Labor siege wrests contract from Yale
By Leslie Feinberg
Yale clerical, maintenance and technical union
workers wrested a contract from their upper-crust bosses on
Sept. 18. The agreement was won in the streets of New Haven by
the mobilization and determination of rank-and-file workers and
their supporters.
The confrontation was characterized as blue collar vs. blue
bloods. New Haven, with its large oppressed and impoverished
workforce, is a company town ruled by the iron hand of Yale
University--the powerful bastion of capitalist old-money
education. In this town-and-gown conflict, Yale's management
has provoked nine labor strikes since 1968--more than any other
university.
The last contract for members of locals 34 and 35 of
HERE--the hotel and restaurant employees international
union--expired in January 2002. It was extended monthly until
last March. Two strikes, bold actions, more than 200 arrests
and a huge rally followed in the tempestuous months of
negotiations with the arrogant and obdurate ivy-league
bosses.
Locals 34 and 35 overwhelmingly ratified the new contract.
It boosts wages each year 4 percent to 5 percent for Local 34
workers and 3 percent to 4 percent for Local 35 members. And it
provides two-thirds of retroactive wages lost in the last 19
months. Workers hadn't had a raise since February 2001.
The new contract also reportedly hikes the pension formula
by 35 percent. Unionized Yale workers who retired last year
after 20 or more years of labor only received an annual pension
of $7,452. (New York Times, Sept. 20)
"The key issue had always been the pensions," John W.
Wilhelm, international president of HERE, stressed. Close to a
quarter of the union locals' 4,000 members are slated to retire
before 2010.
In-your-face militancy
As supporters, including a large group of Yale students,
cheered at a Sept. 18 media conference at City Hall to announce
the settlement, Wilhelm said, "We are very grateful to those
who have been helpful and supportive through all of this--we
are mindful of our obligations to the people in this
community."
For the last 19 months, workers battling for a contract and
those fighting for union recognition had demonstrated the power
of unity and militant action.
In February, some 500 union workers marched to the doorstep
of Yale Uni versity President Richard C. Levin's home to demand
a contract.
Locals 34 and 35 held a five-day walkout in March, joined by
graduate employees struggling for union recognition. And they
closed ranks with some 150 unorganized food service workers at
Yale-New Haven Hospital.
In an extraordinary expression of solidarity, locals 34 and
35 were able to keep a demand on the negotiating table until
August that Yale bosses recognize the demand for unions by
hospital workers and graduate employees.
(yaledailynews.com)
Thousands of Yale workers walked off their jobs on Aug.
27.
Fearing in-your-face disruptions, university heads canceled
the annual convocation, the traditional frosh assembly and
address by Levin.
When fall semester began, the strike by Yale's clerical,
dining hall, janitorial and repair workers shut down dining
halls and many departmental offices.
Unionists helped more than 110 professors and teaching
assistants find alternative spaces for classes off campus in
theaters, municipal buildings and churches so some 5,000
students would not have to cross picket lines. Those who tried
to hold classes on campus found they couldn't get away from the
strike: Workers chanted outside the classrooms with bullhorns.
(Newsday, Sept. 23)
Fist of solidarity
Prominent student organizations showed support for the labor
struggle. Organizers of the Black Solidarity Con ference moved
their event, held annually in October, to January. Scheduled
speakers canceled or postponed events, including Alice Walker,
prominent Black feminist author of "The Color Purple." (The
Yale Herald, Sept. 19)
During the Sept. 1 Labor Day march in New Haven, more than
30 protesters were arrested, including civil rights activist
Jesse Jackson, after strikers and supporters blocked
traffic.
Strikers showed up at Levin's home again on Sept. 4. This
time they turned up the volume on their demand with drumming
and loud chants.
And finally, in a magnificent show of solidarity,
rank-and-file unionists and students from across the Northeast
traveled to Connecticut to demonstrate with Yale's workers on
Sept. 13. That day, 10,000 strikers and their supporters shut
down downtown New Haven. Some 153 braved arrests, including
five presidents of major unions.
This stormy struggle that drew support both deep and wide
drove anti-union Yale bosses back to the table to sign on the
dotted line.
It ain't over till it's over
Given Yale's notorious reputation for anti-worker enmity,
there's no reason to think that this eight-year contract alone
will usher in an era of "labor peace."
The struggle is not resolved for the Graduate Employees
Student Org aniz ation, which has fought to unionize more than
2,000 graduate teaching and research assistants. Yale has
refused to streamline procedures for union recognition. (New
York Times, Sept. 19)
And the 150 food service workers at Yale-New Haven Hospital,
who were out on strike with locals 34 and 35, have returned to
work without a contract.
The Service Employees International Union 1199 NE/SEIU took
out a full-page New York Times ad on Sept. 22 about that
struggle, entitled "There's a sickness at Yale-New Haven
Hospital and it's spreading." The article congratulated Yale
University workers. "But food service workers," the union ad
continued, "voted to reject the hospital's latest offer because
it was pitifully below what was won by the university
workers."
Yale management claims that the university and hospital are
not formally connected. However, there would be no Yale-New
Haven Hospital if there were no Yale University.
The ad in support of the hospital workers also expresses
active solidarity with patients who lack insurance--part of a
health-care-delivery crisis sweeping the United States.
(www.ctneweconomy.org)
However, the hospital and graduate student workers have
emerged from the front lines of the recent labor battles in a
stronger position, fortified by bonds of good will and the
unity of workers who laid siege to the ivory tower of their
bosses.
Reprinted from the Oct. 2, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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