Unions Settle At WSU

Unions Settle At WSU

By Henry Reske

Sun Staff Writer

A strike by Wayne State University's non-teaching employees was ended and a possible strike by teachers was averted when negotiators reached tentative agreement today.

Union and WSU spokespersons said Monday that tentative agreement was reached with the University Staff Association (USA), the Professional Administrative Association (PAA) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

The agreement came at 9 a.m. Monday following all-night negotiations that started Sunday afternoon.

University officials refused to release details of the contracts until ratification, but union officials were quite talkative.

Ernst Benjamin, AAUP President, termed the settlement "not very good." He said that provisions for an across-the-board pay increase of 5% the first year and 6% the second year does not even coincide with the rate of inflation.

He said union negotiators also secured a limited improvement in the area of layoffs and a ceiling on staff parking rates which promises parking will not exceed the present rate of $180 a year, at least until January 1978.

Clifford Sheats, President of the USA, said that the USA also received a two-year contract and a freeze in parking rates.

He said a radical change in the seniority system was also negotiated. Sheats said that under the old contract, each department had its own seniority system and the new contract now ranks seniority university-wide.

Morde Long, President of the PAA, could not be reached for comment, but a university spokesperson said the PAA also secured a two-year contract.

No dates had been set for ratification votes at press time.

Contract talks had broken down last Friday when members of the USA and PAA had walked out in the middle of WSU's fall registration and set up picket lines throughout the mid-town university.

Talks resumed on Sunday and averted a possible university slut down.

All the unions had promised solidarity, and the AAUP had threatened a walkout on Thursday, the opening day of classes.

With the strike by the USA and the PAA the Michigan Employment Relations Commission entered the talks along with an outside negotiator.

A university spokesperson said that final registration was to be extended through Tuesday for students either unable to register or for those who refused to cross picket lines.

Photo credit: Jim Dougant, Detroit Sun