Page 51x
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, August 11, 1976
AMA admits to postal fraud
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Ameri- vice announced last month after re-
can Medical Association (AMA) submit- ceiving the documents that it was re-
ted false reports to the Postal Service opening an investigation of possible
for 4% years, allowing it to underpay fraud by the AMA.
postage bills by as much as $450,000, Mitchell's letter to the AMA legal de-
an AMA lawyer says. partment advised that:
The admission of the false reports and "The AMA may be charged with hav-
underpayments was made in an Aug. ing submitted false reports of JAMA
13, 1975, letter to the AMA legal de- Journal of the American Medical Asso-
partment from Lee Mitchell, an attorney ciation, the organization's weekly maga-
for the AMA. zine circulation to the Postal Service
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS obtained a in violation of the United States Crim-
copy of the letter, and Mitchell con- inal Code."
firmed its authenticity. HE RECOMMENDED the AMA go to
The letter is among the AMA docu- postal officials and acknowledge the er-
ments given to the Postal Service by roneous reports, which AMA officials
an unidentified man believed to be a subsequently did. However, no additional
former AMA employe. The Postal Ser- postage has been paid, AMA spokesman
The state capitol at Spring- The first local temperance or-
field, Ill., was constructed of ganization was formed in 1789
limestone between 1868 and 1887 by the farmers of Litchfield G ro
at a cost of $4,000,000. County, Coon.
New York's Brooklyn Bridge Daylight Saving Time went
was opened to traffic May 24, into effect in the United States, r
Joseph Breu said in Chicago.
The issue concerns a legal require-
ment that organizations with second-
class mailing permits distribute no more
than 10 per cent of their circulation as
free sample copies. Copies exceeding the
sample copy limitation must be mailed
at a higher postage rate.
The false reports came after the AMA
board of directors decided in 1970 to
expand the JAMA circulation by send-
ing free copies to physicians who were
not AMA members, the letter said.
"THESE PERSONS were to receive
the publication without cost, apparently
with the goal of increasing JAMA's at-
tractiveness to advertisers by adding to
its circulation physicians who were high-
volume subscribers of drugs and medical
devices," Mitchell said.
However, the AMA in reports to the
Postal Service understated its nonpaid
circulation by about 30,000 to 40,000
copies per issue for a 230-week period
ending in 1974, the letter said.
"We would estimate that postage was
underpaid during the period in question
by between $299,000 and $450,000," it
said- The letter said fines for the false
reports "could be as much as $117,000."
Mitchell said his review was only of
JAMA, but "we believe. these issues
may also be relevant to 10 AMA spe-
cialty journals and to AMA's Today's
Health magazine."
up investigates religious
Dedom in Soviet Union
55P555
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GENEVA, Switzerland (/) -
The policy - making body of
the World Council of Churches
met yestertay to consider re-
ligious freedom in the light of
a report charging that the So-
viet government continues to
persecute religious believers.
The report, prepared by inde-
pendent researchers in Britain,
the Netherlands and Switzer-
land, charges that Soviet "dis-
crimination against the Church,
against any form of religious
practice or belief, is woven into
the very fabric of the structure
of the state."
THERE HAVE BEEN im-
plied warnings that the Soviet
member churches might with-
draw from the World Council
if the inquiry into religious
freedom is pressed too hard.
There are six Soviet church-
es among the 286 World Coun-
cil member churches, repre-
senting Protestant, Orthodox,
Anglican and old Catholic de-
nominations totaling 500 million
people Russian Orthodox
Metropolitan Nikodim of Lenin-
grad and Novgorod is one of
the six presidents of the 134-
member central committee, the
Council's policy-making body.
The study was not commis-
sioned by the Council but was
made at the request of a
"group of church leaders pro-
minent in the ecumenical field,"
according to the report's auth-
ors.
THE REPORT was based on
official documents and on in-
formation from Soviet dissi-
dents, among them two mem-
bers of the Russian Orthodox
church, Father Gleb Yakunin
and layman Lev Regelson.
"No amount of pressured
signatures will prove the ab-
sence of religious discrimina-
tion in the Soviet Union nor
will it be proven by the insist-
ent assurances of Soviet state
and higher church figures," the
two men said in a letter dated
March 6, 1976, but not publish-
ed until yesterday.
The 92-page study suggests
state persecution of believers
continues despite new Soviet
assurances of religious freedom
given in the Helsinki agreement
of the European Security Con-
ference last year.
IN THE HELSINKI agree-
ment signed by 35 nations Aug.
1, 1975, the West accepted the
postwar map of Europe - in-
cluding the Soviet dominance
of Eastern Europe - in ex-
change for Western - backed
clauses pledging the further-
ance of civil freedoms in the
signatory states.
The study charged that the
Soviet church hierarchy was
"bowing to manipulation" by
the state. It said it had become
clear from dissident sources
that "there are signs of a grow-
ing crisis of authority and an
increasing lack of confidence in
the church leadership" in the
Soviet Union.
0
G(Mm-
UAW Local 2001-U of M CLERICALS
IT COULD BE YOU !
Over 105 clericals have filed grievances in the last 11 months, fighting back she was told not to make them. She was targeted for this discharge
against University abuses and violations of our contract. These continuous the day after she filed a grievance.
violations confirm what we already know: in all important aspects of the Without a Union, these clericals would have no defense.
employment relationship, management's interests are fundamentally opposed REPLACING PERMANENT CLERICALS
to our own. Without our Union, we would have no way to defend ourselves
against reckless management decisions to sacrifice clerical interests to their Two permanent clerical jobs in an office were filled by temporaries,
own. We would be at the mercy of our supervisors. With our Union, we have who have no Union protection or benefits. This lessens the number
the collective strength and organization to stand up to management and of clerical positions and trains non-clericals to carry out our jobs in
supervisors. We can defend ourselves effectively, since we take seriously the the event of a strike..
position: an attack on one is on attack on all. SPEEDUP A clerical was given a number of additional duties. No extra
Without a Union and a contract, we give management the power to "settle" staff was hired to help her, and she was expected to get everything
disputes between their interests and ours. We know how they will "settle" done-or else. This happens all the time at the University. Without
such disputes. Here is a partial list of management "settlements" of disputes a Union, we have no way to fight back. Through our contract we con
against which the Union is fighting. These and hundreds of other grievances, define and defend job classifications and amount of work, so that f
now and in the future, would die without a Union. management cannot arbitrarily add duties.
RACISM All white supervisors in one department changed the duties of RECLASSIFICATION
a Black receptionist to those of a file clerk. They minutely scrutinized An employee was promoted from C-s to C-6. Subsequently the
her work in hopes that this harassment would cause her to leave the University unilaterally reclassified her position to a C-5.
office. Without a Union this clerical could not fight back. Management reclassified four clericals in C-5 positions to C-4's
31.1 % of disciplinary charges have been against minority clericals claiming that their duties had decreased, when, in fact, they were
while they comprise only 10.6% of the clerical workforce. performing new duties formerly done by P&Aks.
Without a Union, these clericals would have to take what manage-
UNJUST DISCIPLINE AND HARASSMENT ment dished out.
A clerical in the hospital was threatened with disciplinary action, In the pest year, there have been over two dozen cases of disciplinary layoff
including discharge, after becoming active in the Union. Following and discharge. Without a Union, an individual clerical would have little
a year of harassment, she was given a 2 day disciplinary layoff for chance of successfully challenging management's "rights' to carry out such
alleged "bad attitude" and a failure to perform her duties well. disciplinary actions. Every dispute over wages, benefits, evaluations, working
.A clerica with 61/2 years seniority was fired for alleged absenteeism, conditions, promotions, absenteeism, harassment, etc. would become an un-
Her resistance to viruses had been weakened by a chronic medical equal conflict between a well-organized University management and an
condition, and she had too much public contact on her job. Instead isolated individual clerical.
of aiding this worker in finding a job with less public contact, man- Only by using our collective strength in our Union can we protect our jobs,
agement denied her a transfer and set her up for the firing. our wages, and our working conditions. The strength of the Union is the
Another firing occurred when a Black clerical with ten years seniority membership, and the direction of the Union is determined democratically by
was accused of making long distance phone calls on the University the membership. We must not throw away what we worked so long to ac ieve,
WATS Line. She had not made any long distance calls since six since, at present, our Union is our only tool for gaining control of our working
months earlier, when she had voluntarily paid for personal calls before lives.
VOTE "YES" FOR UAW LOCAL 2001 IN THE AUGUST 5-11 DECERTIFICATION ELECTION!
OUR UNION WITH EACH OTHER IS OUR ONLY STRENGTH!
UAW LOCAL 2001 EDUCATION COMMITTEE HELEN KELLY, LISA NORTH, PAM O'CONNOR,
DOC WHITING, JO WILSMANN.