TheMich igan Daily
Vol. XCII, No..39-S Ann Arbor, Michigan--Wednesday, July 14, 1982 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
'U'GEO
reach new
e ag reement
I h by ELIZABET H SCOn -
Pvicture windowc FLZ$~HS
Things look fairly peaceable at the Peaceable Kingdom on W. Liberty
yesterday as a patron browses among the fare offered for sale.
Shultz backs stronguer
US. ies with Arabs
By CHARLES THOMSON
Officials of the University and the
Graduate Employees Organization
initialed a tentative labor contract late
yesterday afternoon, ending months of
negotiations and paving the way for the
first new labor agreement between the
University and the union in more than
five years.
Spokespersons from both the Univer-
sity and the union refused to release
details of the contract, but sources
within the union said the three-year
pact contains provisions for graduated
salary increases, a training program
for teaching assistants, an im-
provement in tuition benefits for
graduate students, and restrictions on
class sizes for teaching assistants.
Sources also said the tentative
agreement includes a promise from the
University that it will review and
modify its current affirmative action
programs for graduate students.
THE PROPOSED pact will be put
before the union's membership for a
ratification vote in September, where
union leaders say the contract is likely
to pass. If passed, the contract would be
the first since 1976 between the Univer-
sity and the GEO, which represents
more than 1,500 teaching assistants and
student assistants.
The TAs and SAs had no contract
between 1976 and November 1981. In
November, the Michigan Employment
Relations Commission ruled that most
of the University's graduate student
assistants were employees of the
University and had the right to organize
a union.
That MERC decision forced the
University to sign the contract it had
negotiated with the GEO in 1976, before
the five-year legal battle between the
University and the GEO began. The
new agreement, if ratified, will super-
cede the 1976 contract.
Paul Harris, a member of the GEO
steering committee, said he expected
the contract to be passed by the union's
membership in September. "I think the
chances (for ratification) are good. I
predict it will be passed," said Harris.
Harris would only say that the tentative
agreement pledges the University to
revise its affirmative action guidelines
for graduate students.
A source within the union, however,
said that some members of the union's
bargaining team had pushed for
stronger affirmative action demands,
including a "high, fixed level of
minority hiring."
The source also said the new contract
ties salary increases for graduate
students to the average increase
received by University faculty mem-
bers.
The source said those increases are
expected to be between 12 and 18 per-
cent over the life of the new contract.
The contract also reportedly
redefines "tuition grants" - the
discounts on tuition given to graduate
student assistants by the University -
as "tuition waivers." The changes will
mean that graduate students will not
have to pay income tax on the grants.
HARRIS confirmed that the new
agreement contains a provision for
training programs for teaching
assistants. He refused to say what the
details of the plan are, and he said only
that the program would not be "a sim-
ple, mandatory thing."
He said the union asked for the
training program to improve education
at the University. "Part of the union's
function is to improve the quality of
education at the University," he said.
"This has been a long-standing goal of
this organization."
John Forsyth, the assistant director
of personnel and the head of the
University's bargaining team, said the
contract was "a good agreement for
both parties," but refused further
comment until after the GEO
ratification vote.
Harris also hailed the agreement. "I
think it will demonstrate what can be
accomplished," he said. "It's very im-
portant to the future growth and strength
of the union."
"There's lots of the contract I'd like
to see improved, but there's nothing I
can't live with," he said.
From AP and UPI
WASHINGTON- Secretary of State-
designate George Shultz embraced
yesterday the idea of sending U.S.
Marines into Lebanon to evacuate
Palestinian fighters and declared an
overall commitment to "wide and ever-
strengthening ties with the Arabs."
While Shultz repudiated none of the
longstanding specific guideposts in
American policy toward the Mideast,
his testimony to the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee signaled greater
sympathy toward the Palestinians and
Arab states.
BUT SHULTZ said also Israel
remains America's closest Mideast
friend and no one "should dispute the
depth and durability" of that relation-
ship.
As for Reagan's offer to send 1,000
troops into Lebanon, Shultz declared
the plan worthwhile if it can be done
"properly and safely" and "if we can
remove the PLO fighters from Beirut
and get them somewhere else." He said
Syria was the most likely country to
take them, although it hasn't yet
agreed.
Shultz said he regretted Israel's in-
vasion of Lebanon because it has
caused "this tremendous amount of
bloodshed" when a peaceful solution
should have been possible.
Shultz, whose nomination to replace
Alexander Haig remains virtually un-
contested, declared with notable force
that "The crisis in Lebanon makes
painfully and totally clear a central
reality of the Middle East: the
legitimate needs and problems of the
Palestinian people must be addressed
and resolved urgently."
THE SOFT-spoken,a61-year-old
economist and corporate executive
made clear he will avoid turf battles.
Haig resigned after repeated clashes
See SHULTZ, Page 4
SChanging values?
A recently completed University study reveals that teenagers still
hold some traditional values on marriage and the family. See story,
Page 3.