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OPINION
Page 4
Wednesday, October 12, 1983
The Michigan Daily
Unplugging the
push to up utility rates
By John Tayer
In today's world of complex gover-
nment and powerful big business it is
becoming increasingly difficult for the
individual consumer to protest effec-
tively against corporate abuse of
power. Naturally, the most effective
way for consumers to fight big business
is for them to band together and speak
as one to bring about the change and
reform.
On no issue in Michigan is that more
important than the battle between con-
sumers and Consumers Power and
Detroit Edison over utility rates.
One statewide group that has so far
successfully helped consumers in their
battle against the utility corporations is
the Michigan Citizens Lobby. The
largest non-profit consumer
organization in the state.
FORMED IN 1973, MCL has already
succeeded in a number of its efforts and
boasts some fairly prodigious
achievements.
In their first success as an
organization, MCL drafted and lobbied
for the passage of the 1974 Auto Repair
Act. This bill helps to prevent consumer
ripoffs by dishonest auto repair ser-
vicemen by giving consumers the right
to a written estimate in advance of ser-
vice, return of replaced parts, and a
detailed statement of exactly what was
done to their cars.
But MCL's biggest battle and success
was in favor of proposal D which for-
bids all automatic rate increases and
requires the Public Service Commision
to review all utility costs in comprehen-
sive rate cases.
IN THEIR effort to get proposal D on
the 1982 state ballot, MCL collected
323,000 petition signatures and then
campaigned successfully for its
passage despite a $6 million utility
campaign against it.
The fight to get utility rates under
control is far from over. Specifically
MCL is trying to thwart Consumers
Power's and Detroit Edison's
threatened 50% rate hike.
The outlandish justification for this
astronomical rate increase, according to
the utility companies, is that the con-
sumer should have to pick up the tab for
the three new power plants being built
by Consumer Power and Detroit
Edison.
MCL vehemently opposes this rate
hike proposal on three accounts. First,
the three plants, which were originally
budgeted at a total cost of less than $1
billion, are now, because of gross
mismpnagement and waste, priced at
over $9 billion. MCL feels it is wrong
that the consumer should be held ac-
countable for this phenomenal cost
overrun which will, if the rate hikes are
approved, drain $1.6 billion annually for
the next decade from Michigan families
businesses, and industries.
FOR THE University, recent utility
price hikes have already amounted to
an almost 100 percent increase in utility
costs. According to figures MCL ob-
tained from the University, last year's
bill of $33 million was up from the
r
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" e're at the home of Jim and Mindy Marks, who are about to disco __er_-~~
that their utility bill has gone sky-high. Let's watch."A
utility bills by moving its operation to
Indiana. Recent figures show that
Michigan industries are paying 90 per-
cent more for utilities than the Midwest
regional average. The implications of
having GM and other industries move
out of the state are disastrous -
bankruptcy for the state being only one
of the possibilities.
MCL is fighting Consumers Power's
and Detroit Edison's push to raise
utility rates, seeing such a rate in-
crease as against the best interest of
the state and its citizens. The lobby's
main weapon in the fight would be a
1984 ballot proposal that would give
voters the chance to stop the utilites
from making their customers pay for
unnecessary construction, wasteful
mismanagement, and cost overruns.
The fight to get the proposal on the
1984 ballot is expected to be a tough one.
Consumers Power and Detroit Edison
will likely campaign even harder
against this proposal than the 1982
proposal. In anticipation of strong
resistance, MCL is already involved in
a massive statewide petition drive to
meet the July deadline.
The war over utility rates has hardly
begun. The Michigan Citizens Lobby is
already leading the charge for the con-
sumer.
Tayer is a Daily staff writer and
volunteer for the Michigan Citizens
Lobby.
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previous year's $17 million figure. The
utility bill for the University is presen-
tly 20% of the housing dues students
living in dormitories pay. If the utility
companies get the 50% rate hike that
they're looking for, its easy to imagine
what this will mean to housing costs.
MCL's second complaint is that the
generating plants, built without review
or approval by the Public Service
Commission, will produce power that
isn't needed. Michigan utilities presen-
tly have a 53-54 percent reserve
energy capacity - way over the utility
industry's recomendation of 15 percent
reserve capacity. With the addition of
the three new power plants this reserve
capacity will rise to a staggering 83
percent for Consumers Power and .87
percent for Detroit Edison.
Finally, in a state that isonly begin-
ning to recover from the depths of
economic recession, the threatened
rate hike would devastate family
budgets and discourage industrial ex-
pansion. General Motors has said they
could already save $100 million in
_ _- .
Cie ambt sa nigan
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XCIV - No.31
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Steamroller blues
A BITTER CONGRATULATIONS to
University administrators. Six
years of trying to break the Graduate
Employee Organization in court
worked out pretty well for them after
all. A little too well, even.
Although the union, composed of
graduate teaching and research
assistants (TAs and SAs), received
some significant concessions in its
newly proposed agreement with the
University, it is quite obvious which
side controlled negotiations. GEO got
only what the University wanted to
give it.
Today, GEO is a weak union. And the
University has played a big role in
making it that way.
In 1975 GEO was on the verge of
being a strong union. That year hun-
dreds of striking TAs and SAs shut
down half of LSA's classes. It had a
strong, broad constituency. TAs and
SAs were interested and involved.
But the University refused to for-
mally recognize the union and the
dispute landed in court where the
University had the distinct advantages
of money, time, and representation.
The University never achieved its
goal of decertifyiing the union, but it
did manage to drag the case out for six
years before agreeing to negotiate with
GEO in 1981. By that time, however,
only a trace of GEO's potential
remained. The organization had but 38
members. Instead of already having a
strong constituency as it did in 1975, it
had to build one. And while GEO was
growing, members also had to worry
about negotiating a new contract.
The efforts to expand and at the
same time focus the union's objectives
proved too much for the organization.
Internal bickering fractured it into two
bitterly opposed factions. The
resulting agreement with the Univer-
sity was rejected by a vote of a small
percentage of GEO members.
By holding GEO in court and gran-
ting only modest financial gains to
TAs, the University crippled the union.
But what administrators did not seem
to realize until this year was that the
strategy also damaged the Univer-
sity's graduate student recruiting.
While administrators have been
preoccupied confronting the union, the
quality of graduate students in some
areas of the University has been slip-
ping.
The reasons for this slipping are
numerous and complex, but a major
University study of the problem leaves
little doubt that a deficient graduate
student employment program is part
of the problem.
The University's main concession -
recognizing that tuition has a major
impact on income - appears to be in
direct response to the report.
So now TAs find themselves without
a strong union and without the
representation that the University cut
out from under their feet in 1976. And
ironically, the University is now
making its largest concessions to the
union when it is weakest. The whole
thing might have been avoided had the
University not tried to bulldoze the
union from the start.
LETTERS:
Volunteer
success
To the Daily:
As president of the Michigan
Student Assembly, I would like to
clear up some misconceptions
about our new volunteer coor-
dinator position ("Volunteer for
hire," Daily, October 9).
First off, it is a common and
accepted practice for a volunteer
organization of this size to have
paid support personnel. The
Daily should be aware of this as it
has paid support staff.
The volunteer coordinator
position which the Daily saw fit to
criticize is a four month long ex-
perimental position which I am
confident will succeed. However,
if one reads the proposal, she or
he will notice that the position is
to be evaluated thoroughly at the
end of this four month period.
This person performs a service
for the assembly and the student
body which could not otherwise
be well provided. It is unrealistic
to assume that an assembly
member, a full time student,
could have the skills and time
which this position requires. A
volunteer coordinator provides
skills and abilities which aid the
assembly members in coor-
dinating the various committee
activities, brings experienceand
expertise about volunteer
organizations to MSA, helps to
retain volunteers by matching
them with areas of their interest
and where they are needed, and
helps the volunteers themselves
to be more effective by aiding in
their goals and skills develop-
ment.
This is clearly a job which
requires previous experience and
expertise, and the ability to make
a major time committment.
While various members of the
assembly have some of these
skills, they are already busy with
their various assembly functions.
Certainly none of them have the
time available as they are full
time students with the added
committment of the assembly.
The volunteer coordinator is just
one part of the effort to turn MSA
into an efficient and effectual
organization. This year's assem-
bly has been making significant
structural changes to improve
MSA.
For the first time the assembly
has voted to require all of its
. members to sit on an internal
committee; in the past the
assembly has been dependent
upon just the most devoted mem-
bers to do the bulk of the work
while other members have seen
fit to limit their participation to
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prove. Rather than coming out at
the end of the year with a surplus
of money because it has done
nothing, as has been the case in
the past, MSA is attempting to
use its resources, and use them
wisely. I believe strongly that the
volunteer coordinator is a wise
use of MSA funds. I should note
that thus far MSA has been very
happy with the position and the
other structural changes made.
Finally, I appreciate. the
Daily's recognition of the value of
past researchers, but am disap-
pointed that the Daily like the
University administration,
values research aboue service.
MSA's primary concern is with
the needs of the students, and it
sees this service position as every
bit as important as the research
done in the past and will continue
to do in the future voted to hire a
University budget researcher for
this term.
I appreciate this opportunity to
clear up any misconceptions
about the new volunteer coor-
dinator position and welcome
those at the Daily to visit to learn
more about the changes being
implemented and the many
projects MSA is working on.
-Mary Rowland.
October 11
Rowland is president of the
Michigan Student Assembly.
Troubling questions about flight 007
To the Daily:
It has been six weeks since the
senseless downing of Korean
Airlines flight 007. The shock,
disbelief, and anger is still being
felt around the world. The search
boats have now departed the icy
waters of the Sea of Japan,
leaving behind the memories of
269 innocent lives, the flight
recorder box, and with it the an-
swers to this mysterious
travesty.
I am quite sure, however, that
President Reagan's "hardline"
approach toward the Soviets has
left them shaking in their boots,
and no doubt drastically
changing their behavior. They
must have been stunned when we
wouldn't allow Aeroflot to land
for two weeks, while at the same
time suspending talks on metric
conversion. At least this horrible
incident has enabled Reagan to
kick back safely and watch the
defense budget soar to greater
BLOOM COUNTY
and greater heights for more
nuclear weapons to arm our-
selves against the Soviets.
However, while we're busy
aiming our missiles at the
Kremlin dining room, the real
tragedy of flight 007 may still be
unfolding. In a radio news broad-
cast I heard several days ago, a
CIA operative disclosed that
there were indeed several dif-
ferent types of sophisticated U.S.
surveillance equipment aboard
the plane. I never heard another
mention of these facts on the
radio again. The implications
raised by this news left me
horrified. Could it be the Soviets
were telling the truth all along?
Was flight 007 purposely flown off
course on a spy mission?
While I certainly don't condone
the actions of the Soviet Union in
this matter, the real tragedy of
flight 007 would be to find out that
an egregious error by the U.S.
government and its intelligence
community cost 269 innocent
lives to be lost, and for what
gain?
-Teresa L. Hayes
October 10
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Unsigned editorials appearing on the left side
of this page represent a majority opinion of the-
Daily's Editorial Board. Letters and columns
represent the opinions of the individual author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or
beliefs of the Daily.
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by Berke Breathed
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