NEW HAVEN, Aug. 27 — More than 2,500 of Yale University workers went on strike today as undergraduates began returning to campus, solidifying Yale's reputation as having the most contentious labor relations of any university in the nation.þþThe walkout, the second at Yale this year and the ninth since 1968, was timed to maximize pressure on Yale's administration. But the strike had another effect, alienating some arriving students who had to navigate around the strikers and the police to move into the dorms.þþÿI think a lot of students start with an upper-middle-class sympathy with the strikers, but when they see the effect the strike will have on them, it might turn the students against them,ÿ said Daniel Koffler, a sophomore from Teaneck, N.J., who said the strikers' rally and police restrictions forced him and his parents to park several blocks from his dorm before unloading.þþAs a result of the walkout by maintenance, food and clerical workers, many of Yale's dining halls will remain closed, phones at some academic departments may go unanswered, and there may be delays in cleaning some dormitory bathrooms. Adding to the inconvenience, when classes begin next Wednesday many professors are expected to move their classes off campus to honor the picket line.þþÿA lot of students think this will last all semester,ÿ said Joshua Foer, a senior majoring in ecology. ÿA lot of us feel, why can't they just reach an agreement?ÿþþThe two unions on strike and Yale's president, Richard C. Levin, are at loggerheads over pensions, wages and job security. Officials from the unions and the university say they fear the strike could last a long time because the two sides often seem to be talking past each other and because of the history of distrust between the two sides.þþYale officials say they have made an unusually generous offer, proposing wage increases of at least 4 percent a year to the clerical workers and pension increases to both unions of more than 15 percent, well above what many other employers have offered in recent years.þþBut union officials mock Yale's offer, contending that while the percentage increases may seem impressive, they leave the workers with unreasonably low pay and pensions.þþÿTheir offer stinks,ÿ said Peggy Nelson, a maintenance worker who earns $29,000 a year after 19 years on the job. ÿI have three kids, and what they're offering isn't enough to support a family.ÿþþOn Tuesday, the two sides held talks from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m., with New Haven's mayor, John DeStefano Jr., intervening in the final hours.þþÿOur offer is exceptional in this market,ÿ said Tom Conroy, a Yale spokesman. ÿIt's exceptional in these times when you see we have free health care, when we help pay for their children's college education and we help pay for their home purchases.ÿþþMr. Conroy said that despite the walkout, 59 percent of the clerical employees scheduled to work today reported to work. Union officials said only 40 percent did. Both sides agreed that at least 93 percent of the maintenance and dining hall workers had walked out.þþFor the workers, the highlight today was a rally by more than 800 strikers and their supporters in front of President Levin's office. Many wore T-shirts with the legend ÿBeep Beep, Yale's Cheap.ÿþþThe main speaker was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who led a march afterward to the office of Yale's chief investment officer.þþÿToday we march for economic justice,ÿ Mr. Jackson said.þþJohn Wilhelm, president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, the parent of the two unions on strike, said that for Yale workers who retired last year with 20 or more years' seniority, their average pension was $7,452 a year.þþÿConsidering that Yale is such a wealthy institution, with an $11 billion endowment, members of our union ought to be able to retire without living in poverty,ÿ he said.þþYale officials praised their pension proposal, saying that under the latest offer, workers who retire after 30 years would receive retirement income, including Social Security, equal to 84 to 91 percent of their final after-tax wages.þþThe union said that it had proposed a 72 percent increase in pensions, and Yale a 14 percent increase.þþIn an effort to reach an agreement, the unions dropped a longstanding demand for Yale to let 2,100 graduate students use a streamlined technique to unionize by merely signing pro-union cards, rather than going through an election. For its part, Yale made slight improvements in its offers on wages, pensions and job security.þþTo the clerical workers' union, Yale has proposed a six-year or eight-year agreement, with a 4 percent raise in the first year, 5 percent in the second, and 4 percent raises in all other years. Yale boasts that its proposal would give most clerical workers an immediate raise of 14 percent, partly because their old contract expired in January 2002.þþTo the union representing maintenance and dining-hall workers, Yale has proposed a 3 percent raise in the first year, 3.5 percent in the second and 3 percent raises in all other years.þþMr. Wilhelm said the two unions had accepted Yale's wage proposal for the first two years. He said that the clerical workers' union wanted annual percentage raises of 6, 6, 6.5 and 7 percent in the last four years of a six-year pact and that the janitors and dining hall workers' union wanted raises of 3.5, 4, 4.5 and 5 percent in years three, four, five and six.þþAbout 150 food workers at Yale New Haven Hospital also went on strike today.þþOn Friday, Howard Dean, Vermont's former governor and a Democratic candidate for president, is scheduled to speak in New Haven on behalf of the strikers.þþ
Source: NY Times
