B.U. Union to Vote On New Contract

Boston University (B.U.) clerical workers, on strike for more than a week, will vote tomorrow on a two-year contract they tentatively accepted Tuesday night.

Clerical workers informally agreed Tuesday night to a contract providing a $200 bonus and 35-cent-per-hour raise the first year and another 35-cent raise the second year. The difference between the second pay hike and 7 per cent of the entire clerical payroll will be placed in a fund for raises based on merit alone. The contract also officially recognizes the union.

"People feel good they struck, and satisfied with standing up for themselves," Barbara Rahke, an organizer for District 65, Distributive Workers of America, said yesterday.

It was a very generous contract," Robert A. Bergenheim, vice president of public and labor relations at B.U., said yesterday.

The agreement is the union's first collective bargaining contract with B.U.

Large Accomplishments

The union considers unconditional recognition and the health care and wage increases it extracted from the University as major accomplishments, Rahke said. Some union members feel the contract does not guarantee enough job security, however, Rahke added.

The contract increases from 55 per cent to 58 per cent the percentage of health costs the university will cover. Bergenheim said the union originally asked for 100 per cent.

The clause allowing merit increases sets an important precedent for future negotiations, Bergenheim added. "The union wanted to give no consideration to anything except seniority. We argued that seniority is important, but so are loyalty and experience," he said.

Stick Around

The union, however, agreed to allow B.U. a "maintenance of shop" clause, forcing current union members to remain in the union for the duration of the contract but allowing new employees to choose whether to join. A majority of the university's approximately 800 clerical workers belong to the union.

The union timed its job-action walkout with registration to pressure the university further, Bergenheim said.

He added, however, "We were able to throw them off their scheduled time by at least a week," and use administrators to handle their work, alleviating some of the chaos. Clerical workers were still on hand for registration.

Rahke said yesterday, however, that the strike did affect the university, because the impact of missing workers in the different departments snowballed. "We made B.U. budge," she said.

Five union picketers were arrested Monday for disorderly conduct.