Miami Hurricane, September 07, 1976

              THE
\ ol. .>2 No. 3
Tuesday, September 7. 1976
Pli.281 MOI
Employees Vote No On Union Attempt In Close Election
• ami Hurricane TINA SABATELLI
Employee Reads‘Notice of Election* At Personnel t )ff ice
By ISIDRO GARCIA
M*w> Editor
Physical Plant and maintenance employees rejected union representation in a close election held here last Wednesday and Thursday.
Nearly 95 per cent of employees eligible cast ballots in what both sides termed a "clean election.”
Communications Workers of America representative John Gould-ing had said earlier this summer that more than 50 per cent of Physical Plant employees favored a union.
He said the original unit (employees who perform similar tasks) he had petitioned to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) totalled 400 employees.
"The University either hired people or changed the class stipulation of some employees so that the unit was damn near 700 people by the end of the summer,” Goulding said.
In a July 20 public hearing before the NLRB, University administrators and CWA representatives agreed to a unit consisting of 656 employees.
Prior to the vote, University administrators set up meetings around campus to hear employee complaints and introduce new management personnel.
In an August 23 employee-management meeting, Assistant to the Vice President for Administration and Finance Dr. Richard Ruch introduced new Personnel Director Dr. Carl Thornton and the new Business Manager Dr. Oliver Bon-nart.
Dr. Thornton replaced Chris Robinson in August. Robinson was accused by one employee at the meeting of “not giving the employees a fair deal."
"ft's nil n nmllrr ni trust . . . ne I hi Ilk limi infilili ii year filings nil! get heller (tor ein-¡ilnyees),” (,reell ¡mill.
Joint liriTit
Dr. Bonnart replaced Matt Borek at the Physical Plant in late August.
Ruch told the Hurricane last week that there is evidence of prior discrimination against certain employees at the Physical Plant.
Dr. Thornton said at the meeting that as Personnel Director he “would be a neutral third party and fair to the administration and employees."
Dr. Thornton is an A01 employee — a classification denoting administrator.
Dr. Bonnart said at the meeting that “when any group goes to a union, there arc management problems.”
"A union can take money away from a university because many people who donate money to the university will no longer do so when a union comes in because they
Gardner Harper Link Seeks Chairman
By ELENA SELEZ
Of th# Hurricun# Staff
Gardner-Harper Committee, the officially recognized communication link between the University and Coral Gables communities, is looking for a new chairman and an undergraduate student-at-large.
Initiated by students three years ago, the committee deals with various problems and issues related to the University and surrounding community.
Members include representatives
from the student body. University community and community-at-large, but the operations procedure adopted last year specifies that only students are eligible for the chairmanship.
Current chairmaz Ken Gardner, co-founder of the committee, said he cannot run again since he expects to complete his master's thesis this semester and will no longer qualify.
Gardner said he hopes more students will become involved with the
HEW Investigates Financial Aid Office
By DARY MATERA
Assistant News Editor
Representatives from Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) visited the campus in early August to in-, vestigate charges of mismanagement in UM’s Financial Aid Office. ,
Vice President of Student Affairs William Butler said the University has received no official word on the results of this investigation, but expects a written report sometime ir. the near future.
At the April 20 meeting of the Trustee committee on Student Affairs, four graduate students presented both written and oral charges of mismanagement against the Financial Aid Office and its former
Directories Done '‘Earlier Than E’
By DANIEL DuBRIN
Hurricane Staff Writer
Sheduled to be released in mid-October the student directory will be released earlier than ever, USBG Vice President and Student Directory Coordinator Steve Osinski said.
“For the first time in the directory’s history, it will include two maps, one of the University and one of the greater Miami area with places of interest and different recreational activities highlighted,” Osinski said.
The '7b directory will also feature six pages of informative material which will give organizational phone numbers, and list on-campus places of interest, Osinski said.
“There will be 5.000 directories provided free of charge to the students and the directory itself will include students' names, their schools, their class, local addresses and phone numbers,” Osinski said.
An attempt was made to include hometown names, but Osinski said it fell through because of a lack of communication between him and the publishers.
Director Thomas Sheeder.
Three of the students were elected officers of the Graduate Student Association, while the fourth was a graduate student employee of the Office of Financial Aid.
Four demands were outlined by the students:
•	that a competent, responsible person be found to direct the office
•	that a complete audit be done on all financial aid records by accountants approved by the Law School Dean
•	that a letter be sent to Washington informing the federal authorities of possible “clerical" errors
•	that the financial aid deadlines be extended for all students.
During the first meeting with the graduate students to discuss the matter, three of the students walked out shortly after the meeting's opening. The walkout followed an emotional confrontation with Dr. Butler.
In other HEW developments, new regulations for the College Work-Study Program were announced last Wednesday.
Among the changes was the definition of academic “good standing” being expanded to require evidence of “measurable progress" toward completion of a college degree.
Definitions of "graduate" and "half-time graduate” were added because institutions expressed concern that their individual requirements might preclude graduate students from meeting the original definition "half-time."
Concerning financial need, a student’s entitlement to a Basic Educational Opportunity Grant will now be taken into account when determining his or her need for employment under the Work-Study program, whether or not the grant has been applied for.
While classes are in session, employment will not average more than 20 hours a week. But if 20 hours of work will not earn enough to meet the student’s needs, the Financial Aid office may permit employment of up to 40 hours a week.
Students may not be employed to replace regular employees on strike.
y
committee this year than have been in the past.
“It’s up to students to spur the committee on to accomplish things," he said. It’s important for students to get involved or else it will be a committee in name only."
Gardner lists the committee's four major accomplishments as helping to establish an organized procedure for noise complaints on Fraternity Row, helping to extend the weekend noise curfew on campus from 11 p.m. to midnight, arranging a special hearing for the Carr-Smith parking survey, and getting permission for game machines in the Student Union.
“As for the future?” Gardner asks himself. "It all depends on the students on the committee and what they want to do.
“This could be an important year for University students because the mayor and vice mayors (of Coral Gables) will not run in the election. There are enough votes on campus to elect a student mayor or vice
mayor, if that's what they want to
do.”
Gardner said this year’s committee will also be concerned with the zoning board’s recent disapproval of a proposal to put a unisex hairstylist in the Student Union.
Both the University and Coral Gables are celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year, and Gardner said this could account for a “symbiotic relationship" between the two communities.
Although he will no longer be a voting member, Gardner said he will continue to participate as an "interested bystander" at the open meetings.
The Chairman is elected yearly, but the student-at-large holds a two-year term Applications for both positions are available in the Student Activities Office and must be completed and returned by Sept. 17.
Applicants must give a five-minute presentation and answer any questions posed by the committee at a Sept. 23 meeting.
\
V
Keims (tiinliH
are industry people,” Dr. Bonnart said.
Dr. Ruch accused the SWA of "making promises they shouldn’t have made."
"A union can call employees to go on strike," he said.
However, under the National Labor Relations Act, employees must vote on when to strike.
An employee at the meeting said that 10 years ago, two out of every three dollars went to workers and faculty, the remaining dollar going for administration expenses.
He said that employees and faculty receive only one of every three dollars now. He said the remaining two dollars go towards administration expenses.
Dr. Bonnart said he didn’t know about those figures. He also said “the administration should * be changed if those tacts are true."
A manager who is employed by the University at a research station on Pigeon Key said that "unions are
bad” because "they come in and get you a raise and then a week later they raise the union dues.” .
Under law, only employees may vote to increase their union dues.
Vice-President for Administration and Finance Dr. John Green told the employees at the meeting that "no union is going to turn a place overnight."
“It’s all a matter of trust ... we think that within a year things will get better (for employees)," Green said.
An employee Interrupted and asked Green, “Why didn’t the people before you do it?"
Green said that it “boiled down to a case of bad management and I don’t like to crucify anyone."
Green added that employees do "what's right and what’s fair.”
“We ask you people to vote no," he said.
Goulding said that even though the union was defeated, the close vote has put the administration “on the spot" because "they either must produce or expect more employee retaliation in the future."
Goulding said his union hasn’t decided whetner or not to appeal the election.
Eraseable Meal Tickets Pose Problems
By LLOYD BARRY TENNEN
Hurrican* Staff Writar
Some students have had a tough time swallowing the food served in UM cafeterias when their meal tickets did not register at the Check-in line.
According to Associate Director of Residence Halls Robert Ferrell, certain students accidentally brought their meal tickets in direct, close contact with stereo equipment and other machinery containing magnetic elements rendering the tickets useless.
As part of a new computerized meal and board plan system, each ticket has a magnetic bar across the back containing pertinent board plan information: student name, class, identification number, type of board plan contract (10-,14-,or 20-meal plan).
At the cafeteria check-in line, each ticket is fed into an electronic counter which speeds the information to the central computer located in the Student Union. However, if this information has been demagnetized or decoded by immediate contact with other magnetic fields, then the ticket does r.ot register and the student must pay $5, for a new ticket. “ “It would be the same as if you had an eight-track music tape that became demagnetized. When you went to play it, you would not hear any music,” Ferrell said.
He also said the chances of this happening are very slim. So far only 10 students have ruined their cards out of the 3,600 students on board plans.
The Vali-Dine Corporation, which created this computerized board plan system, has installed it in 50 other schools around the country
.WEV OOE, ''ARE. '-¿OU SOISiCb ON A CRAS,VA DIET OR SOfAE-TMIW<5?
and all show a very low problem rate.
Decoding has not been the only problem involving meal tickets.
The temporary meal tickets, which have been in use the first three weeks of school, have no visual identification on them. A small number of students have been using tickets that do not belong to them.
Ferrell warned that the computer will catch anyone using someone else’s ticket and also anyone who tries to use a meal ticket for more meals than their board plan contract allows. The Residence Halls Office has a high success rating for finding misused and lost meal tickets.
Even if someone did .... ;e to beat the system, Ferrell warned it would be at the expense of all the honest students
SAGA, the University's food catering service, sends the school a certain amount of food based on participation rates (the number of students who are supposed to eat each meal).
A student who eats an extra meal or a meal he did not pav for is eating at the expense of the other students he said, and board plan prices will increase. Currently, Ferrell claims a meal on the board plan costs less than a meal a student could buy anywhere off-campus.
The new Vali-Dine Three System, which can handle three times as many students currently on the board plan, consists of checking the ticket with the computer in a matter of seconds.
Temporary meal tickets are currently in the process of being collected at cafeterias where permanent ones with visual student identification to prevent misuse will be distributed.
If you have trouble eating because of a demagnetized meal ticket, contact the Residence Halls Office located in Eaton Hall. But if your ticket is o.k. and you still have trouble eating, contact the cook.