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Thursday October 9,1997 Vol. CXXXII, No. 29
Headlines
Miller overcomes sluggish season
After a sophomore season that saw him catch only 17 passes for 273 yards, wide receiver Billy Miller has found the confidence in his game and ranks third among Pacific 10 Conference receivers.
Sports, page 20
Quality studying time on campus
During midterms, students can be resourceful when trying to find somewhere to study. Staff Writer Annie M a teen compares the places frequented by students when they need quiet time.
Diversions, page 10
Limited by the color of one's skin
As demonstrated by a personal experience growing up in a small, predominantly Cnristian town in Texas, Editorial Columnist J. Nanda Liljeblad explores interracial relationships and the public.
Viewpoint, page 4
F.Y.l.
Depression tests, Beit Coffeehouse
National Depression Screening Day will be acknowledged on campus today with free screenings at Topping Student Center, room 205, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today.
The screening includes a written self-test for depression, an interview with a mental-health professional and an educational presentation.
The screening is sponsored by the University Park Health Center and Student Counseling Services.
For more information, call (213)740-7711.
• • •
The Hillel Jewish Center will host the second Beit Cafe Coffeehouse concert series tonight at 7 p.m.
Eric Beitchman and Matt Davidson will be performing live.
Free coffee will be provided by Starbucks.
Hillel is located at 3300 S. Hoover St., across from Denny's.
Newspaper of the University of Southern California
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Dining, housing workers strike
Local 11 members strike, hold rally; campus food services disrupted
By Elisa Ung
Assignment Editor
Food service and housing workers went on strike early Wednesday morning and will continue striking today in response to what they said was the "stressful" addition of temporary workers to their jobs and an alleged refusal from the university to discuss the situation.
About 75 percent of food service workers and 25 percent of housing workers did not come to work, said university and housing officials. However, all campus eateries were open, staffed by temporary workers and managers from auxiliary services, officials said.
S t r i k i n !
a When you've got 75 percent...
striking, they don't give up a day's pay
because they are
nesday after following Someone.
workers an Hotel Employees and Restaurant E m d I o y ee s (HERE) Local
11 officials Haiti
they made the decision to strike on Wed-
MARIA ELENA DURAZO president, Local 11
university offi cials allegedly did not want to meet with them to discuss why the temporary workers were added.
"This should demonstrate something to USC," said Local 11 President Maria Elena Durazo. "When you've got 75 percent of the workers striking, they don't give up a day's pay because they are following someone. They personally believe it."
Durazo said a union committee will decide on a day-by-day basis whether or not to continue striking.
Workers stood outside each campus eatery Wednesday passing out fliers and asking students to boycott on-campus food places. They also hela rallies in the morning and afternoon.
The university is not considering punishing striking workers, said Thomas Moran, vice president of Business Affairs.
Moran said the university had not brought in temporary workers previous to the strike and was not ready to subcontract out, as the union had said. He also denied that he had stopped the negotiations.
"It was really a one-way movement. We were making proposals but (Durazo) was not accepting them," Moran said. "We have always held the right to subcontract, so that is nothing new."
Jeff Urdahl, director of Housing Services, said the void in housing workers was filled by temporary workers who are called in for emergencies.
"We're in pretty good shape," Urdahl said. "The majority did report to work. They ended up carrying the majority of the work."
Urdahl said there had been rumors of an
impending strike, but that
Housing Services staff learned about the strike early Wednesday morning.
The majority of the striking workers also learned about the strike Wednesday morning when they reported to work.
"We founa out this morning at 5:30 a.m.," said Robert Mena, who works in the refrigeration department at Commons. "We were instructed to go on strike more than a week ago. They told us last week, but I didn't know it was going to be this soon. I had planned to come to work today."
Mena said he was going on strike to support the union, not necessarily because he himself thought he was being done an injustice.
"I enjoy doing my job every morning,' he said.
Many of the workers said they feared they would not have a job to come back to when they finally returned, and many simply called in sick.
"The majority of the housing
Angla Chan / Daily Trojan
A union member tells a student not to eat at Cafe ‘84 in an effort to support workers who went on strike Wednesday.
staff is not (on strike) because they're scared of losing their jobs," said Armando Garcia, a custodial worker at Founders Apartments who decided to strike. "We don't know if we have a job tomorrow or not. I'm scared. But I gotta come and fight. 1 gotta speak my opinion."
Workers claimed that the temporary workers allegedly being nired by USC were putting pressure on them and, in some instances, displacing them.
Gregory S»erguiff, who has been a cook at The Grill for 15 years, said a worker from an outside agency took his place for a day last week while he was told to clean tables.
"I was scared. I didn't figure they'd treat me that way," Serguiff said. He said his manager pressured him to split from the union and not to listen to union leaders.
Durazo stood outside the EVK
worker's entrance for the majority of the day, asking workers not to come in. She and a group of the strikers went to City Hall during the day to talk to Los Angeles City Council members about the strike.
She said negotiations with the university had reached a standstill after Moran had said he did not want to meet with the union. The food service workers have been working without a contract for more than two years.
"It's not like this issue is going to go away," Durazo said "Why are they putting something off when there were movements from both sides?"
She said the workers had been concerned over a proposal in which the university reserved the right to subcontract, but promised job security only for employees who had worked for
(See Strike, page 3)
Career Center sees decrease in job seekers
By Shant Thomas
SUff Writer
The Career Center, USC's program which helps students find jobs, is currently experiencing a lack of seniors and graduate students participating in on-campus job recruitment programs, said Janette Brown, assistant director of the Career Center.
"The problem we are faced with is getting to those seniors who are either iust enjoying their senior year and brushing tnis off, or are simply consumed with schoolwork,” Brown saia. "Those students who are not actively looking for a job are the ones I'm truly worried about."
The Center, located on the first floor of the Student Union, has scheduled more recruiters to visit USC than in previous years, yet the number of seniors enlisted still remains alarmingly low, Brown said. Over 300 firms actively recruit USC students
through the Career Center's r£sum£ searches, Career Day and on-campus interviews.
Brown said she encourages job seekers to start the job-searching process early in the year, since firms hire during the summer.
"I haven't even thought about looking for a job," said John Chiu, a senior majoring in marketing. "I'm just trying to graduate right now."
Center representatives said they are also hoping juniors — and even sophomores — might start investigating the opportunities available there.
"I eventually plan to use the Career Center to find a job in mv related field," said Jackie McFarland, a sophomore majoring in architecture.
While a number of students are not formally partaking in the Center's programs, a numDer still rely on the JobThakker to find placements. JobTrak, the online version of jobTrakker, contains more job entries than the
hard copy version. Company involvement with the internet service has proven impressive, said Brown.
"I find the jobTrakker to be an incredibly useful resource for finding job placements," said Lauren Sherman, a senior majoring in international relations.
School-sponsored functions have also provided a useful student venue for the Center, though the numbers still remain extremely low.
"This year's Career Day proved an enormous success, with over 130 companies attending," Brown said. "But there are a lot of different opportunities out there that the students just aren't taking advantage of."
One such opportunity is a new internet program called Springboard (wivw.clspring-«wril.com), which assists students in the rtsum^-writing and interview processes
(See Career, page 2)