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Protests: Clerical solidarity
Clericals
from page 1
County, and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME) - which already represen-
ts more than 2,000 University main-
tenance and service workers - hopes to
win an election among clerical workers
sometime in the next few months. State
law requires that organizers collect the
signatures of at least 30 percent of the
workers before a vote can be held on
whether to unionize. Williams said she
and her small team of organizers have
already gathered signatures on more
than 1,500 "green cards," well over the
990 needed for a vote.
"Money and job security - those are
the two issues," Williams said. And
she's right. Those were the issues mon-
ths ago, even before she and her team
arrived in town. They have been ever
since the University embarked on its
ambitious Five-Year Plan to reorder
$20 million in its budget and rumors of
cutbacks and layoffs spread to every
department office. Those are the issues
that JoAnna Williams hopes will prom-
pt University office workers to discard
their traditionally independent stance
in favor of the power and security of
union protection.
But unions and union organizers have
had a tough history with the Univer-
sity's clerical workers. At least three
efforts to orga ize office workers here
into a success ul union have failed in
recent years. The United Auto Workers
tried it about 10 years ago, but the union
fell apart the next year. A committee of
clerical workers have since worked to
spur interests in the benefits of unions,
but votes have always run against
them.
Williams, however, thinks her team
finally will be able to succeed where
everyone else failed because of the
- 0 Weekend/Jainaci 14, 1983.
anger and insecurity the University's
budget plans have caused. Even those
secretaries in "safe" departments, who
aren't so much worried about losing
their jobs, are angry about the ad-
ministration's rather indelicate han-
dling of pay raises last year.
At first the administration announced
that professors and instructors would
share $5 million in pay hikes while of-
fice workers would go without a raise.
That sent clerical workers onto the
streets protesting what they called the
administration's insulting disregard for
their welfare. In September, just after
-was not enough to ameliorate the
disgruntled workers.
Office workers, who earn an average
of $12,000 a year, were infuriated by the
size of the increase, which is expected
to average 5.5 percent. Some said the
University was attempting to buy-off
workers and head off unionizing efforts.
"Why did they even bother?" asked
Joann Duane, a secretary in the
medical school. "The paperwork
probably cost them more than the raise
they gave me."
Many of the University's secretaries,
clerks, and other clerical workers have
'Why did they even bother? The paper-
work probably cost them more than the
raise they gave me.'
-Joann Duane,
Medical School secretary
someone's opinion of you, and
sometimes it's very valid, but
sometimes it's very unfair."
Karen Simpson, a clerk with Student
Financial Operations, agreed. "Under
the merit-based raise system, it
becomes a personality contest," she
said. "We need somebody to go in there
and discuss our needs."
But those who support the merit-
based plan view it as an incentive to
work harder. "I think that the merit
proposal is best as opposed to across-
the-board increases," said Duane, who
nevertheless supports AFSCME. "If
you work harder than someone else,
you deserve more, and in these hard
times, it's the only way to go," she said.
N ITS organizing campaign,
AFSCME has emphasized its ability
to protect the clerical workers from
"these hard times." One of their flyers
points to the Institute for the Study of
Mental Retardation and Related
Disabilities, which will be closed in
June, adding a number of University
employees to the ranks of the unem-
ployed. The flyer stresses that in AF-
SCME's Local 1583, which represents
University maintenance and service
workers, no employee has been laid off.
The flyer also highlights the fact that
Local 1583 has won seven percent pay
increases for the past two years.
But as drastically declining state
support makes the University's budget
picture darker, some clerical workers
expressed doubt that a union could do
much for them.
"In view of the present economy, I'm
happy to have a job. I just don't think
it's the tithe (to unionize)," said'
Jacqueline Benson, a secretary in the
medical school.
Billy Frye, the University's vice-
president for academic affairs, said he
didn't think unionizing would win
greater concessions for clerical
workers in the long run. "We're not
Barking
heads
BoWWowWow
Second Chance
9:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 18
By C. F. Krell
T AKE A LOAD off, Annie. Who's
that scratching, still scratching at
my chamber door? January the
Tuesday 18th that canine a cheeser
crepe suzette and the three guys trot in-
to the Second Chance watering hole.
Arf! Bow Wow Wow. Did you ever
think about what a silly name for a
group Bow Wow Wow is? Say it a few
times aloud. Bow Wow Wow. You'll
notice you sound like a dog. Now, I ask
you, why would anyone want you to
sound like a dog? I feel silly sounding
like a dog. Who thought of the name of
this band? Actually it was probably
their former manager, one Mr.
Malcolm I manage anybody who I can
make a lot of money off of and have sex
with McClaren (of the ex-Sex Pistols).
The three guys that Malcolm used to
manage were first the Ants to Adam.
Adam left for insectivore history, and
Malcolm and the three guys were left
Out of
control
SS Decontrol
Michigan Union
Friday, January 14
By Joe Hoppe
T HE PUNKS didn't wreck the Union
with their four-band bash last
November 21st (did anyone really think
they would?), so the management has
generously allowed them to use the hall
again. Tonight.
It's a benefit for PIRGIM. PIRGIM
gets the hall cheap, because they do
good things, so now First Strike
Productions (the guys in the State,
mainly) can book bands in the Union.
Having an Ann Arbor place for thrash
bands to play is more important than
making money anyway.
Five fierce bands are featured!
(wow). They are: SS Decontrol from
Boston, The Necros from Maumee,
Ohio, the Displaced from Detroit, and
Ann Arbor's own State and Ground
Zero.
SS Decontrol, one of Boston's leading
hardcore groups, has four members
(same number for all tonight's-bands, I
think): guitar, bass, drums, and vocals.
A singer who doesn't play an in-
strument is often more able to convey
the meaning of a thrash band's frenetic
vocals and lyrics.
with nobody they could make money off
of and have sex with. So, Malcolm
discovered a cute little lollipop sucker
by the name of Annabella, who at this
writing is an estimated 16, but who then
was about two years younger still. En-
ter mucho messy press, scandals, tiffs
etc., and Malcolm leaves'as Bow Wow
Wow become pop stars. So what's to
be expected of Annie and the boys?
Well, I've heard better singers than
Annabella, but there are few sexist
propositions I'd rather proposition. Sex
sells, thus Bow Wow Wow are suc-
cessful-they've had hits in their own
British homeland, and have made a
nymph sized dent in the bland charts of
the radio station WUSA.
But there's more to the sex of this
group than the comely singerette. The
drums!! Those sexy, African derived
Burundi pelvic thrusts that generally
jam your genitalia. Rhythm and beat
and sex and sweat and grunts and
swoons are the kings of this newpop
trance bop. Over and around this soun-
dtrack of the kinky and prickly the
guitar of Matthew Ashman surf punks
funk dunks.
So after a while, the beats just start to
build and bang, and all the while, Annie
Shakes her thang.
That name though. Bow Wow Wow.
What does it have to do with the respec-
tive sex drives of the respecting sex
drivers? Find out on Tuesday. Do it
doggy style. Wear a mohawk. It's okay,
it's punk. Punk is cool. We all strive for
cool. Is Bow Wow Wow cool? No,
they're rather overheated. Huff puff
pant. Squeal! Oh my! Don't you see?
SS Decontrol has toured the East
Coast, especially Washington, D.C.,
which is now home of the hardest har-
dcore scene; most midwest bands take
influence from that direction rather
than the West. SS Decontrol has toured
the Midwest before; they'll by playing
Detroit on this tour, and elsewhere
(Maumee and maybe Lansing, though
recent troubles have slowed down the
scene there). Al, the group's guitar
player, wasn't home when we called for
the appointed interview, but his mom
was real nice. Members of the band are
fairly young, somewhere around late
teens, early twenties.
Decontrol has recorded on two
albums, a compilation called This is
Boston, Not L.A. and their own LP,
which can't be found readily in A at the
moment. Their music is loud, fast and
savage, which is expected, working as
they do within the hardcore genre and
all. Songs are short; two minutes is ex-
cessive. Another name for hardcore
music is "thrash," and that says it all.
Guitars and drums are minimalistic
and hammer-banging. Decontrol's
vocals have a deeper, more raw and
scraped quality to them than the L.A.
bands most of you would be more
familiar with, like the Dead Kennedys
or the Circle Jerks. Farther gone, more
savage. Guitars are heavier too.
Lyrics are protesting and bitching. SS
Decontrol is mad about the situation.
"How Much Art Can You Take?" is one
of the album's best songs. It's slower,
throbbing like a twisted Stooges song,
and gives the guitars lots of room for
defined fuzz and feedback. Vocals are
angry and understandable drone. "How
Much Art Can You Take?" is also a
meaningful philosophical question that
you might find useful to ask yourself
someday while in an introspective
mood.
BowWowWow: Dog show
The fact is that this will probably be
fun. Muscles will twitch, skins will itch.
Bow Wow Wow can't help but be an
evening's entertainment. As soon as
they hit the stage, everybody will grow
about 5-7 inches, and they will not have
And besides fascinating accom-
plishments and fine music, SS Decon-
trol is interesting because of their
"straight edge" lifestyle. Straight edge
is what it sounds like-the straight
edge, like the snail crawling unharmed
along the straight razor in Apocalypse
Now. Straight e dge is an attitude, but
outward signs include non-use of all
drugs, including alcohol, and a fairly
discriminating attitude towards sex.
,"We're not against sex, we're against
fucking," says Ian, spokesman of
another straight edge band, Negative
Approach. "You shouldn't let your dick
lead you around."
Straight Edgers don't want to be con-
trolled by anything: drugs, girls, the
government, school ... They want to
remain alert-know what's going on.
And they want to establish in-
dividuality, as SS Decontrol points out
in their "Boiling Point" song: Why not
be different/From all the rest/We'll
have the straight edge/And they can
have the rest.
The Necros have been around for a
couple of years. They're based in Ohio,
but have played in most Michigan cities
that would have any interest in har-
dcore.
The Necros are best known for their
overweight singer, Barry, who a lot of
people seem to hate. They've had a
couple of EP's out. Their latest is an in-
credible normal sized 45 with nine
songs. All the songs are short of course,
but they still find room for a few bars of
guitar solo, and a traditional main
part/chorus structure. The Necros
guitars can get pretty fancy; this could
be linked to a rumored love of
Motorhead and other British heavy
metal. Vocals aren't as primal as
Decontrol's, not as deep or rough, but
they're still very sincere.
-- A lyric sheet is included in the EP, so
even sta
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Williams and her team arrived in Ann
Arbor, clerical workers rallied outside
a Regents meeting and demanded a
wage hike.
Later, after the state came through
with some uncertain aid, . the adf-
ministration announced that it would be
able after all to afford slight raises for
office workers based on merit. But tnat
promise - which could result in no
raise or as much as an 11 percev. pay
hike, depending on a superwisor's
recommendation and available money
criticized the subjective nature of the
merit-based program.
"They hate it," said Deeda Stanczak,
a music school secretary who inter-
viewed 71 clerical workers for an ar-
ticle in the November Women's Infor-
mation Network Bulletin.
"Most people would argue that it
would be fine along with a cost-of-living
increase - then it would mean
something. You could be evaluated for
a bonus if you had done something ex-
tra," Stanczak said. "But it's subject to
SS Deco
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