Communist Web Sunday 14th May 2000 9.30pm gmt Ohio State strike wins wide support By Michael Putman COLUMBUS, Ohio - Communications Workers of America Local 4501 went on strike against Ohio State University during the early morning hours of May 1 after late-night negotiations failed to result in an agreement. The 1,900 members of Local 4501 include janitors, food service and building maintenance workers, campus bus drivers, and others. After years of remaining $2 to $4 behind other comparable state workers - 30 percent of the CWA members make less than $8 an hour, and half make less than $10 an hour - union members decided they had had enough and voted overwhelmingly to authorize the strike. "We are currently $2 behind our wages back in 1976, after adjusting for inflation," said Local 4501 President Gary Josephson. Many union members also work second or even third jobs to help makes ends meet - this, when the administration gave themselves a generous pay raise last July. OSU administration has said their attempts to offer the union a contract, which includes a $2-an-hour raise over three years, to be "fair and equitable." However, Josephson said the administration has repeatedly tried to insert "poison pills" into the proposed contract, including a union-busting scheme that would require lower pay rates for OSU hospital workers than for campus workers. Because of these "poison pills," union members voted down - by more than a two-thirds majority - a May 4 tentative agreement. Other important points of contention include the administration's attempts to institute a wage cap at the end of the contract and its refusal to pay "$2 for 2K" - a $2 increase immediately instead of over three years. Both the Teamsters and Transport Workers unions are refusing to cross picket lines. Support has also been building among students and professors, some of whom staged a sit-in since April 26 at Bricker Hall, the campus administrative building. The Council of Graduate Students, representing over 9,000 students; the Undergraduate Student Government, representing over 40,000 students; and the... http://www.billkath.demon.co.uk/cw/ohiostate/ohiostate.html --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
