24 - MANCHESTER HERALD. Tues., March 30, 1982 Lifetime drive pledged Whalers fall Little progress in unionization of office workers Bank plans to appeal | m^aceshutile ruling against merger I lin good shapel in Montreal _»» during the (representation election) by Drew von Bergen clerical workers in the 1980s as the industrial workers v^orkers at the Syracuse, N.Y., group benefits branch of ... page 9 Elquitable Life Assurance Society voted 49-40 to join the The objections included alleged use of page 21 page 7 United Press International were in the 1930s, government workers in the ‘60s, and terms by the union such as “inind control aiW ^ health care workers in th e ‘70s.’’ union. sychological w arfare” to describe actio^ WASHINGTON — The “9 to 5” dream of unionizing Jacqueline Ruff, who headed Local 925 in Boston, ‘“They heard about us last summer,” she said. "R America’s 20 million secretarial and clerical work force which served as a caUlyst for the nationwide campaign took them about a month to find us.” Equitable’s management wnsultant. has attained little success to date, but union officials and is now executive director of District 925, is also not The insurance industry is one of the least unionized in All of the points in fiquitaWe’s objectim were pledge a sustained campaign over several decades. discouraged. the nation, and Ms. Ruff said District 925 was wary rejected by regional NLRB d ir e c to r Thomas ^ l e r . Only two groups of workers — at an insurance branch She said her group is involved currently in various because no union had succeeded in organizing the “My recommendation is that the objections lac in Syracuse, N.Y., and a labor law firm in Philadelphia stages of trying to organize 10,000 workers. ‘That in­ Equitable workforce, and because the firm had an out­ merit and that ‘925’ should be certified (as bargaining Manchester, Conn. — have voted to join the District 925 union named for the cludes, she said, working with leaders of local groups, side consultant firm which she described as “major Partly cloudy, hours of the normal workday and made famous by a agent),” Seeler told UPI. having workers sign cards authorizing the union to union-busters.” mild Thursday Wed., March 31, 1982 movie and record featuring Dolly Parton. represent them in collective bargaining, or requesting a “We felt that as a union for office workers, unless we ■ “It was my conclusion that... the union did not exceed One year after its creation amid widespread publicity. the bounds of permissible campaign propaganda, formal representation election. ,,i were willing to and able to win those kinds of cam pai^s — See page 2 Single copy 25tp District 925 has attained bargaining rights for only 101 “It’s a very long-term investment,” Ms. Ruff said. “It and win contracts there, that there was no point in doing Seeler said. “In any event. Equitable Lite had an members. adequate opportunity to reply.” , , , Ifra lh has to be done carefully. It has to be done tvith a certain it because that’s where so many officeworkers are,” she “It is a lifetime campaign.” said John Sweeney, presi­ amount of resources. It has to be done with a certain said. The Equitable challenge is considered important for dent of the parent Service Employees International kind of expertise. Equitable raised objections to the election outcome the nationwide campaign. Union, one of the largest in the AFL-CIO with more than “We can see it growing,” she said. “We can see it with the National L aW Relations Board. ‘They were “If they can, at all, chill our ability to educate people 600,000 members. there.” rejected by the NLRB’s regional office in Buffalo. A as to what to expect (from management consultants), “It will be going on for the next 20 or 30 years,” “I go into a meeting of 50 office workers who are in­ company spokeswoman said the matter will be appealed that will be very important,” said Ms. Ruff. Sweeney predicted. Right near terested in unionizing and ask how many of you have to the national level. DISTRICT 925 is currently well into ^ a jo r THE SEKVICE EMPLOYEES, with about 50,000 been in a union before and one person raises her hand DAVID MONFRIE:d , a spokesman for Equitable’s organizing activity at Syracuse University involving 1,- Sickout set and that was when she was working as a sales clerk in a clerical workers in various other locals, embarked on headquarters in New York, said the Syracuse vote was 000 workers; Cuyahoga Community College in the effort jointly in March, 1981, with Working Women, supermarket,” she said. “So yoii have to cover a lot of a coalition ground ... and prepare them for the anti-union con­ the only example of successful unionization among Cleveland, 500 workers; East Cleveland, Ohio, an independent office employees organization. municipal workers, 100 persons; and Seneca County, sultants and so on.” about 15,000 Equitable employees in 50 states. The goal was to attract office workers — especially Monfried said the company’s objections were “based Ohio, 100 workers. , . 3 Women who comprise the vast majority of that HOWEVER, THE ONLY significant election victory on our belief that certain union actions sullied the Ms. Ruff said lack of a public employee bargaining in Salvador workforce — to organized labor. laboratory-like conditions that are to be maintained law in Ohio has made the union’s effort there difficult. “We're not unrealistic” Sweeney said. “We see the by District 925 during its first year came Feb. 4 when to protest SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador ‘ I (UPI) — Rightist opponents of the Sexual stress studied U.S.-backed Christian Democratic Party moved toward a coalition regime but the American arn- W'i bassador reportedly warned aid MCC talks could end if the key right-wing .1 ■ i Co-workers harass, too leader becomes president. CBS News reported ’Tuesday, Am­ By Herald Staff contract talks with the union, Thorn­ bassador Dean Hinton said It would CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (UPI) — In one of “Co-workers’ power may come from in­ said. “It could he squeezing or pinching or and United Press International ton said. fluence with the boss or with the other men. dirty jokes. Or it could be subtle things such be difficult to continue U.S. The union and trustees are the first studies of sexual harassment in the economic and military aid to war- .1 % blue collar workplace, Iowa researchers have If the woman is in a position of less power, as staring. Staff at Manchester Community negotiating a new contract to this is more likely to happen. “We found that both men and women felt torn El Salvador if, far-right can­ College will stage a one-day sickout replace one that is scheduled to discovered co-workers are just as guilty of didate Roberto d’Aubisson becomes harassment as their bosses. “And, since the workplace is male- verbal abuse, like dirty jokes, was the most ■: ■ ■ t next Wednesday to protest stalled • expire on June 30 and covers facul­ Donald E. Maypole, of the University of dominated — both in numbers and job posi­ common form. With women, the next thing president of the coalition. contract negotiations. ty, librarians, counselors and other tion — women are frequently found in was unwanted touching. But the men didn’t D’Aubisson, a stridently an- Martin Godgart, head of the MCC non-teaching professional workers Iowa’s social work department, said a study tlcommmunist cashiered army of union workers in Cedar Falls-Waterloo positions with little power to protect report that.” Chapter of the Congress of Connec­ at the dozen colleges. themselves from bosses or co-workers.” Male workers agreed with their female major who was dubbed a ticut Community Colleges, said the area factories showed 23 percent of the men “pathological killer” by former U.S. Thornton said another negotiating and . women have experienced job-related The researchers said their figures for the counterparts that it is a form of rape when staff approved the job action by a bosses use their authority to force someone Ambassador Robert White, was se­ unanimous voice vote in an session was scheduled for Friday sexual harassment. number of people being sexually harassed are ‘ and the union was hopeful The random-sample survey indicated 36 considerably lower than other surveys. into unwapted sex. But the men diMgreed cond in Sunday’s elections for a con­ emergency meeting Tuesday, “We found our incident rate was lower than that sexual harassment was traumatic. stituent assembly. Godgart said faculty and staff negotiators for the trustees would percent of the 243 women surveyed have been His party, the Nationalist make some movement on the key harassed on the job. Eight percent of the 1,561 every survey except for the Merit Protection “Not only did they think it wasn’t upsetting member-s will take the personal to themselves,” Ms. Skaine said, “they also Republican Alliance (ARENA) and leave day or sick day “to close issues of workload and job security. men reported being victimized. Board,” Ms. Skaine said. “We think the The union’s membership already reason for this is because we did it scien­ didn’t feel it should be upsetting to women.” the most right-wing in the balloting, Manchester Community College for Rosemarie Skaine, who conducted the sur­ hopes to ally with four other rightist has authorized a strike. vey with Maypole in the summer of 1980, said tifically, using a random sample. We feel The sexes also disagreed on motive.