X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAuAhUArjWL+Vod7aX0JwuaO9Q5lppxyjECFQCsuM/W3CrroEbtncPQO+O78rzTow== From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 10:20:12 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fwd: Syracuse strike article from CHE --WebTV-Mail-881317037-705 --WebTV-Mail-881317037-705 [207.79.35.92]) by postoffice-122.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.5/po.gso.24Feb98) mailsorter-102.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.5/ms.graham.14Aug97) with 11:28:21 -0400 (EDT) Tue, 1 Sep 1998 11:26:17 -0400 (EDT) Tue, 1 Sep 1998 11:26:12 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 1998 11:27:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Grover Furr Subject: Syracuse strike article from CHE To: mlg-ics+@andrew.cmu.edu This article is from _Academe Today_, the daily email from the CHE. Clearly Syracuse is using its legal right as a private university to control and suppress 'free speech'. - Grover Furr * * * * * Tuesday, September 1, 1998 700 Syracuse U. Employees Strike Over Use of Non-Union and Temporary Workers By JOYE MERCER About 700 Syracuse University service employees went on strike Monday, the first day of fall classes, to protest the university's use of outside contractors for some work and its prolonged use of temporary employees to fill in for absent workers. Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 200A include custodians, groundskeepers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, food-service workers, library technicians, and parking-lot attendants, all of whom had been working without a contract since a three-year agreement expired on June 30. During the strike, their work is being done by managers and temporary employees who are not union members. Kevin Morrow, a university spokesman, said the university had made every effort to avoid the walkout, but had also prepared for "the eventuality that a strike would occur," so that thus far, students have not been affected by the protest. For instance, he said that the dining halls and library remained open. Negotiations continue between university and union officials, but in the latest talks, on Monday, the dispute was not resolved. Among the other issues that divide the union and the university is the system for allocating overtime work. The union says overtime work should be equally distributed among employees, but the university says the union really wants overtime to be allotted based on seniority. In an advertisement that will appear in a Syracuse newspaper today, the union accuses the university of "the kind of sham bargaining and disrespect that the powerful reserve for the weak." Marshall Blake, president of the union local, said the group had last struck against Syracuse in 1973. He said the university and the union, which was organized in 1966, have had a difficult relationship: Twice in the past 20 years, the union has come close to striking. Union officials said they had been troubled by what they say are the university's attempts to silence students who support the strike by not allowing them to disseminate pro-union literature on the campus. Instead, he said students may only register their support by working through "recognized student organizations" -- if those groups as a whole support the strike. "This university claims to be student-centered, but it clearly is more interested in tamping down dissent and criticism," Mr. Blake said. On Monday, some faculty members said they planned to honor the union's picket lines, which were set up at about a dozen spots on the campus's perimeter. Mr. Morrow said faculty members who honored the picket lines by not teaching risked a loss of pay, although the university has no problem with "teach-ins" or similar activities. He added that he had not heard of any classes' being canceled by professors sympathetic to the strikers' cause. In addition, he disputed the contention that students had been dissuaded from showing their support for the union. "Students have the same rights as faculty and staff when it comes to voicing their opinions and distributing literature," Mr. Morrow said. They cannot distribute literature inside buildings, but may do so outside. In a letter to the campus dated August 28, Kenneth A. Shaw, chancellor and president of Syracuse, said he was concerned that a strike could "fracture this community of faculty, staff, and students who are committed to learning and growth." He said the university had made "every effort" to avoid the strike and had participated in several bargaining sessions with union officials. Syracuse put several offers on the table, he said, all of which had been rejected by the union. --WebTV-Mail-881317037-705--