Public employees union rejects state's offer
By Sandy Johnstone
Of the Emerald
More than 95 percent of Oregon
Public Employees Union members
have rejected the state's last offer in a
statewide referendum vote.
At the University, where about 800
classified employees belong to the
OPEU, only six voted in favor of the
state's offer, while about 500 voted to
reject it, according to Donna Glathar, a
member of the negotiating team and a
University classified staff member.
“It’s real clear to the bargaining
team that what they've been saying is
what people want," she says.
Union negotiators are hoping to
meet with the state this week,
although Glathar had not received any
notification of a meeting as of
Tuesday.
800 University classified staff
threaten strike vote, walkout
“Hopefully we will see a movement
on the part of the state,” she says.
In case the state does not present a
“reasonable" offer, the OPEU has ten
tatively scheduled a strike vote for
Aug. 16-17.
“We are hoping the statewide vote
and the (possible) strike vote will make
them (the state) re-evaluate their posi
tions,” Glathar says.
If the negotiators are making
"significant progress" at the bargain
ing table, then the OPEU would pro
bably postpone a strike vote, she says.
The main issues at stake are
fairness and job security — not salary
— Glathar says.
The OPEU objects to the following
provisions of the state's last offer:
• The state would not pay for all
health insurance costs in the second
year of the contract. It would pay only
one-half of the increased cost for the
second year. OPEU says it should pay
all costs.
• The state would allow temporary
interruption of employment as often as
the employer desires for a maximum of
10 days. OPEU wants only five days of
temporary interruption each year. If
more is needed, then people should be
layed off.
• The state wants to retain a clause
in the contract dealing with contrac
ting work to non-union members.
OPEU says that clause would give
them less protection under the con
tract than under the current law
because of a regulation recently
enacted by the Employment Relations
Board.
• The state limits the rights of
employees to bump those with less
seniority when there are layoffs, saying
they must have held that position
before, and that they cannot bump
within their own classification. OPEU
says employees should be allowed to
bump those with less seniority in their
own classification, or into a lower
classification, if they have the
necessary job skills.
Weekly meetings on campus are be
ing held Tuesdays at noon in the EMU
to keep union members updated on the
negotiators’ progress, Glather says.
Merit scholars plan to enroll at University
Univarsity news bureau
Six finalists in the National Merit
Scholarship competition have been
named recipients of four-year Universi
ty Merit Scholarships, according to
James Buch, University admissions
and records director.
In addition, four recipients of
corporate-sponsored, four-year Merit
Scholarships have indicated they plan
to enroll at the University this fall.
The University is the only public in
stitution in the state chosen by any of
the 28 Oregon Merit Scholars who
received college-sponsored grants,
Buch said. The rest will attend private
colleges in Oregon or elsewhere.
The winners of the University
sponsored scholarships are: James
Killam, Aloha High School; Thomas
Prowell, Sunset High School; Mark
Derby, Hillsboro High School; David
Fawcet, Lake Ridge High School; Ar
thur McGehehey Jr., Roseburg High
School; and Jennifer Phillips, Sweet
Home High School.
Winners of the corporate-sponsored
scholarships are Deidre Mears,
Klamath Union High School; a Beatrice
Foods Co. grant; Anna Gilson, Paisley
High School, a Montgomery Ward
Foundation scholarship; Andrene
Hyatt, Pleasant High School, a Times
Mirror Co. grant; and Steven Allison,
Wilson High School, an International
Business Machines Corp. scholarship.
The University-sponsored scholar
ships are renewable for up to four
years of undergraduate work at the
University. Annual stipends, adjusted
for each recipient’s financial need,
range from $250 to $2,000. The national
average is about $1,000.
More than one million high school
juniors entered the 1983 Merit Scholar
ship competition by taking the
Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test in
October, 1981. About 15,000 of the
highest scoring students were named
semifinalists in fall, 1982.
Some 190 colleges and universities
in 40 states, one-third of them public
institutions, are sponsoring 2,000
Merit Scholarships worth $9 million
this year. Corporate-funded grants
worth $7.2 million went to 1,500 reci
pients nationwide.
The 15,000 semifinalists represent
the top one-half of 1 percent of the
1983 class of graduating seniors in 50
states.
Bookstore board elects
new members to posts
The University Bookstore
has chosen four students and
one faculty member as two
year members of its board of
directors and elected board of
ficers for the 1983-84 school
year.
New officers are. accoun
ting major Andy Storment,
president; law student
Michael Larson, vice presi
dent, political science major
Dale Penegor, secretary; and
Tim McCloskey, undeclared,
treasurer.
Elected as respective class
representatives were Henry
Jacobsen, a graduate student
in management; sophomores
McCloskey and pre-business
Iff
iiiajv/i rviuic** ity11, anu pic
business major Maria Hitz, as
freshman representative.
Appointed to the faculty
position was University Con
tinuation Center director
Clarence “Dick” Schminke.
Schminke replaces Richard
Stein, an associate professor
of English, who resigned.
The Bookstore is a non
profit organization unaffiliated
with the University, but intend
ed to serve the needs of the
University community.
Its board of directors, which
is composed of eight
students, two faculty
members and one classified
staff member, acts as its
governing body.
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March protests Wah Chang
A two-front march protesting Teledyne
Wah Chang will converge on Albany by foot,
bicycle and raft this weekend.
Wah Chang, located just off Interstate 5
in Albany, is the world’s largest producer of
zirconium, a material essential to the
nuclear reactor and weaponry industries.
The protest is the combined effort of
two environmental groups, Eugene Direct
Action, a local anti-nuclear group, and
Forelaws on Board, an environmental group
contesting the permanent storage license
Wah Chang has recently received for its
hazardous radioactive waste.
Eugene Direct Action will lead Eugene
walkers, boaters and cyclists protesting
Wah Chang’s zirconium production.
The EDA trek, dubbed Journey for
Peace, will meet in Corvallis on Saturday to
join the Forelaws on Board-sponsored Walk
on Wah Chang.
Both groups will travel from Corvallis to
Albany on Saturday where they will be met
by a parade rally, picnic and music.
For more details call Journey for Peace,
343-8548.
SHARE
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