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.