1977-11-30; Central Michigan Life

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'Angry' faculty still could wildcat
byTONYDEARING
LIFE News Editor
Faculty members will meet Thursday to
discuss the possibility of going on strike and
union leaders are approaching the event sure
only that there is nothing they can be sure of.
"We are trying to organize this meeting as well
as we can, but anything could happen," Faculty
Association (FA) President David Lawton admitted at a press conference Tuesday.
Lawton said he hopes at the meeting faculty
only, wjll act to give the FA Board of Directors
power to call a strike if it determines one is
necessary in the near future*
The problem, according to FA officials, is
although the FA will not ask for an actual strike x
vote at Thursday's general membership meeting,
faculty are upset enough that they may just take
one anyway/
"The climate on campus is angry," Margery
Bulger, FA board member, said. "There could be
a turnout of 550 and who knows?"
FA officials called Tuesday's press conference
to clarify a number of conflicting reports made
concerning Thursday's general membership
meeting.
At that meeting, scheduled for 4 p.m. in the
University Center Auditorium, the FA membership will be presented with a number of job
action recommendations designed to speed u
bargaining with the/Administration and force a
better economic settlement. '
However, Lawton said faculty will not be given
a recommendation they conduct a strike vote or
even a recommendation they move to have a
strike vote taken at a later date before the end of
the. semester. !
Instead, he said, the FA Board of Directors will
recommend "the members grant the FA board
the power to call a strike of the bargaining unit at
an appropriate time."
Lawton said if this resolution passes, the board
then would have the power to authorize a strike if
and when it decided a strike was necessary.
However, he said before the board could
authorize a strike, it would need a clear definition
of the issues involved, and an understanding of
what job actions might be appropriate and in
what order these job actions should be taken.
Lawton said this information would be
provided by the Michigan Education Association
(MEAl.to which the FA is affiliated.    l
"A wildcat strike would be very dangerous at
this time," he said. "The board wants to be in ar
position to take unified action after a careful
study done by crisis evaluation experts from the
MEA/'
Lawton said David Townsend and Larry
Fisher, MEA crisis and job action evaluators,
began a study at CMU Tuesday and will have
results "as quickly as possible." .
He said although the MEA will not make any
official recommendation to the FA after finishing
the study, the FA will use the study as a basis for
deciding whether to authorize a strike.      , f
"We don't know if and when we might institute
(a strike), but we will take the study into consideration before we take action," he said.
rChief CMU negotiator John Weatherford said
Tuesday if the FA membership passes the board's
recommendation, his team will neither be affected nor bothered by the action.
"All we can do is bargain," he said. "No matter
what they do, we still have.to settle this at the
table/*
However, Weatherford said he was disturbed
by the possibility that faculty could ignore the
board and vote a wildcat strike,
(See "Strike—"page 10)
ichlaon
Volume 59 No. 38
Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859       Wednesday, Nov. 30,1977
■w XiUu,'' *> 'x. ".   ' '*    4 (*',
Mediation a must
i
prior to strike?
by TONY DEARING
LIFE News Editor
A labor relations mediator
says(it is unlikely CMU faculty
will go on strike this week
because they know it would be
irresponsible to do so before
trying mediation and fact finding at the bargaining table.
"I don't think it's probable,
(CMU) faculty will go on strike,"
Michigan Employment Relations
Commission (MERC) mediator
John VanderArk said from
Grand Rapids Tuesday. "The
faculty there, is ^.fairly;
s^phTsIfc^te^ahd knows there
are procedures they have to' go
through first."
VanderArk, who has been
assigned by MERC to the CMU-
Faculty Association (FA)
negotiations, said he knows
"quite a few" CMU faculty
members, and said they are
sharp enough to know they
should not go on strike* arbitrarily without first calling
hhri to the table. i
"The responsible thing for
them to do would be to go
through the normal procedures
of public area bargaining," he
said.
"They have to go through
mediation and fact finding, and if
there still is not progress at the
table,... well, a strike would still
be illegal but it would have been
better than if they proceeded
w'ithout following the
procedures set up in the law,"
VanderArk said.
, However, FA Executive
Director J. Norbert Musto said
there is no specific system set
up as to whether a mediator
should be requested before a
union discusses or votes upon a
^«V*^-*<"';'"_-^*.   —   ■"     "♦"
Musto also said his team is not
interested in bringing in a
mediator because it wants to
reach agreement with CMU and
neither a mediator or fact finding "can bring about a settlement itself."
"Mediation is only an attempt
to bring the two sides together,"
he said. "If both parties know
their positions and are fairly
adamant about their positions,
mediations is probably not going
to bring them closer together."
Musto also said fact finding,
which follows mediation, is not
binding on either party.
"We have not ruled out either
mediations or fact finding,
just don't see the possibility of
either resolving the issues
here," he said.
VanderArk said his assignment to collective bargaining at
Central was routine procedure
by MERC and that he would
have no role at the table here
until one of the teams requested
his presence.
CMU chief negotiator John
Weatherford said Tuesday his
team has no intention of calling a
mediator to the table at this
time.
Fielding questions at a press conference Tuesday, (from left) Faculty Association (FA) President'
David Lawton, FA Executive Director J. Norbert Musto and FA Board of Directors member Frederic
Messick told local media although no strike was planned, FA leadership-was expecting "anything" at
the general membership meeting Thursday (LIFE photo by Peter Luke).
Program effective Fall 1978
Senate okays UP plan
we
by JIM FISHER     .
and
JOHNGROGAN
LIFE Staff Writers
General education will
become a reality for CMU's
incoming freshmen next fall.
After 19 months in the
making, the University Program
(UP) general education plan was
approved for Fall Semester 1978
implementation by Academic
Senate at a special meeting
Tuesday.
The general education
program will require all incoming freshmen next fall to
complete 30 credit hours of
general education courses
before graduation.
South Africa, Panama talks set
UN conference draws VIPs
by PETE ENGARDIO
LIFE Staff Writer
Lectures by a Panamanian^ambassador, a U.S. Department of
State official and the brother of a Rhodesian black nationalist leader
will highlight the 11th annual Conference on United Nations Affairs
opening today at CMU.
Government officials and scholars from across the country and
several foreign nations will discuss world affairs today and Thursday at panel discussions.
All sessions will be conducted on the third floor of the University
Center.
More "high caliber" speakers will participate than- in
-L
any
AFSCME local
approves contract
Ratification of a new three-year contract took place Monday
between CMU and the union -which represents University
, maintenance and food service personnel.
Members of Local 1568 of the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) voted to
approve the contract 102-81,
>.  ■ The-prevjous three-year contract between CMU and the
AFSCMEi    local representing approximately 360 CMU employees expired Oct. 31. The new contract will be effective >
from Nov. 1,1977 to Oct. 31,1980,
The provisions of the original contract had been extended
twice as Contract negotiations continued past the expiration
date. , ' ,   „ (-
Monday's vote approved a tentative agreement reached
after a 32-hour negotiating session Saturday.
Details' of the pist have not been released pending, approval
Of the contract by CMU's' Board of Trustees. The next
scheduled Board of Trustees meeting is Dec. 21.
CMU President Harold Abel declined to comment on the
action, except to term the ratification vote "gratifying."
^ *>'"*:■   . •'■"' ■-"•:•■' •>■- •■■" '.'" "    :    "'>■■   i j i-:   -r-■-—' .-r   -i-„ii-J
previous CMU conference, Henry H. Han, conference coordinator,
said. "All guests have credentials which are unique in their own
right."
Professors from '12 colleges outside Michigan, several
representatives of federal and private agencies and approximately
20 CMU professors will take part in panel discussions on the theme
"Challenges to Human Rights and World Order." All sessions are
open to the public free of charge.
A discussion on the recently negotiated Panama Canal treaties
will feature Panamanian Ambassador to the United Nations Jorge
Illueca and begins 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
The visit by Illueca is' of special significance, said Han, political
science professor, since it is the first official trip- to- Midwestern
United States by a Panamanian delegation.
Also participating in the talk will be Phyllis Oakley, a specialist
on Latin American affairs from the Department of State, Han said.
Of special interest today will be a discussion on human rights and
democracy in South Africa and a presentation about international
economic order. '
Those courses will fall under
four categories: humanities,
social sciences, natural sciences
and University programs, which
includes integrative studies.
The UP will affect only incoming freshmen, not students
presently enrolled at CMU.
In approving the UP, Senate
acted on a recommendation of
the University Program Implementation Committee
(UPIC). Besides calling for fall
implementation, the UPIC
recommendation listed 53
courses to be included in the UP.
Senators agreed the present
list of UP courses was not
sufficient, but approvi fall
implementation with the
provision additional courses
maybe added before March 1.
Senate Chairperson Kendall
Folkert expressed optimism the
UP will include more than 100
courses when it is implemented
next year.
March 1 marks the printer's
deadline for course inclusion in
the Fall 1978 Course Offering
Guide.
Although revised curricula
and many UyP courses will be
listed in the 1978-79 Bulletin, the
Course Offering Guide will
include the final official list of
UP courses available for Fall
Semester.
This will allow more time for
receiving and approving UP
courses,    Neil    Story,    UPIC
The South Africa session will feature a talk by Masipula Sithole,
whose brother,, the Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole, is a prominent black
nationalist leader in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia). Rev. Sithole heads one of       ,  .
.the three black factions to which Rhodesian.Prime.Minister-Ian ^Be^5_____t-__-_.__
Smith recently offered an opportunity to establish majority rule in
Rhodesia, currently a nation practicing apartheid. Apartheid is
Rhodesia's policy of racial segregation.
A discussion on "haves and have nots" in international economics
will include presentations by Adolf Kuen, a top Austrian government economist, and Robert Cohen, a professor at Columbia
University and an expert on the United Nations.
Illueca also will deliver the conference keynote address at a
banquet 7:30 p.m. today for the guests, area media and CMU
organization representatives.
Experts on international affairs and world problems will
represent a variety of government and private'agencies, including
the Defense Department, the, United Nations, the Brookings Institution and *he Stanley Foundation.
•    (See "UN conference—" page 10)
_"he near-unanimous Senate
voice vote of the UPIC
recommendation came in the
aftermath of a
deep Senate split on the
question Of postponing implementation uMil a final course
list could be produced.
The majority) of Senate's Nov.
22 regular meeting was spent
debating the merits of postponement.
The debate climaxed Tuesday
when Senate voted" against
postponing consideration of UP
implementation until the first
Senate    meeting    of    Winter
Semester 1978.
> "I can't see postponing it any
longer," John Dinse, assistant
professor of political science,
said. "The - committee has
assured us this is not the entire
course list; we have' enough
courses to get started."
After working toward UP
implementation, since spring
1976, Story said he was pleased
with Tuesday's decision,-
stressing development of the UP
will be an ongoing process.
"It's been a long time coming
and I'm pleased," Story said.-
"But we need to continually
review the program to assure it
is doing what we intended it to
do. The work is really just,
beginning."
«■
Senate also approved two*
supplementary recom*
mendations by the UPIC. I
»
One approved recom!
mendation charges a Senate
committee to recommend
methods for ongoing UH
evaluation.* ,. 'J
The second recommendation
adopts the course submittal
form used by, the UPIC for all
future use. ■     '  ,
That recommendation also
outlines specific criteria for
various UP course categories.
inside:
—CMU bargainers to
make budget presentation to FA following
compensation rift—page
—Two Sentenced after
destroying gate arm-
page 6 j ■ , •.
—Chip cagers fall to
Michigan State—pagelt
—Five gridders named
first    team    All-MAC-
W
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