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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 1993)
Closed-door meeting held by regents By Jeff Zeleny Senior Reporter The NU Board of Regents worked to create collective bargaining strategies in an emergency meeting Monday. In a telephone conference call, which origi nated at East Campus’ Varner Hall, the regents discussed negotiations to be made with the unionized faculties of the University of Ne braska at Kearney and the University of Ne braska at Omaha. The annual negotiation meeting determines state unionized employees’ salaries and was closed to the public. “The meeting was closed pursuant to the Nebraska public meeting law for collective bargaining,” said J.B. Millikcn, corporation secretary to the NU Board of Regents. If offers hadn’t been exchanged between the parties by the midnight Monday deadline, both sides would give proposals to an appointed, impartial arbitrator from Illinois. If the offers aren’t accepted, a hearing will be held Jan. 27 and Jan. 28. The faculty at the University of Ncbraska Lincoln is not unionized. The salary negotia tion process is approved with funds from the Legislature. John Russell, director of NU personnel, said the closed-meeting negotiation process took place every year. “There is a lime schedule in the law, and we just follow it,” he said. ‘This year we just See REGENTS on 6 Michelle Paulman/DN Chillin' ,1 - > - » «• ■ yaj . jd | A student walks through the snow by Woods Hall Monday. / Plan to link state, NU salaries meets opposition UNL professor skeptical about proposed caps By Sam Kepfield Staff Reporter Apian by Qov. Ben Nelson to meet the slate’s budget crisis and still allow salary increases at the University of Ncbraska-Lin coln is running into opposition from some comers. Nelson said last week that he would recommend to the Legislature that the state appropriate equal amounts ol money for both NU and state em ployee salary increases. Sonny Foster, chief labor negotia tor for Nelson, said the agreemeni reached between the stale and the National Association of Public Em ployees/American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees capped salary increases for state em ployees who made more than $45,000 per year. The caps would affect about 750of the state’s 15,000 employees while giving those on the lower end of the pay scale a larger paycheck. The in creases arc expected to give employ ees earning under $45,000 an S800 increase by July 1994. The agreement was ratified by the state employees last week. Sandy Scofield, special assistant to Nelson, said the governor would recommend on Wednesday that the Legislature appropriate the same amount of money for NU as it was budgeting for the state pay raises. - it It’s a novel agreement, and I don’t think that when the state agreed earlier to link the two that they envisioned this, so they should not be bound by it. -Richard Duncan, UNL law professor -*f - After the money is budgeted, the regents may spend itany way they sec fit. Foster said that could come out to an average of S300 per employee if allocated to university pay raises. Both Scofield and Foster cautioned that the governor’s recommendations could be altered by thcd=egislaturc, and that final decisions on dollar amounts rested with the Appropria tions Committee. Richard Duncan, a UNL Law Col lege professor, said he was wary of the linkage between the state employee’s agreement and faculty salaries. “It is inequitable to uscagrccmcnts for one group to set salaries for oth ers,’’ Duncan said. He noted that the average salary for slate workers was much lower than for university fac ulty. Duncan said he thought it would be unfair to apply the same salary for mula— including the capon salaries over $45,000 — lo university em ployees as state employees. v “It’sanovclagreement,and Idon’t think that when the state agreed ear lier to link the two that they envi sioned this, so they should not be bound by it” Duncan questioned the motives of the state in agreeing to link the sala ries. “Why the $45,000 cap? Was it intentional? Were they going to use it lo balance the budget by shortchang ing UNL and raiding our budget?” Duncan has called for the board of regents to examine the agreement for possible legal inequities, especially age discrimination against older fac ulty members making more money. As a last resort, Duncan advocated legal action, either by individuals or a See LAW on 6 Cold, snow serious matter Few hypothermia cases reported By Angie Brunkow Staff Reporter he opportunity to sled in the snow was one of the benefits of recent winter storms, but for one UNL student, the ride did not come without costs. Jennifer Bell, a senior second ary education math major, said a sprained ankle and knee were her war wounds from a late-night sled ding expedition. Bell, Angie Hudson, a junior secondary education English ma jor, and Rene Watson, a student at Southeast Community College, “flew” down a hill near the airport Saturday into a hard snowbank, which they should have sled over, Bell said. “We just hit it.” Bell said she spent the first day of classes on crutches, and Hudson suffered a back injury, making walking painful. Watson was un harmed. Russell LaBeau, medical direc tor of the University of Nebraska Lincoln Health Center, said the increase in snow and ice led to accidents, but sledding-type acci dents were not the kind he was worried about. Students, not used to bundling up against the cold because of Nebraska’s recent mild weather, arc more likely to be overexposed to the cold. Only a few incidents of hypo thermia, or overexposure to the cold, have been reported to the health center in recent years, he said, but unless students take the proper precautions, LaBcau said he expected more cases this year. LaBcau said that although hy pothermia, which could result in a heart attack, occurred more often among the elderly, students should still beware. Opc-half hour to 45 minutes exposure in temperatures below zero would be enough to pul stu dents at risk, he said. LaBcau said hypothermia and cold-wcathcr-rclatcd accidents, like the one Bell experienced, were a bigger problem in areas where cold weather recreational activities such as cross-country skiing were more popular and available. The risk of being overexposed See COLD on 6 UNL police warn students about prank phone calls From Staff Reports Students need to be cautious when they receive calls about car vandalism, a UNL police officer said Monday. Sgt. Mylo Bushing said the police department received five or six phone calls last weekend from students who had gotten calls from someone claim ing to be a police officer. The impersonator said the students’ cars had been vandalized. The caller then asked students to meet the uni versity police next to their cars, Bush ing said. When the students got to their cars, there was no one there, and the cars had not been bothered, he said. Bushing did not know why the prank calls were being made, but he advised extreme caution to those re ceiving them. He said students who receive calls of this nature should dial the police dispatcher and verify the calls before going to their cars. Also, students with caller identifi cation on their telephones should copy down the number and report it to the dispatcher. Finally, if a student is stopped by a person who claims to be a police officer, but is out of uniform, the student should ask for identification. If the person is unable to produce identification, the student should call the university police. Officers carry identification at all times.
