Georgian is in the state to campaign for the May 18 Michigan presi- announced, "two months ago
dential primary. before 'ethnic purity."'
HITS RELIABLE REALTY
YOUNG referred to Carter s,
now-famous statement of sev-
eral weeks ago. The former
Georgia governor said he op-
posed government interference
in the "ethnic purity" of neigh-
borhoods.
Carter picked tip the support
of the giants of the auto indus-
try and labor on his first cam-
paign foray into Michigan for
the state's May 18 primary. His
chief rival Morris Udall, was
busy drumming tip support in
the race from rank-and-file un-
ion members.
Carter said he considers this
traditionally - progressive state
the key to his presidential as-
pirations.
"WHAT HAPPENS here on My i
18 will have a profound effect
on the outcome of the conven-
tion," he told a group of sup-
porters that included prominent
labor leaders and auto mag-
nates alike at the posh Fair-
Iine Manor in suburban Dear-
born.
Carter also predicted to the
group that he would win his
party's nomination "on the first
or second ballot."
"My guess is the first ballot,"
he told the group of 400 sup-
porters, who paid $100 a head
to attend the Carter fund-rais-
ing dinner.
"I INTEND to be President,"
Carter stated. "I don't intend
See WOODCOCK, Page 10
.'it
TU seeks court injunction
By JAY LEVIN
The Ann Arbor Tenants Union (TU) filed an injunc-
tion yesterday seeking to prevent a local landlord from
signing leases unless they are negotiated with the TU.
The student-run organization brought the order against
Reliable Realty Management Company, a firm the
Tenants Union has been rent-striking since February.
According to the TU, the rental agency and its owner,
Edith Epstein, reneged on last February's recognition
agreement which made the Tenants Union the exclu-
sive bargaining agent of the terms of the lease used by
Reliable.
THE TU ALLEGED that Epstein rented her units
without the Tenants Union input as stipulated in the
recognition agreement.
"By signing leases, she's negotiating independent of
the Tenants Union and breaking the recognition agree-
ment," asserted TU spokesman Robert Miller.
Miller added that the TU's action demonstrates that
"she (Epstein) can't circumvent an agreement with
the Tenants Union."
"IT (THE AGREEMENT) was signed by her, it was
signed by her lawyer, and it was signed by our lawyer,"
said TU organizer Larry Cooperman. "And she went
ahead and rented on her own."
Cooperman added "if we win the injunction, she
won't be able to lease without the Tenants Union as a
bargaining agent, as agreed upon." A date for the
court hearing has yet to be set.
Epstein's lawyer, William Raymer, declined comment
yesterday, while the landlady, herself, was unavailable.
THE RENT STRIKE against Reliable Realty was
initiated in February in protest of allegedly inadequate
maintenance measures and unreasonable rent. Negotia-
tions between the two parties broke down early last
month.
According to the Tenants Union, the strike is now in
a transitory period, due to the expiration of some
leases at the end of April and a high number of un-
rented units. At its peak during the regular school year,
approximately 100 Reliable tenants withheld their rent
in a dual escrow fund which now contains about
$28,000, according to 'Tenants Union estimates.
The Tenants Union alleged Epstein has failed to pro-
vide maintenance for striking units, while stepping up
repairs for those who do not support the strike.
ONE STRIKING tenant, Lisse Palmer, said that the
management company had failed to maintain her house
on White St. since the beginning of March, and "that's
when the gutters were torn down in the ice storm."
The Tenants Union cited another poorly maintained
property: a house on Prospect St. which experienced
sewage flooding in the basement. The tenants of that
house, according to the TU, are bringing their case to
court.
The Tenants Union, revitalized after its victory in
the Trony rent strike last month, is seeking a collec-
tive bargaining agreement from Reliable. Among the
concessions won by the Tenants Union after the four-
month Trony action were a collective bargaining agree-
ment and an innovative set of grievance procedures
designed to increase' tenant input in the resolution of
renter-landlord disputes.
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