Worker’s Union Files Grievance

The Oberlin College Office and Professional Employees Union filed a grievance against Executive Director of Facilities Operations Mike Will for refusing to allow an employee in his office to attend a monthly union meeting.
According to First Vice President for OCOPE Tracy Tucker, the member was the least senior employee in the Facilities Operations office, and was asked to cover for the lunch hour. In the past, Facilities Operations has closed for the lunch hour for these meetings, Tucker said.
Since Will refused to allow the member to attend the OCOPE meeting, the entire union brought the meeting to her. Seventy-two union employees entered the Service Building and gave the minutes of the meeting to the employee.
“The members marched to the Service Building to show their solidarity, and to deliver a Step III grievance on this issue,” Tucker said.
OCOPE’s contract with the College stipulates that all members are allowed to these meetings, held the second Tuesday of every month during lunch hour.
“This is not only a right under the National Labor Relations Act, but is also stated in the collective bargaining agreement with OCOPE,” Tucker said.

John Byrne

Economic Diversity at Oberlin

Oberlin ranks third among highly ranked liberal arts colleges in the percentage of students receiving federal Pell Grants, reports this month’s Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.
Because Pell Grants are reserved for low-income students, the report uses them as a rough measure of economic diversity at colleges. According to the report, 17.1% of Oberlin students receive Pell Grants, compared to an average of 11.8% at other schools ranked in the top 25 by US News and World Report.
The report goes on to laud Oberlin for its “long history of support for black higher education and for admitting students from lower and lower-middle socioeconomic classes.”

Jesse Baer