U of R Contract Talks Get Tense

(RNews)
RNEWS (Time-Warner Cable)
September 29, 2007

U OF R CONTRACT TALKS GET TENSE

by Leah George

(Rochester) - Contract negotiations between the University of Rochester and
its service workers union are getting tense.

"It's hard and people are struggling," 1199SEIU Vice Chair Sharon Hale
said.

Hale has worked at U of R's medical center for 25 years.

"We're trying to uplift people. It seem like every time we come to that
table they're trying to do things and changes to bring us back down and we
just can't allow that to happen," Hale said.

"We have to look at this as a total package. We have a finite budget so for
instance if we make a concession on the wages side we have to make that up
on the benefits side," U of R spokeswoman Teri D'Agostino said.

The union says a two tier wage scale that pays new employees at a lower
rate and childcare benefits are sticking points at the bargaining table.

But the union says the biggest source of contention this year is U of R's
request for employees to pay health benefits.

"What they're proposing is just not right. It's not fair. It's not just.
And, we're gonna fight," Hale said.

More than one-third of the unions 1,400 workers live in Rochester's 19th
Ward and Southwest Neighborhoods.

The union says if it accepts what U of R is proposing, than the workers who
live there will suffer the most.

"None of us is making thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars.
We're in the range of $23,000 to $25000. We still have people that have to
work two jobs just to make ends meet," said Hale.

"We're paying a very competitive wage scale for the types of
responsibilities that people have here. We constantly benchmark those to
make sure that we remain competitive. And we provide growth opportunities
for people once they're in the door. So, I guess I reject the argument that
the university in anyway is not helping people to advance economically,"
D'Agostino said.

Because a medical facility is involved the union is bound by law to serve a
10 day notice to the U of R, the federal government and the state before
workers could strike.

"We still gonna wait and see on that," Hale said.