Monday, August 8, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 3 'U' and Michigan Nurses Association in negotiations Officials are optimistic MNA and UMHS will come to an agreement By AUSTIN WORDELL Daily StaffReporter The University has encoun- tered increased resistance from the Michigan Nurses Association, which recently claimed in an amended complaint the Univer- sity has been unfairly changing labor practices involving health insurance without consulting them. Despite failures to reach a compromise over issues in the past involving benefits and salary changes, both parties expressed optimism that they would come to an agreement on the contracts when negotiations began on Aug. 3. The disagreements over the contract come on the heels of a grievance against the Univer- sity filed by the MNA on June 21, charging unfair labor practices, according to a July 8 article in The Michigan Daily. Specifi- cally, the complaint dealt with an announcement by University of Michigan Health System that it would alter six nurses' sched- ules without first negotiating the changes with the MNA. According to Ann Sincox of the Michigan Nurses Association, the union hopes that the negotia- tions will benefit both the nurses and UMHS, and continue to fos- ter a program that draws high quality nurses to the University. "We believe that (UMHS) is also concerned about providing world-class patient care," Sin- cox said. "Our goal is to reach an agreement that allows UMHS to attract the high-caliber nurses necessary to care for the patients at UMHS." She added that she believes negotiations will ultimately end in an agreement that will satisfy both sides. "We have a long relationship with UMHS and are confident that we will be able to reach an agreement that will support the nurses ability to continue provid- ing quality patient care," Sincox said. Sincox said the nurses union claims that the proposed changes to nurses' health care benefits would compromise the hospital's ability to attract and maintain a top nursing staff. "The key issues in the con- tract revolve around the ability of (University) nurses to continue providing safe, quality patient care both now and in the future," Sincox said. "These nurses are being asked to take substantial cuts in benefits and to pay more for their health insurance ... If you cannot attract and keep the nurses who fit (the University's) high standards, then patient care will be affected not only now, but in the future." According to Steven Strahl, a registered nurse at the Uni- versity and member of the bar- gaining team, when benefits are decreased, quality care may be compromised since potentially less high-quality nurses will be interested in working for the Uni- versity. "(The University) is a world- known health care institution," Strahl said. "People come from See MNA, Pagel7 Mention This AD And Receive $100 Off. Now is the >erfect time to prep with one of the nation's leaders in test preparation. 'Small Classes University team hopes to expand digital freedom through program Telex system aims to increase Internet access abroad By GIACOMO BOLOGNA Daily StaffReporter Though Internet access is essentially unrestricted in the United States, citizens in other countries do not always have free- range over its resources due to usage restrictions imposed by their governments - an issue a group of University students is trying to alle- viate. Alex Halderman, assistant pro- fessor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Uni- versity, and graduate students Eric Wustrow and Scott Wolchok are aiming to make digital freedom a global right with their newly devel- oped Telex system. Telex, which began develop- ment in fall 2010, aims to serve as a prototype to end the "cat and mouse game" between proxy site users and restrictive governments, Wolchok said, since citizens in Internet-restricted countries must use proxy websites in order to visit banned addresses. According to Wustrow, Telex is a two-part system where users download software that allows Telex stations to act as a proxy site outside of the restricted country. He noted that one major difference between a typical proxy website and Telex is that proxy websites often have only one IP address that needs to be blocked, but Telex will have multiple addresses, making censorship very difficult. Wustrow added there are only a handful of undersea cables to China, but Telex stations would be sufficient for the program to work there. Nonetheless, there are still several hurdles to the implementa- tion of this program. For example, Wustrow said there is no definitive price, but each Telex station could cost thousands of dollars and the stations would have to be incentivized for Internet Service Providers to install them. He added that in return for install- ing Telex stations, ISPs could sell the service to users to subsidize costs or the U.S. government could sponsor efforts toward increased Internet freedom. According to the United King- dom technology website www. theregister.com, the U.S. govern- ment supported a similar program called Anonymiser in 2003, which aimed to provide an insurmount- able number of proxies for Ira- nian citizens. However, Wustrow described this direct foray into ExpertInstructors international digital freedoms as " Free Extra Help atypical. Among Internet-censoring (j c4tOf countries, China has seen the larg- 1.eview est increase of Internet users and citizens have uncovered various ways around censorship, accord- ing to Mary Gallagher, director of the University's Center for Chinese Studies. "Chinese Internet users are becoming increasingly sophisti- cated and they're also becoming'S6 increasingly dissatisfied with cen- sorship," Gallagher said. "Chinese 6 3 society has become more adept at using information technologyto get 9 . around censors." She addedthat since China cur- rently blocks Facebook, YouTube, 3 7 8 Twitter and similar websites, peo- ple have created alternatives sites like Weibo - a website comparable to Twitter.5,,y f ) While the Chinese government blocks many international social networking websites, Gallagher r 6 said other Chinese social network- ing websites have been useful and effective for social activists. She added that in the aftermath of a recent crash of a passengertrain 2 in the Zhejiang province, Chinese social media websites provided a forum to discuss an event largely unmentioned by traditional media.