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Federation Headlines
January 03 - July 03

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July 2003

Yale Unions Threaten A 2nd Strike
(Hartford Courant, 7/31/03)
Thousands of unionized workers at Yale University are threatening to strike a second time as students arrive for fall semester if a long-running contract dispute is not settled. Workers claim that wages on the Ivy League campus - New Haven's largest employer - are so low that many are forced to work second jobs and, even after a lifetime of service, work during retirement because of thin pensions.

Yale unions turn up the heat in August
(New Haven Register, 7/31/03)
Unions representing Yale workers are calling for round-the-clock negotiations next month to settle a contract stalemate, but they vowed a late-August walkout if those talks fail. Locals 34 and 35 of the Federation of University Employees on Wednesday announced a strike deadline of Aug. 27, a date that roughly coincides with the return of thousands of students to campus for the start of fall semester.

10-4 Makes Good Buddies
(New Haven Advocate, 7/31/03)
By the time the Rev. David Lee took the stage inside New Haven's Saint Rose of Lima church last week, the basement room had grown heavy with heat and the sweat of 400 people. An hour and half of speakers had testified to what the audience already knew: that illegal immigrants are exploited for their cheap labor, and that since 9/11 authorities have unfairly targeted illegal and legal immigrants alike. Lee, the last speaker on the slate, had to lay out what the sleepy crowd could do to fight back: join the labor/civil-rights crusade of the summer and fall, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride on Oct. 4--aka "10-4."

Hundreds rally for immigrant workers' rights
(New Haven Register, 7/24/03)
About 300 people, most of them local immigrant workers, packed St. Rose of Lima Church in Fair Haven Wednesday to rally for labor rights for immigrants. Dubbed the "Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride," the rally was one of a series planned across the country, including an Oct. 4 rally to be held at the Statue of Liberty.

National Labor Relations Board issues third complaint to Y-NH
(New Haven Register, 7/19/03)
The regional office of the National Labor Relations Board has issued its third complaint against Yale-New Haven Hospital for "interfering" with employees trying to form a union of service workers. John Cotter, assistant regional director of the NLRB for Connecticut, said hospital policies governing "solicitation distribution" are "overly broad and overly restrictive. É They go beyond what would be allowed under the law."

Yale Investments
(San Jose Mercury News, 7/17/03)
Column by Matt Marshall
At a time when the public is demanding more financial disclosure from public university endowments, namely in the area of venture capital investing, private universities have remained relatively smug. But fierce wage negotiations between unions and management at Yale University might change that. A union report titled "Insider Investments among Yale's Top Leadership," to be released today, is noteworthy because it implies conflicts-of-interest on the part of Yale's fund managers. Yale is one of the venture industry's most widely respected investors. Unions say Yale has refused to use any of its spectacular profits to boost employee retirement plans, which is why union representative Antony Dugdale has started asking questions.

Yale, union lock horns over investments
(New Haven Register, 7/17/03)
Union leaders are calling on Yale University to publicly disclose investments in companies owned or managed by trustees or members of the Yale Corporation Investment Committee. The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union plans to release a report today that raises questions about a handful of Yale Endowment investments. "When they do business with a company where a trustee or investment committee member has a management or ownership stake, they should disclose that," said Antony Dugdale, the unionÕs research director.
Read the Report: Insider Investments

Yale workers say ad misleading (in New Haven Register)
Yale's Names (in New Haven Advocate)
We are proud to have been honored recently for our many years of service working at Yale University, but we were surprised to see our names in the Yale advertisement published by the Register claiming that Yale provides "strong job security, good wages, and excellent benefits." We do not believe this to be true. Throughout our years of working at Yale, we have fought and struggled with Yale's administration to force them to provide what little they do give us. Nevertheless, our wages are still too low, we still face retirement into poverty, and Yale is still threatening the future security of our jobs. A constant stream of misleading ads isn't going to change this. It's only going to change when Yale decides to treat us, and all its employees, with respect.
(Signed by 47 long-term Yale employees.)

Plantation Redux
Yale and New Haven's promising new relationship reverts to old form
(New Haven Advocate, 7/16/03)
Yale's managers were fired up. They couldn't take no more. They sent a message to their compadres at the Chamber of Commerce calling for help. Dozens took to the streets. They brought signs. They massed in front of New Haven's City Hall last week. And they marched. What brought them out to protest? New Haven's high poverty? The state of the schools? A broken criminal justice system? Nope. The managers and their comrades picketed on the evening of July 7 to protest New Haven government for being unfair to ... Yale. For picking on ... Yale.

Kessler Move to California 'a great day for Yale'
(New Haven Register, 7/15/03)
Op-Ed by Dr. Henry Miller
The choice of former FDA Commissioner David Kessler as dean of the medical school at the prestigious University of California, San Francisco, is inexplicable. Kessler, for the last six years dean of the Yale Medical School, left the FDA under a cloud of legal impropriety and at Yale was known as the "invisible dean."

Heartless Hospital, Cont'd
How Velma Williams saved her house--& what Yale-New Haven still has to answer for
(New Haven Advocate, 7/10/03)
How evil, how greedy, how cruel can one hospital be? It seemed as though Yale-New Haven Hospital had answered that question--and made amends ... Now comes a new court case involving a 49-year-old library worker named Velma Williams. Williams never owed the hospital money. Yet Yale-New Haven's collection sharks threatened to seize her home anyway, unless she forked over more than $10,000. Which she did. Velma Williams would still be paying money to Yale-New Haven if the students from Yale Law School's legal aid clinic hadn't explained she had rights, and sued the hospital on her behalf.

Ethics ruling sought on Yale vote
(New Haven Register, 7/9/03)
Alderwoman Mae Ola Riddick, D-22, of Dixwell, wants an ethics ruling on whether four colleagues who work for Yale University should have abstained from voting Monday on a proposal to glean more revenue from Yale ... The resolution passed 16-10 and one lawmaker passed. Even if four votes were tossed out, those in favor still would prevail.

A question of taxes in New Haven
(WTNH Channel 8, 7/8/03; watch video)
These are tough budget times everywhere, including at the state capitol and at city halls. Yale says most of this talk is generated by the labor unions it is negotiating with, but prominent state lawmakers from New Haven say Yale should be paying attention.

Yale Loses City Vote On Tax Status
(The Hartford Courant, 7/8/03)
After more than an hour of contentious debate, the city aldermen passed a resolution Monday that seeks to reconsider Yale's special tax-exempt status. The resolution directed the city attorney to consider lobbying state lawmakers to revoke a "super exemption" that only Yale and a few other state schools enjoy.

RALLY AT CITY HALL
Aldermen want Yale to cough up more cash
(New Haven Register, 7/8/03)
After several hours of debate Monday, the Board of Aldermen voted to ask that Yale considerably increase its payments in lieu of taxes to the city. New Haven now receives some 63 percent of those taxes, known as a PILOT, from the state. The aldermen are asking that Yale voluntarily make up the difference. The tally was 16 in favor, 10 opposed and one abstention. Three members did not attend.

VC Disclosure Issues Hit Yale's Campus
(Private Equity Week, 7/7/03)
In a letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, Yale University's employee unions allege that the university violated federal securities law by failing to report its position in some companies controlled or managed by members of its investment committee. While the charges made in the letter focus on a publicly traded Texas oil company, Aviva Petroleum, Yale's pattern of investing with groups tied to Yale's inner circle also taints its $1.84 billion private equity portfolio, says Anthony Dugdale, a research analyst with New Haven, Conn.-based union Federation of Hospital and University Employees.

Don't let unions spoil city-Yale cooperation
(New Haven Register, 7/7/03)
Op-Ed by Stephen Papa
The leadership of Locals 34 and 35 at Yale and their Connecticut Center for a New Economy have joined forces with Alderman Matthew Naclerio for a final piece of mischief before he resigns his seat on Tuesday. Many of us favor a new economy, but it is unlikely to be brought about by the unions' antics of attacking the tax exemption of one of our community's leading nonprofit institutions.

Yale unions threaten strike in September
(New Haven Register, 7/6/03)
If an agreement can't be reached this summer, the Yale unions say they plan to go on strike in September for as long as it takes to get a contract. The walkout, which would be the ninth strike in some 40 years, and the second during this round of bargaining, could last considerably longer than the five-day strike in March, since labor law prevents workers from staging a series of mini-strikes.

New Haven Eyes Yale Tax Status
Alderman Wants City To Revisit University's 'Super' Exemption
(The Hartford Courant, 7/6/03)
Since 1834, Yale and four other state colleges have benefited from an arcane state law that gives them what critics call a "super tax exemption." Like all schools, Yale does not have to pay taxes on buildings used for educational purposes. But with the "super" exemption, it doesn't have to pay taxes on any property that makes less than $6,000 a year, no matter what its purpose. New Haven leaders have tried - and failed - to revoke this exemption before. Now that the city faces another budget crisis, they're at it again.

City cops to work weekend at Y-NH
(New Haven Register, 7/3/03)
The city will assign police to work at Yale-New Haven Hospital this weekend to maintain a secure environment there, now that constables will no longer have police powers. Norman Roth, a senior vice president for administration at Y-NH, said he met with New Haven Police Chief Cisco Ortiz Wednesday who was supportive of helping meet the hospitalÕs needs this holiday weekend.

Constables' status at Y-NH changes Friday
(New Haven Register, 7/2/03)
There will be no more constables at Yale-New Haven Hospital as of Friday after talks between the mayor and hospital officials broke down over developing a process to govern unionizing workers there. The 54 constables, who had their arrest powers revoked in May, will become unarmed security guards after Thursday at midnight.

News Briefs
(The Washington Post, 7/1/03)
Yale University labor unions asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether the school violated federal securities laws by not disclosing an oil-company investment.

June 2003

Trade unions call for Yale investments probe
(Financial Times, 6/30/03)
Yale University is under fire from its trade unions over claims of non-disclosure of, and conflicts of interests between, some of the Ivy League institution's $10.5bn investments. The unions have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Yale violated federal securities laws related to the non-disclosure of investments.
Read the YaleInsider story

Union slams Yale for investing in trustees' firms
(Reuters, 6/30/03)
A labor union on Monday accused Yale University of funneling millions of dollars to companies run by some of the Ivy League institution's trustees and failing to disclose these investments.

Yale will use cleaner fuel at Congress Ave. power plant
(New Haven Register, 6/28/03)
Responding to "a host of factors," Yale University has decided to use lower sulfur fuel in a new boiler at its Sterling Power Plant on Congress Avenue and will amend its application for state approval. Tom Conroy, a spokesman for the university, Friday said the decision to go from No. 6 fuel oil to No. 2 oil was made "recently." "I would say a host of factors and sources of information and deliberations went into the decision, including things we hear from the public," Conroy said. The decision was announced a day after a critical published report on the matter.

Yale's Foul Air
(New Haven Advocate, 6/26/03)
Three brick smokestacks pierce the sky at Yale's Sterling Power Plant on Congress Avenue. Six oil-burning boilers billow odoriferous white smoke into the blue. If the Bulldog has its way, a seventh boiler will add to the pollution the plant creates in the Hill neighborhood--and spew mercury into the already dirty air of an asthma-plagued neighborhood.

Take step to Yale paying city fair share
(New Haven Register, 6/26/03)
By Rick Wolff
On July 7, New Haven's Board of Aldermen will be able to take a major step toward requiring Yale University finally to contribute its fair share toward the financial health of its host city. The board will vote on the "order" that was courageously drafted by Alderman Mathew Naclerio and adopted unanimously last month by the board's Tax Abatement Committee ... This vote by the board comes at a time of crisis. Tax increases are looming for the second year in a row, state and city budget cuts are undermining the public services that all New Haveners depend on in countless ways, and additional layoffs and cutbacks menace on the horizon.
Letter to Editor: Yale parking lots bring in millions, yet aren't taxed
Letter to Editor: Yale student housing pays no property taxes
Letter to Editor: Yale doubles holdings, not its payment
Letter to Editor: Yale Parking, Transit Runs at a Loss

DeStefano: City to run a deficit
(New Haven Register, 6/23/03)
For the first time since he took office almost a decade ago, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. has confirmed that the current fiscal year will end in a budget deficit. DeStefano and finance officials cannot at this time confirm exactly how steep the deficit will be when June 30 rolls around, but projections this spring put it at $2.7 million.

United Auto Workers rep confronts Lufthansa on its North Haven food workersÕ dispute
(Associated Press, 6/19/03)
A representative of United Auto Workers confronted LufthansaÕs chief executive Wednesday over a dispute involving food workers at a subsidiary in North Haven, Conn. UAW has been trying to help organize workers at Chef Solutions, owned by Lufthansa subsidiary LSG Sky Chefs USA, since 2001.

Some aldermen play hooky
(New Haven Register Editorial, 6/19/03)
If showing up is half the battle, most of the city's aldermen are doing their job well. Some, however, have spotty attendance records that have left their wards without representation at meetings ... If most aldermen can be found at most meetings, some are more likely to be among the missing. Hazelann Woodell and Mae Ola Riddick's attendance both dropped from 67 percent in 2002 to 60 percent this year.

College payouts seen pressuring Yale situation
(New Haven Register, 6/10/03)
The success of Providence, R.I., in extracting voluntary payments from private colleges in that city could put more pressure on Yale University to increase its annual payment to New Haven, according to some observers.

Taming Hospital Billing
Lawmakers Push Legislation to Restrain Aggressive Collection Against Uninsured
(Wall St Journal, 6/10/03)
In Connecticut, Sen. Martin Looney, a Democrat from New Haven, was able to push through his bill after weeks of negotiation. In addition to enacting practical remedies -- such as slashing to 5% the onerous 10% interest rate hospitals are allowed to charge on unpaid bills -- the Connecticut measure helps codify a principle that supporters say had gotten lost in recent years: That hospital bills are by nature different from other consumer debt -- such as bills for washing machines -- because most patients didn't choose to incur them.

At Hospitals, a Cushion for the Poor
(New York Times, 6/8/03)
In January of this year, the Connecticut Center for a New Economy, a nonprofit anti-poverty organization that focuses on issues related to the urban working poor, published a report by a researcher from the New England Health Care Employees Union District 1199, which represents some workers at the hospital. The report picked apart Yale-New Haven's use of its free-bed funds.

Nonprofits asked to dip into coffers
(New Haven Register, 6/8/03)
Like Beantown to the north, New Haven is looking to routinely negotiate with its larger nonprofits to see what payments in lieu of taxes they might make. Boston usually negotiates these PILOTs when the nonprofit needs zoning approval or is conducting some other business with the city.

Y-NH nurse sues hospital over ouster
S uit claims forced resignation meant to silence her
(New Haven Register, 6/7/03)
A veteran nurse is suing Yale-New Haven Hospital claiming she was fired for reporting that a surgeon had a temper tantrum while his patient lay bleeding. The nurse, Ellen Cappiello, contends that Yale-New Haven accused her of misconduct to ensure her silence during an important upcoming hospital inspection.

Colleges to pay millions to capitol city
The four major colleges and universities reach a 20-year agreement with Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline
(Providence Journal, 6/6/03)
In a precedent-setting agreement, the four major tax-exempt colleges in Providence -- Brown University, Providence College, Johnson & Wales University and the Rhode Island School of Design -- agreed for the first time yesterday to make voluntary cash payments to help finance city services. The deal will give Providence nearly $50 million over the next 20 years, and roughly $3.9 million for each of the next four years.

Yale law clinic may sue Y-NH on behalf of debtors
(New Haven Register, 6/5/03)
The legal clinic at the Yale Law School plans to file a class-action suit if Yale-New Haven Hospital fails to set up a mechanism to individually review its thousands of debtor accounts for improprieties. Prof. Robert Solomon said this week the Jerome Frank Legal Services Organization has accepted five debtors as clients to date and he expects that number to increase dramatically in the next few weeks.

Afro-American scholarÕs family suing Yale over royalties
(New Haven Register, 6/2/03)
Yale University is being sued for allegedly failing to pay copyright royalties to a pioneering African-American history scholar. John Blassingame Jr. of New Haven, son of the late John Blassingame, is charging that Yale reneged on an agreement to pay his father 6 percent of the earnings of "The Frederick Douglass Papers" from 1979 to 1999.

May 2003

Yale unions picket during alumni gathering
(New Haven Register, 5/31/03)
The line of chanting pickets looked vaguely familiar to Yale University alumnus Russell Grosse. HeÕs from the class of 1978, the year of the dining hall strike. "Yale had labor-management problems since I was in school," he said, standing on the university side of a blue plastic barrier that separated marchers from alumni. "When we were here, there was another strike." Students cooked their own meals when the cafeteria workers walked out. Likewise, Sarah Milburn could have been sipping wine and nibbling hors dÕoeuvres but instead watched the spectacle on High Street. "This is much more interesting," said Milburn, who also graduated in 1978 and is a union supporter. Her father threatened to withhold her second-term tuition if they didnÕt settle. "I love my school very much and I would like to see them fix this," she said.

At Bush Bash, The Dekes Come In Like a Lamb
President's '68 Frat Brothers Party Hardly at White House
(Washington Post, 5/30/03)
For two years and four months, America waited, patiently, for this moment: the day George W. Bush's old fraternity brothers would party at the White House ... But what's the suspense in seeing what crazy things Strobe Talbott will do at a White House party? And classmate Oliver Stone wasn't expected to show up. No, the focus was on the men of Delta Kappa Epsilon. "Doonesbury" this week has portrayed Bush and roommates Stinky, Gopher, Kegger and Droopy triumphing on the White House lawn over the "hippie snobs" in their class. In the cartoon version, the singing, drunken Deke brothers celebrate how "our rush chairman invaded Iraq" -- until Bush orders the Secret Service to isolate them.

Bill takes on hospital collection practices
(New Haven Register, 5/29/03)
The state Senate unanimously approved a bill Wednesday to rein in what critics say was overly aggressive collection methods on overdue hospital bills, particularly by Yale-New Haven Hospital. "I think that this bill deals with a glaring problem regarding certain collection practices," Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said. "No one volunteers to incur this kind of debt."
Letter to the Editor: Y-NH problems not financial, but moral
Letter to the Editor: 'Their tactics take away one's dignity'
Letter to the Editor: Y-NH should be making a profit

Pinched by budget cuts, Somerville turns to nonprofits
Tufts, others asked for more
(Boston Globe, 5/29/03)
Citing ''grim fiscal times'' and the prospect of Police and Fire department layoffs, Somerville Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay has asked for a total of $2 million in voluntary payments from local nonprofit groups that pay no property tax. Last week the city sent letters to 214 churches, hospitals, charities, and other institutions legally exempt from city taxes. By far the largest target is Tufts University, which owns more than 3 percent of Somerville's taxable land, according to city officials, but legally pays no taxes to the city.

CityÕs tax reimbursement payments expected to increase
(New Haven Register, 5/25/03)
State payments in lieu of taxes to the city are expected to increase next year, even though the percentage of reimbursement will shrink due to state budget problems.

YaleÕs class of Õ68 plans grand old reunion party graduation weekend
(New Haven Register, 5/25/03)
For just $300, you and your significant other can get together for some above average picnic fare with more than 1,000 acquaintances to shoot the breeze about old times. "ItÕs just a gathering of friends at the home of one of the members of our group. The member just happens to be the president and the location is the White House," said James Latimer, as he tried to put the 35th reunion of YaleÕs Class of 1968 in perspective.

Halle Sez: Let's Do It, Too
(New Haven Advocate, 5/22/03)
A fresh look at Yale University's tax burden on New Haven is producing new insights. New Haven's Board of Alderman has begun considering a proposal by Alderman Matthew Naclerio to explore how cash-poor New Haven can get more money out of the $10.5-billion tax-exempt corporation. Board members learned that Watertown, Mass., managed to get Harvard University to agree to a $480 million settlement after Harvard purchased, and removed from tax rolls, a former shopping mall--a feat beyond the wildest dreams of New Haven's Yale-cowed government.

350 urge Yale to dig deeper, pay more to city
(New Haven Register, 5/21/03)
About 350 residents Tuesday came out in support of encouraging Yale to increase its annual voluntary payments to the city and to also challenge a "super-tax exemption" in state statutes that applies to Yale University and a handful of other colleges in the state.

Alderman pushing bill to poke Yale in the pocketbook
(New Haven Register, 5/20/03)
Dormant town-gown tensions are expected to flare tonight as the once-a-decade issue of pushing Yale University for more tax revenue gets a hearing before the cityÕs aldermen.

Y-NH harsh bill collection policy not norm
(New Haven Register, 5/18/03)
Letter to the Editor, by Grace Rollins
The editorial of May 11 was mistaken to suggest that that Yale-New Haven HospitalÕs harsh collection policy is typical of the hospital industry. Few, if any, other nonprofit hospitals in Connecticut use lawsuits and liens on homes as collection tactics with the frequency that Yale-New Haven does. For example in 2001, the Hospital of St. Raphael put seven new liens on New Haven homes to Yale-New HavenÕs 134.

Hub Would Tax the Tax-Exempt
(Boston Globe, 5/17/03)
Hoping to reap millions for the city's anemic budget, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is mounting a campaign to pressure Harvard University and scores of other tax-exempt institutions for larger ''payments in lieu of taxes.'' Unlike its usual practice of waiting for nonprofits to come before the city for zoning approval or other business before negotiating the voluntary payments, officials have decided to pursue hospitals, universities, and other institutions identified as not paying enough.

Good News Happens
(New Haven Advocate, 5/15/03)
They tried ignoring the problem. That worked for a while. Then it didn't. Next they tried denying the problem. They fudged the facts. They attacked the motives of people calling attention to the problem. That didn't work, either. So, last week, Yale-New Haven Hospital tried a new approach. It did the right thing.

Hospital must collect its bills
(New Haven Register Editorial, 5/11/03)
The hospital's operating margin, its revenue vs. expenses, was only 1.1 percent in 2001. If the hospital were a for-profit business, the board of directors would fire the management. With such a small operating margin, the hospital is obligated to collect and collective aggressively the money it is owed.
Letter to the Editor in Response

Yale Hospital Plans to Halt Foreclosure for Bill Collection
(New York Times, 5/9/03)
Yale-New Haven Hospital announced today that it would stop using foreclosure on homes as a way of collecting patients' bills and would erase $84,000 owed by 170 patients with bills at least five years old.

Coalition urges Y-NH to go a step further and cancel all patient debts
(New Haven Register, 5/9/03)
Borrowing from a biblical tradition, city clergy Thursday asked Yale-New Haven Hospital to institute "a year of jubilee" and wipe the slate clean for people who are in debt to the hospital.

Yale makes changes but criticism continues
(WTNH Channel 8, 5/8/03; Watch the Video)
Some changes are taking place at Yale-New Haven Hospital. They're trying make the billing and collection process more user friendly. But the sweeping changes come amidst some harsh criticism and a state lawsuit. "When I came here I was three-quarters dead and they brought me back to life," says former patient Judy Lundberg, "but between the two of them they're trying to destroy me financially, spiritually and emotionally."

Yale-New Haven points the finger
(New Haven Advocate, 5/8/03)
The hospital is under fire for hounding and destroying the lives of poor people who can't afford their medical bills. It can't win the sympathies of people who hear about its aggressive filing of liens and foreclosure suits on debtors' homes, charging impoverished patients 10 percent interest. Especially when people learn that other hospitals here aren't as aggressive. Yale-New Haven comes across like a knee-breaking loan shark. So Yale-New Haven has responded by revealing a "secret"--the union's behind this!

Yale's Taxes, Cont'd
(New Haven Advocate, 5/8/03)
This week New Haven's politicians embark on a once-a-decade quest: examining the biggest piggybank in their midst--Yale University, currently worth $10.5 billion. Yale's the city's largest taxpayer. And its biggest non-taxpayer, thanks to its bevy of tax breaks, ranging from the exemptions all not-for-profits receive to a special, outdated break enacted in 1834 by the state legislature.

The "Yes But No" Vote
Why Yale's grad student union drive suffered a setback
(New Haven Advocate, 5/8/03)
It was supposed to be a big day for the drive to unionize Yale graduate students who teach undergraduate courses. All students would be invited to cast secret ballots on whether to have a group called GESO represent them. It wasn't an official, government-run election. But the League of Women Voters was monitoring it. And everyone expected a resounding "yes" vote.

Proposal would protect those who owe medical bills
(New Haven Register, 5/8/03)
A sweeping bill that would provide new consumer protections for people who owe medical bills was approved by the Judiciary Committee this week 24-13, mainly along party lines. Sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, it would give courts discretion over whether to order interest on medical debt when a judgment is filed against the consumer. The interest is now a mandatory 10 percent.

Yale-NH Hospital alters billing procedures
(New Haven Register, 5/8/03)
Yale-New Haven Hospital has announced it is voluntarily revising its billing practices and, among other things, will not initiate foreclosure proceedings as a means of clearing a debt. It is also closing 170 accounts more than five years old and valued at $84,000, and is reviewing the remaining 9,900 collection accounts.

Y-NH agrees to lower interest rate on patients' debts
(New Haven Register, 5/4/03)
Major legislation that would change the "uncompensated care" subsidy formula for hospitals has died in the General Assembly's Appropriations Committee, but it could be resurrected as an amendment to another bill. A separate bill however that would reduce the interest rate on medical debt is advancing and at least one hospital, Yale-New Haven, says it agrees that the current 10 percent rate is too high.

Eggheads Unite
(New York Times Sunday Magazine, 5/4/03)
Michael Janson, a tall, well-mannered University of Pennsylvania doctoral student, seethes about the modern university: beholden to corporate donors, enthralled by corporate-management strategies, all too willing to exploit the workers -- including its own graduate students -- who make the place run. With a gracious, raised-right humility in his brown eyes, permanent-press khakis and a fashion-free haircut, Janson makes an unlikely radical: he looks like someone whose life will work out fine if he just keeps showing up. But for more than two years, Janson, a budding political scientist, has played David to the University of Pennsylvania's Goliath.

Tenet, nurses agree on alliance
(Contra Costa Times, 5/3/03)
The Service Employees International Union and embattled Tenet Healthcare Corp., once the target of harsh criticism by the union, have agreed to an alliance that will boost wages as much as 29 percent over the next four years and guarantees nonunion workers similar terms if they join SEIU or another union. Similar to other partnerships between the SEIU and other hospital networks including Kaiser Permanente, the agreement also sets up a framework for giving health care workers a stronger voice in patient care issues.

City property liens center of hospital dispute
(New Haven Register, Front Page, 5/2/03)
The setting was a school, but it felt like a church revival meeting, as the uninsured testified Thursday about struggling to pay medical debt and Yale-New Haven Hospital was called on to "repent" and return to its original mission as a community hospital. Some 500 people listened and jumped to their feet when union leaders and clergy demanded that the hospital forgive "unjust" debt and remove the liens placed on properties throughout the city.

Graduate Students Reject Union in Yale Vote
(New York Times, 5/2/03)
The group seeking to unionize 2,100 Yale University graduate students acted as if Wednesday's poll of student sentiment would be a slam dunk. Its leaders were planning to seize on the results to pressure Yale to grant union recognition to the graduate students.

Yale unions reject pact; grad students in cliffhanger
(New Haven Register, 5/1/03)
The unions representing some 4,000 workers at Yale sent a clear message Wednesday to the university that they are unhappy with its proposed 10-year contract, while graduate students in a separate vote were almost evenly split over unionizing.
Letter to Editor: Yale must rely on insults

April 2003

No NLRB in our Yale tradition
By Bob Proto, President of Local 35
(YaleInsider, April 2003)
In 1941 and 1955, Yale agreed to a voluntary election process to create Local 35, without the NLRB. Why not do the same for GESO?

Yale Students Set for Vote on Union
(New York Times, 4/30/03)
The 12-year effort to unionize the more than 2,000 graduate students at Yale will take an unusual turn today when students vote in a nonbinding election on whether to join a union. With union advocates voicing confidence that they will win, the election could increase tensions because university officials insist that they will not honor the results of the vote.

GESO, Local 34 await votes
Local 34 weighs University contract offer
(Yale Daily News, 4/30/03)
Members of Local 34 and the Graduate Employees and Students Organization will announce the results of their respective votes on Yale's current contract offer and support for graduate student unionization tonight at 8 p.m. outside Woodbridge Hall. Local 34, which represents 2,800 clerical and technical workers, will hold a secret ballot vote on the University's current 10-year contract offer at their 5:30 p.m. membership meeting. GESO will gauge support for a teaching and research assistant union in a secret ballot vote from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today.

Despite illegitimacy, vote in GESO 'vote' today
(Yale Daily News Editorial, 4/30/03)
The Graduate Employees and Students Organization, in a highly suspect effort to demonstrate its legitimacy, has organized a vote for today that is both dubious in its planning and deeply troubling in its aims ... We urge all graduate students to participate nevertheless -- and use it as an opportunity to show how graduate students actually feel.

Graduate and Student Employees Organizing facing challenge
(New Haven Registerl, 4/29/03)
A group of Yale graduate students organized within the last week to fight an established group on campus that is seeking to represent them in a union. The new group, At What Cost, is urging students to vote against Graduate and Student Employees Organizing, claiming its alleged tactics are coercive. Last week GESO, after Yale President Richard C. Levin turned down yet another request to establish a process for union recognition, announced it would hold a secret ballot election on the issue on Wednesday.

GESO and Local 34 set to take secret votes
(Yale Herald, 4/25/03)
Both Local 34 and the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO) will be holding a secret ballot vote next Wednesday. Local 34 will be voting on the most recent contract offer made by the University. GESO will be holding a vote overseen by the League of Women Voters in order to determine if graduate students are in favor of unionization.

Local 34 to vote on Yale contract offer
Union may reject 10-year contract proposal
(Yale Daily News, 4/24/03)
Local 34 members will hold a secret ballot vote April 30 on the 10-year contract offer Yale made last month, union leaders said. The 2,800 members of Local 34, the University's clerical and technical union, will vote on the University's latest 10-year contract proposal, which union negotiators rejected, next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Woolsey Hall. Local 34 President Laura Smith said she is confident members will vote against the University's proposal.

Local 34 clerical workers set vote on proposed 10-year Yale contract
(New Haven Registerl, 4/23/03)
Clerical workers in Local 34 will take a vote April 30 on the proposed 10-year contract with Yale University, a pact its negotiating committee has recommended it reject. The unionÕs president, Laura Smith, said she is confident the almost 2,000 members will turn down the offer.

Yale Graduate Students Will Be Polled on Union
(New York Times, 4/22/03)
The organization seeking to unionize more than 2,100 graduate teaching assistants and researchers at Yale announced yesterday that it would hold a secret-ballot election on April 30 to determine whether the university's graduate students want a union.
Click here to view GESO Election Site

GESO to take vote on unionization
Levin says unions should use NLRB protocol
(Yale Daily News, 4/22/03)
The Graduate Employees and Students Organization will hold a secret ballot vote April 30 to determine whether teaching and research assistants support unionization, GESO leaders said Monday.

New contracts unlikely before summer
Both Yale, unions agree settlement is not in near future
(Yale Daily News, 4/15/03)
After more than 14 months of negotiations, union and University leaders said they are not optimistic about settling contracts by Commencement. Yale and union leaders both said the progress of talks depends on the other side making the next move.

'Village' rises on Beinecke
UOC members erect replicas of buildings to promote a better way
(Yale Daily News, 4/15/03)
With 900 prospective students on campus for Yale's Bulldog Days program, members of the Undergraduate Organizing Committee erected a "village" of tents and wood replicas of Yale buildings on Beinecke Plaza Monday, urging University administrators to find a "better way" of settling contracts for union members.

GESO asks Yale for election
(Yale Daily News, 4/14/03)
Members of the Graduate Employees and Students Organization asked for a secret ballot election Sunday to determine whether Yale graduate students can form a union.
Click here to view GESO letter to Levin

Yale president marks 10th year at Ivy League school
(Associated Press, 4/13/03)
When Richard C. Levin was appointed Yale University's president 10 years ago, the 300-year-old school was in danger of losing its place among the elite universities in the country ... His agenda was to restore the campus, beef up the study of the sciences, improve Yale's relationship with the city and heal bitterly divisive labor relations.

The Wolf at the Door Was the Hospital
(The Wall Street Journal, 4/9/03)
Letters to the Editor
"How can a not-for-profit hospital (Yale-New Haven) get away with charging 10% interest on bills due? I guess that's a question for my congressperson. It seems inflation plus a small (small!) add-on for handling would be more appropriate. This is a hospital, not a bank." -- Carol May, Illinois
"Ms. Lagnado and the Journal in general have been so even-keeled on issues regarding health care. I liked the fact that the article was not a "beat up the hospital" piece but simply reflected Mr. White's side -- he had paid almost all the original bill -- as well as showing the need for common sense in debt collection."-- Patrick Weldon, Georgia

Profs want 'fair' recognition for workers
(Yale Daily News, 4/9/03)
Fifty-one faculty members urged administrators in a petition Tuesday to negotiate a fair process of recognition for GESO members and workers at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Click here to view Yale Faculty Petition

Levin's presidency is turning 10: Where are we now?
(Yale Daily News, 4/9/03)
I have news -- though it isn't really news -- for Levin. With the exception of a phenomenal upsurge in labor and community organizing, New Haven is not in a renaissance.

The hospital is menacing its poorest patients:
What does Levin have to say?
(Yale Daily News, 4/8/03)
A scandal has been engulfing Yale-New Haven Hospital, garnering two weighty Wall Street Journal articles and numerous headlines in the New Haven Register, Hartford Courant, Connecticut Post and local TV news, but surprisingly little here in the eye of the storm.

Clergy side with unions at Yale
(New Haven Register, 4/2/03)
A group of Catholic priests are weighing in on the issue of organizing workers at Yale University. In a letter to Yale President Richard C. Levin, 23 clergy from the New Haven area said, "We hope and expect that Yale will recognize the right of graduates students and hospital workers to have a union."

Labor talks see no new proposals
Sides meet for first time since new offers were made
(Yale Daily News, 4/2/03)
In the first bargaining session after both sides offered new contract proposals last week, Yale and union negotiators made no changes to their respective proposals Tuesday. They will continue their 14th month of bargaining today and will continue reviewing proposals, leaders said.

After 20 Years and $16,000, A Hospital Debt Is Canceled
Quinton White Gets New-Found Freedom From Crushing, 20-Year Debt to Hospital
(Wall Street Journal, 4/1/03)
Wearing a pair of royal-blue silk pajamas, Quinton White is sitting in bed, flipping through Paris guidebooks and reveling in his new-found freedom from a crushing, 20-year hospital debt. Yale-New Haven Hospital, the primary teaching hospital for Yale University's medical school, has told the 77-year-old former dry-cleaning worker that it will no longer require him to pay his nearly $40,000 obligation.

March 2003

Union Drive at Montefiore Could Be Labor Landmark
(New York Times, 3/31/03)
Many residents and interns, the hospital's doctors-in-training, say the pressure to do more with less is compromising their medical education and patient care, and they are trying to unionize, still an extreme rarity in American hospitals.

Negotiations, not rhetoric, needed
(Yale Herald, 3/28/03)
Not only did the Administration pretentiously offer a contract that is essentially the same as the contract that was offered which led to the strike in the first place, Levin wrote an email to Yale faculty and staff stating the "futility" of winning by struggle. I felt disheartened. His email was an insult to the entire Yale community.

Ballot set for 2003 Corporation race
Three alumni will run to replace Carson
(Yale Daily News, 3/28/03)
One year after the most controversial Yale Corporation race in University history, Yale officials said they expect this year's race -- between two health care officials and one lawyer -- will be a traditional, low-key election.

Naclerio vs. Old Eli, Round 2
(New Haven Advocate, 3/27/03)
Matthew Naclerio, an alderman from New Haven's East Shore, has a knack for getting under thet skin of mighty Yale--and testing the city's political independence of its largest employer. His latest test comes in the form of a resolution he introduced last week to the Board of Aldermen, calling for Yale to do more for New Haven.

Yale unions want consultant to return
(New Haven Register, 3/27/03)
The Yale unions Wednesday asked the university to invite back a labor-management consultant to help the parties reach an agreement. Also, Local 34 and Local 35 slightly modified their wage proposals and said YaleÕs offer represented "virtually the same proposals that led to a strike by union members earlier this month."

Aldermanic committee begins work on Yale labor relations
(Yale Daily News, 3/27/03)
The special ad-hoc committee of the Board of Aldermen created to meet with President Richard Levin and Yale union leaders to discuss the contentious history of University labor relations decided on its first action Wednesday night.

Unions make new offer in negotiations
University says reduced offer still unrealistic
(Yale Daily News, 3/27/03)
Two days after Yale put forth a new 10-year contract offer, the unions made a new proposal outlining four-year contracts. Locals 34 and 35, also called for Yale President Richard Levin to come to the bargaining table and for the two sides to bring back labor-management consultant John Stepp of the Washington, D.C.-based firm Restructuring Associates Inc.

Yale union leaders oppose latest offer
(New Haven Register, 3/26/03)
Unions at Yale Tuesday said the university's latest contract proposal "offers us ... 10 years to fall behind."

Seeking Labor Peace, Yale Offers 2 Unions a 10-Year Pact
(New York Times, 3/25/03)
Yale University made an unusual contract proposal yesterday in an effort to ensure a decade of labor peace, offering its two main unions a 10-year agreement that would provide many workers raises of nearly 50 percent over that period. But the unions representing Yale's clerical, technical and service workers criticized the proposal, saying it would not increase pensions enough or ensure job security for many workers.

Yale offers 10-year deal to 4,000 union workers
(New Haven Register, 3/25/03)
Yale President Richard C. Levin Monday offered a 10-year contract to the 4,000 unionized workers at the university and suggested the parties use the next decade to improve their relationship.

Yale proposes 10-year contracts
(Yale Daily News, 3/25/03)
Yale proposed new 10-year contracts for its two largest unions Monday, marking the University's first new offer since a walkout earlier this month. Union leaders expressed concern that 10-year contracts would diminish union influence within the University but said they were pleased the University had made a new offer.

Unions should accept Yale's contract offer
(Yale Daily News Editorial, 3/25/03)
Ten years is a long time to go without the possibility of adjusting contracts -- particularly given that most union contracts at Yale over the last 35 years have been for three or four years ... But despite uncertainties over the length of the contract, the unions would be well-served to accept Yale's contract offer. In the context of an ailing national economy and a state where many workers have faced layoffs and givebacks, Yale's contract offers stand out by offering substantial raises and high levels of job security. The University proposes to increase pensions between 14 and 19 percent, which is a reasonable increase, though not an outstandingly generous one.

Unions, University resume negotiations
Locals 34 and 35 will not strike this week
(Yale Daily News, 3/24/03)
Despite earlier threats of another strike after spring break, Yale workers and graduate students will not strike this week. Union and Yale negotiators will continue bargaining today, and a proposal is expected from Yale negotiators, union leaders said.

Yale unions put contracts ahead of organizing
(New Haven Register, 3/24/03)
With negotiations scheduled to resume today, YaleÕs unions are willing to settle contracts before separate organizing drives are satisfied. The decision, according to union officials, is expected to make a settlement more likely.

Airport Blues
At Bradley, food workers might lose their jobs, as McDonald's looms
(Hartford Advocate, 3/20/03)
Luna and her co-workers at Bradley's food service outlets are worried they may not have their jobs for much longer. A new terminal is opening this year. McDonald's Corporation will operate the new concessions, according to a deal with the state Department of Transportation. Host Marriott runs all current food operations, but next year those locations will switch over to McDonalds, too.

'Free bed' reforms sought
(New Haven Register, 3/19/03)
Renee Trotman, 35, said she had to decide between spending money on food or the rent after her pay was attached for an $11,000 debt at Yale-New Haven Hospital she had no idea she owed. Trotman of Hamden, told her story Tuesday at a press conference held by state Sen. Martin Looney, D-New Haven, the state Senate majority leader, who is supporting reforms of the use of hospital "free bed funds."
Letter to Editor: Double-crossing charitable donors is standard practice

Alderman wants Yale to pay up
(New Haven Register, 3/19/03)
East Shore Alderman Matt Naclerio, D-17, wants Yale University to replenish voluntarily $12.5 million the city loses on tax-exempt, real and personal properties after state reimbursement. Naclerio has submitted a proposed order to board President Jorge Perez, D-5, of the Hill, that would direct the tax assessor to quantify lost tax revenue each year and submit the figures to Yale. It also calls for directing the corporation counsel to research the "feasibility" of seeking a repeal, by the state legislature, of YaleÕs tax-exempt status, and that of "other such wealthy, non-profit tax-exempt institutions that are fully capable of paying their fair share for the vital city services that they receive."

Yale might try telling truth about issues
(New Haven Register, 3/19/03)
Letter to the Editor by Justen Ruben
How can Yale continue to claim that unionization among graduate students and hospital workers is holding up contract talks? The unions have repeatedly signaled their displeasure with Yale's wage, pension, and job security proposals. They offered to submit all these issues Ñ but not GESO and the hospital organizing Ñ to binding arbitration, which would have precluded a strike.

Three steps to ending Yale's labor stalemate
(New Haven Register, 3/19/03)
Op-Ed by Prof. David Cameron
Picket lines, marches, demonstrations, speeches by Jesse Jackson, Andrew Stern, and John Sweeney Ñ all the usual panoply of a strike at Yale was once again in evidence earlier this month, emblematic of the failure of the university and its unions to agree on new contracts after more than a year of bargaining.

Unions keep pressure on Yale
(New Haven-WTNH Channel 8, 3/14/03 6:15 PM)
Watch the Video
Three days of negotiations have yielded no sign of a contract for hundreds of Yale union workers. But they are stepping up the pressure on university president Richard Levin to sit down at the bargaining table.

Yale contract talks on hold
(AP Wire, 3/14/03)
Contract talks between Yale University administrators and union representatives ended the week without resolution, and no new negotiations are scheduled for next week.

GESO's Week
(New Haven Advocate, 3/14/03)
Yale has always gambled that its union members would never support graduate students, who receive teaching stipends while they study, as "workers" worthy of going on strike. But last week the tables were turned. It was the graduate students who went on strike to support the office workers and custodians. GESO members not only walked the lines and canceled their classes. They also figured prominently on the stages of exuberant daily rallies that occurred in freezing cold, in a downpour, and in a snowstorm.

Here They Go Again
Yale U. continues its pattern of labor woes
(Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/14/03)
The chants go up from all around the campus. "No contract. No peace. No justice. No peace." The horns honk in support. The picketers walk and whistle and gab. They wear simple signs that say "On Strike." On some, they've added small stickers that read, "Again!" A few, like soldiers pinning on battle ribbons, have multiple badges: "Again!" "Again!" "Again!" ... Here, graduate students remember the grade strike of 1995, when the teaching assistants refused to turn in grades. Clerical workers recall the long organizing battles in 1984 when they sought to unionize. Everyone who was around remembers back in '77 when the garbage piled up in dormitory hallways during a 13-week strike. The old-timers at the physical plant remember 1974 and 1971 and maybe even 1968. Finally, last week, in the latest chapter of this sad history, as many as 4,000 workers -- secretaries, custodians, dining-hall staff, and teaching assistants -- walked off the job for a planned five-day strike.

Twenty Years and Still Paying
Jeanette White Is Long Dead But Her Hospital Bill Lives On
(Wall Street Journal, 3/13/03)
Quinton White lies in bed at his home in Bridgeport, Conn., suffering from kidney ailments and the aftereffects of a heart attack and dreaming of a trip to Paris, which he has seen only in the movies. But for Mr. White, a retired dry-cleaning worker, seeing Europe is probably as likely as a trip to the moon. In addition to his health troubles, the 77-year-old is strapped with nearly $40,000 of debt. He owes the money to Yale-New Haven Hospital, a distinguished not-for-profit facility where his wife, Jeanette, was treated 20 years ago. Mrs. White died in 1993, but her debt lives on, growing like her cancer because of the 10% interest charged on her original $18,740 bill. Back in 1983, the hospital's lawyer got a lien on the Whites' house, and in 1996 nearly cleaned out Mr. White's bank account.

Sharp Words For Yale Grad Students' Strike
(Hartford Courant, 3/9/03)
They attend the same prestigious university and walk the same city streets to class. They sip soy lattes at the same coffeehouses and sit next to one another in the dark at York Square Cinema. But the only time that most graduate and undergraduate students enrolled at Yale University actually interact is when they come together for weekly science labs or discussion groups, called sections, that are led by graduate teaching assistants.

Nice Place to Study, but I wouldn't want to work there
(New York Times, 3/7/03)
Op-Ed by Corey Robin
Harvard and Yale have long been rivals, in sports and academics as well as in prestige. But when it comes to labor strife, Yale's got Harvard beat.

A Living Wage in New Haven
Yale's employees are correct to strike; Yale's administration should meet their demands
(Harvard Crimson Editorial, 3/7/03)
The breadth of involvement in the strike is quite impressive. The workers are showing true solidarity and commitment by striking together--spanning different unions and job types, crossing language barriers. But the unions on strike are indeed involved in similar fights for respect and recognition from a school intent to nickel and dime its employees. This coalition of workers, along with the support of students and the community, poses a powerful impetus for change among YaleÕs administration.

At Yale, Unions Sticking Together
(Harvard Crimson, 3/7/03)
As Yale University students pack their bags and head home for spring break today, workers will return to the picket lines for the fifth day in a row. Though the strike will not continue during the schoolÕs two-week vacation, the university and its two largest unions will return to the bargaining table next Tuesday.

Yale strike continues for 4th day
(New Haven Register, 3/7/03)
Religion Professor Cornel West fired up several hundred snow-covered striking Yale workers and graduate students Thursday, telling them "you are the leaders we have been looking for" to enlighten Yale about the needs of working people.

The Plight Of The Uninsured
Health Care Cause Has Plenty Of Support; The Question Is, What To Do?
(Hartford Courant, 3/7/03)
Jose Pena's first trip to a New Haven hospital was for an emergency appendectomy. He had to return later to get treatment for an infection. The two visits left Pena with $10,000 in bills and no way to pay them, because he was uninsured. "There's no way I could afford that," said Pena, who is 29 now and works at a factory in Branford. He will describe his situation at a public meeting Monday evening in New Haven, part of a massive weeklong campaign to build support for covering the nation's 41 million uninsured people. The number includes about 332,000 in Connecticut.

Graduate student unions can work, and they do
Op-Ed by Yale alumnus Carl Levine
(Yale Daily News, 3/7/03)
As winter winds down, filling the streets of New Haven with bitter winds and cold pre-spring showers, the streets of New Haven are also filled with striking Yale employees. The reactions which the strike evokes in Yale students are varied.
Letter to Editor: The Privilege of Being a Yale Graduate Student
Letter to Editor: The Difficulty for professional School students to "put food on the table"

Yale Oxymoron: Labor Relations
(New York Times, 3/6/03)
Yale University is being rocked by its eighth strike since 1968, and Ron Altieri, an electrician at the university for 27 years, spoke for many workers when he sought to explain Yale's unusually rancorous labor history. "They're such an elitist institution," he said. "They just look down at the workers. They can't come to terms with looking at their unions as an equal."

Bringing an end to this strike: easy as 1-2-3
Op-Ed by Yale Professor David Cameron
(Yale Daily News, 3/5/03)
Picket lines, marches, demonstrations, speeches by Jesse Jackson, Dennis Rivera, and John Sweeney -- all the usual panoply of a strike at Yale is again in evidence this week, emblematic of the failure of the University and locals 34 and 35 to agree on a new contract after more than a year of bargaining.

On Second Day, Yale Strike Strong
Huge multi-union work stoppage does not keep students from class
(Harvard Crimson, 3/5/03)
Continuing one of largest university labor stoppages in history, thousands of YaleÕs unionized employees took to the streets yesterday for the second day. Buoyed by warmer weather, yesterdayÕs thousand-plus turnout on the picket lines was at least as large as MondayÕs, according to students and union organizers.

Unions draw support from politicians
Local, state-level Democrats rally, write letters
(Yale Daily News, 3/5/03)
While many Yale students have attempted to remain neutral during this week's strikes, few New Haven politicians have kept silent on the labor dispute. Many Democratic public officials have publicly expressed support for the unions -- and some even joined workers in protests -- while calling for an end to the labor dispute. At a rally Monday, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro marched to College Street with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and joined Jackson on the podium.

Hospital workers rally for unionization rights
(Yale Daily News, 3/5/03)
More than 1,000 union members and supporters called on Yale and Yale-New Haven Hospital to settle contracts and respect hospital workers' right to unionize during a rally on the medical school campus Tuesday.

Yale's Labor Troubles Deepen as Thousands Go on Strike
(New York Times, 3/4/03)
Thousands of janitors, secretaries, dining hall workers and graduate teaching assistants went on strike today against Yale University, shutting its dining halls and forcing the cancellation of many classes. It was one of the broadest walkouts ever on a university campus, and the eighth at Yale since 1968, reinforcing Yale's reputation as having by far the worst record of labor tension of any university in the nation.

Yale Uses Harvard As Standard for Workers' Wages
(Harvard Crimson, 3/4/03)
As courses go untaught and meals remain unserved at Yale University due to a campus-wide strike of thousands of employees, business continues as usual at Harvard ... According to union representatives at both schools, Yale's labor problems far surpass Harvard's -- a fact they attribute not to Harvard's great generosity, but to a difference in culture and circumstance.

Yale Union Workers Go On Strike
(Harvard Crimson, 3/4/03)
Yale University threatened to grind to a halt yesterday morning, as thousands of unionized Yale workers-including graduate student teaching assistants (TAs)-went on strike.

At Yale, Workers Picket In The Cold
(Hartford Courant, 3/4/03)
The day ended as it began, with hundreds of striking Yale University workers cramming the sidewalks, jackets buttoned against the cold. After a day of walking picket lines on Wall and York, Cedar and Whitney, they gathered in front of Woolsey Hall Monday night to hear one more speaker, the one with the black fedora and the thin moustache.

Yale workers strike over stalled contract talks
(AP Wire, 3/4/03)
Yale University workers walked picket lines in blustery winds and sub-freezing temperatures Monday to begin a five-day strike over wages and pension benefits. The strike included unions representing about 5,000 clerical and technical workers, hospital dietary staff and graduate students. The walkout - the seventh strike at Yale in the past 35 years - was billed by labor leaders as the largest in decades.

'BITTER' STRIKE AT YALE
Hundreds picket on day 1 of action
(New Haven Register, 3/4/03)
Yale University workers hit the picket lines in subfreezing temperatures Monday on the first day of a five-day strike, their eighth job action in almost four decades.

Hispanics to wield clout at union rally
(New Haven Register, 3/3/03)
A pro-union rally against Yale University planned for today is expected to reveal the increasing political clout of the city's Hispanic community. The stature of high-profile pastors, such as the Rev. Abraham Marsach, senior pastor of Star of Jacob Church, and the Rev. Abraham Hernández, senior pastor of Second Star of Jacob Church, has served to attract local populist leaders.

Yale-New Haven Hospital arrest power yanked
(New Haven Register, 3/3/03)
Mayor John DeStefano Jr. has decided to strip Yale-New Haven Hospital's security constables of their arrest powers, an action stemming from arrests last year of several union organizers. Hospital officials, however, expressed confusion, stating that DeStefano has not responded in detail to suggested compromises.

5,000 Yale Workers Plan to Go on Strike
(New York Times, 3/4/03)
Nearly 5,000 workers at Yale University, including janitors, cafeteria workers, secretaries and graduate teaching assistants, plan to go on strike on Monday. It would be the seventh walkout at Yale in 35 years, leading labor experts to say that Yale has the worst record of labor strife of any school in the nation.

Yale-New Haven Hospital arrest power yanked
(New Haven Register, 3/1/03)
Mayor John DeStefano Jr. has decided to strip Yale-New Haven HospitalÕs security constables of their arrest powers, an action stemming from arrests last year of several union organizers. Hospital officials, however, expressed confusion, stating that DeStefano has not responded in detail to suggested compromises.

LABOR UNREST: Yale Grad Students Prepare to Strike
(Science Magazine, 3/03)
Last week, the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO) at Yale voted 482 to 141 to join two recognized unions representing support staff in a strike unless school administrators by 3 March "agree to a fair negotiating process" over the right to unionize. About 30% of GESO members are pursuing degrees in the life and physical sciences, a larger share than in most graduate-level labor organizations.

February 2003

Yale union workers set to strike
(News Channel 8, 2/28/03)
With no contract deal between Yale University and its unionized workers a Monday morning strike looks like a reality. And its not just the four thousand employees who'll be walking out. A number of non-unionized grad students are also heading to the picket lines.
Watch the Video.

Results from union vote await appeal
Students were still turned away at the voting booth on the last day of graduate student union elections
(Daily Pennsylvanian, 2/28/03)
Ballots deciding the future of graduate-employee unionization at Penn might have seen the light of day for the last time yesterday in Houston Hall.

Hospital pokes holes in Blumenthal's lawsuit
(New Haven Register, 2/28/03)
Yale-New Haven Hospital Thursday issued a rebuttal to some of the allegations in a suit brought by the state on the use of "free bed funds," saying it "wanted to set the record straight." Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a suit last week charging that the hospital had misused free bed funds set aside by donors, and said, among other things, that it had received on average only 55 applications from 1996 to 2000.

For students, no such thing as neutrality
(Yale Daily News Editorial, 2/28/03)
With picket lines forming early Monday morning, the five-day strike scheduled for next week will thrust a once-distant labor dispute right to the heart of campus. Undergraduates, once peripheral to the debate, will suddenly find themselves confronted with a divided community and forced to pick a side in a dispute they had little to do with creating.

Unions pledge solidarity
(Yale Daily News, 2/28/03)
As members of Yale's two largest unions, graduate students and hospital workers dig in for a five-day strike Monday morning, union and University leaders are completing last-minute plans to prepare students and workers for the next week.

Yale will beef up police presence to maintain order during strike
(Yale Daily News, 2/28/03)
When striking workers form picket lines next week around classroom buildings and throughout streets, Yale University police plan to step up surveillance to maintain order.

It wouldn't take much for Levin to solve this crisis now
By Anita Seth, GESO Chair
(Yale Daily News Op-Ed, 2/27/02)
Last week at a GESO membership meeting, graduate teachers and researchers voted to strike by almost a 4-1 margin. Beginning on Monday, March 3, we will be on the picket lines. We will remain there through Friday with our fellow union members from locals 34 and 35 as well as the members of 1199 at Yale's teaching hospital.

Yale Administrators Preparing for Strike
Yale College dean says faculty members asked to continue teaching despite pickets
(Harvard Crimson, 2/27/03)
Yale University is bracing itself for a massive strike by graduate students and unionized workers that is expected to disrupt many of the schoolÕs operations.

Undergrad workers face strike choices
(Yale Daily News, 2/27/03)
With a strike looming, many student employees are deciding whether to cross the picket lines of their co-workers.

Strike offers chance to examine role of sections
(Yale Daily News, 2/27/03)
Class at Yale is like a three-legged stool, Yale history professor John Demos said. "One leg is the lectures, another is the readings. The third leg is a chance to interact with other students and instructors," Demos said. "You take one leg away and it's just not as good."

DeLauro presses Yale to settle
(New Haven Register, 2/22/03)
In a pointed letter, federal and state officials put pressure on Yale University to settle contracts with its unions, pointing to the hundreds of millions it receives in federal grants and state funds. Yale President Richard C. Levin was also advised that the elected officials expected the university to recognize "the right of graduate teaching assistants and hospital workers to have a union."

Yale Faces Threat Of Strike In March
(Hartford Courant, 2/22/03)
About 5,000 Yale employees say they will walk off the job early next month unless unions and the university settle their longstanding differences.

Connecticut Sues Yale-New Haven Hospital
(New York Times, 2/21/03)
Connecticut's attorney general sued Yale-New Haven Hospital today, accusing it of denying needy patients access to millions of dollars in donations intended to provide free hospital beds for the poor. In a civil suit filed in State Superior Court in Hartford, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal accused the hospital of hoarding $37 million in donations commonly called "free-bed funds" and failing to meet a legal duty to properly distribute the money.

Hospital Challenged Over Funds
'Free Bed' Accounts At Issue In Yale-New Haven Lawsuit
(Hartford Courant, 2/21/03)
Yale-New Haven Hospital is hoarding money donated to help care for the poor while sending bill collectors after low-income patients who might have been eligible for the funds, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal charged Thursday .

Yale-New Haven Hospital denies ripping off poor
(New Haven Register, 2/21/03)
Yale-New Haven Hospital sometimes makes poorer patients seek state or city aid before it lets them apply for funds specifically donated to the hospital to care for the needy. That policy is one example of a systemic effort by Yale-New Haven to restrict access to endowments that offer free medical care to the poor, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal charged Thursday.

Yale-New Haven Hospital being sued by state
(WTNH Channel 8, 2/20/03)
The state is taking on Yale-New Haven Hospital, saying donations meant to help the poor have been funneled off for other uses.
Watch the Video

Graduate Students OK Strike At Yale
(Hartford Courant, 2/20/03)
With two other unions weighing a walkout at Yale, the university's graduate students union Wednesday authorized a strike that could come as soon as next month. By a vote of 482-141, Yale's Graduate Employees and Students Organization granted its coordinating committee the authority to set a date for a strike that could have a substantial impact on classes and students. Graduate students log about 40 percent of the teaching hours at Yale.

Yale graduate student group OKs possible strike for next month
(New Haven Register, 2/20/03)
In what union organizers called a "clear mandate" from members, a group of Yale University graduate students authorized a possible strike next month. More than 620 members of the Graduate Employee Student Organization cast ballots and 482 supported a work stoppage, said union chairwoman Anita Seth, a teacher and graduate student in the History Department.

Yale graduate students give approval to possible strike
(AP Wire, 2/20/03)
A group of Yale University graduate students voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night to give its leaders authorization to call a strike. Members of the Graduate Employee Student Organization voted 482-141 in favor of the plan, said union chairwoman Anita Seth, a teacher and graduate student in the history department.

GESO members vote to strike
(Yale Daily News, 2/20/03)
Members of the Graduate Employees and Students Organization voted Wednesday to allow the group's leaders to call strikes, indicating that they would likely join Yale's recognized unions in a weeklong walkout beginning March 3.

YALE-NEW HAVEN HOSPITAL FACES FRAUD SUIT
State says hospital misused funds meant for poor
(New Haven Register, 2/20/03)
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal plans to sue Yale-New Haven Hospital for allegedly misusing millions of dollars held in trust to cover hospital care for the poor. Blumenthal will make the complaint public today and file the suit in Superior Court in Hartford. He said the hospital has not been confronted formally with the charges.

Unions' hopes for new tone fade
(Yale Daily News, 2/19/03)
In recent weeks, many Yale workers around campus have been wearing buttons that read "I don't want to strike but I will." Union members wore the same buttons in 1996, the last time Yale and its unions negotiated new contracts, and the last time union members went on strike.

Union rally could lead to strike
(New Haven Register, 2/18/03)
There is a "strong possibility" that a strike by Yale unions will kick off March 3, bolstered by a rally of church groups, if the next two weeks of negotiations fail to reach an agreement.

GESO to vote on strike Wednesday
(Yale Daily News, 2/17/03)
The Graduate Employees and Students Organization will determine in a strike vote Wednesday afternoon whether teaching and research assistants strike in early March. During a strike, TAs would not hold sections, attend classes or conduct research in Yale buildings, GESO leaders said. The vote will come a week after Yale's two largest unions, locals 34 and 35, announced they would cancel their contracts March 1, opening up the possibility of a strike next month. Union members have hinted at the strong possibility of a job action on March 3.

Kimber deserves payment from Yale
(New Haven Register, letter to the editor, 2/15/03)
After reading the Rev. Boise Kimber's extremely misleading letter, I need to clarify some points. I'm not sure if Kimber got a monetary bonus for the letter from Yale President Richard Levin and the Yale bargaining team, but perhaps they should consider it.

Strikes: A Yale tradition
(Yale Daily News Editorial, 2/14/03)
A year after embarking on a "new era in labor relations," Yale and its two largest unions have found themselves in the familiar position of preparing for an impending strike. After months of threats, union leaders announced Wednesday that they will cancel contracts in March, clearing the way for strikes. Union members have hinted at the strong possibility of a walkout beginning March 3, the Monday before spring break.

Workers march to Levin's house
(New Haven Register, 2/13/03)
They came by the busload and weathered an arctic chill to deliver their message. Nobody was home. Roughly 500 union workers turned out and marched through the East Rock neighborhood Wednesday to the doorstep of Yale University President Richard Levin's home. Outside his darkened, Everit Street house, they renewed demands for a better labor contract and then set the stage for a possible strike.

Unions At Yale Move Closer To A Strike
(Hartford Courant, 2/13/03)
After more than a year of high hopes dissolving into mounting frustration, labor relations between Yale University and its two largest employee unions appear to be heading toward a strike.

Omni workers get 3-year deal
(New Haven Register, 2/13/03)
With Yale University workers threatening to strike after a year of tough negotiations, their brethren at the Omni-New Haven at Yale hotel voted overwhelmingly to OK a new deal after just two months of talks, labor officials said ... Along with annual wage increases averaging close to 6 percent and controls on employee health insurance contributions, the contract includes provisions for immigrant workers described by Cristiani as "extremely progressive."

Unions cancel contracts; strike is possible
(Yale Daily News, 2/13/03)
Approximately 500 union members gathered outside Yale President Richard Levin's private home Wednesday to announce that they will cancel their March contracts, opening up the possibility of a strike.

Yale unions cancel contract extensions, will be eligible to strike
(AP Wire, 2/12/03)
Labor unions at Yale University said Wednesday that they will not extend their expired contracts past March 1, a move that makes them eligible to strike.

Strike possible for Yale unions
(New Haven Register, 2/12/03)
The Yale unions today are expected to announce they will cancel their contracts with the university, clearing the way for a possible strike as early as the first week in March.

Corp. tackles renovations
Trustees' agenda included briefing on Jan. 17 crash, labor update
(Yale Daily News, 2/12/03)
In discussing labor issues with the Corporation, Levin said while he does not want a strike, the administration is ready to deal with a number of possible situations. "We're prepared for many contingencies, including a strike," he said.

Union leader calls for end to contracts
(Yale Daily News, 2/11/03)
In a move that could pave the way for strikes or other job actions, the president of one of Yale's unions said he will recommend cancelling union contracts when they come up for review this week.

Yale's inner-city blues (make me wanna holler)
(Yale Daily News, 2/11/03)
This summer Yale brokered an agreement with the Inner-City News -- a free, weekly, local paper with a readership of 50,000 -- in which the News would write six articles about subjects of Yale's choice, written by authors of Yale's approval, with final edit by Yale. Alongside these articles would run ads promoting Yale in the community -- though the articles were of course little more than paid advertisements themselves.

Mayor Urges Yale to sidestep NLRB
(New Haven Register, 2/10/03)
The mayor has advised management at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Yale University to negotiate new ground rules outside the National Labor Relations Board to govern organizing efforts at their institutions.

Few arrests at Y-NH
(New Haven Register, 2/10/03)
Yale-New Haven Hospital has no need for constables with arrest powers. Last year they only arrested a handful of people; many were union members handing out literature.

Corp. fellow takes union heat for book
(Yale Daily News, 2/7/03)
Approximately 50 union members and supporters, many of them working mothers, gathered in Woolsey Hall Thursday afternoon to confront Yale Corporation Fellow Linda Mason SOM '80, the author of a recent book about working mothers.

Unions propose binding arbitration
(Yale Daily News, 2/6/03)
Union leaders submitted a proposal to Yale President Richard Levin Wednesday asking that the University and the unions submit the unresolved terms of their contracts to binding arbitration by a neutral party. Yale administrators called binding arbitration a poor substitute for bargaining and indicated they prefer to settle contracts at the bargaining table.
Read the unions' proposal

Yale rejects union negotiatorsÕ request for binding arbitration
(New Haven Register, 2/6/03)
Yale University Wednesday rejected a proposal by Local 34 and Local 35 that wages, pensions and working conditions be subjected to binding arbitration. Negotiators hand-delivered the request to Yale President Richard C. Levin at his office late in the afternoon and the suggestion was swiftly turned down.

Fight for your right to speak out
(Yale Daily News, 2/5/03)
Last Monday, eight students distributed leaflets to classmates, visitors and faculty for an hour as they passed on their way to lunch or class. A relatively unremarkable story, if not for some of the relevant details -- the location, the Woolsey Rotunda, declared off-limits by President Levin; the leaflets, 500 copies of the ones previously seized by Yale police; one student, Alek Felstiner '04, returning to the rotunda to leaflet after being threatened with arrest the last time.

Students go door to door in support of labor unions
(Yale Daily News, 2/5/03)
Allegra Leitner '06 was watching television in a friend's room when a pair of students knocked on the door and began talking to her and her friends about labor relations on campus. After a brief conversation, the pair -- members of the Undergraduate Organizing Committee -- gave Leitner and her friends fliers and asked them to sign a petition.

January 2003

Unions intensify call for Yale recognition
(Yale Herald, 1/31/03)
As negotiations between Yale and its unions continued this week, the status of graduate students remained a sticking point. The Yale administration has failed to provide the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO) with a "roadmap for recognition," GESO chair Anita Seth, GRD '05, said.

Unions rally as talks stall
(Yale Daily News, 1/30/03)
Sporting masks of a two-faced Yale President Richard Levin and a theme song about him, Yale union members held a lunchtime rally outside the Omni Hotel Wednesday to protest the lack of progress in contract talks.

Yale workers rally as talks still stalled
(New Haven Register, 1/30/03)
Nearly a year after they began, negotiations between Yale University and its unions remain stalled, with 400 workers on Wednesday taking to the streets to show their unhappiness. The noon protest took place across from the Omni New Haven Hotel on Temple Street where talks were scheduled to continue that afternoon.

Yale Workers Stage Protest
(News Channel 8, 1/29/03)
A rally is just getting underway at Yale this noon hour. Some Yale workers are trying to work out a new contract deal.
View Video Clip

Labor talks stumble over GESO, hospital
(Yale Daily News, 1/29/03)
Despite union leaders' efforts to raise the issue of union growth at negotiations Tuesday, Yale negotiators continued to maintain that they would not discuss the issue at the bargaining table.

Corp. candidates may have to reveal funding sources
(Yale Daily News, 1/27/03)
A group of Yale alumni is campaigning for greater transparency in elections for the University's highest decision-making body, the Yale Corporation. The petition, which the alumni began circulating in December, calls for an amendment that would require election ballots to disclose the sources of candidates' campaign financing, any business relationships the candidate has with the University or its subsidiaries, and any personal or business relationships with Corporation members.
View the Petition (and sign it if you are a Yale alum)

Peabody unveils wonders of Machu Picchu
(New Haven Register, 1/26/03)
Hundreds of the Peabody's members and guests swarmed into the museum Saturday night for the opening ... They walked past 200 Yale union members who were picketing to publicize their struggle with the university to sign new contracts.

Union proposal rejected
University rejects union request to settle wages, saying must finish full contract at once
(Yale Daily News, 1/17/03)
In a major move during bargaining Thursday, union leaders said they would accept Yale's proposed wage increases and implement them immediately. But Yale negotiators swiftly rejected the proposal, maintaining that contracts cannot be settled in pieces.
Read unions' letter to Levin

A lesson for Yale? A corporate model of healthy labor relations
Letter to Editor, by Rabbi James Ponet
(Yale Daily News, 1/17/03)
An important conversation took place Wednesday, Jan. 15 at the Slifka Center concerning a unique labor-management partnership that has been successfully developed at Kaiser Permanente, America's largest health maintenance organization. It was truly moving to listen to Peter DiCicco, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, an AFL-CIO affiliate, converse publicly with Anthony Gately, the Kaiser Permanente vice president in charge of what they proudly flag as a true "partnership."

Yale-New Haven needs special constables in addition to guards
Letter to Editor, by Alderwoman Hazelann Woodell
(New Haven Register, 1/17/03)
I am both a Yale-New Haven Hospital employee and a New Haven alderwoman, now in my second term serving the 6th Ward. I work in the Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital pediatric emergency department, and have worked at the hospital for 33 years. I think it's fair to say that I can see both sides of the issue regarding the conferring of arrest powers for constables at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Some TAs hint at GESO strike
(Yale Daily News, 1/15/03)
When Julie Ehrlich '03 shopped an American studies senior seminar on Monday, she found the seminar leader talking not only about course requirements and grading but also about the high possibility of a TA strike.

University offers pension plan
(Yale Daily News, 1/14/03)
Yale negotiators offered a new pension proposal during bargaining with the University's two largest unions Monday, prompting criticism and a counteroffer by union leaders shortly after.

University offers new plan for pensions
(Yale Daily News, 1/13/03)
Yale negotiators will announce a modified pension proposal during negotiations with its two largest unions today, marking the third day of regular negotiations in more than three months.

Strike 101: what you should know
(Yale Daily News, 1/13/03)
Within a month, this campus may experience its 12th labor strike in 60 years. Our administration's contingency planning is well underway, from stipends for students to eat out to incentives for temporary workers. Most carefully orchestrated, however, is the narrative, tweaked and polished from previous strikes, which will be trotted out for the Yale community: that Yale did everything it could, and that the unions just wanted to strike.

Click here for articles appearing from August 2002 through December 2002

Click here for articles appearing in or before July 2002