Oregon daily emerald., February 07, 1978, Image 1

Vol. 79, No. 95
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, February 7, 1978
Teamsters file
counter suit
against police
By KEVIN HARDEN
Of the Emerald
Calling two lawsuits filed against officials of the
Teamsters' Union local 670 by 15 Eugene Policemen
a ruse,” L.B. Day, union secretary-treasurer, filed a
$1.4 million counter-suit Saturday.
The suit, Day says, is in response to the two suits
filed at the end of January by members of the Eugene
Police Department for defamaion of character by
Day. Joe Edgar, president of the joint union council,
no. 37 and an account carried in the local teamster
newspaper.
‘‘It’s nothing but a ruse,” Day explains. The only
reason it was filed was to put pressure on the union to
drop several personal injury suits against some of the
police involved in an arrest of teamster picketers
during a strike March 30, he says.
The personal injury suits were filed against the
police by eight union members after they were ar
rested during a strike against the Chef Francisco
Inc. that month.
The 15 Eugene police officers filed a defamation of
character suit against Day, Edgar and the teamster
newspaper last month for remarks to local news
media that allegedly damaged officers' reputations.
Their suits, which ask for nearly $700,000 in dam
ages charge that statements by Day to the Eugene
Register-Guard and KASH radio accused the offi
cers of excessive force and attacking union pickets
without provocation.
Both Edgar and Day wrote letters to Gov. Bob
Straub, Pierce Brooks, Eugene police chief and
Mayor Gus Keller, making the same charges and
asking that a full-scale investigation be made of the
incident, the officers’ suit says.
Day's suit, however, claims the officers' suits were
not “brought in good faith” and are an “abuse of the
process of court.”
“Since when it is a crime to criticize the police
department for something they did in the line of
duty?" Day says. “I’d say that it’s a right and a duty to
criticize them when you think they were wrong."
Any remarks by Day about the officers’ conduct
while making arrests during the March strike were
“nothing more than fair comment and criticism of
public officers,” he says.
"It’s a sorry day for the City of Eugene because of
the way they (the officers) acted,” he says. “If those
police officers can’t take criticism then they don’t
have any business wearing their uniforms.”
The personal injury suits against the police will
continue despite the officers’ libel suits, Day says.
“Hell yes, they will. We aren’t going to be threatened
by this sort of thing," he says.
Body
language
Photo by Adrienne Salinger
Patrons of the ASUO Program Office-sponsored Noon
Gigs were treated to something a little different Monday.
This talented individual displayed the art of belly dancing
to an appreciative lunchtime crowd -undoubtedly making
it hard for many to eat lunch.
Feldman says minimum wage imperative
In light of the recent finding that Univer
sity non-resident enrollment is declining,
ASUO Pres. Gary Feldman thinks it is im
perative student workers be paid minimum
wage
"Part of the incentive we offer people is a
financial aid ‘package deal,’ including
cheap housing for married students, loans,
grants and work study," says Feldman. "If
we start letting some of our financial pack
age slip," the incentive would decline, he
says.
Feldman has talked to University Pres.
William Boyd, who, he says, agrees with the
package concept. The University, however,
decided in January not to meet the
minimum wage rate for some student work
ers, saying there was not enough financial
aid money to do so.
Feldman says he "totally recognizes that
the University is exempt from paying
minimum wage" under the Fair Labor Stan
dards Act, but he thinks “students make a
significant impact of this University,” and
that “students deserve a fair and reasona
ble rate."
A University policy statement issued last
August states that the University will pay
the minimum wage. Even though the Uni
versity is technically exempt, Feldman be
lieves it must change the August policy to
come officially under the federal act.
If they want to change the rule, clearly
they can, says Feldman. "But they should
follow the policy they have set until they
do,” says Feldman. Feldman and Don
Chalmers, Office of Student Advocacy Di
rector, say the University should change the
policy under the Administrative Procedure
Act.
Feldman says the University probably
won't change its decision to pay less than
minimum wage, but they will have to at least
change the policy to align it with that deci
sion.
If the policy is changed, it will take effect
on the day it is changed, says Feldman.The
University, therefore, would be forced to
pay retroactive wages to student em
ployees who have been paid less than
minimum wage since Jan. 1.
One suggestion Feldman has made to
Boyd is to “reduce the upper end of the pay
scale and transfer those funds to the lower
ends.” This process would meet minimum
wage rates for every one, he says. He ex
pects Boyd to give him an opinion soon.