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New Haven Register
John Stepp's role in Yale
negotiations
During the news conference, held at
Yale's Cross Campus, union leaders repeatedly cited
recommendations for union-management peace made by John
Stepp, a consultant Levin hired last year.
"Yale won't even talk about their own consultant's
recommendations," Proto said. "In fact, President
Levin has removed (Stepp) from the bargaining process."
The unions most often cite Stepp's first recommendation:
"Some understanding as to how current organizing
efforts will be conducted and how the union's long-term
need to grow its business (should) be addressed."
The union leaders see this as an endorsement of their
efforts to organize university graduate students and
about 1,800 service workers at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
University officials say Stepp made no such specific
recommendation.
Reached for comment in Washington Tuesday, Stepp said,
"Nothing in that recommendation is intended to
suggest what the resolution should be, only that a resolution
is critical. I'm not advocating any (specific) solution."
Stepp said the recommendation does not call for card
count neutrality, which the unions favor. He said that
method is just "one of the possibilities."
Under card count neutrality, management agrees to remain
silent on unionization and if a majority of the workers
sign union cards, the union is then recognized. University
and hospital officials instead back National Labor Relations
Board secret ballot elections.
Stepp declined comment on whether Levin is "ignoring"
his recommendations. He said the university has not
canceled his services. "On call" would be
a good way to describe his situation, Stepp said.
Local 34 President Laura Smith said at the news conference,
"We're still optimistic. But we're determined to
make these changes happen - peacefully, if possible."
Asked whether rank and file members of Locals 34 and
35 will continue to go without the benefits of new contracts
for the sake of graduate students and hospital workers,
Smith said, "Our members expect real change on
this campus. That's what they're willing to fight for."
A consultant that Yale University and its two major
labor unions chose to study Yale's rancorous labor relations
issued a report yesterday that severely criticized both
the university and the unions.
The consultant, Restructuring Associates Inc. of Washington,
found that employees said there was a caste system at
Yale and that those not directly involved in an intellectual
pursuit were consigned to an underclass. The consultant
added that Yale was perceived as being anti-union and
had a strategy somewhere between containing the unions
and fighting their growth.
But the consultant, which conducted more than 100 interviews,
also had harsh words for the unions, noting that they
often defended the most serious misbehavior and poor
performance by their members. Many of those interviewed
said that Yale's work force was apathetic and that many
employees were malingerers who disappeared for long
periods.
Restructuring Associates called on the university and
the two unions representing Yale's clerical, service,
maintenance and technical workers to change their hostile
ways and to develop a new, cooperative approach to problem-solving.
This, the consultant's report stated, will require a
profound change in the way Yale manages its nonacademic
work force and the way the two unions represent their
3,900 members.
"A university that prides itself on developing
critical thinking capabilities in its undergraduates
could reap tremendous benefits from managing its own
employees as if they were capable of independent thought,"
the report said.
By publicizing some jarring statements made by those
interviewed, the consultant appeared to want to shock
both sides into changing their ways. The quotes taken
from Yale employees interviewed included these:
"Yale is an elitist institution with disdain for
working people."
"Our union leadership is lazy and politically
insecure. They prefer to hide in the tall grass and
snipe at management."
"We're treated like children. Is it any wonder
that after a while you begin to behave like a child?"
Yale and the two unions, Locals 34 and 35 of the Hotel
Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union,
issued a joint statement saying that the report reaffirmed
much of what the parties already knew. They said they
recognized that the labor-management relationship at
Yale had for decades been "typically adversarial,
unproductive, noisy and not terribly helpful."
Since 1968, there have been seven strikes at Yale, the
most in the Ivy League.
The university and unions said they "are committed
to make this new process succeed, but it will take patience,
understanding and the support of our entire community."
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