! e Labor unton ee @ From page one The Lawrence City Commission, by a narrow mar- gin, has voted not to extend recognition to City Employeé Associations. By this action, the City has declined to bring law and order to employee-man- agement relations, law and order that would protect employees, management and the public from any un- fair practices. The consequences of the Commiss- ion’s vote is to eliminate direct communication between employees and the Commission; eliminate employees’ right to appeals and eliminate written agreements that would make both employees and management live up to their word. Above all it will make possible the continuation of many deplorable practices that have demoralized Lawrence City employees over the past years. How this is supposed to improve the quality of life in Lawrence is beyond comprehension. 11D ED RR HH Instead of the rule of law and order, the City has con- firmed the rule of one man, the City Manager. They have done this by setting up an Employee Council in which Buford Watson's word is the final word on em- ployee grievances. The United Employee Associations , of Lawrence reject this proposal as totally un-American. The day has not come when Americans will sub~ mit to the dictatorship of one person, no matter under what guise. We also reject the strange notion that any gov- ernment has the right to dictate what form any organization of American people should take. We have our own employee organizations which rep- WATSON resent the overwhelming majority of our employees. We are not about to disband in def- erence to an organization set up by management. This form of "company unionism" was outlawed in private -employment in the 1930*s. We remind our Commiss- ioners that they were elected to protect citizens, not dictate to them. “MANAGE R The three Commissioners who voted against law and order apparently forgot that talks between us and the City Manager have been going on since last May. Despite this there are still: --employees penalized for time lost because of on- the-job injuries --massive safety violations despite employee and insurance company requests for correc- tion ————— a INT --no adequate accounting that the 1/2% sales tax is being properly spent to upgrade the police and fire departments as intended when the tax was initiated --arbitrary harassment and insulting of employees --threats of dismissal of employees --favoritism in work assignments and promotion --secret files are still kept on employees --no programs for upgrading of employees --no consistent merit system --no consistent grievance machinery --no improvement in equipment maintenance --no probation policy --contradictory policies on termination of employees --inadequate hospitalization . --employees receiving threatening letters from collection agencies for medical bills for on-the-job injuries --employees required to operate unsafe equipment --no consistent employee evaluation procedures --inconsistent policies on overtime payment and dis- tribution --no consistent training programs '~-failure to abide by wage commitments made at time of hiring --no consistent work standards --no consistent chain of command “up a system, under law, that would peacefully and... ae PUBLIC NOTICE --no consistent disciplinary policies --no policy on employee uniforms WE ARE PREPARED TO AMPLY DOCUMENT ALLOF THESE MALPRACTICES. THE AFFLICTION Quite simply, the City is grossly mismanaged causing Reo: great loss in service efficiency and loss to the tax-_« payers. Commissioners have been informed of these . violations, but instead of investigating them or setting _ rationally correct these violations, three Commission- ers have chosen to sweep the issues under the rug. __ The public should be aware that under City a vegulations, any employee who brings.em="~ » ployment problems to the Commission is subject to-. dismissal. With such a closed system, how is it - possible for anything to change. or seryices improve? ... We, the United Public Employees Association of Law- - +.’ rence, are acutely mindful of our public trust. We want to provide quality services to the people of Law> -. rence. Some Lawrence City Commissioners seem to ~ be obsessed with wage demands. (We have made none despite some major inequities.) These Commissioners also seem obsessed with the thought of employees bringing in powerful outside labor organizations. (None have been brought in. The only powerful outside influences planned for Lawrence were national waste disposal monopolies initiated by the City.) These Commissioners conveniently forget that most of the issues raised by the Employee Associations have been designed to improve the poor quality of manage- ment, We believe that some Commissioners keep raising the,wage and outside union issue as a smoke- screen to cover up managerial chaos and inefficiency, HUMAN VALUES By Barbara Willits Of course Kansas City is very differetn from Lawrence and perhaps the most important difference is in mere numbers of people. From rather a small beginning the clinic now sees about 2,000 patients a month. The- re is no evidence that Lawrence needs or could support anything on this scale, but itis a good example of what The League of Women Voters of Lawrence is making a study of how well health and medical needs of people in Lawrence are being met and how these services © might be improved. As one part of our investigation we are looking at various health delivery systems, Ore of my pleasures this fall has been my daily walks with two energetic five-year-olds from 12th and Dela-= what they cost and how successful they have been in other communities. can be done with strong community support. But what does Lawrence need ? One of the most interesting of these community attem- pts to bring medical care to residents regardless of Are there many Lawrence residents who find that they ability to pay is called Clinicare. It is a clinic inKan- cannot get medical care when they need it because they sas City, Kansas which charges its patients according have no insurance or do. not qualify for Medicare or to their ability to pay. No one is turned away, even if they can pay nothing, Medicaid ? The League does not néed and does not want names. It Of course Medicare and Medicaid pay for many of the ' people who are serveu but the clinic is also dependent on the support of several local churches and on private donations, many of which are very small.’ The most does need fact and numbers. We would be most grate- ful if the citizens of Lawrence would help us collect this information by filling out information cards. They can be obtained at the Public Health Department, the important donation is made by the staff. Although most Salvation Army, Penn House, the Ballard Center and of them are paid, they all could earn much more in other jobs. =$~PUSLIC NOTICE-#~ OUGUDUONDGONUAD ODEO DOUSSSOLOGDDUUEDUGOUADOEDSDOGUAEEAOCONouOoOceCOONCOnSEOUGO CO Ty %%& THE LAWRENCE PUBLIC NOTICE %&% . The PUBLIC NOTICE is published on or about the twenty-eighth of each month, in Lawrence, Kansas by the Permanent Press, BoxJ14, Lawrence, Kan- sas 66044. People who contributed to this issue: Susie Hanna, Richard Kershenbaum, Jake Flake Barkley Clark, Steve Trone, Barbara Willits, Mark Kaplan, Norm Forer, UPEA of Lawrence, Harry Puckett, Elan- ore Smith, Ruth and Louis Ward, David Hann, Pat Sullivan, Chuck Magrel, Paul Hughs, Diane Luber, Dave Moore, Paul Johnson, Carol Loretz, Jim Mason, Jim Cobb. LE§ i uVUNUeAaneevasusshconavessvessssunnnsceseasonssavensoussanscusaseuvssscanssestaney UN NO OO OURONLERONO OANA OOOO ONDENONEGEOONONOCOsaNOoONDE ee EOE EE SDE Eckan. J pate efo men cfo mn fox HOOSIER FRIEND? By Harry Puckett A short time ago one of our citizens was looking for a location for a private business to dealin furs, He was directed to contact one of our local real estate dealers, who knew where this citizen could operate such a business, They contacted the zoning board and were told that they could operate a fur business as long as no tanning or drying was involved. So, an agreement was made for the property in the 900 block of Delaware. The citizen made a down pay- ment.and began work to put the place in condition for othe business, The planning board had thought of some technical point, however, as an excuse to reject his request for a permit to do business, The citizen contacted an attorney t.o find out why he couldn't operate his business. Since our city manager has control of all our city employes in each departr ment, the attorney tried to get an interview with him but so far has been put off. This citizen has spent considerable money and time on this place, Why is he denied a right to‘do a leg-= itimate business that hurts no one or intérferes with no one? This is denying him of his constitutional rights, ..an injustice. We need someone to manage our town who will give justice to all, not just a few special privileges. ware to the New York School. The 1000 block of Pennsylvania must be one of the most © peaceful spots in Lawrence. Neat houses ofall sizes’ ~~ line both sides of the street. Most of the houses have flowers around them and on the porches. Every yard shows loving attention, Mrs. Ida Price was out one © day enjoying the bright sun. Her neat garden defied a weed to show its head on the north side of her lot. Every person I meet while walking is amiable, ready’ - to speak and give attention to the children. I find my- self wondering what arrangements will be made for kids to get across llth and 9th streets after the Loop" is channeling traffic into the downtown business area. I hope our school officials recognize the dangers in- ° herent for our children in the Loop plans. Isn't the power and authority of city staff appalling ? The city and USD # 497 Board members meet and all the Loop propaganda is spread out by Planning Direc-— tor Dick McClanathan. He spouts words --energy cri- sis, development, boost school population=-no matter ~’ that he can’t spell out what development! Families need low and moderate cost housing. A row of gard- en apartments along the Loop just won't cut it! We hear high flying plans about a new neighborhood center, but no mention of it in the six-year capital improvements plan, of course, It's just more pie-in- the sky. Where are East Lawrence kids to fly kites-- play football and baseball-- just plain run off their energy ? I'll believe a new neighborhood center when I seeit in the flesh, not a second before! The mood of the City in East Lawrence is BULLDOZE=-the ball park, houses, 235 people who signed a petition against the Loop--tear down not build, Don't anyone hold your breath until the new center, please! re —-Believe It or Not/ Savoring the construction boom in town? Well think again. Unless you are the developer or the contract- . or, you're out of luck, particularly if you're one of... = those who needs a place to live. Only eight permits. ©... for the construction of multi-family dwellings have been issued this year, all high-rent. Hundreds of... new homes, $30-50,000 range please, high society. only. Poor people, working people, look elsewhere. Hats off to the planners, McClanathan, & all the rest.