Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE ~be ~d~4au ;uI~PAID Ann Arbor, MI PERMIT NO. 13 Ninety- nine years of editorial freedom Vol. XCIX, NO. 11-S Ann Arbor, Michigan - Friday, August 4,1989TiA 9 NurseO strike hearing continues BY MICHELLE RABIDOUX Negotiators for the University of Michigan Hospitals and the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council (UMPNC) met with Judge Melinda Morris in the Washtenaw County Circuit Court yesterday. After four hours of discus-' sion a hearing date was set to resolve the nurses' right to strike.' On Tuesday, August 8, Morris will oversee a show-cause hearing, postponed from yesterday, which will determine whether a permanent restraining order is needed to keep the nurses at work or if the nurses are justified in striking. Morris sent the two negotiating teams back to the bargaining table today and Monday, while the 14-day temporary restraining order forcing the nurses to report to work remains in effect. The nurses at the Hospital are "tense, uncomfortable, and angry that they are being forced back to work, told by the courts to go back to "Hey-hey, ho-ho, Frank Lorenzo has got to work," said Registered Nurse Keith Eastern Airlines picketer, wearing a caricatur Hampton, spokesperson for owner during Tuesday's protest at Detroit M UMPNC. Hampton feels that much of the U University's concern lies in financial " "Their pocketbook, all of a sud- den, is hurting. Ours has been hurt- Y BILL GLADSTONE ing for years," Hampton said. Grinding poverty, a collapsing economy, and It was also decided yesterday that a history of underdevelopment, present the University Hospital is to limit formidable obstacles to the provision of adequate its patient admissions to only life- healthcare for the people of El Salvador, said threatening cases, said Registered University Public Health graduate student Luis Nurse Deborah Stoll, spokesperson Vazquez, after recently returning from a US for UMPNC. healthworkers delegation in El Salvador. A court injunction filed Monday Vazquez's delegation found substantial evi- by the University stated that the con- dence to corroborate reports on the military's vio- tinuing nurses strike was causing ations of Geneva convention standards. Accord- "irreparable harm to patients," said -ng to the Geneva conventions, military forces Michael Harrison, information offi- are obliged to respect field hospitals and the neu- cer at the Hospital. trality of medical personnel in the field. "The strike has rendered us unable Vazquez heard reports from people inside the to provide care for those patients country that the military consistently sidesteps awaiting surgery and treatments these international laws by interfering with the which cannot readily be provided for transport of medical relief through areas of con- at other institutions," Hospital flict and attacking hospitals set up the Farabundo spokesperson Toni Shears said before Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), who the injunction was granted. are in opposition to the right-wing National Re- Hampton said that union attor- publican Alliance government (ARENA). neys were planning at the show- "We visited one village where the military 0- .C oa* nn am i nn e a rrived- We wereanuickly Strikers slow down Lorenzo BY PAT STAIGER Over 1500 striking Eastern Air- line employees and their supporters gathered outside the Eastern terminal at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport Tuesday to protest a move by airline owner Frank Lorenzo to restart flights in and out of Detroit. "We're not striking for wages or benefits. We're striking to save the airline," said one angry employee. "Lorenzo is nothing but a corporate raider. You saw the movie Wall Street? Wall Street is us." Eastern employees had effectively kept most airplanes on the ground since the strike began March 4th. Lorenzo's attempt to begin flights in Detroit was part of his promise to the US Bankruptcy Court to have 390 flights going by August 2nd. Also as part of his reorganization plan for the airline, Lorenzo told the court that Eastern will sell its east ILL WOOD/Daily coast shuttle and its South American go," chants a striking flights, and abandon its Miami hub. T mask of the company But Eastern Airlines spokesper- etro Airport. son and Vice President for Commu- nications Robin Matell said last night, "the airline is not for sale. We have been rebuilding the airline since March 4th." Lorenzo declared bankruptcy after the strike began, in a move employ- ees said was to break the union. At Tuesday's protest angry, non- violent strikers and their supporters chanted "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Frank Lorenzo's Got to Go," and carried a casket which read "Lorenzo, Stop Killing Eastern." Wayne County police officers were present, but acted only to keep the car and bus traffic flowing past the terminal. Strikers warned people entering the terminal that it was unsafe to fly Eastern, but did not prevent them from passing. "The issues we are trying to tell people right now are safety issues," said strike coordinator Tom Barker at the rally, "The carriers are not safe." Barker said that Eastern flights were being run by unqualified work- See Strike, Page 2 workers under fire advised by our hosts not to draw attention to our- selves nor to the clinic that we were to examine," said Vazquez, "If the soldiers realized that a popular clinic existed in the village they would have returned, burned it to the ground, and confiscated all the medicines as has been the case in the past. In all likelihood they would have disappeared the healthpromoter as well." The devastating health conditions are exem- plified by the high infant mortality rate - 80/1000 live births - and by the fact that 75 percent of children under five years of age suffer from malnutrition. Only six percent of the national budget goes to healthcare whereas 70 percent goes to the mil- itary. Due to the lack of professional, government- sponsored healthcare, there has been a movement by international healthworkers to provide for the basic health needs of the Salvadoran people. "Because they challenge the historical neglect of theSa C onran government theen wrirkers are deemed "subversives" and are systematically re- pressed through disappearances, torture, and often times, murder," said Vazquez. In mid-July the military attacked the office of UNADES, a support network for people dis- placed by the 1986 earthquake. During the attack, soldiers confiscated all the medical supplies, most of which were donated by the "Voice of the Voiceless" campaign, comprised of religious workers in the United States, including Ann Ar- bor Campus Minister Don Coleman. "Above all else, to have a decent system of healthcare, there must be an end to the war. However, to stop there would not correct the his- toric deficiencies of healthcare in El Salvador," said Vazquez. "There have to be mechanisms to ensure the right to affordable and adequate medical attention for everybody, not just the wealthy. Until such a program is in place, the majority of El Salvadorans, the poor, will continue to suffer from preventable disease and many children will not live past their fifth birthday. t .... ... .. ... .. ... .. ... ..