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<< Front page News October 31, 2003
 
OC unions light unity bonfire

Over a roaring bonfire in Tappan Square last night the Oberlin College Office and Professional Employees and the United Auto Workers met to socialize, confer and meet interested Oberlin students.

“This is the second year we’ve done this,” local UAW president Paul Avilez said. “It’s always good to talk to the students.”

The bonfire is also part of an awareness campaign on campus leading up to a round of contract renegotiations between both Unions and the College that will begin in earnest this summer.

Most of the workers present hinted that healthcare would be the primary issue on the table.

“The College wants to increase the portion of the healthcare budget that we pay by increasing our payments,” OCOPE President Diane Lee said.

“The college wants to take out their money problems on the workers.” OCOPE member Dave Matsen said.

Lee did not think that the current economic climate would make the talks any more difficult.

“You expect that there will be times when the College is in deficit. Every year we conduct negotiations there are different issues that come into play.”

OCOPE Board Member Sherry Matsen was glad to see students taking an interest in union politics.

“I don’t think that most of the students really understand the issues that we are facing,” she said.

“Students really need to take a greater interest in the situation of the employees here,” Junior Zach Webber added.

Webber said he attended the event because he thought it “could be useful to gain a better understanding of the situation.”

“I’ve learned a lot tonight about how the different unions interact with each other as well as with the College,” he said.

Avilez stated his frustration with the College’s efforts to limit the union’s on-campus activities.

“We want to run the ice cream social which happens around commencement and which used to be run by the Local Women’s Auxiliary,” he said. “We would put the money back into the community.”

“We’ve been having some trouble getting the college to agree to let us do that though they don’t seem to have a problem with a private business running it for profit,” he added.

Lee echoed these frustrations saying, “They’ve made it very clear to us that we cost too much.”

As far as the negotiations themselves, OCOPE member Bev Pycraft said, “We’ll be happy as long as we can keep things the way they are now and don’t give anything up.”