,1 OPINION Page 4 Friday, April 8, 1988 The Michigan Daily Mbr 3icign 1ai1Q Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCVIII, No. 128 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Raising rap*aw*areness University harasses workers * THE STATE of Michigan has desig- nated April "Rape Prevention Month." The University's Sexual Assault Pre- vention and Awareness Center (SAPAC) has organized campus activities throughout the month to abolish myths and increasenstudent awareness about rape and rape prevention. Activities for Rape Prevention Month include tabling in the Fishbowl on Tuesday, April 12 and a noon action in the Diag on Wednesday, April 13. The popular film "Still Killing Us Softly," Dealing with sexism in advertising,will be shown on Tuesday, April 19 at noon and 7:30 p.m. at Lorch Hall. Rape Prevention Month will end with ,he Take Back the Night rally and march on Saturday, April 23, starting at the Federal Building, sponsored by the Ann Arbor Coalition Against Rape. The Take Back the Night march and rally protest the fact that women can't walk at night without fear of being as- saulted. Rape is an act of violence primarily directed against women. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 1 in 3 women and 1 in 10 men will be raped in their lifetime. The ac- tual number of victims is higher be- cause many assaults go unreported. Rape is a seriouscrime that has been dealt with unjustly by the courts for far too long. There is little incentive, however, to report a rape as the cases are extremely hard to prosecute. For the victim, reporting a rape involves the stigma of publicly acknowledging that they have been privately violated. Typically, the defense engages in victim blaming techniques such as cit- ing a victim's prior sexual history or events which took place before the rape. In many cases the victims are counter-sued for defamation of charac- ter for alleging that a rape occurred. Society, and therefore most juries, re- sists taking the word of a woman over that of a man in cases involving sexual contact. Rape is preventable. The activities this month seek to reduce the number of women and men who suffer from the emotional problems caused by rape. Since January, SAPAC has been printing posters and bookmarks con- taining a "Myth of the Month" about rape. The April Myth of the Month is "There's nothing we can do to end rape." Join in the activities of SAPAC ,this month, and find out what can be done to prevent rape. By Judy Levy As an elected leader of AFSCME Local 1583 and very likely one of the "certain leaders" referred to by James Thiry, Direc- tor of Personnel, I would like to respond to his letter of April 5, 1988. James Thiry stated that the AFSCME Local 1583 leadership has made false alle- gations of discrimination and harassment in the Plant Building Services Depart- ment. He also complained that "certain leaders" have unfortunately made this "sensitive situation" a public issue. Fi- nally, he stated that the grievance proce- dure was the only effective and appropriate avenue to address these issues. First of all, University management en- courages and supports institutional racism and sexism in hiring and promotions. Plant Building Services (PBS) custodians are among the lowest paid union workers at the University. They are also largely Black and women workers. Maintenance workers on campus are paid $3.00 more per hour and include only one Black worker and one woman worker. Mean- while, Moving and Trucking workers who earn $3.26 more per hour, Upholstery workers who earn $4.67 more per hour, and Heavy Equipment workers who earn $5.01 more per hour are all white males, except for one Hispanic worker. In addi- tion, there is the daily harassment and dis- crimination against workers in Plant Building Services. Workers, both Black and white, cannot stay off work due to legitimate illness more than three times in six months without facing disciplinary action up to and including discharge. A physician's statement that is obtained on the second day of illness rather than the first is not considered valid. With only four absences in 2 1/2 years Nelson McEwen, a Black worker in PBS, was forced to pay for a special physical examination to prove that he could "fulfill his obligation of regular and reasonable attendance." Another Black worker with diabetes was forced to con- tinue working after vomiting in the pres- ence of her supervisor. Speed up is a constant problem. Man- agement refuses to hire enough staff to Judy Levy is the Bargaining Chair for AFSCME Local 1583. 'Plant Building Services custodians are among the lowest paid union workers at the University. They are also largely Black and perform the work. Currently in the Natu- re' Science and Chemistry Building three workers are being forced to do what used to be assigned to six workers. Also, there are the individual racist, sexist and anti-gay comments and actions from supervisors. PBS supervisor Jim Boyd referred to Jon Bow as "nigger" and then made good on his "promise" to fire this worker. PBS manager Linda Bowling tried to laugh off the racist vandalism of Mary Clark's work area. Armondo Lopez, grievance hearing after McEwen was as saulted by his supervisor in the work place. Supervisors do not have the right to cancel a grievance and, worse yet,: McEwen's hearing on the assault had al- ready been delayed for two days. Further, there is Art Greenhaughl, a district steward 0 and bus driver, who is forced to sweep buses after each grievance hearing he con- ducts! There are the hundreds of PBS cus- todians who are frightened to even receive union flyers for fear of retaliation! women workers. Maintenance $3.00 more per hour and include woman worker.' workers on campus are paid only one Black worker and one -Judy Levy, Bargaining Chair Person Local 1583' head of the PBS Department, made an anti-lesbian remark to me in the course of a grievance hearing when he asked me whether my wife was present during the investigation of a grievance. Pages could be filled with names, dates, and witnesses to support our just claims of harassment and discrimination but these supervisors go unchecked. Now let's look at the grievance proce- dure that James Thiry claims to support and hold in such high esteem. Through the current employee grievance procedure management gets to review its own ac- tions! They know that of the approxi- mately 1,500 grievances submitted per year, the union can only afford to arbitrate a small fraction. The Dean Steiners of this institution sit in hearing rooms across the campus and attempt to badger and accuse the employees of various misdoings. So- called investigations are limited to U-M Security reports and the word of manage- ment. Our witnesses and material evi- dence in support of the grievants are rarely, if ever, considered. And then, despite James Thiry's stated support for the procedure, there is intimi- dation, harassment, and retaliation regard- ing lawful union activity. District steward Avis Maria and grievant Nelson McEwen, both Black workers, were threatened with termination for their al- leged "misconduct" during a grievance hearing. The supervisor canceled their Beyond this is management's obstruc-. tion of the grievance procedure itself. Re= peatedly they delay hearings, delay responding "lose" grievance papers, "forget" to call stewards, and refuse to allow stewards ads: quate time to investigate grievances. Finally, the issue of publicly disclosing "sensitive issues." First, I can only as sume that these "sensitive issues" are the racism, sexism and aiiti-gay bigotry that exist in PBS. Second, it is clear that James Thiry would rather sweep them into the grievance procedure and from there un- der the carpet, into closets, anywhere but into the minds of the active student body. For James Thiry and I both know that it student activists saw even a glimpse of the real worklife of campus and hospital workers, they would be outraged. An al- liance of students and workers could prove to be powerful and threatening to man- agement's continued unfair practices; Critics of worker movements have always claimed that the problem would cure itself if kept from the public. So, Mr. Thiry, we have read loud and clear that you think we've made false acr cusations and ought to stay quiet. Unfor- tunately, we can't comply. Too much has been done to us and it's time to fight back. There is a rally to support Nelson McEwen and other workers today at 1 p.m. at the UGLi. Wasserman IN NOJ.T11RN I(.-AD. .AN4D WILL WORK F~OR A PROMPT W'tE CANNoT TOLRAE TIHE TI'AM' A 3o RE~TURNW To LAW VIGILANTE KILLING F:OR 'I5N AND ORDER . OF UNARMED COMMNDOS /t \ 00 Forests are a very scarce resource -Associated Pres Four Kurds who were victims of a mustard gas attack in the Iran-Iraq war. Thousands of Kurdish civilians have been massacred by chemical weapons in the last month. U of Military complex 'IMAGES OF DEATH by chemical weapons surfaced recently in newspa- #per photographs of the thousands of Kurds who died from mustard gas poisoning in Iraq. Today, campus WAND (Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament) will hold a noon rally on the Diag in order to confront people with images of how weapons like these are created and developed. With nearly 13 percent of University, research dollars now spent on military research, this rally could hardly be more timely. Currently, seven SDI projects are being conducted on campus, supported by 1.5 million in defense dollars. A host of biological and chemical weapons research is done in the buildings we walk by everyday on our way to class, supported b y more than $1.7 million from the students. It contributes to the maiming and killing of human beings. It directly and indirectly contributes to racism and deforestation. Science is a profoundly political ac- tivity. Scientists do not just stumble upon technologies or discover them. Rather specific directions are chosen, according to specific ideologies, for science to proceed. The values of our society are reflected in the kinds of re- search that gets funded and published. This is why nearly half of this na- tion's scientists are involved in military research of some kind while nearly half of the world's population suffer from diseases caused by drinking unsafe water. Lasers in space has been deemed a more pressing problem to be solved than finding a way to keep toxic waste or human feces out of water Sinnnies By Jim Burchfield We in the first world tend to think of rainforests as peaceful, idyllic Gardens of Eden. In fact, rainforests are theaters of some of the most violent dramas taking place on the planet right now. And war is one of the main agents of rainforest de- struction. With the focus of military re- search this week on campus, it's impor- tant to consider some of the ecological consequences of militarization. About one- third of the earth's surface is covered with forests, with close to 58 percent of these in developing countries in the tropics. The outlook for the world's tropical forests is bleak. At the current rate of destruction, the tropical forests of the world could be gone in our lifetimes. The dimension of this potential loss is staggering. The world's forests are price- less ecological resources, protecting land and water, controlling floods, storing and cycling nutrients, and providing the habi- tat for wildlife. Humid tropical forests (often simply called the rainforest), occu- pying only 7 percent of the earth's land surface, are the richest storehouse of the planet's evolutionary material, with over half the world's species in a narrow belt along the equator. In the poor nations of the tropical zones, the maintenance of forests is a life and death issue. Over one billion people already depend on the forest for their sur- vival, and by the year 2000, more than How has war contributed to this devastation? Countries seeking to protect their borders carve roads throughout the forest and those engaged in war devastate vast areas to expose their enemies. For example, the U.S. was responsible for the defoliation of 70 percent of the rainforests in Vietnam during the seventies. Honduras may rapidly become another rainforest debacle. In this country, where 44 percent of the people are landless, and U.S. military maneuvers have already de- stroyed 10 percent of Honduras' pine forests. As military roads are built, land- less peasants have a new pathway to colo- nize untouched areas. The contras have displaced thousands of Honduran peasants along the border area. They flee further into the forests, and some of the experts estimate that 100,000 acres of rainforest has disappeared as a result of this massive displacement. In Guatemala, a country where 80 per- cent of the land is owned by 2.1 percent of the population, U.S.-sponsored spraying of defoliants by the army has destroyed vast areas of forest. The ostensible reason is to destroy marijuana fields, but it is widely believed that the actual agenda is counter-insurgency. In El Salvador, where two percent of the population controls 60 percent of the land, U.S.-sponsored aerial bombings along with white phosphorus, napalm and scorched earth campaigns have created for- est fires, dust storms, siltation of rivers _na gr _ nt %I% f _...'V even foreign aid have done nothing but solidify the continuation of non-sustain- able economic investments, and a further skewing o the distribution of the wealth. The poor have little or no access to the land, and if they do, very few of the amenities necessary to make it productive. We are left with the duality of haves and have nots: the wealthy northern nations and the poor nations in the tropics. And for very pragmatic reasons, the poor are cutting down the forests to meet their sur- vival needs. These "shifted agriculturalists" cut the forest, burn the residue, plant lin the ashes, and when productivity drops in a few years, move on. In the face of enor- mous institutional sector, peasants have almost no choice but to play out this sad and destructive cycle. You and I, if stuck in the same situation, would do exactly the same. But you and I are not stuck in that situation, we are here in Ann Arbor, and we have access to tools and information to begin to challenge the institutions which have allowed and even promoted this eco- logical crisis. Attend the Rally against Weapons Research on the Diag at noon today. For more information contact the Rainforest Action Network at 764-6932, or visit their office in the Student Lounge of the School of Natural Resources. 1*1 ||IN: % ": ;?