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LTD: Health care and wages
mar contract settlement
Continued from page 1
kick off a strike that union represen
tatives say will include picket lines
at all major LTD stations, including
the University’s.
“We ask our riders and other
unions to join us on the strike line
in hopes that this will end as soon
as possible,” Hunt said.
The union was hours away from
a Feb. 1 strike but accepted a commu
nity committee’s offer to enter a
35-day cooling off period and allow
an outside auditor to look at the
negotiations and make recommenda
tions to both sides.
LTD declined the committee’s of
fer and implemented a portion of its
final contract offer Feb. 1, causing
the union to declare a strike effec
tive at the end of the 35-day cooling
off period, which is today.
ATU and LTD have been at odds
for more than 10 months over their
2005-07 contract, which has gone
though several facelifts. LTD made
its final contract offer Friday.
“The district made its best offer to
day that it thought it could make,” LTD
Service Planning and Marketing Man
ager Andy Vobora said Friday. “Our
board has said we’ve stretched proba
bly as far as we can go and still meet
the needs of the community.”
Hunt predicted Friday that the union
membership would overwhelmingly
vote down the offer, and union repre
sentatives and workers spent the
weekend putting the finishing touches
on the picket signs.
The union began preparing for
the strike last week, and Hunt said
members will be compensated $100
for every 40 hours they spend per
week on the picket line.
The main sticking point in the
negotiations continues to be health
care. LTD originally said it had to
make the switch from a preferred
provider plan to a managed care
plan but has now offered a preferred
provider plan, though the union
said the cost difference is still the
same as the managed care plan.
A decrease in health-care benefits
should result in an increase in wage
benefits, Hunt said, but the LTD has
not offered the funds necessary to
make up for the difference in
health-care costs.
“It was talked that the money that’s
in reserves was waiting for a rainy day
— at 12:01 it’s about to pour,” Hunt
said. “I suggest that they come back to
the table with the money.”
LTD has said it will not hire replace
ment drivers and is hoping to get the
buses back on the road as soon as pos
sible, something Hunt said is entirely
up to LTD management.
“The wage committee will be avail
able at anytime, at any place, any
where, ready to get back and get these
buses moving again,” Hunt said.
meghanncuniff@dailyemerald.com
PFC: Members debate criteria
for scholarships, exemption
Continued from page 3
negative side to the stipend model, I
think it’s important to finally have a
discussion about the model,” he said.
“I think that overall we’re satisfied
with the job the PFC has done. I don’t
see a reason to justify major objec
tions on our part to the budget ...
they will be passing.”
Committee members discussed
options for giving the three positions
more money, but they could not agree
on a way to do so without exceeding
the PFC’s funding benchmark.
ASUO Accounting Coordinator
Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert said fund
ing the positions at current levels
would increase the budget by roughly
$18,000, putting it over benchmark at
7.27 percent.
The PFC briefly considered cutting
all stipends by an additional $25. But
PFC member Khanh Le said he would
“hate to go and adjust all stipends” to
benefit the three positions that would
be significantly cut.
PFC member Jared Axelrod agreed,
saying the PFC couldn’t “keep lower
ing the stipend model just to get under
7 percent.”
Creighton-Neiwert said pay for
the general manager position
should be made hourly regardless of
whether it was increased because
the expectations for the position dif
fer from “educational leadership”
opportunities offered by student
government positions.
She also cautioned the committee
about exempting certain positions.
“When you start granting exemp
tions, where are you going to stop?”
she asked.
PFC member Jael Anker-Lagos
questioned why the first two stipend
categories would even be needed if the
positions listed within them were ex
empted from the model.
PFC Chairwoman Persis Pohowalla
said the new model is a scholarship
designed to compensate student
leaders for the work and responsibili
ty of their positions instead of the
required hours or expenses required
of their former positions as stipulat
ed by the old model.
But she said questions remain about
the criteria for awarding scholarships.
“That’s a gray area that I don’t think
has been defined,” she said.
Axelrod said the PFC should make
groups conform to the stipend model,
rather than tailoring the model to fit
certain groups.
Pohowalla agreed, but said the new
model significantly cuts pay for the
three positions.
“I just feel really bad, that’s all,”
she said.
Yet Pohowalla, who sent an
e-mail Thursday night to student
programs saying groups would not
be able to appeal the budget, asked
the committee whether it should
grant a special exception for the
general manager position because
Nisser attended the meeting.
“If Charlotte wasn’t here, what
would we do?” she asked. “Do we
want to talk to other groups before we
conform to one leader?”
Nisser was the only group leader
who commented at the meeting.
Pohowalla said the general
manager’s new pay is “not fair, but
it is consistent.”
“It’s really unfortunate and it really
pains me to do this, but I think we
need to go with what we have right
now,” she said to the committee.
The PFC discussed writing a
budget note to the Senate asking it to
work on the general manager’s pay.
Pohowalla also said the group will
meet later this week to approve more
of its minutes, a process that was de
layed because of problems with au
dio tapes of some meetings.
parkerhowell@ daily emerald, com
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