Yale University made an unusual contract proposal yesterday in an effort to ensure a decade of labor peace, offering its two main unions a 10-year agreement that would provide many workers raises of nearly 50 percent over that period.þþBut the unions representing Yale's clerical, technical and service workers criticized the proposal, saying it would not increase pensions enough or ensure job security for many workers.þþAfter Yale's chief negotiator made the offer at a 45-minute bargaining session yesterday, Yale's president, Richard C. Levin, sent the faculty, staff and students a letter saying a 10-year contract would go far toward bringing labor peace to the campus. Since 1968, there have been eight strikes at Yale, giving it a reputation for having the worst labor relations of any university in the nation.þþÿWith nine years remaining before the next round of contract negotiations in 2012, we would have ample time to build a strong, more positive relationship,ÿ Dr. Levin wrote. ÿWe need time to build a new relationship, but we need new contracts now.ÿþþThe two unions walked out from March 3 to 7, unhappy that they had been without a contract since January 2002. At the time, Yale was offering the union representing 2,900 clerical workers raises of slightly more than 4 percent a year for six years. Under Yale's new proposal, the clerical workers would receive 4 percent in the first year, 4.5 percent in the second year and 4 percent in each of the next eight years.þþThe new proposal offered the union representing 1,200 dining hall, janitorial and maintenance workers raises of 3 percent in the first year, 3.25 percent in the second year and 3 percent in each of the next eight years.þþÿWe're disappointed that their offer wasn't much more significant,ÿ said Laura Smith, president of the clerical workers' union. ÿHowever, we're pleased that it was at least movement in the right direction.ÿþþMs. Smith complained that the offer would leave clerical wages at Yale below those at other Ivy League universities, but Yale officials said their wage offer was generous considering the weakness of the nation's economy and compared with offers by other employers.þþUnion officials said they would make a counterproposal when talks resume tomorrow. The clerical union has been seeking raises of 8.5 percent a year, and the technical and service union wants raises of 5.5 percent a year. According to Yale, the clerical workers earned $33,717 last year on average and its technical and service workers, $30,342.þþYale also increased its pension offer yesterday, saying it would raise pensions by 14 to 19 percent, compared with its previous offer of 11 to 18 percent.þþRobert Proto, president of the technical and service union, criticized the proposal, saying it would raise pensions by only $11 a month over the previous offer and would give many retirees with 30 years of work pensions of less than $1,000 a month.þþYale officials defended their pension offer, saying many workers with 30 years would, with Social Security, have after-tax retirement incomes of 82 percent to 92 percent of their after-tax wages in their final year.þþIn his letter, Dr. Levin made clear that he viewed this negotiating round as an opportunity to open a new, more cooperative chapter in labor relations, despite the acrimony and the strike.þþÿOne lesson of the past two years is that building a better relationship will take more than good intentions,ÿ he said. ÿIt will take time — time to develop trust, to break the habits of confrontation and to demonstrate the futility of believing that `we can only win by struggle.' ÿþþJohn W. Wilhelm, president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, the parent of the Yale unions, said that Dr. Levin's promises of greater cooperation were too vague.þþÿWe can't enter into a long-term agreement just based on the hope that the university will address the underlying relationship,ÿ Mr. Wilhelm said. ÿThere has to be a commitment with teeth in it.ÿþþUnion officials said that if they were to accept a 10-year contract it would have to include cost-of-living adjustments for wages and pensions.þþYale officials voiced encouragement yesterday that union leaders were saying they would accept a contract that did not require Yale to make it easier for its graduate teaching students and workers at Yale-New Haven Hospital to unionize.þþ
Source: NY Times
