Spring Break
Avoiding a showdown
With upcoming wage negotiations, both the Miami University administration and the nation are working to steer clear of a battle
Steve Markley
Issue date: 11/29/05 Section: Features
"As a member of the Fair Labor Coalition, I was in a meeting with the board of trustees, where Richard T. Farmer called us 'union pawns,'" Katko said. "It's that idea that it's a battle, it's a war that we want to avoid."
Students for Staff is a different organization entirely, according to Daney.
"We're not some Marxist group or anything," he said. "The point behind Students for Staff is that we are broad-based ideologically."
Their goal in the upcoming negotiations is to bring together students, workers, faculty and the administration in order to open a dialogue on the issue of a living wage, which the group defines as "the income required for a person working a 40-hour week to afford a basic standard of living - including housing, food, utilities, transportation and health care."
The attitude of all parties is clearly to avoid the hostility and rancor of 2003 in the debate over the new contract.
Carol Hauser, the director of human resources for Miami, said the road ahead will not be easy.
"Research shows that the effect of strikes on employee-union relationships lasts for at least eight years," Hauser said. "We don't want to walk into negotiations with an adversarial attitude, and I've been working with the union to avoid that."
Hauser and the union meet regularly to discuss issues of labor relations.
"I think there's a new and better understanding of each other since that time," said Little, referring to the strike. "Everyone's hopeful for a more genial outcome this time around."
Along with the other members of Students for Staff, Katko and Daney hope to be an instrumental part of that outcome. They are holding an open forum 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Great Room of MacMillan Hall, where they encourage workers, students, faculty and members of the administration to attend.
"What we're asking is not unreasonable," Daney said. "We want to begin a dialogue to find solutions, and we want the administration to be a part of that."
La Botz stresses that issue is not about abstract numbers and pay scales but rather about individuals.
"People have a hard time putting themselves in that position where you have to worry about paying rent, getting food, getting winter clothes," he said. "Growing up, almost every student at Miami had the choice of taking violin lessons or going to the orthodontist. In the end, that's what this is about. Why shouldn't these people be able to give their kids those same things?"
Students for Staff is a different organization entirely, according to Daney.
"We're not some Marxist group or anything," he said. "The point behind Students for Staff is that we are broad-based ideologically."
Their goal in the upcoming negotiations is to bring together students, workers, faculty and the administration in order to open a dialogue on the issue of a living wage, which the group defines as "the income required for a person working a 40-hour week to afford a basic standard of living - including housing, food, utilities, transportation and health care."
The attitude of all parties is clearly to avoid the hostility and rancor of 2003 in the debate over the new contract.
Carol Hauser, the director of human resources for Miami, said the road ahead will not be easy.
"Research shows that the effect of strikes on employee-union relationships lasts for at least eight years," Hauser said. "We don't want to walk into negotiations with an adversarial attitude, and I've been working with the union to avoid that."
Hauser and the union meet regularly to discuss issues of labor relations.
"I think there's a new and better understanding of each other since that time," said Little, referring to the strike. "Everyone's hopeful for a more genial outcome this time around."
Along with the other members of Students for Staff, Katko and Daney hope to be an instrumental part of that outcome. They are holding an open forum 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Great Room of MacMillan Hall, where they encourage workers, students, faculty and members of the administration to attend.
"What we're asking is not unreasonable," Daney said. "We want to begin a dialogue to find solutions, and we want the administration to be a part of that."
La Botz stresses that issue is not about abstract numbers and pay scales but rather about individuals.
"People have a hard time putting themselves in that position where you have to worry about paying rent, getting food, getting winter clothes," he said. "Growing up, almost every student at Miami had the choice of taking violin lessons or going to the orthodontist. In the end, that's what this is about. Why shouldn't these people be able to give their kids those same things?"
