The Michigan Daily-Thursday, September 10, 1981-Page 15 Hospital (Continued from .Page 7) In t , nvironment for its students." statemn DALSTON REFERRED TO THE hospita CHPC-SEM statement as "a convic- reads, tion that has been held by many, but very hi I'm confident that it doesn't apply to averag us." Univers Dalston maintains that in order to the pre continue producing high-quality health 1990 do professionals, the University must keep THE up with expensive, modern, Univer technologies in its new facility. danger, "Our costs are higher than most pensive 9ther hospitals in the state of Michigan white e nd it's because of very expensive But D eaching programs," Dalston said. "We ning p strive continuously to contain our costs, produci but this is a quality university." ction MEDICAL SCHOOL DEAN John Michiga Grohvall said he agreed with Dalston's has res assessment of the new -hospital's tertiary priorities. "The only reason that the whas w University has a hospital and runs one prepari is that the University, has teaching wrtpth rograms," Gronvall said. with th Asked about an agreement at the Buildin Regents meeting that ambulatory care h would be the top priority, Gronvall said, have r "I don't think that's an accurate safety h statement; it may be it's been taken out ACCO of context. It's oversimplistic to say official (between research, teaching, and am- Univers bulatory care) that one is higher than guidelir the other." But, he added, "if there is a building conflict between patient care and a asbesto teaching program, then the patient vironm care has to come first." ployee g construction continues amidst' he 1979 CHPC-SEM position sent, planners projected high al care costs. The statement "Even based on the hopes for igh bed occupancy rate, the e cost per patient day at the sity Hospital will increase from esent figure of $371 to $1,069 in llars." STATEMENT continues, "The sity and the state stand in real of having to support a very ex- half-empty facility, a veritable lephant." Dalton maintains that the plan- rocess has been smooth and tive. "Our planning in conjun- with CHPC-SEM and the an Department of Public Health sulted in a greater increase in y care. That's the spearhead of e're all'about." nedical center planners begin ng for the new Hospital complex e demolition of North Outpatient g and the possible razing of [ospital, public health workers aised serious concerns over hazards. RDING TO A former planning at CHPC-SEM, unless city planners follow strict nes for the demolition of s and subsequent disposal of s insulation materials, en- ental contamination and em- ood health will be in jeopardy. "During the demolition of the buildings, there will be a substantial risk to both employees and the surrounding community from friable asbestos insulation materials, used in the heating and cooling systems being demolished. Studies have demon- strated that people need not be directly exposed to asbestos materials before suffering the adverse health effects of exposure," the official wrote. "That's a screwy concern," respon- ded University Hospital planner Mar- sha Bremer. "It's off the wall. It's from out in left field," she said, adding that although she feels demolition of the Main Hospital Building (where most of the asbestos is) is inevitable, it's still 'many, many years into the future." BREMER MAINTAINS that all precautions will be taken during the demolition process, adding that a stipulation will probably be included with the demolition contract. In contrast, Andrew Parker, a plant. engineer at University Hospital, debunked the demolition precautions on North Outpatient Building by saying, "They'll just swing a big ball . . . the asbestos will probably fall into a heap and then they'll just cart it away." Recent literature describes asbestos as a fluffy, fibrous material produced from rock and well known for its ability to resist heat and acids. OF THE ALMOST 3000 asbestos . products manufactured today, ap- proximately two-thirds are used for construction-including insulation, cement production, floor tiling, roofing and plastics. During the construction boom of the 1930s and 1940s, asbestos was com- monly used in building because of its reputation as in inexpensive, sturdy, fire-resistant heat insulator. In 1955, a definitive link between asbestos and asbestosis (a disease in which the lungs are irritated by inhaled asbestos dust) was established. ASBESTOS EXPOSURE has also been linked to three other diseases: cancer of the respiratory system, "asbestos corns" (small skin lesions resembling blisters), and mesothelioma-a rare cancer of the chest and abdominal lining which is usually fatal within one year of the first symptoms. Douglas Sarbach, director of plan- ning, research, and development for University Hospital, said that normal precautions will be taken and will be written into the specifications involving demolition of the North Outpatient Building, also built with asbestos materials. ACCORDING TO a former CH- PC-SEM health planner, it will be "the most expensive hospital per patient day of any non-profit institution." "I'm surprised the legislature voted that kind of money ($173 million), given the economic situation of this state," a government health planner said. According to University Regent Thomas Roach, student fees will serve as collateral for University Hospital revenue bonds which, along with private donations, will cover the remaining $110 million balance of the $285 million complex. MEANWHILE, LESS than a week af- ter announcing solid credit ratings on a proposed state building bond issue last July, Governor Milliken's ad- ministration postponed the transaction because of poor market conditions af- fecting the $121 million sale of State Building Authority revenue bonds. The bonds are designed to fund construction of college, prison, and psychiatric facilities. According to the tederal health plan- ning official, many health planners are pessimistic about the timing of such a large expenditure based on the allegation that such an extensive health care complex is necessary. "I don't think that what they're (the University) building is needed," said the official, "and it is being done for prestige purposes." THE OFFICIAL pointed out that the University's contention that a new facility is needed because it is the dissent predominant referral cent- for the state and also a major teaching hospital, is subject to criticism. "It is not true that the University Hospital is the predominant referral center for the state," said the official. "The University could do a lot more in terms of teaching their students in already existing facilities," the official added. Lamb responded to CHPC-SEM's role in reviewing the revised project, saying, "I think the committee will give them (the University) -a fair hearing and make a fair judgment. I guess about 80 percent of the committee is about the same (as in the initial 1979 application)." ACCORDING TO Lamb, "anyone that has been through the facilities has - no questions that the work has to be ' done," and that the funding will be used for a variety of hospital projects. According to the federal planning of- ficial, many health care professionals are skeptical about the necessity of such a large-scale facility-yet most feel ."there is no point in fighting it anymore." "I think people are reluctant to speak (out against the new facility) because they don't see the point in doing it-but that doesn't mean they've changed their minds." GEO vs. University: The struggle goes on Complete service at low rates for your European car.. If your car is something special to you, have it serviced where it is treated accordingly. (Continued from Page 12 could be deducted from pay checks but the University refused to, continue collecting," said Moran. In a 1976 Michigan Daily article Moran ex- plained, "If they put off long enough, gency shop fees won't be collected which are necessary to finance the bargaining process." ANOTHER PROBLEM is that, unlike traditional labor unions, GEO's mem- bership and leadership change constan- tly with the waves of graduate students entering and leaving Ann Arbor. This makes it difficult to predict whether new member will continue the fights. "Most students are interested in going to school now," said University ttorney William Lemmer. "There is a t of turnover. A group that was in- erested in this years ago may have been supplanted by a group who isn't," hejsaid. Jnion members say they feel they have lost a lot of strength during the in- teim between court debates, and they clrge that the University has used at- trition and attempts to bury student ac- tivism in the judicial system as trategies. ."THE YEARS DRAGGING on have weakened our case," said Mark Pit- tenger, a TA in the department of American Studies. He said fears GEO is being misrepresented as "a vehicle for a court case." The dialogue between the adver- saries has grown stronger over the years, as they volley with charges of unfair labor practices and what one party calls "slimy maneuvers;" but although the basic points of disagreement have been obscured, they *ave changed little in six years. 'When you get into court, the real issues dissolve," said Moran. "We lost all the grievances. The working of the language wasn't right enough. The management gets the benefit of the doubt in such cases," he claimed. THE SETTLEMENT how hinges on the MERC's arbitration decision determining whether TAs are Univer- temployees under the Public Em- loyment Relations Act. "That's what the whole thing would down to. We as employees had no rights. In November we said we had a contract and were going to take it to ratification, and the University said, 'No, this is a frivolous suit because these are not employees, they have no right to unionize'," Moran said. During the 1977 negotiations, Univer- sity attorney Robert Vercruysse argued the administration's stance by comparing the University to schools. "At Berkeley, Harvard; Yale, Stanford, MIT, and our other peer institutions, graduate student assistants are by law not considered employees," he said. VERCRUYSSE CITED the Leland vs. Stanford case of 1974 as legal precedent that GSAs are not em- ployees. In that case, graduate student staff and research assistants were declared to be students, not employees. Although TAs carry from 1/4 to 1/2 the teaching load and take on many responsibilities of faculty, the ad- ministration challenges the TA's right to bargain collectively, and the asser- tion that GEO members are professional workers whose interests are separate from those of the Univer- sity. The University has steadfastly held to the principle that all issues" classified as "academic" by the ad- ministration are not labor contract material, and therefore are not negotiable. The union's concerns all fall into that category: affirmative action recruit- ment, non-discrimination in hiring, tuition, a joint voice in areas like class size, workload, salaries, TA training, and negotiating curriculum. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION was the major dividing point in the second con- tract-an issue the administration adamantly resisted and classified as "outside the union because we're talking about potential employees not actual employees." The matter was fought over in the 1975 strike as well, resulting in an agreement that the University would establish certain "goals and timetables" to guide depar- tments in hiring women and other minorities. There is currently no University-wide special recruitment policy in awarding TA fellowships to minorities. GEO accused the University of not fully complying with a Memorandum of Understanding which outlined a com- prehensive hiring program. That memorandum was appended to the first contract, but GEO contends it had no expiration date and therefore was still applicable to the second con- tract. GEO claimed the University reneged on its promise and union mem- bers said they wanted to strengthen the affirmative action commitment THE STATUS OF "TA, RA puts you into the community with the professors," Moran said. "Minorities were getting fellowships that were ex- cluding them from these offices, and weren't given community or professional support and patronage that other students were getting that were important to the advancement of their careers," he claimed. Collective bargaining in higher education is relatively new, and GEO members claim the University is not comfortable with the thought of sud- denly being thrust into the public arena, where the principles and concepts of both faculty and administration can be carefully and critically examined. THE DESIRE FOR greater TA power has grown in proportion with an increasingly negative view of the ad- ministration by large segments of the TAs, RAs, and SAs, according to the union. The GSAs' struggle to form a union is also a move to adjust to the new ,economic realities, spokepersons say. "College students of the late 70s are less idealistic and more oriented toward jobs, careers, and income than were older siblings of the 60s," according to a recent story in the Christian Science Monitor. TAs say they hope an equilibrium will be established within the University that will pose a new relationship among the administration, GSAs, and faculty: one of shared authority, which hopefully will lead to a higher degree of nrfncin i m Fuel Injection and MultiCarb Specialists. Perfect Motion 906 N. Main, at Depot nt 995-1888 by appointme in your Yellow Pages AA proiessionatism. - I I:T>ECOPNP RCSOE I GACA TACOE R: / ~BUY TWO, GET ONE FREE4 /Buy 2 tacos at our regular price, pc k get your third one FREE with this coupon# 1 Locqted at: 414 WILLIAM CORNER OF THOMPSON, 2 BLKS. W. OF STATE ST. I * LIMIT ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER I ~~ - mm mmminmm m - OFFER EXPIRES OCTOBER 1, 1981 mim m mm m-m lolft'Na 401( f I ; J -.; # ' 2 .v s A f. i1$' \A I %..vi i ire btfta our newesr arrivals. 1 1 \ ' k N. , N A l-N\Yd N--. in,