A. U. CE. 4
had a Mother

Birth pains of a union are sometimes
hard to remember - unless someone takes
time to record the process; so we put a
tape recorder on Peter Kellington "who
was there" and this is what he said:

In the first years of the college (far back
at the Mathers Avenue site) the staff
met informally and called themselves a
Staff Association in self defense so that
communication with the Administrators
eould be improved and_= grievances
recognized and dealt with.

Chairman of this informal association
was John Renforth with Larry Berg
acting as Vice Chairman. Other core
members were Margaret MacNeill,
Michele Morrod, Sue Hatelt and Ruth
Derksen. They call themselves quote "a
committee to get things going" unquote.
This association did manage two
Memorandums of Understanding with the
eollege but it was soon evident that the
Administration did not take the group or
the association seriously.

The whole thing came to a head when an
employee asked the Dean of Student
Services for a leave of absence and was
refused. A grievance committee
consisting of Margaret MacNeill, Peter
Kellington and Larry Berg was struck to
negotiate with management. There were
other problems, changes were made with
no consultation with employees, wages
were substandard, and fringe benefits
were lacking. Attempts were made to
negotiate with management but the wage
offers were far below inflation and they
were unacceptable to staff. However,
since the association was not a certified
union it  ecould not strike and
management's offer had to be accepted.