NEWS Monday, September 11, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 3A ON CAMPUS Students told classes to WALKING THE PLANK Juan Cole to resume amid union strike talk on al-Qaeda Juan Cole, professor of mod- ern Middle East and South Asian history, will speak from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Rackham Auditorium. His presentation, "Are we Win- ning the Fight against al-Qaeda? Reflections Five Years Later," is sponsored by the Ford School of Public Policy's Josh Rosenthal Education Fund. Shakespeare class open to public tonight LSA Prof. Ralph Williams will open his first Shakespeare lecture of the year, "Of Princi- pal and Power: The Plays of the Royal Residency," to the public. The class meets today at 7 p.m. in 1324 East Hall. Officials: No contract agreement reached, no teaching DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit schools superintendent said stu- dents should expect to return to class tomorrow. But officials with the striking teachers' union said that without a contract agreement, there was no telling whether teachers will show up to work today, as ordered. Wayne County Circuit Judge Susan Borman last week ordered teachers back to work today, which the district said would be used as a planning day. But Michelle Price, a spokeswoman for the Detroit Feder- ation of Teachers, said union mem- bers met briefly yesterday only to have Borman's order read to them. "There was one purpose only for this meeting," Price said. "If there was a tentative agreement ... then that would have been shared with day from nearly continuous negotia- tions but were to head back to the table at 9 a.m. today, Price said. Price would not speculate on whether teachers would show up for work today. "That's up to indi- vidual teachers to decide." District spokesman Lekan Oguntoyinbo confirmed that teachers were expected at schools today for a planning day, but said yesterday afternoon that details about when students would return would be announced later in the day. Superintendent WilliamColeman said in a statement released yester- day that the district presented teach- ers with "a contract that included minimal wage reductions and rea- sonable benefit cost sharing." That offer included a 0.75-percent wage reduction in the first year, followed by wage increases of 3.5 percent in the second and third years. DFT president Janna Garrison disputed those figures and told offer. Gov. Jennifer Granholm in a written statement urged the 9,000 DFT members to comply with Bor- man's order and return to school today under terms of their existing contract. She said she would ask the Michigan Employment Relations Commission to order fact-finding if negotiations did not produce an agreement by 6 p.m. today. "It is clear that the absence of this kind of credible analysis has led to significant distrust and has impeded the achievement of an agreement," Granholm said. The union struck Aug. 28 after rejecting a two-year contract that would have cut pay 5.5 percent and increased copays for health care. The district is seeking $88 million in concessions from the union's 7,000 teachers and 2,000 support personnel to help close a $105 million deficit in its $1.36 billion budget for the fiscal year. The strike began at the start of LII 1 i~u 5 dii Lu~ywusiuwise auiu tatio ss s~ isss~seasier --uas ~,was sup oseu.o-na+Ir--natyum I the members and they would nave radio station W WJ that teachers what was supsdt eatre n iivnm venu~ ;uc nu oi ru Ot had a chance to vote on it. But we do would have been asked o give up day week of preparation for class- kick-off, with the theme "Pirates of the Galilean." Ste- not have a tentative agreement:' other rights if they accepted what e, which had been scheduled to vn Ligard, a student at Forsithe, walks the plank. opporunityends Negotiators took a day off yester- she called the district's "ludicrous" start last week. tomorrow night __T c r r r c T 4 - '-wY~or 4~ -. c"-nr 4 -d . o r+,- .r:T r The University Musical Society is offering half-priced tickets to all its events online until tomorrow at 8 p.m. The sale began last night, and the orders are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. CRIME NOTES , Big House sees unusual levels of crime The Big House was rife with crime Saturday. Fifteen people were arrested, mostly for alco- hol-related charges, and 14 people were cited, the Department of Public Safety reported. Three of the citations were for urinating in public. Plane flew over north end zone Campus police arrested a man Saturday after he was caught fly- ng a small plane over the north end zone at Michigan Stadium, DPS reported. The man was cooperative but remains under investigation. 'U' student assaults staffer A student backhanded an emer- gency room staff member on the right side of her face early Sat- urday morning at the University Hospital. The student smashed the staff member's glasses, cutting her right temple. THIS DAY In 'U' History 'U' ordered to pay city police for protection Sept. 11, 1971 - State House leaders announced yesterday that the University has been directed to pay a sum of at least $300,000 for fire and police protection to the city of Ann Arbor. University offi- cials dispute that the sum is war- ranted and deny that they have the means to pay the sum. The University received an additional $300,000 in their general fund appropriations last week during a House-Senate negotiation. The money was offi- cially intended to restore funds for a miscalculation of enroll- ment figures. However, House appropriations committee member Rep. Earl Nel- son said that the University was aware that the money rewarded was to be paid to the city. Three other appropriations committee members confirmed this fact. University Vice President of Academic Affairs Allan Smith said the committee did not officially ask the University to continue the pay- ments and he does not believe that they had "any common purpose or intent on that $300,000." He also said there are no funds in this year's budget for payment to the city. II It Cit .11(.,111 UII IN1W C1 LU b L4LC b CUJ1U11L UW U C Stabenow, Bouchard disagree on how to fix economy LANSING (AP) - Republi- can U.S. Senate candidate Mike Bouchard recently drove across Michigan in a U-Haul moving van, saying it symbolized people leaving the state in search of jobs. Democratic incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow called for the creation of a U.S. trade prosecu- tor to enforce international agree- ments while touring a northern Michigan aluminum products manufacturer. She says unfair trade agreements have undercut Michigan jobs. Stabenow and Bouchard, who square off in the Nov. 7 election, agree that the faltering economy is one of the biggest issues facing the state today. The state's unemploy- ment rate of 7 percent was tied for second-highest in the nation in JIly and the Michigan rate has been higher than the national rate since late 2000. But Stabenow and Bouchard have different ideas on how to improve the state's economy. Stabenow, seeking a second term in the Senate, says Michigan jobs have been lost to foreign com- petition in part because President Bush hasn't protected the interests of the state's automakers and other manufacturers. She says trade agreements with other nations need stricter enforcement. "We need a 21st century manu- facturing policy in Washington," Stabenow says. "We need to force other countries to compete with the U.S. - that's a race we can win." Bouchard says trade policies should have "fundamental fair- ness." But he says it's sidestepping the issue to simply blame Bush, noting that Michigan's economy continues to suffer while most other states - including some equally reliant on manufacturing - have relatively healthy iob mar- kets. Republicans say Michigan is in a "single state" recession. "Pointing fingers at other peo- ple doesn't resolve anything," says Bouchard, who benefited from a fundraiser appearance by Bush last week in southeast Michigan. "We need somebody who gets things done. That's not something I'm just going to talk about. I'm going to make it happen." Republicans say Stabenow too often votes against the interests of employers. She gets relatively low ratings on her voting record from groups such the National Federation of Independent Busi- ness and the National Association of Manufacturers, groups that say she typically votes the way they would prefer less than one-third of the time. Stabenow scores slightly better with the U.S. Chamber of Com- merce, ahead of senators such as Ted Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts and often Carl Levin of Michigan. She is typically rated lower than Republicans and several other Democrats, however. Stabenow typically scores well with labor union groups, getting a 100-percent rating from both the United Auto Workers and AFL- CIO in 2004. Her scores from those groups dipped slightly in 2005 but were still above 85 percent. Stabenow says she doesn't put much stock in the interest group ratings, noting they can be biased and partisan on both sides, depending upon which votes they are based on. Stabenow rejects arguments that U.S. workers should be expected to pay more for health care cover- age or sacrifice wages to keep their jobs in a global economy. She calls that a "race to the bottom" that is not in the nation's best interests. "There will always be someone else in another country willing to work for less," she said. "That's not the way to go." A better strategy, she says, is. increased investment in educa- tion to better train workers and entrepreneurship to diversify the economy. She also supports health care reforms that she says would reduce costs to business. Enforcing current antidumping laws against Chinese companies, Stabenow says, would protect the market for companies such as B&P Manufacturing in Cadillac. The company makes aluminum material handling equipment for the U.S. food and beverage indus- try. The company, with 60 work- ers, is growing. But co-owner Keith Merchant says it would grow faster with fair trade agreements. "We need someone to prosecute and keep track of it - that's really the answer" Merchant says. Bouchard - a law enforcement officer for 20 years and a former state lawmaker - also is a for- mer small business owner. The Birmingham resident has owned a yogurt shop, a private investiga- tion agency and a risk manage- ment consulting business. 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