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From
the New
York Times
Union
Organizers to Air Complaints Against Yale
The
New York Times - By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
September
3, 2003
The group seeking to unionize graduate students at Yale announced yesterday
that a former labor secretary and a former general counsel of the National
Labor Relations Board would serve on a committee investigating whether
Yale administrators or professors broke the law while fighting the unionization
drive.
The fact-finding committee being formed by the union-organizing group
will be headed by Fred Feinstein, who was the labor board's chief counsel
from 1994 to 1999, and its members will include Robert B. Reich, who
was secretary of labor in President Clinton's first term.
Leaders
of the Graduate Employees and Students Organization, which is seeking
to unionize 2,100 graduate students at Yale, claim that illegal intimidation
by some Yale faculty members contributed heavily to the pro-union forces'
narrowly losing a unionization vote last April.
Several graduate students said that a few science professors had threatened
to retaliate against them if they went on strike or engaged in pro-union
talk in science buildings.
"There's been a very systematic anti-union campaign, with legal
and illegal practices," said Anita Seth, chairwoman of the graduate
employees' organization.
But several graduate students said that the graduate employees' group,
known as GESO, lost the unionization vote because many students thought
the group's campaign was too aggressive and heavy-handed.
Yale officials denied there had been any improper or illegal intimidation,
and they criticized the creation of the fact-finding committee. They
said any allegations of impropriety should be examined by the National
Labor Relations Board and not by an unofficial committee.
"This is inappropriate and unnecessary," said Helaine Klasky,
a Yale spokeswoman. "Yale does not countenance improper intimidation
by Yale faculty."
On Sept. 20, the new fact-finding board will hold a hearing at which,
union supporters say, several Yale graduate students will testify about
improper threats made by Yale faculty members. The board will also look
into allegations of pressure or threats during unionization efforts
at Cornell, Brown and Columbia.
"They asked us to listen to their story and their version of what's
going on," said Mr. Feinstein, who is a professor at the University
of Maryland School of Public Affairs. "Some of us will then endorse
some report with recommendations." He said it was his understanding
that Yale administrators would be invited to the Sept. 20 hearing.
GESO officials pointed to an affidavit by David Sanders, a graduate
student, who said a biochemistry professor had told him, `If you or
anybody else in this lab goes on strike, I'll kick you out of this lab."
Another graduate student, Maris Zivarts, said a biology professor had
warned that Yale's science departments could lose hundreds of millions
of dollars in federal grants if the graduate students unionized.
From
New
York Times - September 3, 2003
________________________________________
The Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions can be reached at
cgeu-list@cgeu.org / admin@cgeu.org
join/unsubscribe at www.cgeu.org
________________________________________
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