News about the unions at Yale

Price of Labor Peace
(New York Times, 9/20/03)
To end the 22-day strike that was embarrassing Yale and grating on its students, the university gave its two main unions wage and pension increases that are generous by most any definition.

YALE WORKERS RATIFY CONTRACT
Happy union members ready to return to jobs
(New Haven Register, 9/20/03)

Yale Unions Vote Yes
Eight-Year Pact Improves Pensions
(Hartford Courant, 9/20/03)

Workers ratify contracts, will return to work Monday
Membership meeting votes are nearly unanimous
(Yale Daily News, 9/20/03)

Yale Strike Over
(WTNH Channel 8, 9/20/03)
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Ivy League campus seen as good place to get message out
(Associated Press, 9/20/03)

YALE STRIKE OVER; Unions gain wage, pension increases
(New Haven Register, 9/19/03)

Yale in Deal With 2 Unions, Ending Strike
(New York Times, 9/19/03)

Yale-Union Deal: Workers Vote Today
(Hartford Courant, 9/19/03)

Sigh of relief to accompany new contract
(New Haven Register, 9/19/03)

Yale, unions reach accord
(Yale Daily News, 9/19/03)

DeStefano again plays key role in end of strike
(Yale Daily News, 9/19/03)

At strike's end, a sigh of relief
(Yale Daily News, 9/19/03)

Breathe a sigh of relief: It's over
(Yale Daily News, 9/19/03)

Returning to normalcy, reclaiming our purpose
(Yale Daily News, 9/19/03)

City activists blast New Haven Savings Bank for 'redlining'
(New Haven Register, 9/19/03)

The Backroom "Corporators"
How the swindlers at New Haven Savings pretended to give depositors a voice
(New Haven Advocate, 9/18/03)

Power Point Presentation
A Democratic primary election day sends a message about where power lies in New Haven
(New Haven Advocate, 9/18/03)

A National Strike
Mass rally shuts down city center--& boosts Yale's strikers
(New Haven Advocate, 9/18/03)

Tentative agreement reached to end Yale strike
(Associated Press, 9/18/03)

Yale retiree turns labor activist
(Record-Journal, 9/18/03)

Supporters from across state join striking Yale workers
(New Haven Register, 9/18/03)

Pact talks boil down to 2 men, 1 issue: money
(New Haven Register, 9/18/03)

Hiring of replacement workers unjust
(New Haven Register, 9/18/03)
Letter by Bishop Rosazza

Mayor unfeeling for those who cross line
(New Haven Register, 9/18/03)

Union backers march on Yale
(Yale Daily News, 9/18/03)

No clear choice yet for Ward 1 seat
(Yale Daily News Editorial, 9/18/03)

The loss of 'JEOPARDY!': yet another cost of the unions' strike
(Yale Daily News, 9/18/03)

Yale, unions close to settlement; workers expect Monday return
(Yale Daily News, 9/18/03)

National Unions Make Yale A Key Test
(Hartford Courant, 9/17/03)

Yale Strike Jeopardizing `Jeopardy!'
(Hartford Courant, 9/17/03)

Strike suspends 'Jeopardy!' taping, for now
(Yale Daily News, 9/17/03)

Yale bristles at critics in clergy
(New Haven Register, 9/17/03)

NHSB conversion under scrutiny
(New Haven Register, 9/17/03)

How is Yale looking in the New York Times?
(Yale Daily News, 9/17/03)

Retirees begin vigil for pensions
(Yale Daily News, 9/17/03)

City bills Yale for strike costs
(Yale Daily News, 9/17/03)

Aldermanic hopefuls spar over strike
(Yale Daily News, 9/17/03)

The strike was unrelated to low voter turnout last week
(Yale Daily News, 9/17/03)

UOC folk concert benefits strikers
(Yale Daily News, 9/17/03)

City wants to collect strike costs from university
(New Haven Register, 9/16/03)

New Haven Savings Bank vote waiver opposed
(New Haven Register, 9/16/03)

Georgetown Students Travel to Yale to Support Striking Workers
(The Hoya, 9/16/03)

Endowment likely to hit $11 billion
(Yale Daily News, 9/16/03)

Yale crushes strikes with race as its weapon
(Yale Daily News, 9/16/03)

Just ask a worker
(Yale Daily News, 9/16/03)

Yale's Trouble is HERE
(Front Page Mag, 9/16/03)

Strike exposes poverty behind scenes at Yale
One of America's richest universities is pitted against one of its poorest towns
(The Guardian UK, 9/15/03)

Three Columbia Students Arrested at Yale Rally
(Columbia Daily Spectator, 9/15/03)

Hundreds Arrested at Yale Labor Strike Rally
(Harvard Crimson, 9/15/03)

Letter from 100+ Yale Faculty Urging binding arbitration
(Yale Daily News, 9/15/03)

Thousands rally in support of Yale unions; more than 100 are arrested
(Yale Daily News, 9/15/03)

Activism, apathy reign in different Yale departments
(Yale Daily News, 9/15/03)

UOC teach-in offers students different perspective on strike
(Yale Daily News, 9/15/03)

Strikebreakers walk out, welcomed by unions
(Yale Daily News, 9/15/03)

What exactly are the unions holding out for?
(Yale Daily News, 9/15/03)

While fending for food during strike, not all choices are healthy
(New Haven Register, 9/15/03)
Letter: All who must toil should support strikers
Letter: Pickets bully strike foes

Levin, Wilhelm can settle strike
(New Haven Register Editorial, 9/15/03)

Yale Strikers Backed At Rally
(Hartford Courant, 9/14/03)

Labor Leaders Arrested at Rally for Yale University Strikers
(New York Times, 9/14/03)

Union backers march at Yale
(Boston Globe, 9/14/03)

10,000 Yale strike supporters rally in New Haven
(New Haven Register, 9/14/03)

Wilhelm, once a campus star, now a constant thorn
(New Haven Register, 9/14/03)

Sweeney, union workers arrested at Yale
(AP Wire, 9/14/03)

Dozens arrested at Yale union rally
(WTNH Channel 8, 9/14/03)
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Banks do go public and stay local
(New Haven Register Editorial, 9/14/03)

Thirteen replacement workers quit jobs at Yale
(WTNH Channel 8, 9/13/03)
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Some Yale Replacement Workers Quit To Join Strikers
(Hartford Courant, 9/13/03)

Illegal aliens filling strikers' jobs
(New Haven Register, 9/13/03)

City restaurants, grocers thriving from strike
(New Haven Register, 9/13/03)

Yale University Strike Is Felt in New York
(New York Sun, 9/12/03)

Yale Workers Deserve Decent Pensions
(Hartford Courant, Column, 9/12/03)

Yale Tactic Angers Hispanic Caucus
(Hartford Courant, 9/12/03)

Logjam breaks in talks with Yale, union chief says
(New Haven Register, 9/12/03)

Harvard vs. Yale: The real story behind workers' wages
(Yale Daily News, 9/12/03)

Editorial: Claims of racial division undermine point
(Yale Daily News, editorial, 9/12/03)

Labor talks stall on pensions
(Yale Daily News, 9/12/03)

Costs Mount for Yale and Union as Strike Drags On
(New York Times, 9/11/03)

Hispanic lawmakers condemn Yale strike tactics
(Hartford Courant, 9/11/03)

Letter slaps Yale over strike hiring
(New Haven Register, 9/11/03)

Not all union members on picket line
(New Haven Register, 9/11/03)

Dillon joins effort to stop New Haven Savings Bank change
(New Haven Register, 9/11/03)

U.S. Reps blast Yale's Hispanic fill-in hires
(Yale Daily News, 9/11/03)

For Yale Police, strike hints at own labor talks
(Yale Daily News, 9/11/03)

Crossing picket line makes for hard work
(Yale Daily News, 9/11/03)

Author Walker cancels talk to avoid picket lines
(Yale Daily News, 9/11/03)

Hurled insults, secret shuttles: life as a "scab"
(Yale Daily News, 9/11/03)

Yale accused of using Latinos as strikebreakers
(New Haven Register, 9/10/03)

Professors urge binding arbitration
(Yale Daily News, 9/9/03)

The rules according to Lorimer: Can Yale expel you for picketing?
(Yale Daily News, 9/9/03)

Feeling conflicted? You're not alone
(Yale Daily News, 9/9/03)

Learning the hard lessons of how Yale treats its workers
(Yale Daily News, 9/9/03)

Ivy-Covered Unrest: 35 Years of Labor Troubles at Yale University
Maintenance and Clerical Workers Have Walked Out 9 Times During 11 Sets of Negotiations
(Washington Post, 9/8/03)

Yale Workers' Strike Drags Into 13th Day
(Harvard Crimson, 9/8/03)

The fragile renaissance of a city
(Yale Daily News, 9/8/03)

Locals 34 and 35 march on hospital
Strikers express solidarity with hospital's dietary workers
(Yale Daily News, 9/8/03)

Ivy, Tangled With Pickets
(The New York Times, Sunday 9/7/03)
As Prof. Douglas W. Rae began his lecture on Thursday, he was soon drowned out by sounds of the transforming city outside: blaring horns, pounding drums and the angry voices of striking Yale workers singing the old Twisted Sister song "We're Not Gonna Take It." "Let's stop and talk about this," Professor Rae said, interrupting his lecture and moving from behind the lectern on the stage. "They are getting to me," he said. "This is not easy." That, perhaps, was precisely the point.

Yale Workers' Plight No Moral Outrage, But Worth The Fight
(Hartford Courant, 9/5/03)
By Dan Haar

In Yale Strike, A Torn Solidarity
While Some Nonparticipants Agonize, Others Simply Cross Lines
(Hartford Courant, 9/5/03)

Some Yale Faculty Petition To End Strike
(Hartford Courant, 9/5/03)

Facing picket lines, some profs venture off campus
(Yale Daily News, 9/5/03)

Unions seek audience with Levin
(Yale Daily News, 9/5/03)

Editorial: GESO cannot have it both ways
(Yale Daily News Editorial, 9/5/03)

Exactly who's in the right in this labor dispute?
(Yale Daily News, 9/5/03)
We write this note as two professors with divergent views and a common goal. One of us crosses picket lines and the other doesn't. Yet it is easy for us to agree that the strike is in neither party's interest. What can we do about it? During a strike, people want to know which side is being more reasonable.

The workers behind the leaders
(Yale Daily News, Op-Ed, 9/5/03)

Yale University and Workers' Unions Are at It Again
(New York Times, 9/4/03)
Yale University has long prided itself on being an institution for dispassionate discourse, but there is one arena where it has fallen sorely short: labor relations. Eight days into a strike by more than 2,000 clerical, dining hall and maintenance workers, Yale has cemented its unhappy reputation of having the worst labor relations of any university in the nation.

Some Yale classes take detour to avoid pickets
(New Haven Register, 9/4/03)

Students try to deal with strike on campus
(New Haven Register, 9/4/03)

Union Organizers to Air Complaints Against Yale
(New York Times, 9/3/03)
The group seeking to unionize graduate students at Yale announced yesterday that a former labor secretary and a former general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board would serve on a committee investigating whether Yale administrators or professors broke the law while fighting the unionization drive ... Leaders of the Graduate Employees and Students Organization, which is seeking to unionize 2,100 graduate students at Yale, claim that illegal intimidation by some Yale faculty members contributed heavily to the pro-union forces' narrowly losing a unionization vote last April. Several graduate students said that a few science professors had threatened to retaliate against them if they went on strike or engaged in pro-union talk in science buildings.

Picketing to focus on classes
(New Haven Register, 9/3/03)
Picketing at Yale is expected to be heavy in front of buildings housing large numbers of classrooms today as the academic year kicks off for undergraduates.

Jesse Jackson and 18 Others Are Arrested in Yale Protest
(New York Times, 9/2/03)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and 18 other people were arrested yesterday when they blocked traffic at Yale University to show their support for striking clerical, dining hall and maintenance workers on campus. Before his arrest at the intersection of Elm and College Streets in New Haven, Mr. Jackson led a rally on the Yale campus that was attended by 3,000 to 5,000 strikers and their supporters, according to police estimates.

Jackson, Others Cuffed At Yale
(Hartford Courant, 9/2/03)
Activist Jesse Jackson chose the Yale University campus, where unionized school workers went on strike last week, as the setting for his latest act of civil disobedience.

JACKSON AMONG 19 ARRESTED
4,500 march on Yale; group blocks street
(New Haven Register, 9/2/03)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and 18 other clergy and members of his Rainbow PUSH Coalition were arrested Monday after leading 4,500 marchers down Dixwell Avenue to the heart of Yale University�s campus in support of its striking workers. Unlike the arrest of 83 union workers on Friday, police did not get notice of the group�s planned civil disobedience until an hour before the small group sat down and blocked the intersection of Elm and College streets around noon.

Yale's union-bashing tactics mirror larger strategy
(Chicago Sun-Times, 9/2/03)
By Jesse Jackson
Yale University, one of the nation's wealthiest private universities, is the site of a major worker strike ... The Yale Corp. is a notoriously tight-fisted, hard-nosed, anti-union employer. It has suffered brutal labor strikes in recent years, as graduate students and service and technical workers have fought for decent wages and benefits. In this, the corporation sadly reflects the worst in the culture of the modern corporation.

Jesse Jackson leads Labor Day march at Yale
(Associated Press, 9/1/03)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was arrested Monday along with other striking Yale workers and their supporters after blocking traffic on campus.

Jackson to lead labor march
(New Haven Register, 9/1/03)
Civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. took the cause of Yale�s striking workers to the pulpit on Sunday at Varick Memorial AME Zion Church, preaching a sermon that demanded workers� rights and promoting today�s Labor Day march down Dixwell Avenue ... It is sponsored by the Rainbow Push Coalition, founded by Jackson; the state AFL-CIO; and by the New Haven Central Labor Council. The event also has the "full support" of the NAACP, said President Scot X. Esdaile, who said the NAACP would help organize marchers from other communities and get them to New Haven.

August 2003

Talks scheduled for Wednesday; workers speak at churches
(Associated Press, 8/31/03)
Yale University negotiators and leaders of striking labor unions have agreed to return to the negotiating table with New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. on Wednesday. Meanwhile, striking workers and the Rev. Jesse Jackson prepared for a march Monday morning on Yale's Beinecke Plaza and Woodbridge Hall, which houses university President Richard Levin's office.

Campus quiet on 4th day of strike
(New Haven Register, 8/31/03)
Four days into a bitter labor strike marked by clamoring protests, arrests and traffic jams, Yale University�s campus was markedly placid Saturday "Where are all the strikers today? It�s so quiet and nice here," remarked parent Carol Cann of New Jersey, who was moving her freshman daughter into the dorms. "Thank God," said freshman Jenna Henderson of Rockland County, N.Y. "People were getting in the way and it was really annoying" ... Fearing disruptive protests, the university canceled the traditional freshman assembly and address by President Richard Levin.

John Wilhelm, Yale class of 67, leads unions in strike
(Associated Press, 8/31/03)
If Yale University has a problem with the way national union chief John Wilhelm leads its workers, the school has no one to blame but itself. Yale graduated Wilhelm in 1967 and provided the stage where the president of the 250,000-member Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union got his first taste of labor organizing. Lessons learned at Yale - less in the classroom than on the picket line - have catapulted Wilhelm to his role.

Unions to Push to Make Organizing Easier
(New York Times, 8/31/03)
On Labor Day, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. plans to announce a nationwide campaign that union leaders say is crucial to assuring labor's future, a campaign that aims to change federal laws to make it easier for workers to join unions ... Under the planned union campaign, known as Voice@Work, labor leaders hope to educate union members about the obstacles nonunion workers face before unionizing and to mobilize union members to contact lawmakers. Labor unions also plan to ask immigrant groups, ethnic groups and clergy members to push for new laws and to press companies not to fight unionization. Labor unions have already lined up considerable support within Congress for this campaign, with more than a dozen House members agreeing to form a Congressional Workers Rights Caucus. To show his backing for the A.F.L.-C.I.O. campaign, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said he would introduce a bill this week that would require companies to recognize unions once a majority of their workers signed pro-union cards in a process known as card check.

Yale's Capitalist Swine
Op-Ed by William F. Buckley, 8/31/03
At this writing, Sen. Joe Lieberman is scheduled to appear at Yale to give a speech supporting the strikers. It will be called, "Why Politicians Running for President Support Your Strike."

Proof things have returned to normal
(New Haven Register, 8/31/03)
Osaycan Yousee leaned back on the bench on the New Haven Green, sipping a Sprite and munching chips. "It seems to me," said he, "that things are pretty much getting back to normal." "Why do you say that?" said I. C. Zilch, sipping a Coke. "Well, just look at what�s going on," he said. "We got workers at Yale here striking and on the picket lines because they believe they deserve more money, and we got their Yale employer saying they�re getting more than enough."

Union Head Arrested During Strike at Yale
(L.A. Times, 8/30/03)
The leader of a national union was arrested Friday and hundreds of demonstrators blocked intersections in New Haven, Conn., as an acrimonious strike by more than 4,000 Yale University employees entered its third day.

Yale Freshmen Find Their Moving Day Slowed by Strikers
(New York Times, 8/30/03)
As the new crop of freshman students arrived on campus at Yale University this morning, they were greeted by hundreds of striking union workers, chanting slogans and blocking streets in demonstrations that led to the arrest of 83 workers.

Yale Strikers Greet Students
Demonstrations Block City Intersections As Freshmen, Families Arrive; 83 Arrested
(Hartford Courant, 8/30/03)
The third day of the Yale University workers' strike Friday was also the loudest, most colorful and most disruptive. As incoming f