Daily
Trojan
Vol. LXVI, No. 73
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Friday, February 15, 1974
Library assistants will unionize, seek more pay
BY KEVIN MeKENNA
News Editor
A majority of library assistants have authorized a union to represent them for the purpose of collective bargaining, it has been learned.
However, the university has notified the union it will not grant it automatic representation or call for a secret ballot of the employees involved.
The university will instead ask for a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board on or after March 5.
A representative for the union. Local 30 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union, AFL-CIO. said the major issues in the decision to unionize were salary-related.
The library assistants want their salaries raised to parity with employees at UCLA, as well as guaranteed regular salary increases to keep pace with the cost of living, also in effect at UCLA.
A salary' adjustment proposal has been submitted to the administration recently by the university library. Its goal is to achieve parity with the University of California system in general and UCLA in particular, both for academic librarians and librar>r assistants.
More than 90 involved
Library assistants are fulltime library’ employees who do not have a degree in library' science. There are more than 90 library assistants in the university system.
Employees in the Library As-
!i i Actress recites poetry in Bovard
A capacity crowd heard the Watts Symphony Orchestra and Michelle Nichols perform in Bovard Auditorium Wednesday night as part of Black History Week.
Nichols read her own poetry and the orchestra performed works by William Grant Still, a Black composer. Still was in the audience and was presented with a plaque.
DT photo by Steve Hess.
sistant I category, the lowest, start at an annual salary of about $5,300 at USC. At UCLA, the minimum for the same category is $6,612.
The minimum for Library Assistant IV at USC is about $8,400 annually. At UCLA, the same employee would start at a minimum of $9,768.
But even these statistics (which were compiled by the Daily Trojan) do not tell the whole story. Gloria Busman, the union representative, said that most library assistants at USC are in the lower two categories and they tend to be paid near the minimum of the salary range in most cases.
“I don’t believe the proposal (submitted to the university by the library) contained any automatic cost-of-living increase or any assurance that the employee classifications are properly distributed,” she said.
‘Things moving along'
A library assistant at one of the campus branches said that “things have moved along very fast” on the salary adjustment proposal since unionization was proposed.
The employee also said the university has told the library assistants that a decision on the adjustments will be forthcoming this month.
“But I don’t think that will deter the employees from unionizing,” the assistant said.
Roy L. Kidman, university li-
brarian, said he was “a little bit surprised and puzzled” by the library assistants’ decision to unionize at this time.
“If the salary adjustment proposal is turned down flat by the administration, that would be one thing,” he said. “But it still seems to me we can get some adjustments without unionization.”
Kidman said there is a great deal of impatience involved because of the continued rise in the cost of living. But he cited two salary increases for library assistants within the past year.
Two raises in 1973
In January. 1973, the library assistants’ pay scale was changed from a three-level system to the present four-level setup.
The minimums for each category were raised and the creation of an additional level re-
(Continued on page 3)
A TIME FOR GALOSHES—A worker sweeps the lobby of Men's Residence West after a water pipe burst early Thursday morning flooding several floors and causing some structural damage. See story on page 4. DT photo by Bob Chavez.
Despite money problems, plans proceed for the Festival of the Arts
BY LINDA CIRIGLIANO
Staff Writer
Although the planners of the Festival of the Arts, scheduled for March 12 to 15, are worried about where their money will come from, they’re pretty excited over what they’ve planned.
Until the Interim Student
Extent of police role forSecurityquestioned
BY MARJIE LAMBERT
Citv Editor
Disagreement within Campus Security as to how much of a police role the officers should have is a point which many of them believe is a major source of friction between them and their supervisors, and among themselves.
Officers complain of current situations in the department, many of which can be attributed to this conflict.
The lack of training required for the job and that which is given once a patrolman is hired by the university is a major source of dissatisfaction among the men
Patrolmen say that there are no specific requirements for the job. that what it boils down to is previous experience in some type of security work.
Men are not required to know how to use a gun, although they are required to carry one, to be used if necessary. The officers must supply their own gun and ammunition; should one decide to enroll in a training course at a police academy, the university does not pay his tuition.
There are no physical requirements for the job.
Training consists of having the officer read the handbook, ride in a patrol car with another officer, and generally learn his way around. The training period lasts from two to four weeks, depending on how quickly the new employee learns.
He is on probation for the first six months of employment, a period which can be extended should the department deem it necessary.
Many of the men consider the vehicles supplied by the department to be highly inferior. The two sedans (Valiants) used by the department were bought 10 months ago; they are on their third set of tires.
Some officers attribute this to the department buying inferior tires; John Lechner. director of Campus Security and Parking Operations, savs it is because of the vehicles turning a lot of corners on asphalt.
Officers have also complained about the upkeep of the vehicles; they are not tuned frequently, and men say the fumes make them nauseous. Broken mirrors are not replaced, and standard heavy-duty suspension is not enough, they say.
The pay scale, as compared with other peace officers, puts USC at the bottom of the ladder, with top salary for a Campus Security officer being $693 a month. LAPD officers receive from $938 to $1,046, depending upon education and experience. UCLA patrolmen start at $920 a month.
There is a turnover rate of 80^, with the average officer staying only three months.	(Continued on page 4)
Programming Board is appointed and begins functioning, said Allan Casebier, festival director and associate professor of philosophy, planners cannot request the board to allocate funds for the events.
But plans have been made for the festival, and although the plans are subject to change depending on how much money planners will have to work with, Casebier said he feels it is important that students get some idea of what to expect.
The Festival of the Arts, which has been held for the past seven years, is one of the few allcampus events students can look forward to, Casebier said.
“I’ve been afraid.” Casebier said, “that when students get their first glimpse of our program. they may feel what’s being planned is too serious and heavy.”
That impression would be a mistaken one, Casebier said, and would probably occur because students may be unfamiliar with the names of some artists scheduled to perform. j*
Students may be a little overwhelmed by the festival’s title, “Changing Aesthetics ofthe Performing Arts.” he added.
“But all that really means,” Casebier said, “is that this is a time of exciting change in the arts.”
“For too long,” said Juanita Mantovani. assistant dean for student affairs in the Division of
Humanities, “the arts have been somewhere up there and people have been somewhere dow here.
“But art today, particularly the performing arts, has begun to involve itself in the lives of people.
"We’ll try to give students an idea of the changing attitudes by reaching out to them and involving them in the events.”
Casebier said students have already begun to be involved in this year’s festival.
"Students in cinema, drama and art are helping to create publicity,” he added, "and making suggestions for the festival.”
Casebier said he wants student opinions, and would like students to call him at 746-2379 if they’d like to participate in the festival planning.
Before the festival begins. Casebier said, publicity will give students a taste of what’s in store for them.
Publicity, like the festival events themselves, will show up in unexpected places, in unexpected ways, he said.
One part of the publicity will be eye-catching posters, designed by a cinema student.
Fortune cookies, containing slogans advertising the festival, will be distributed to students for munching and reading.
In addition. Casebier said. KUSC will advertise the festival and drama students will per-
(Continued on page 2)
No DT to be printed until Wednesday
Washington’s birthday will be observed Monday by the university as a holiday. No classes will be held. SoCal, the weekly magazine of the Daily Trojan, will not be published. The Daily TrojaJi will not be published Tuesday. Publication will resume Wednesday.
The weekly calendar will be published in Wednesday’s Daily Trojan.