Yale University has long prided itself on being an institution for dispassionate discourse, but there is one arena where it has fallen sorely short: labor relations.þþEight days into a strike by more than 2,000 clerical, dining hall and maintenance workers, Yale has cemented its unhappy reputation of having the worst labor relations of any university in the nation.þþThe walkout, the second at Yale this year and the ninth since 1968, has strained tempers at the start of the school year, shutting down most of Yale's dining halls, disrupting freshman orientation and causing some teachers to move classes off campus. In their first days on campus, many freshmen encountered picketing, angry chants and sit-ins in which more than 100 people were arrested.þþThere is no end in sight, as the union leader considered a favorite to become the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s next president squares off against one of the nation's wealthiest and most prestigious universities.þþAmong students, faculty members, administrators and striking employees, the big question this week was, why all the strikes and strife?þþThe explanations are many and overlapping. þþIn what some call a clash between blue collars and blue bloods, many of Yale's workers grew up in New Haven resenting Yale, feeling that it symbolized wealth and arrogance. For its part, Yale has a reputation of being inflexible in negotiations, angering many workers.þþYale officials appear convinced that the university is New Haven's most generous employer and that its workers should be happy with their lot. þþMany Yale workers, seeing few other job opportunities in New Haven, believe that the best way to improve their lot is to remain at Yale and fight to improve wages and benefits. ÿYou combine a union that is not uncomfortable with a very public approach to negotiations and using whatever types of leverage it can find, and a university that's taken a hard negotiating approach and stuck with it for a long period of time, and it's a volatile mix,ÿ said Richard Hurd, a labor relations professor at Cornell.þþHe said Yale traditionally had a hard-line bargaining approach that resembled General Electric's: make an offer and refuse to budge.þþSome Yale administrators and students attribute the university's labor record to one man: John Wilhelm, a 1967 Yale graduate who is president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, the parent of the two union locals on strike. Mr. Wilhelm, widely viewed as one of labor's leading strategists, came to prominence within labor by leading the drive to unionize Yale's clerical workers.þþÿFor 35 years John Wilhelm has organized strikes at Yale,ÿ said Helaine Klasky, Yale's communications director. ÿThis year is no different. He obviously believes that confrontation rather than cooperation is the best way to settle contract disputes.ÿþþAn opinion piece in The Yale Daily News yesterday asserted that Mr. Wilhelm relishes a high-profile confrontation with Yale because it might improve his chances of succeeding John Sweeney as president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.þþÿThis strike is not about the welfare of Yale's workers,ÿ wrote James Kirchick, a sophomore. ÿIt is about the future of Wilhelm's career in the national union movement.ÿþþMr. Wilhelm angrily rejected such claims, saying he would not be a candidate for the A.F.L-C.I.O.'s top post.þþÿThe notion that the striking workers would undertake this level of sacrifice against such a wealthy and powerful and arrogant institution for any reason other than their own best interests is outlandish,ÿ he said.þþMr. Wilhelm said he has long been known for fostering labor-management cooperation, and noted that he worked closely with hotels and casinos in Las Vegas to help them and the number of unionized workers expand.þþÿThe notion that I am the problem or that I look for strikes or don't know how to reach settlements is contradicted by my 35-year record,ÿ he said. ÿThe problem lies with Yale's approach and its arrogance, rather than with me.ÿþþWhen Yale's main unions walked out for a week in March, the chief issue was their demand that Yale accept a streamlined process for unionizing 2,100 graduate students. That demand alienated many faculty members and students, and Mr. Wilhelm dropped it last month, but he says that three important issues remain: wages, job security and pensions.þþÿYale's pension has not changed in 19 years,ÿ he said. ÿYale workers who retired last year with 20 or more years' service receive pensions averaging just $621 a month. A school with an $11 billion endowment can afford to be more generous.ÿþþYale's president, Richard C. Levin, looked to history to explain the university's many battles with its unions. þþÿIt has to do with Yale being the last major unionized employer in a city that was once a very strong union city with 100,000 manufacturing jobs,ÿ he said. ÿThe energy of the labor movement pretty much got concentrated on the university, so it led to a contentious environment.ÿþþTwo years ago Dr. Levin sought to end the cycle of strikes by bringing in a consultant to improve relations with the unions. For a while, tensions abated, but they flared up late last year when the two sides began negotiating over wages and pensions.þþÿYale's relations with its unions have the features of a bad marriage that nobody can leave,ÿ said Ian Shapiro, chairman of Yale's political science department. ÿThere are huge amounts of bad feelings that go back a long way that tend to come out during labor negotiations.ÿþþDr. Levin said the strike was unnecessary. ÿThe university has a very good offer on the table,ÿ he said. ÿIt's very hard for many people in our community to understand why the unions are striking.ÿþþYale has offered its clerical workers annual raises averaging slightly more than 4 percent over six years and has offered its food and maintenance workers raises of just over 3 percent. In addition, Yale's proposed raises and proposed changes in its pension formula would increase pensions by more than 30 percent.þþUnion officials say that even with those increases, many retirees would be left in poverty. The clerical workers average $33,000 a year in pay, and the others about $30,000.þþSome Yale administrators insist that the union's hand is weaker than in past strikes. They said just 36 percent of the clerical workers remained on strike, but the union said more than half were striking. þþThat lower percentage could pressure the union to settle, some Yale officials said. Professor Shapiro said, ÿBoth sides may be forced into accepting the sub-optimal by the situation they've gotten themselves into.ÿþþ
Source: NY Times
