From: Stephanie Luce (sluce@econs.umass.edu)
Date: Mon Apr 29 2002 - 20:07:38 EDT
UMass union supporters arrested after occupying administrative office
By ADAM GORLICK
The Associated Press
4/29/02 7:17 PM
AMHERST, Mass. (AP) -- Thirty-four union supporters, most of them students,
were arrested Monday at the University of Massachusetts after occupying an
administration building office and trying to block a police bus.
Fourteen of them staged a sit-in to support a 360-member union of resident
assistants who are demanding recognition from UMass. Administrators at the
Amherst campus have refused to bargain with the group since its March
creation.
The protesters, toting a three-day supply of food, occupied the office of
the vice chancellor of student affairs during a 12:30 p.m. rally and
demanded the administration set a bargaining date.
The Whitmore Administration Building was locked shortly after the sit-in
began, and school officials told workers to lock their offices.
"We're prepared to be here until we're taken away by force or until they
meet the demand," union leader Leslie Edwards said before campus police
handcuffed her and carried her away at 3 p.m.
Campus police officers used stretchers to carry the 14 protesters out of
the building after they refused to leave.
Police loaded them into a bus, but the vehicle's path was blocked by 17
union members, who sat hand-in-hand in the rain.
Those 17 also were arrested and put on the bus. Some of the students were
dragged to the bus after refusing to cooperate. They were charged with
disorderly conduct and trespassing, UMass police spokesman Jim Lyons said.
The 14 people who occupied the office also were charged with disorderly
conduct and trespassing. They were scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in
Northampton District Court, Lyons said.
Two others were arrested outside the building, and one student inside the
building but not involved in the sit-in was arrested for disorderly conduct.
About 20 other protesters outside the vice chancellor's office left the
building after being threatened with arrest.
Of those arrested, 15 were UMass graduate students, seven were UMass
undergraduates and four were Hampshire College students. The others were
not affiliated with UMass, Lyons said.
Administrators said the protesters in Whitmore were told they would be
arrested if they didn't leave.
"We will not put up with this kind of business from the students, said
Javier Cevallos, vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life, whose
office was occupied. We believe in the right for people to disagree, but we
will not tolerate disruptions."
Administrators have refused to recognize the newly unionized undergraduate
resident assistants, who voted to join the United Auto Workers in March.
The union has filed a complaint with the state's labor board and are
waiting for a hearing.
Union officials say the students are the country's first group of
undergraduates to form a collective bargaining unit.
In an editorial published in the April 26 edition of The Chronicle of
Higher Education, interim chancellor Marcellette Williams said bargaining
with the union would lead to negotiations about issues that have nothing to
do with working conditions, including financial aid, academic status and
student conduct.
She also said that the university had difficulties dealing with the UAW,
which represents the graduate student workers.
"Not only is the union the same, but negotiating with students at any level
is fraught with ... the inherently illogical fit between student status and
collective bargaining," Williams wrote.
Kendra McDade, a 21-year-old junior who has worked as an RA for two
semesters, called Williams' editorial "ridiculous."
"All we want is a voice and an assurance that we'll be treated fairly," she
said. "Her line of reasoning makes no sense."
The RAs, who supervise dormitory residents and activities, say they're not
being paid enough for the work they do. They also complain they're not
subject to a fair review and disciplinary process from the administration.
RAs receive a $5,000 compensation package that's equal to the cost of a
room and a cash stipend. The students say the cost of their rooms -- about
$3,200 -- is deducted from their salary, leaving them with a $50 paycheck
each week. They say they should be paid more for essentially working round
the clock.
The administration's refusal to sit down and bargain is breaking the law,
union officials say.
"These students held a democratic and legal vote to unionize," said James
Shaw, president of UAW Local 2322. "It's illegal for the university to
refuse to bargain with them."
University officials say the only way they can challenge the RA's decision
to unionize is by refusing to recognize them and having a hearing before
the state's Labor Relations Commission. Administrators have argued that the
RAs are primarily students and not employees, and the law does not allow
undergraduates to unionize.
"We've always believed that the state Labor Relations Commission erred in
designating the RAs an appropriate bargaining unit," said Robert Connolly,
spokesman for UMass president William Bulger. "Established labor law
procedure required us to wait until this point before we could appeal the
ruling in state court."
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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